Ebichuman
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2011
- Messages
- 1,123
- Reaction score
- 1,097
Instead of trying to come up with a universal truth, one needs to judge the dressing style against multiple - and changing - variables. For context: I am at a major Bay St law firm and previously was with a Big 4 and a major bank.
Most of the senior executives /partners dress in pretty formal business attire: dark suit, tie. Many however wear ill fitting or downright cheap (cheap, not inexpensive) clothes, especially shoes. It's not uncommon to see partners dress very casually: jeans or khakis or sweatshirts. Clearly they're not meeting clients these days or they work in one of the hip practices like start-ups.
Below the partner rank you mostly see crappy suits, too tight and too short. If you overdress a bit it will probably be positively noticed (and you sure as heck don't want to under-dress in a big way especially when business attire is required).
If you're an IT help desk support analyst and show up in a three piece everyday people will talk. You should realize that you're an outlier and that you will get some attention. But on the other hand, I don't think it would be terribly detrimental. Most people do not pay that much attention to the clothing.
As a mid-senior level associate (I believe that was the level of the OP) a tasteful and well tailored double breasted suit is perfectly fine, IMHO.
Just don't overdo it: http://www.bacoluxury.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Gianni-Cerutti-e1420720312690.jpg
Most of the senior executives /partners dress in pretty formal business attire: dark suit, tie. Many however wear ill fitting or downright cheap (cheap, not inexpensive) clothes, especially shoes. It's not uncommon to see partners dress very casually: jeans or khakis or sweatshirts. Clearly they're not meeting clients these days or they work in one of the hip practices like start-ups.
Below the partner rank you mostly see crappy suits, too tight and too short. If you overdress a bit it will probably be positively noticed (and you sure as heck don't want to under-dress in a big way especially when business attire is required).
If you're an IT help desk support analyst and show up in a three piece everyday people will talk. You should realize that you're an outlier and that you will get some attention. But on the other hand, I don't think it would be terribly detrimental. Most people do not pay that much attention to the clothing.
As a mid-senior level associate (I believe that was the level of the OP) a tasteful and well tailored double breasted suit is perfectly fine, IMHO.
Just don't overdo it: http://www.bacoluxury.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Gianni-Cerutti-e1420720312690.jpg