Started reading through Bill's new book "Discussion Materials: Tales of a Rookie Wall Street Investment Banker" and he mentions that bankers look upon reversible belts and Nike crew socks with contempt. To those in the industry, is this actually the case? Sounds so superficial and petty to me
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they are cheap and inferior, do you also wear clip-on ties?
https://www.saksfifthavenue.com/salvatore-ferragamo-adjustable-reversib…
Thats false - this ferragamo reversible belt costs $400. That's cheap bud?
I just bought it. Will sell to you for 4x the original price. Now it’s $1600, nobody can look down at it!
To the OP, it's really only analysts like this who 'look down' on people who dress appropriately but not in line with their carefully cultivated ideas of 'class'. Largely a reflection of insecurity at being at the bottom of a long ladder. It's the same kind of person who would tell his/her friends that 'Lloyd Bankfein is so cool for wearing a Swatch, he DGAF' while making fun of a fellow analyst for doing the same.
Dress neatly, relatively conservatively, and look well-groomed and no-one will care beyond that.
In reality, most people are way too busy to give a fuck about what you're wearing unless you overtly look like a goober. (Nike crew socks in the office fall into the overtly goober category btw)
Just look presentable and be hygienic and no one will care about what you're wearing.
also in the book they talk about people wearing rubber soled shoes being made fun of - is this true?
I've always worn them lol rip
How many people can actually tell a polyester tie from a silk one? Probably less than people think.
In an era when people ask you why you're so dressed up(at least where I come from) just because you've tucked in your jean-shirt or are wearing some kind of lulu slim fit flex-chinos with trainers and a "blazer", I don't put too much stock in people's ability to tell whether you're sporting leather or vibram soles. Also, as far as I can tell the 'rules' are much more mixed up nowadays compared to thirty years ago when certain forms of dress were still the norm, so a senior md may bat an eye at your collar width while the vp thinks you look too stuffy with that tie and your roommate thinks you're just spiffy.
Yes, there are plenty of people in IB who care about attire and can recognize the brand of a tie on sight. Many people wear "the uniform" of typical brands / materials because it's easy to simply conform when you have plenty of other problems to deal with.
If you want to save money on a polyester tie or have vibram soled shoes, you might get teased for it at some point. If you wear nike white tube socks with your dress clothes, you will 100% be made fun of and people will continue to laugh about it for a while after you stop.
It's up to you whether you care
I wear one to work (when we could go to the office lol) because it looks fine and still works and no one has ever noticed and if they have they don’t care. As long as you look somewhat presentable no one really cares how you look in the office
It’s not as if you can’t fix this? Buy a new belt and get better socks maybe? They’re not even more expensive just in a different category. People should know there’s an unspoken dress code at banks. I personally don’t care but I completely understand it.
I rocked a $15 faux leather reversible belt from target for my entire analyst stint. Held up better than any other leather belt I've owned and looked great. Indistiguishable from a leather belt IMO since most "dress" leather belts are leather on the inside and wrapped with a non-leather material anyways. Nobody can tell and it's super convenient.
I don't understand the reversible belt problem but the nike socks with dress shoes sounds hideous. There are different price tiers of dress socks so you should be able to get the same price or cheaper dress socks. The black puffy cotton ribbing and white nike check showing when you sit down... that's a problem.
Interesting. But who wears a belt anymore? Haven't seen any one in SF except for MDs
I actually had to look up what a reversible belt was.
Still not sure why you would need two colors, though? Are you planning on selling used cars in your spare time?
Black and brown? lol
r/wooosh
Not sure how someone would know that you're wearing a reversible belt.....if you can tell, you're staring too hard at someone's belt area if you know what I mean...
Side note...I just hate those belts because they're flimsy and the buckles always seem to fall apart. That's my only reason for looking down on them.
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