Real Rainmakers Don’t Wear Brown Shoes
By BankersBall on Jan 23, 2007 in Cube Life, Dretthin for Succeth, Lifestyle
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The next time you’re in London for business, you might want to leave the poo-colored shoes at home. Brown shoes are a major British investment banker faux pas, signifying at least the downmarket “capital markets, eurobonds” and at worst, an offense so bad that you may be sent home for it, reports Reuters.
A true British rainmaker adheres to a very narrow fashion window: “handmade grey or dark blue single breasted suit, classically-cut shirt with double-cuffs and non-flashy cufflinks, a Hermes tie and black lace-up shoes.”
Bespoke suits should never be worn with belts, although one ex-banker we consulted disagrees with this, saying that often bespoke suits are made with belt loops and that anything is preferable to “suits with those little straps you can tighten.”
By sporting a white shirt, you run the risk of looking like a noob trying to play it safe. Says one esteemed tailor to Reuters, “There is a slight snobbery that white shirts are more for juniors.”
Flashy lining is OUT in the City, but pink shirts and colored shirts are IN, one female banker tells Reuters. Our ex-banker disagrees: “[Pink] is just so freakin British and it looks really bad.” So there you have it.
On Jan 23, 2007, darth vader said:
bottom line: if you are good, you can wear a tie with green elephants and no one will care
On Jan 23, 2007, Chester said:
Actually I need help with something, I need to find a rainmaker-ish briefbag, something very nice that I don’t need a M&A VP bonus to pay for. Suggestions wanted.
On Jan 26, 2007, BankersBall said:
Price range?
On Feb 5, 2007, FancyBanker said:
Can anyone recommend a proper Rainmaker dildo? I want to keep it in all day, yet not be embarrased by it if someone catches me in the loo with my pants down.
Does Hermes or Burberry make an acceptable model?
On Apr 6, 2007, sloaney squarey said:
traders get to wear what they like, within reason, because ibankers are two-a-penny, but good traders are hard to come by. therefore, ibankers have to make up for their innate lack of talent (or anything remotely resembling talent), by worrying more about their clothes than their work.
but wait, what is ibanking ‘work’ .. oh yes - handing down a whole load of ebitdas for some poor analyst to crunch.
no wonder you guys are always in fear for your jobs!
xx
On Jun 12, 2007, John Wallace said:
Crouch and Fitzgerald –NYC
On Apr 29, 2008, El Hutcho said:
Real people don’t worry what shoes you’ve got on.