Why do academic researchers get the big bucks? To confirm with complicated and expensive studies what we already knew intuitively.
Okay, I’m kidding, mostly.
“We find that casual attire is perceived as less ethical than business casual attire in both studies but is perceived as less ethical than business formal attire in the first study only.”
In other words, if you dress like a slob in a professional setting, people won’t trust you. Or: if you dress properly, people are more likely to trust you.
Maybe that seems obvious but I’ve had this argument with some serious professionals for years. I’m told: “When you dress down, you are saying it is not about how I look; it is about what I do and how I think. I don’t have the need to impress anyone with superficialities. I’m a man of substance”
This is wrong.
As I’ve explained tirelessly, how you dress is not really about you. It’s about others. It’s about the venue, the setting, the occasion, the institution. You can choose to honor these by dressing up. Or you can choose to insult and dishonor them by dressing like a slob.
It’s your choice but it is not really about what you look like to yourself. It is about what others perceive you to be saying about them.
Notice how even the sweats-clad tech bro will sport a tie when called upon to testify in Congress or a courtroom. This is for a reason. They want legislators and judges to respect and trust them. Knowing that is all you need to know. You did not have to wait for the Journal of Business Ethics to weigh in with a scientific study.
The study invokes a phrase I’m not sure I’ve heard previously: “business formal.” Looking it up, it turns out to be dark suits and ties for men. I’m fine with neologisms but let us be clear: a suit is not formalwear. Formal is not suits and ties. Formal is dinner jackets and matching trousers with white tie, black tie, or some other accoutrement.
During the holiday season, you might be called upon to arrive at an event in formalwear. That means black or white tie.
The black tie version in the United States is called a Tuxedo after the town in New York. It became fashionable among Americans in the early 20th century because some high-born partygoers decided to break a taboo in 1886. In traditional British culture, the black tie minus tails was the uniform for footmen in the estate, the people who get things done. It was the working class uniform. By sporting that look at a fancy party, the Americans were paying homage to the idea of democracy.
It was christened formalwear. Which is charming, if you think about it.
In a relative sense, however, the so-called Tuxedo is casual and deliberately so. Of course those class associations are long gone and anyone today wearing black tie and a dinner jacket considers himself to be as fancy as possible. It’s not actually true historically. In actual fact, that combination is a signal that you do not belong to the leisure class but rather are ready to work.
For true formalwear in a traditional sense in the West, the answer for men is white tie, black coattails for evenings, with a white vest (not cummerbund) and a starched bib shirt. In a truly formal event that specifies white tie, every man in the room should be dressed identically. The women wear ball gowns that are floor length.
Why would that be true for men? There is one major reason: so that the men will look interchangeable and the women in the group can shine and look fabulous. Sorry, fellas, that’s just how it is. You need to disappear so the women can shine.
I know it is disappointing in some ways for men but no one wants to see a peacock. That’s an expression derived from the animal kingdom in which the male is the one with the gorgeous feathers. In the human world, it’s the opposite. You don’t want to be the peacock.
There are a few exceptions. Sometimes there are cocktail parties during the holiday season when men have some flexibility. In the postwar period, there emerged certain fashions such as blackwatch plaid jackets with satin collars (called smoking jackets).
They look rather collegiate and young, even slightly rakish, but most men can get away with such variations if they know what they are doing. These should always be worn with formalwear trousers and a formal shirt.
Whether you are called upon to wear black tie or white tie, or take a risk with variation in cocktail conditions, I urge you strongly not to rent your clothing. Of course it is different if you are asked to be a groomsman for a morning or afternoon wedding and the wedding party specifies some cockamamie getup involving gray coattails, striped pants, and cravates. I try not to be judgy, but there are very few cases in which such outfits do not finally come across as tacky. But that is a subject for another day.
In any case, with the ubiquity of thrift stores and especially eBay, you can save vast amounts of money over renting or retail simply by buying used. There is typically no danger of getting ratty clothing in doing so because they are typically put on the used market after only a few wearings. People outgrow them or die or whatever before the clothing is really worn out.
You can buy incredibly wonderful formal clothing in used markets for less than you would pay for a rental. You need only know your size, make sure it is 100 percent wool, and, ideally, a known brand. I’ve seen formal wear that would cost $1,000 in the retail market selling for $25 on eBay. Plus, when you have it, you have it for the future and can wear it more often, and you should.
For shirts, the preference is for starch bibs for white tie and front pleats for black tie. Let’s leave the ruffles for the 1970s. When wearing the Tuxedo, you can make your choice between a cummerbund and a vest, though I always prefer the vest. As for pocket squares, there is only one permissible color: white.
The next step will be fit. Here is where most men go wrong. The red carpets at Hollywood events are filled with men wearing $50,000 of clothing but ill-fitting. I personally find this utterly bizarre. This happened with Elon Musk and his famous photoshoot with white tie and tails. He had a terrible tailor who did not know how to make it work. In Elon’s case, his collar was too large, his sleeves too long, and his vest too short.
These are typical major errors men make. First, they wear their trousers too long. There should be either no break in the pant leg or only a slight break. If they are bunching up around the shoe, that is ill-fitting. Second, the shirt sleeve cuff should extend ¼ to ½ of inch below the coat sleeve. A coat sleeve that covers up the shirt completely ruins the entire look of the outfit. It is ruinous.
If your tailor does not know this, simply explain it to him or her and absolutely insist that you know what is what. Because now you do.
A note on suspenders: they are a non-negotiable on formal wear and they should button on the waistband and not clip. They can be white or black. No one will see them anyway.
If you are wearing white tie, there is an ordering to the way you get dressed: pants then shirt then suspenders then vest then coat. In other words, the suspenders cannot be on top of the vest. Maybe that is obvious to you but I’ve seen this mistake in the past, which is why I’m bringing it up.
Do you need to be fussy about shoes? Maybe. They should be patent leather slip ons, not lace up. That said, honestly, if you are going to cheat in any aspect of the ensemble, I would list this point first. That’s because formal wear slip ons for men are expensive and plastic patent shoes just do not make for a good substitute. They are also difficult to find in the used marketplace.
To restate: I have doubts about this phrase “business formal” as invoked in the study above. A suit is business. A sport coat even with a tie is still casual. Formalwear for men (after 5 p.m.) is white or black tie with only rare variations. White tie is more formal than black tie.
It’s the holiday season coming up, a time to revive tradition. Men should lead the way by getting these basics correct. And in passing all this on valuable information, I’m not working from a million-dollar grant and a team of researchers. Sure, someday I might even write it up for the “Journal of Business Ethics” if it earns me a professorship.
