On men's business fashion...

I subscribe to Fortune. I like its in-depth coverage in business, and investigative journalistic pieces. But every time I get my copy in the mail, the first thing I check is the back page, for the Stanley Bing column. His columns provide much needed oft comic relief to an otherwise boring business world.

I get my September 14 copy of Fortune in the mail today. When I read Bing's column on The Elephants of Styles, I almost laughed out loud. It's not that the piece is supposed to bring hysterical laughter to readers, but there are things that are so to-the-point that I find it very amusing.

I'm not referring to the apt observation in the fashion sense brought to men by Sammy Davis Jr (whose big collars was such a signature) or Steve Jobs (who perfects the men-in-black casual look in formal occasions like delivering keynote speaker speech) or even Warren Buffet.

I'm referring to the 1980s investment-bank look of pinstripe, parsley suspender and bright yellow or red ties, pioneered by John T Molloy and Alan Flusser. The poster boy, of course, is Gordon Gekko from the movie Wall Street. The reason why I find it so amusing, is that, it so aptly reminds me of alot of the investment bankers at Lehman Brothers that I worked with briefly in the 1980s. Indeed, back then this was almost like school uniforms for those guys, almost to the point of laughable. I must admit, I like the style which has a very clean, neat look. But the invariability of it, that every guy turned it into a business men look or bankers look, is rather pathetic, I must say. To top it off, of course no investment bankers outfit would be complete without the accessories of a Mont Blanc pen, and an HP financial calculator (not the vertical ones, but the horizontal ones).

There was this guy named Simon who struck out, in particular. Back in Asia at Lehman those days, majority of the investment bankers are expat gwei-lo, with a few Asians (one Korean, one Philipino, a couple of Chinese). It's almost like an exclusive club for these few Asian guys, among the sea of white faces. This Simon is one of the Chinese, who wants to project himself "white." It's funny that most everyone (expat and non-expat alike) disliked him, even though he thought he's popular. It's true that most things about Simon were truly quite annoying, from the fake American accent, to the investment bankers uniform, everything to the t, down to the suspenders, made him one of the most faithful Gordon Gekko-uniform loyalists. There are cases when some of the bankers had such protuding love-handle in their mid-section, that made the suspenders serve some real, much-needed purpose. But for a slight, slim Asian guy like Simon. The only impression his suspenders projected is hideous, utter pretension.

That's why it makes this Bing's column so funny in a way, as it brings about such repressed, yet vivid memory of mine that I didn't realize I have harbored.

As to those guys who carry the day with their fashion sense, these men carry it off (and even get away with it) because they have such deep pockets that, I suspect, other men copy them just to emulate their I'm-rich-but-casual style. For Simon, it simply wouldn't do.