In an era of rapidly changing cultural, sexual, and social mores, one surprising development came and went without much comment. In 2019, Goldman Sachs announced that it was relaxing its famously strict dress code. High finance, long a bastion of suit-and-tie traditionalism, had finally surrendered to the encroaching forces of “business casual.”
Goldman’s white flag was a lagging, not a leading, indicator of trends within American workforces. Ill-matched khaki and dress shirt pairings have been de rigueur in many offices since the mid-’90s. The tech industry, which has supplanted finance as the career of choice for ambitious strivers, openly disdains workplace formality. Disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried famously used his casual wardrobe to woo potential marks. Credulous investors thought they had found the next Mark Zuckerberg. What they got was Bernie Madoff in sweatpants.
What happened to American menswear?
Join the conversation as a VIP Member