The Year of Dressing Formally (2008) • Hacker News Board

Re: The Year of Dressing Formally (2008)

#11

Post by dsirijus » Tue, May 28, 2013, 8:53 PM UTC

davidw wrote: post #7

cmbaus wrote: post #3

I just wish more American businessmen would wear decent shoes, such as bluchers or oxfords by Alden or Allen Edmonds, so I don't have to see anymore rubber soled, bicycle toed loafers at the airport: http://instagram.com/p/ZbdZfMsM4G/

People wear all kinds of silly fashions here in Italy, which is pretty much the fashion capital of the world. Some of them may be well made, name-brand silly fashions, but they certainly look odd 5 years out from when they were 'in'. I'm with Zuckerberg, and Jobs with his 'uniform' on this one: most of that junk is a complete waste of your time. The only winning move is not to play. You don't have to wear just sweats…

Mimicry has its place for those who haven't succeeded globally by the age you're supposed to start wearing formal, or at least "decent" clothes, like Zuckerberg and Jobs did.

Re: The Year of Dressing Formally (2008)

#12

Post by cmbaus » Tue, May 28, 2013, 8:54 PM UTC

jowiar wrote: post #8

cmbaus wrote: post #3

I just wish more American businessmen would wear decent shoes, such as bluchers or oxfords by Alden or Allen Edmonds, so I don't have to see anymore rubber soled, bicycle toed loafers at the airport: http://instagram.com/p/ZbdZfMsM4G/

Living in SF rendered my leather-soled AEs pretty much useless. Walking up Nob Hill wearing leather soles is pretty much a treadmill. On the casual end of things, backless sandals are equally iffy (despite the SF Birkenstock stereotype).

You can have a rubber outsole added to a leather-soled welted shoe: http://baus.net/alden-cordovan-af53-long-term-review/

Re: The Year of Dressing Formally (2008)

#13

Post by vkou » Tue, May 28, 2013, 8:58 PM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #2

[deleted]

Even if he were a public employee, I'm not sure how you that you have any right to complain about what he spends his salary on.

Re: The Year of Dressing Formally (2008)

#14

Post by atourgates » Tue, May 28, 2013, 8:58 PM UTC

"One day you put on a tie, the next day you are driving a Hummer and voting Republican."

My official nomination for quote of the day.

Re: The Year of Dressing Formally (2008)

#15

Post by mindcrime » Tue, May 28, 2013, 9:02 PM UTC

FWIW, wearing a suit (in the modern "business suit" sense of term) isn't technically "formal" dress. Heck, it isn't even semi-formal. Semi-formal would be a tuxedo (for men), and formal wear would be "morning dress" or "white tie".[1]

"Business suits" fall into the category of "lounge suit" which is considered informal dress.[2]

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_wear

[2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lounge_suit

Re: The Year of Dressing Formally (2008)

#16

Post by toomuchtodo » Tue, May 28, 2013, 9:03 PM UTC

jsnk wrote: post #10

I wish I can dress nicely in suits, but I don't do it for two reasons. No one dresses in suits in technology sector. Not even CEO. Only team that dress up in our company is legal, and even they are on the more informal side compared to what real formal is. Good suits that look good are expensive. I don't want to wear daddy tier suits, but good looking suits I've seen run well over $500.

I once worked at a place that required me to rack servers in a 3 piece suit. Once.

Re: The Year of Dressing Formally (2008)

#17

Post by Strilanc » Tue, May 28, 2013, 9:07 PM UTC

The title reminds me of pg's post[1] from 2005 that starts with "Suits make a corporate comeback" as an example of PR.

1: http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

Re: The Year of Dressing Formally (2008)

#18

Post by guard-of-terra » Tue, May 28, 2013, 9:08 PM UTC

Clothing is boring. It's something you have to do, as opposed to what you want to be doing.

Unless it's a T-shirt with some image that relates to your personality.

I'll pay for a service where I can dump my clothes and they'll produce identical new and fitted items.

Re: The Year of Dressing Formally (2008)

#19

Post by orangethirty » Tue, May 28, 2013, 9:09 PM UTC

I dress the same every day. Black t-shirt with no logo, jeans, and sneakers. If its cold, I put on my black hoodie. That's all you will see. Nice ocassions? My wife takes care of that. Otherwise, it's my uniform. Clothing costs have gone down, I save time and money by not having to pick what to wear of having to wash things in differen loads. But, I mostly do it because I'm lazy.

Re: The Year of Dressing Formally (2008)

#20

Post by mindcrime » Tue, May 28, 2013, 9:10 PM UTC

dsirijus wrote: post #11

davidw wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People wear all kinds of silly fashions here in Italy, which is pretty much the fashion capital of the world. Some of them may be well made, name-brand silly fashions, but they certainly look odd 5 years out from when they were 'in'. I'm with Zuckerberg, and Jobs with his 'uniform' on this one: most of that junk is a complete waste of your time. The only winning move is not to play. You don't have to wear just sweats…

Mimicry has its place for those who haven't succeeded globally by the age you're supposed to start wearing formal, or at least "decent" clothes, like Zuckerberg and Jobs did.

by the age you're supposed to start

"supposed to"? According to why? And what gives this amorphous "they" any standing to dictate such a thing?

Fuck that... I like to dandy it up and rock the "two and a half piece" suit look sometimes (that is, waistcoat and - in my case - a cravat, but no outer jacket), but I do it because I like it, not because somebody says it's what you're supposed to do. And the rest of the time, this 40 year old sees no reason not to wear jeans and a Twisted Sister t-shirt.