The Suit is Dead

According to a recent article on Netscape, “The suit is dead.”

The authority for this bold proposition? The second annual “Fashion in the Workplace” survey conducted by TheLadders.com who found that “a stunning 79 percent of the 1,181 high-end executives surveyed prefer to wear either business casual or outright casual clothing to the office”.

Their conclusion? “If you want to succeed in the corporate workplace, wear khakis and a polo shirt”.

In my humble opinion, they got the story half right. The traditional suit is a pretty much a guarantee of going nowhere fast, but not because of executives’ preferences. It’s cause it makes them all look the same. Like a bunch of penguins. Can you tell one from another? There’s very little opportunity to stand out.

But “Khakis and a polo shirt”? Please!

All Business is Show Business! Every business needs a Wardrobe Department and every character needs to dress “in character”. The article does concede that “the most important thing for senior executives to do is dress appropriately for their role and their setting”. So far so good. But they need to go one step further.

Whether you’re an employee, CEO or an entrepreneur, if you want to stand out, you gotta become a star. And stars develop their own look. Something that illustrates on the outside what they are on the inside. Something that’s consistent with whatever it is they are trying to promote. Maybe even something that’ll make other people want to copy them.

Try looking to the movies and TV for inspiration. Diane’s Keaton’s Annie Hall look in the 70′s. Or Jennifer Aniston’s “The Rachel” haircut . Jennifer Beals in Flashdance. Kids are still cutting out the necks of their sweatshirts 97 years later. Check out Liz Kelly’s Washington Post Celebritology column for more examples.

I’m not saying bankers should show up with the necks cut out of their sweats. But I get a lot of mileage out of wearing Guatamalan belts or Asian silk tops. In fact, I once showed up at an event wearing a brown blazer (what was I thinking?) and two separate people came up to me and asked “Are you OK?”…