Who cares about the boardroom?

[Senator Jack]

From talking to sartorially obsessed individuals about the city, I've realized there are two camps. One is obsessed with dressing to impress colleagues/bosses/underlings/et cetera rather while the other dresses to impress themselves/partners/dates/spouses/et cetera. Just my opinion, but I believe following the rules of the former leads to dull afternoons and stale meetings while the latter leads to joy, romance, and some rather interesting evenings.

So which is it? Do you prefer a style that may border tasteful flamboyance or would you rather look the successful stockbroker?

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Matt Deckard]

I figure many get caught up in the minutia of trying to fit in and their focus turns away from style and more toward mediocrity. Dry as a cracker. That's why we have the fedora Lounge.

I've been in the boardrooms before. Been with the largest moneymakers in the US. Ran across the trading floors in Chicago and sat at the oak desks. It's a sea of grey and Navy, though when it came to the meeting they looked for my opinion on plenty of occasions. I'm hoping they looked to me because they thought I was wise, though I really believe it's because they liked the brown teed jacket and horn rimmed glasses i was wearing at the time. In a sea of power suits, the brown tends to be the bold.

 

[Lady Day]

Its like with cars and McMansions and anythinge else that screams status. Those Prada shoes with that 'name X' suit says successful, not individual. They are visual markers, signaling that they have made it within their click. All groups have it, but theirs does tend to be on the extreme.

It becomes not about what you wear, but 'who'. Prada, Gucci, Feragamo, D&G etc. But these stand out 'accomplishments' tend to loose their punch if EVERYONE is wearing them.

Individuality sacrificed for the sake of acceptance? No thank you. Give me my $20 thrift store find wool suit with the button missing anyday.

LD

 

[Harp]

It's a sea of grey and Navy, though when it came to the meeting they looked for my opinion on plenty of occasions. I'm hoping they looked to me because they thought I was wise, though I really believe it's because they liked the brown teed jacket and horn rimmed glasses i was wearing at the time. In a sea of power suits, the brown tends to be the bold.

...sounds like a sartorial retracement back to '38; '50; '61 tweed.

 

[MK]

.

From talking to sartorially obsessed individuals about the city, I've realized there are two camps. One is obsessed with dressing to impress colleagues/bosses/underlings/et cetera rather while the other dresses to impress themselves/partners/dates/spouses/et cetera. Just my opinion, but I believe following the rules of the former leads to dull afternoons and stale meetings while the latter leads to joy, romance, and some rather interesting evenings.

So which is it? Do you prefer a style that may border tasteful flamboyance or would you rather look the successful stockbroker?

Regards,

Senator Jack

Neither. I dress for me.

 

[vonwotan]

Neither. I dress for me.

Hear, hear! I work in a bank serving institutional clients. For client meetings I do need to don my least interesting of suits, but cannot give up my bow tie and pocket scarf, and do wear my fedora whenever it is below fourty degrees outside.

I much prefer my tweeds, blazers and wool trousers, with an occasional very casual foray in my corduroys. Generally I wear a bow tie, but as an attempt to be more casual I have been wearing open collars and ascots.

That said, I dress for me first and, on certain occasions, for friends and loved ones.

 

[scotrace]

Neither. I dress for me.

Bingo!

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Well...

...My colleagues at the bank dress for themselves. I know, because around me that conversation inevitably comes up. We have folks who wear everything from Brooks Brothers to Sears, I would imagine. Some suits are horribly dated, but I have never heard anyone judged negatively for it, except in jest.

Personally, I have an aesthetic that I maintain; I dress for myself always. Even on casual day I wear a tie and casual for me is a sport coat. Clothes are another form of expression and I express myself a bit more formally.

 

[Feraud]

The boardroom is no different from any other slice of socity. I see the same trends at the exectutive meeting or a show at CBGB's.
There is a small percent who are leaders and the rest are followers.
A tiny percent set the trends and the rest follow along.

My company enforces a corporate dress code so I express my individuality with particular pieces of clothing that fit within the corporate structure.

What I learned from the Lower East Side punk scene is, it is not what you wear that makes you an indivdual but why you wear it.

 

[Lincsong]

We have a "no Jeans" policy at work that applies from the warehousemen up to the CEO. (The warehousemen and repairman do have a respite from wearing ties though. So most people take that dress code as dockers/khaki's/ Haggar pants, whatever collared shirt and tie. Fridays are a little more formal for the salesmen. However we're not a very prententious company. The former CEO (and Company namesake) drove a '63 Continental and kept homing pigeons on the roof of headquarters, while the Vice President of Sales drove around in a 1979 LTD II until he retired in 2003. As for me I Monday-Thursday it's the Haggar slacks/whatever tie and short sleeved shirt and on Friday I dress better in a suit, or jacket and slacks. The clients really notice it on Friday and appreciate it.

 

[staggerwing]

I dress the way I do because I like to, and because I'm comfortable dressed the way I am. That said, as a businessman, it is important that I fit a certain image, but if that image required me to dress radically different from the way I would anyway, I'd probably change professions. My suits are what I'd call "classicly styled" for lack of better terminology, and my fedora makes me stand out in a crowd of similarly attired businessmen (I know there are businesswomen too, but as far as dress is concerned, I can't compare myself with them). I also dress for friends, loved one, and even strangers. I tend to like eating in nicer establishments, and I believe it's only good manners to be properly attired. That said, I mainly do it because I like the way I look.

 

[GOK]

I dress for me because I am me, I am not anybody else. I do not wish or need to look like anyone else, nor wear someone else's idea of what is 'correct'. I do not need other people or a written code to tell me what I already know. I have an inherent sense of occasion!

 

[Spitfire]

Normaly I dress like I feel like, and don't care so much about what others might think. Working in the creative depatments at ad agencies it is also expected that you either dress sharp, crazy or not at all...

One day when I had a meeting with the biggest company in Denmark, I decided to wear a dark suit and tie.
When I entered the boardroom with my copywriter, the client's CO - in threepiece suit, tie and all - said to me:
"Don't ever dress like that again, you loos all you credibility!!!"

 

[lindylady]

I dress for myself. If someone happens to like the look and gives me a compliment, then I accept it graciously. If someone criticizes my vintage look (no one has so far, but if they did), I take it as though they live in their happy little world and I live in mine. One shouldn't conform to the pressure to dress in modern trends just to fit in with most people. Classic style is still appreciated.

 

[Jovan]

Some of my friends think I dress like an old man...

I should note I wore this exact outfit to a job interview, and they called me back for a second interview.

 

[Twitch]

Dressing for normal business means a suit and tie. It depends on your company as to how lavish you need to go. How many people really need to wear $3000 suits for the ivory tower sessions in a corporation?

I was involved in visits to customers, business-related functions from dinners to business club organizations and conventions. Ya wore a suit. If you were the president of a major grocery chain you probably had a better on than the salesman who called on your buyer. That's it. No mystery.

Some people can't wear anything that enhances their image no matter how expensive. Others can buy a J.C. Penny suit and look super. I simply picked decent clothing that I liked without a thought to impressing anyone.

If you are in a situation where your clothing is eyed with suspicion over your work performance you are in the wrong place, probably filled with shallow people.

 

[Fletch]

I dunno

I have a theory about style. That is that people who don't have it can still perceive it in others – but they perceive it as something other than style. "He looks different somehow. I don't get him. I'm not comfortable with him. I don't trust him. I don't want to work or do business with him."

Not all people will react that way, of course, but enough that it is a real risk in doing business. No one will bring up the clothes issue, but watch others in an office and it is understood.

I was in a conservative suit/tie office (insurance lending trainee) right out of college in the late '80s. Gradually I got the message that even small stylistic eccentricities didn't go over - a black silk knit tie, a patch pocket seersucker suit in summer, etc. Details that more men wore - cufflinks, white collar, suspenders - were OK. Exactly 2 of us had olive green poplins to wear in summer, and even that was something of a mild joke.

The best dressed guy in the whole office was a company counsel who didn't deal with outside clients much (and was somewhat openly androgynous, FWTW). He could get away with say, a brown fuzzy plaid or herringbone suit, a lapeled vest, dark tan shoes, or a little more tailoring than the rest of the guys.

Basically, the image was, "You're working with large sums of money and people in varied industries. You need to look like you're going to court. Take no chances, and certainly not in the direction of looking too casual or too elegant." (Casual Friday wasn't a concept yet.)

 

[Stinchcomb]

Wow, some dressy folks here. I own one suit and I bought it for a funeral several years ago, it’s a nice attractive dark grey wool suit not too expensive not too cheap.

I tend to take the Albert Einstein approach to my clothing selection. Will I wear the tan cotton pants, blue oxford shirt, brown boots, and A2 jacket today or the tan cotton pants, green oxford shirt, brown boots, and A2 jacket? Name brands don’t mean anything to me. I usually buy my pants and shirts because I think they look and fit good and don’t even pay attention to the price, although the expensive clothes do seem to hold up better than the cheap stuff.

Which hat is usually my biggest choice. My wife hates my clothing style, but I dress in what I think is comfortable and looks good on me, and I happy with that. I’m a mechanical engineer, so usually what I wear is acceptable in our industry.

 

[Orgetorix]

I have a theory about style. That is that people who don't have it can still perceive it in others – but they perceive it as something other than style. "He looks different somehow. I don't get him. I'm not comfortable with him. I don't trust him. I don't want to work or do business with him."

Very interesting, Fletch. You may be onto something there.

 

[Curt Chiarelli]

What, sacrifice individuality to become another conveyer-belt, cookie-cutter drone in the human anthill? Forget it! I dress for me, regardless of what others think. Always have, always will!