Dressing Is Messaging.
By Karen and Erica
The New York Times recently commented in the fashion choices of the new President of Italy, Georgia Meloni. Basically, she went from campaigning in bright colors, and sometimes flowing skirts, to governing in dark Armani suits with white shirts.
Not for her the fruit-bowl-colored jackets of female political tradition past. Instead she has adopted the camouflage of the male status quo, even as she represents the opposite. Italy is, of course, a country that has long understood the projection of power — and ideology — through dress. See, for example, the Black Shirts of Mussolini’s Fascist party, the ashes of which grew into the political parties within which Ms. Meloni was politically born and raised.
Men’s clothing also sends a message. Consider the choices of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), of FTX, who apparently wore unkempt curls, sweatshirts and shorts to business events, perhaps emulating another icon.
If there’s one man responsible for popularizing the slovenly CEO myth it’s Mr. Zuckerberg, who wore interchangeable, oh-so-average zip-up hoodies and gray T-shirts throughout Facebook’s early years as he drummed up investment and pitched the company at tech conferences. The hoodie was as integral to the Facebook brand as the “like” button, presenting the CEO as someone with no time for frivolities like shirt buttons. When asked about his uniform in 2014, he said, “I really want to clear my life to make it so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community.”
We liked the commentary of Vanessa Friedman, Chief Fashion Critic of the New York Times, on the men’s attire at the DealBook conference:
For example, Andrew Ross Sorkin, the Svengali of the whole event, wore a perfectly tailored gray suit with a blue shirt, tie and polished brown shoes. Of all his guests, the only other men in ties and dark suits were the politicians: Vice President Mike Pence and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. Ben Affleck, who recently became the chief executive of a new production company, also wore a suit and tie, the better to telegraph his new role as an executive, but he chose matching light grays, setting him apart and giving him a sort of serene California vibe.
Then there was Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX, who beamed in from the Caribbean in a stretched-out black T-shirt, hair sticking up all over. And, also on a video screen but in a more closefitting gray T-shirt: Mark Zuckerberg of Meta. Both of them were modeling what has become the tech world uniform despite their somewhat disparate professional situations. Pointedly, Shou Chew, the chief executive of TikTok, added a blazer to his T-shirt-and-jeans outfit, perhaps to suggest that his platform was more establishment than it is currently given credit for.
For us, dressing for work was certainly strategic. Did we want to stand out in a sea of navy suits and ties? Easy! Wear shocking pink. Did we not want to stand out, because we did not hold a winning hand? A staid blue suit was the ticket. Did we want to look poised and sophisticated and in charge at all times? Yes, we did. The point is—nothing was unconsidered when it came to style. And when we dressed for work, we were formal.
Our ideas came from from many sources, one of which was the 1988 version of Dangerous Liaisons. The opening credits roll on separate cuts of a man and a woman, dressing for battle. With each other. A fabulous scene. Made total sense to us.
Today, our office is a teensy glass-walled office for two, in a WeWork in midtown Manhattan. No more suits for work—usually. But we still dress for impact. And that means we still calibrate clothes to the message of the day. Which is that we are still going strong, and have a lot to offer. That we know what we are doing, and we also know how to enjoy ourselves.
Dressing with purpose is fun. And strategic. We wouldn’t have it any other way!