Idle speculation department.
I'm currently temping at a CPA office. Well trained professionals in this place. There's a good chance that some of the employees, at least at the executive level, are actual millionaires. Some of the customers definitely are, and some of them drop off their tax paperwork in person.
In the weeks I've been working there, I don't remember seeing any of the men who work there in suits. Someone who came in for a meeting, but that's a rare exception. And a couple of women wear what could be called suits, but female formal/office wear is a more flexible concept. The men may wear the same jacketless slacks/dress shirt combo I do, if more tailored. Or, occasionally, just a homey jeans and sweatshirt thing. I don't know how much of this is "WFH" comes to the office, a process accelerated by COVID lockdowns. It could also be part of a more gradual process.
Men's style blogs and magazine articles sometimes venture into "what comes after the suit." It tends to be the old standard, but less of it. Sometimes the blazer-over-tee look that I associate with Paul Simon.
My educated guess is that the suit will survive for some time longer as a formal standard of menswear, albeit more honored in the breach. This will hold until some other costume is formalized to replace it. Which doesn't show signs of happening just yet.
2 comments:
It's a shame suits have been disappearing from the workplace as I've always seen them as sign of respect for one's position and for co-workers. When I was in London working for a small group of aviation underwriters, I remember my boss always excused himself when he changed jackets in the back room when I'd be there making tea for the brokers.
I rather think dress codes changed when relaxed Fridays came into vogue and then got really loose after the lockdowns. At least your employers don't come to the office wearing pyjamas and robes. At the same time I don't think suits have completely gone out of style either but it's depressing to see so many guys dressed in hoodies and sweatpants - it's lazy and sloppy
You've reminded me of a movie we saw a while back - the actor Mark Rylance plays Leonard in The Outfit - a master English tailor who has built up a business in Chicago making suits for gangsters - the only people who can afford them.
The phrase "aviation underwriters" conjures up a world in itself. His changing jackets in the back room is a nice detail. It's funny the things that stick with you or come back to you about certain jobs.
I'd have to agree with you that wearing a suit signify respect. Now I've only ever briefly worked in a job that required them, so I generally haven't worn them to work myself. I tend to avoid going into work just in jeans and t-shirt too, though, because that doesn't halp me in preparing for the day psychologically. It occurs to me that some forms of dress also mark you as a responsible person whom one can go to with problems, and that this might be one reason men like to avoid dressing up.
I seem to remember one or both of you telling me about The Outfit. The setting and premise sound promising, so I'll probably see it one of these days.
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