When it comes to fashion choices, bankers get a dress-down

WASHINGTON — Almost 40 years ago, Gordon Gekko declared “Greed is good” in the 1987 movie “Wall Street.” Michael Douglas’ iconic character, decked out in sharply tailored suits and slicked back hair, came to represent what many thought titans of the financial sector looked and dressed like. 

But gone are the days of the suits and suspenders, power ties and polished shoes. To be sure, the financial sector is less dominated by men today than it was in the 1980s when Douglas popularized the Gekko image, and overall women’s fashion has undergone its own set of changes. Instead, bankers, especially men, are now embracing a more casual style and less conspicuous consumption, while still projecting a sense of dignity and gravitas. This mirrors broader changes in social norms, corporate culture and client expectations. 

“Bankers have engendered, by the very definition of their work, financial responsibility in all their business relationships and should be dressed in a sober capacity but one that still represents their background and integrity,” said Richard Press, who ran J. Press in New York for over three decades before it was acquired by the Japanese apparel firm Onward Kashiyama in 1986. “I think that’s best represented by wearing a natural shoulder dark gray suit with an appropriate repp-stripe or emblematic tie that provides the image of fiscal responsibility.”

A history of business fashion

Crucial to understanding the foundation for what is considered proper business attire today for men is the history of tailored suits. Derek Guy, a menswear expert who goes by @dieworkwear on the social platform X, says the archetypal banker look largely originates from the longstanding traditions of a certain social class in England. Until the last century, British professionals split their time, and getups, into two distinct modes. (For full disclosure, I am an aficionado of men’s fashion and because of that, I have focused mostly on menswear in this story. I’ll leave commentary on women’s business attire to others who are more suited to that task.) 

“The upper class in Britain had wardrobes that were divided between the city — in this case the city London — where you did business and the country where you pursued sport, and that was often Scottish estates,” Guy said. 

City wear consisted of generally more conservative attire. That meant darker suiting, solid shirts, black footwear, silk scarves and charcoal or black overcoats — often in the Chesterfield style with a velvet collar. Country attire was all about sporting, and would include heavier wool tweeds, tattersall or tartan patterned shirts, brown pebbled leather shoes and tweed flat caps. 

Though menswear styles have changed over the decades, hints of those conventions can be felt in Gekko’s look — designed by renowned clothier Alan Flusser. The character specifically wore shirts with a more formal, stiff spread-collar reminiscent of an English banker style. 

Overall, Douglas’ costumes in “Wall Street” were a composite caricature of the most ostentatious aspects of city banker attire of the 1980s. Flusser based Douglas’ wardrobe for the movie on what Wall Street power brokers at the time wore when they became successful. 

“In those days, when guys made a lot of money, they went to Savile Row to get the clothes, shoes and everything else made,” said Flusser, referring to the area of London well known for its bespoke clothing for men. “That was the top of the sartorial mountain as such.” 

Flusser noted the cultural impact of the movie was quite massive. “It was really remarkable. We couldn’t make clothes fast enough to address — no pun intended — all the people coming in who wanted to look like their version of Michael Douglas,” said Flusser. “Gordon Gekko is still kind of an influence — even if it’s unconscious — in the way some people want to look.” 

For decades, Press clothed many Wall Street bankers from his Ivy League-inspired menswear boutique, J. Press. The company was founded in 1902 by Press’ grandfather, Jacobi Press, on Yale University’s campus. It still maintains brick-and-mortar stores in major East Coast hubs. 

However, unlike the Gekko character, Press said that many male bankers, especially those who were Ivy League graduates, preferred button-down shirts which had soft, billowing collars anchored down by buttons. While often considered a more informal type of shirt in business attire, the buttoned collar style was a signature of Ivy League dress throughout the 20th century and continues today.

“A very large percentage of our custom [and] bespoke customers at that time were bankers,” he said. “For daytime wear, their outfits were usually gray suits, whether it was solid, pinstripe, dark, flannel or herringbone.”

But as Guy noted, this standard is decades out of vogue. The suit and tie have been in recession for years now. “I don’t think many people wear that anymore,” he said. “Over the last 80 years the tie has been on a slow descent and went into free fall after the casual Fridays of the 1990s.” 

Things got casual

When thinking about Wall Street firms, there are few more prominent than the white-shoe investment banking giant Goldman Sachs. It’s the company that young and hungry recent college graduates with degrees in finance and economics strive to work for. 

Given this reputation, it was rather shocking when the company announced, in 2019, that it was shifting toward a more casual dress code. Though the memo outlining the change didn’t provide specifics, CEO David Solomon wrote, “All of us know what is and is not appropriate for the workplace.” Certain divisions within Goldman had been allowed to dress more casually before the change became companywide. 

At the time of the announcement, one news report called the move “once unimaginable” for the company’s “monk-shoed partners and bankers in bespoke suits.” Goldman declined to comment for this story. 

The shift was a stark example of the suit being in decline for the banking sector. This move reflected a broader trend away from formal office attire and tied into evolving client expectations and the growing influence of the highly casual tech sector. 

However, some expressed concerns that it may have introduced ambiguity regarding what constitutes ‘appropriate’ office attire. 

“They just said, ‘You can dress more casually except for times where you clearly need to wear a suit,'” said Guy. “And then I think their vague advice was, ‘We all know what is acceptable and not acceptable’ … but no, many people don’t know what’s acceptable or not acceptable.” 

Alex Klingelhoeffer, currently a wealth advisor at the Oklahoma City-based Exencial Wealth Advisors, began his career at a Charles Schwab call center in Austin, Texas, in 2013, right as the company would make a sharp turn in its office attire expectations. Klingelhoeffer said shortly after arriving at Schwab, norms were relaxed in an attempt to appear more approachable. The change meant that ties, rather than being the standard for dressing up, now represented a stuffy and outdated look. The firm, said Klingelhoeffer, was attempting to stay current by casualizing attire. 

Rose Callahan

“The first year I’m there in 2013 — basically right out of school — you want to look sharp: Brooks Brothers tie, a striped shirt and a Hart Schaffner Marx suit I couldn’t afford — but whatever, you gotta look sharp,” he said. “The next year, same deal, we’re doing our executive meeting this quarter in Austin [we were told] ‘no ties, we’re approachable.'” 

Klingelhoeffer attributes the relaxed dress code to the rise of the technology sector. At the time, tech companies overtook financial and energy companies to boast the largest market caps and were, therefore, more popular to invest in. Silicon Valley famously has a more informal dress code. (To reference another popular movie about business, see Mark Zuckerberg’s hoodie and flip-flops in “The Social Network.”)

The shift in the kinds of clients showing up to meetings meant that approachability became more important than dressing conservatively. 

“It went from energy back in like the 2000s, then it was finance in 2005 and [from] 2013 and on it’s been tech; and whatever is popular from an investment sense, a financial sense and almost from a cultural sense, that’s where the fashion follows,” he said. “I think the thing to always remember is that banking is a service industry, there’s a lot of technical stuff, but it’s ultimately about clients.” 

Klingelhoeffer said the trend has only been amplified over time particularly with the effects of remote work scrambling the traditional workplace model. This is especially pronounced with high value clients who are no longer required to be physically present or dressed formally to engage in business. Fridays, Klingelhoeffer said, are typically quiet in offices, particularly in client-facing roles, as clients are often away at country clubs or on vacation. Klingelhoeffer emphasized the importance of being available in these settings to address clients’ inquiries effectively. 

“For whatever reason, for people of means these days: Monday is like a holiday, Friday is like a holiday. You get some stuff done Tuesday through Thursday and then from Thursday afternoon onwards it’s like whatever, they’re kind of working, kind of not,” he said. “You used to have clients that show up in a suit or whatever, that sort of thing. [You] never [see that now,] it’s golf shirts, T-shirts.” 

He further illustrates this change by describing the CEO’s attire at meetings. 

“Our CEO will come into meetings with, you know, jeans and a nice belt or whatever … and a nice print shirt,” he said. “To me, that’s like the uniform … that’s what you’ll see like higher powered execs in anytime they’re on camera, more or less.” 

Klingelhoeffer noted that while this casual attire is less fussy than the previous uniform, there are regional nuances to what is considered appropriate. Bankers have to adjust their attire to meet their clients’ expectations. 

“When you go down to [Dallas Fort Worth International Airport], you see a ton of dudes in like L.L. Bean fleece vests with weird colored socks and loafers because they’re all working with private equity guys out of Dallas,” he said. “Occasionally they’ll throw on some boots and go over to Fort Worth, because they’re helping guys out in the Permian [Basin] finance their oil companies. So ultimately, whoever your clients are, the dress is gonna flow from that.” 

Jessica Cadmus, founder of Rogue Paq Accessories and a stylist at Wardrobe Whisperer, has made a career out of styling Wall Street professionals. Cadmus emphasized the importance of her clients projecting a polished image, tailored to their individual preferences, while remaining open to the aesthetic preferences of their clients. 

“You want to try to match the vibe while always being neat, clean and polished,” she said. “Ostentatiousness with clients is typically frowned upon,” she added. “The unwritten rule is to avoid conspicuous consumption, which definitely pertains to attire.” 

Cadmus highlighted the importance of personal branding and appearance on Wall Street. While codes have relaxed, there are still red lines for bankers, as certain clothing choices are universally deemed unsuitable for a banking setting. For example, she says denim is typically relegated to Fridays in many prominent firms. And typically larger firms tend to be still more formal in their clothing requirements while smaller companies are more casual. She noted that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley usually set the standard. Morgan Stanley declined to comment for this story. 

“Most of my banking clients are either asking for, or being trusted with, large amounts of money and, so, personal appearance needs to convey trustworthiness or, at the very least, competence,” she said. “Visible tattoos for client-facing employees remains a bit of a taboo [as are] open-toed shoes for women and white pants for men.” 

When it comes to setting the gold standard for Wall Street banker attire, Cadmus said certain firms lead the way. She says Wall Street attire — like the business itself — also reflects a hierarchical culture, where seniority influences attire choices. While cleanliness and polish are universal expectations across all levels, the details of attire evolve as individuals progress through the ranks. 

“If you just focus on watches, a VP would typically wear a Cartier Tank watch — these days with a leather strap versus a metal strap — and a senior [managing director] or partner — as they still call them at Goldman — would more likely wear a Panerai or a Patek Philippe,” she says. “If a junior person came in sporting a Patek Philippe that would be frowned upon.” 

While subtle expressions of success are still prevalent, she says good taste dictates keeping overt displays of wealth to a minimum. “Actually, it would be more likely that the partner would wear a Timex to work but have a collection at home that would include a Panerai, Patek Philippe, a Rolex and maybe a Favre-Leuba,” she said. 

Hollie Adams/Bloomberg

Are ties gone forever?

Wall Street business attire has been trending toward the more casual. But experts are split on whether this is a permanent change. Guy thinks the days of neckties are squarely behind us. “I talked to high-end clothiers and one told me that he thinks of his necktie collection now as just part of the store’s decor, the way that TGI Fridays puts up those chintzy roadside signs … it’s just a way to set the mood,” he said. 

Some, like Cadmus, have a more nuanced perspective on the trajectory of fashion trends. While she remains skeptical about the complete resurgence of the formal styles prevalent in the ’80s and ’90s, she acknowledges a shift within the industry away from the exceedingly casual norms that emerged during the pandemic era. 

“At recent conferences, my clients were reporting more formal attire overall — suits and no ties, versus what they experienced over the last few years, which was more blazers and no suits at all,” she said. “Women have made a large shift toward dresses — or pants and blazers — versus the corporate suit that was a staple for years.” 

Womenswear, she added, has undergone some of the most stark changes, with dresses and new kinds of footwear being worked into financial professionals’ rotations. For example, she said Maxi dresses are currently in vogue for women as are chunky loafers and shorter boots. “Akris has excellent workwear dresses as does Max Mara and brands like The Row, Diane Von Furstenberg and Loro Piana,” she said. “As for shoes, block heels have largely replaced the pump. This past winter we saw a resurgence of boots that ended below the knee versus the to-the-knee and higher boots we’ve seen the last several years.” 

Data indicates that as the banking industry continues to adjust to the new normal, there might be a wider cultural movement toward adopting slightly more formal attire as the pandemic becomes a distant memory. 

As employees make their way back to the office, Rent the Runway, a wardrobe rental service, experienced a significant increase in the demand for workwear rentals during the summer of 2023. This surge suggests a potential revival in the requirement for office-appropriate clothing, reminiscent of trends observed prior to early 2020. 

According to the Partnership for NYC, 65% of financial sector employees are back to work, one of the highest rates across all sectors. Additionally, observations from Morgan Stanley’s 2023 annual financial conference revealed a notable increase in formal attire, with only roughly half of the executives opting to forgo ties compared with 81% in 2021. 

Circana, a firm which tracks consumer behavioral data, highlighted a notable boost in the tailored clothing market in 2023, with sales revenue surpassing even pre-pandemic levels by 8%. This resurgence in tailored clothing sales suggests a renewed interest in traditional business attire as professionals readjust to in-person work environments. 

Made-to-measure menswear retailer Indochino’s record-setting revenue in the first quarter of 2023 further corroborates this trend, signaling a growing demand for tailored clothing among consumers across the board. 

As the return-to-office trend gathers steam, it seems that the general public is inclined toward a sharper appearance compared with recent years. This suggests that it might only be a matter of time before the effect trickles upward, influencing bank clients to adopt more tailored attire, thereby influencing bankers to do the same. 

As new sales of tailored clothing have increased, the market has evolved to include styles which blend formality and approachability, such as J. Crew’s more casual Ludlow suits and loafers as opposed to laced dress shoes. 

“The biggest way [to stay up-to-date] for men is largely losing the tie and the biggest way for women is largely ditching heels, or maybe wearing them once or twice per week instead of daily,” Cadmus said. “[Loafers] are a huge trend and they are meeting that middle ground in dress that is the current sweet spot.” 

Guy argued relaxed workplace norms can allow professionals to find freedom in their attire selection. He says the days of being reprimanded for eschewing a tie seem like relics of a bygone era. 

“For the guy who’s trying to just look appropriate for the office, to me that’s not, it’s not too difficult. Like you could go to Brooks Brothers, J. Press or even J. Crew, buy a few pairs of at least chinos, if not wool trousers, a button-up shirt and maybe buy at least one tie if you really need it, but you probably don’t,” he said. “The nice thing about our current kind of dress culture is that you can wear whatever you want, with very little recourse.” 

Flusser noted that informality does not necessarily mean poor dress. He argued comfort does not necessarily mean schlubby. 

“Now the question is, how comfortable can you be, are you allowed to be, and still look business-like,” he said. 

Cadmus notes that with companies still trying to enforce their return-to-work mandates, attire is somewhat a secondary concern. 

“Things are still a bit all over the place with some people wearing suits at one end of the spectrum, and some people still trying to get away with denim and/or sneakers,” she said. 

“Firms are so focused on just getting people back in the building that they are not yet completely cracking down on dress,” Cadmus added.