How you ever worn certain clothes to give others "the finger?"

[Abraham]

Have you ever worn certain clothes in a business/professional setting to effectively give others (especially superiors) "the finger?"

I was thinking today of the gentleman that was the director of internal audit at the firm I used to work for. He was a very serious, smart and formidable individual. His suits, accouterments and overall look was that of a CPA with good/timeless taste.

But he did wear "interesting" outerwear. He had this gorgeous black wool cloak for example (it must have cost as much as a nice economy car back then) that he wore during the colder months. It didn't look theatrical (on him.) It looked rather intimidating and thought provoking. He also wore what I now believe would be called an "opera cape."

For hats he wore (from what I can remember), homburgs, top hats and tricorns amongst others. Looking back they all seemed to be of superior quality. I really wished I had asked him why he wore such "odd" outerwear? He wasn't viewed as an eccentric within our firm given his seriousness and competence. He didn't really have client/customer contact so there were no issues there.

It has always made me wonder if such gear is acceptable in a business environment? It didn't seem to negatively impact his own career. My guess is that he wore what he did at least in part to give the finger to those consumed by office politics on matters like garb?

 

[Dirk Wainscotting]

Tricorns? I don't know about that.. I wouldn't want to look like a town crier.

I don't consider any people my 'superiors'. Everyone I work with is a colleague of one type or another. I'm sure there are people who think they are my superior, but it has no real effect upon me.

 

[kaiser]

My current Boss has said he hates cuff links, I wear them myself sometimes because I like them. What he thinks about this is not clear to me, but I find he stares at them a great deal when we are in meetings.

 

[Edward]

I'm not sure I've ever thought enough of anyone I disliked to dress just to annoy them...

 

[GHT]

We used to have a racing pundit, name of John McCririck who always dressed to shock more than impress. He moved from job to job, as a bookie, a tic tac man and a sports journalist. He made his mark on television, because of or despite his, flambouyant appearance. He finally fell foul of his employers with his rants and was dismissed. He tried to sue on the grounds of age discrimination but he lost. The Tribunal spokesperson said:
"The unanimous judgement of the Tribunal is that the Claimant's claim of direct age discrimination fails."It continued, "All the evidence is that Mr McCririck's pantomime persona, as demonstrated on the celebrity television appearances and his persona when appearing on Channel 4 Racing, together with his self-described bigoted and male chauvinist views, were clearly unpalatable to a wider potential audience."

 

[Dirk Wainscotting]

I was glad to see the back of McCririck, his media persona took a nasty turn when people started soliciting his opinions about life outside racing.

 

[MisterCairo]

Have you ever worn certain clothes in a business/professional setting to effectively give others (especially superiors) "the finger?"

No.

 

[Abraham]

My current Boss has said he hates cuff links, I wear them myself sometimes because I like them. What he thinks about this is not clear to me, but I find he stares at them a great deal when we are in meetings.

LOL!! That's pretty funny! I used to have a boss that hated braces. He also felt that if braces were worn, they should be worn in conjunction with a belt. I wore braces (without a belt of course) on every Tuesday and Thursday for his enjoyment...

 

[Mathematicus]

I've always tried to schedule interviews on Friday, just for the fun of standind out in the "casual Friday" sloppy crowd. Surprisingly, I've had quite a lot of positive feedbacks, so maybe conformism at every price is not the golden road that many think.

 

[Wesslyn]

My boss told me that my attitude negates how nice I dress, and that I don't impress anybody, so I started wearing tee shirts and my German army jacket to work, and save my nice clothes for occasions when people actually have nice things to say.

I used to take a lot of pride in wearing suits and hats to work until my boss started telling me my ties hinder my work and another superior vigourously manhandled my 50s Resistol I left in the breakroom...

My band also seems embarrassed to perform with me when I'm dressed nice.
I guess we just live in the wrong time, eh?

 

[Mathematicus]

My boss told me that my attitude negates how nice I dress, and that I don't impress anybody, so I started wearing tee shirts and my German army jacket to work, and save my nice clothes for occasions when people actually have nice things to say.

I used to take a lot of pride in wearing suits and hats to work until my boss started telling me my ties hinder my work and another superior vigourously manhandled my 50s Resistol I left in the breakroom...

That's so sad. Especially because all this casual thing started under the auspices of egalitarism. All bull.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Wear the nice clothes and get your revenge when you get promoted over him.

 

[Awesomest Guy]

Wear the nice clothes and get your revenge when you get promoted over him.

Exactly. It's the common view today that people should not be judged based on their appearance, but nonetheless they are, and anyway, the way one presents oneself is often a reflection of who one is as a person.

 

[Fastuni]

@jhonathan

Are you going to post something substantial or are you just spamming threads with random "wisdoms" and advertisement for "Costum Stitchers" (all your posts)?

 

[Lean'n'mean]

from Custon Stitichers.

There you see, you said it again........banana yogurt.

 

[Dirk Wainscotting]

I am sorry you felt that way. I am new at forums and i saw people bragging about what clothes they wear and from where they get them. So i just thought this was how it worked. I was only sharing what i thought would be helpful because pretty much of all my clothes are from Custon Stitichers. And BTW, its CUSTOM.

All your clothes? They only make shirts. Don't you wear trousers?

 

[Bolero]

I don't give anyone the Finger unless I'm wearing my Thong...

 

[Dirk Wainscotting]

I really thought we were talking about shirts only. Obviously.

Obviously? Is that discernible from the thread title, because I can't see that.

 

[Mathematicus]

Obviously? Is that discernible from the thread title, because I can't see that.

Dirk, obviously if there is a dozen of posts before talking about suits and decline of business wear, then it means that we are discussing about our favourite shirtmakers.

 

[scottyrocks]

I don't think I've done it deliberately.

About the closest I've come is full leathers. For years I rode a motorcycle to work, and the teaching profession is not someplace you would usually see a fully leathered employee. No one ever objected, at least out loud, but soon it became a normal expected thing, as on days when I drove I'd get the, 'Hey, where's your outfit?' comments. These days, when not under a fedora, I get the, 'Hey, where's your hat?' comments.