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Toothpick trousers, dress shoes without socks

To me it seems like a douchey west coast/LA thing and I'm not a fan. We have a local sports guy who has adopted that look and he's a real Potsie type so he can't even remotely pull it off.
 
No. Just no. I agree with some descriptions of that look. Douchey. Effeminate. Ridiculous. I realize that fashion will follow popularity of a look but this is a look that will never become mainstream. Even if I was in shape with a ripped bod and washboard abs, I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing a suit like that. I might not wear socks with, Birkenstock’s, boat shoes or very casual rubber soled loafers but never when dressed up. I will also wear no show socks with shorts and sneakers and in my biking gear. But dress shoes cry out for socks. Socks are a fashion statement all by themselves.
 
Interestingly enough, I come from a corporate background. 35 years working at a NYC banking institution and a prestigious wealth management firm where we wore suits every day. When the bank introduced dress down on Fridays, my approach was to go from a suit and tie to a pair of khakis and a button down shirt. But that shirt was always long sleeved. Some guys would wear short sleeve polo shirts. My own feeling at the time was I don't want to see any more skin or flesh than I would if you were wearing a suit. So I was opposed to short sleeve shirts. And I guess to some extent I still am as I would always wear a long sleeve shirt in a work environment, even in the summer. But that comes from my previous work environments. And yes, socks always in the office as well.
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
I'm not sure how anyone could take someone dressed like that seriously.

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Went clothes shopping with the wife. At some women's clothing store a young girl(probably wasn't legal to drink yet) was dressed in a skin tight short mini skirt comes in with her mom. She told the clerk she needed a new outfit because her new job at the bank sent her home for how she was dressed. So she picks some things out and heads to the dressing room. Later she comes out to show her mom what she found. Again, skin tight, low rise slacks and a blouse that only comes down to above her belly button. Her mom tried to explain that the new outfit might not work.

I always wondered how her career in the banking industry has gone.
 
I'm not sure how anyone could take someone dressed like that seriously.

I agree with the others that this is a good point. As I said previously, the short pants look always seems to me like the wearer has not bought new clothes since junior high. Which sends a symbolic symbol of both current youth and,thus immaturity, and general carelessness and lack of self-awareness. So, exactly, why would I trust this person?

To me clothes necessarily send symbolic messages. Many clothes adopt attributes of say certain work clothes or athletic clothes or clothes for other activities to convey a symbolic message of masculinity, strength, stability, wisdom, outdoorsiness, maturity, etc. I think more tradtional suits are often intended to send the signal of wisdom, maturity, experience, high place in the hierarchy, perhaps.

It is one thing to wear short trousers and bare ankles if one wants to seem youthful, vibrant, devil-may-care, open to new experiences, and everything else that is associated with youth, including instability, naivete, and lack of useful experience. Good youth party clothes perhaps. But what possible useful symbolic message does such clothing send in a business context? Exactly so, why would I trust this person?

I suppose if one wanted to send the signal that I am so wildly successful at what I do that I can wear anything I please, this might be a look to choose. But one better be able to back that up. :)
 

Rudy Vey

Shaving baby skin and turkey necks
No socks - no
too short pants - no
skinny legs on pants - no
combination of the three ...the horror, the horror
 
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