Silicon Valley sure is the target of some interesting bull crap, even in my realm of style!
Though I have basically given up on posting comments to information sharing websites like Quora, I’ll occasionally drop by to see what topics people are asking about, and how people are answering those questions.
A life coach, whose practice specializes in helping get people employed, wrote me a note recently. It caught my attention to the point that if I had to write him back a free answer, I was going to post it to my blog for everyone’s benefit.
A colleague wanted my opinion about wearing open neck dress shirts and t-shirts in a business casual work environment. Rather than just sharing my thoughts privately, I decided to publish them publicly. To support my comments, I have photos of wardrobe items I selected only last week for a client that illustrate the subtle nuances of dressing successfully in today’s modern business environment.
It’s striking how Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg hasn’t evolved his image and style one bit, despite his immense business success. Though his character portrayal was fascinating in the Golden Globe-winning movie, The Social Network, it’s not the basis of my assessment. The real life Mark Zuckerberg still dresses like a scrappy college dormitory resident, despite his meteoric ascent to the height of the business world. Age notwithstanding, it’s time for him to put effort and intention into his image and show that he’s not just grown up, but a leader.
For men who’ve hit the big 5-0 who are looking for that new job, it can be a challenge envisioning how a modernized appearance leads to a positive result. Far from fresh out of college senior year, you don’t feel like a senior citizen either. No man I know wants to be perceived as old, and values his life experience. These tips will help modernize a man’s image, to make the most of his experience, and minimize the effects of aging.
The holiday season is fast approaching and some wardrobe planning will go a long way toward making the most of your holiday experience. Once you know your holiday plans, the next thing you should get in order is what you’ll wear for your various holiday occasions. If you’re looking for ideas on what to wear for the holidays, I offer these helpful suggestions to take you from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve.
Does that question perplex you or make you laugh as much as it makes me laugh? Well, maybe you don’t know just how much that does make me laugh. And I have to tell you that sometimes it just makes me howl with laughter. Not because some people need so much help that they may be beyond help. That’s just catty. I’m not beyond being catty, by the way. It’s just that as a keen observer of people, it’s more in my giving nature to want to help.
An acquaintance in Ithaca, New York alerted me to a Wall Street Journal blog post written by a Silicon Valley-based thirtysomething man entitled, “The Perils of Interview Attire.” Writing about one of my favorite topics – how Silicon Valley engineers are known to have a style all their own – Jon Gray tells of his perilous job interviewing wardrobe experiences. In Gray’s situations, intentionally wearing an item – or not – moves beyond the physical. It’s a head-trip.
Among three of Gray’s buddies who have interviewed at startup companies, none have worn ties to job interviews in years, he says. Welcome to Silicon Valley, home of the dress for success counterculture, where success is measured not by the noose around your neck but based on other factors. Now you might be thinking with this comment that I’ve gone soft and that the Silicon Valley is an altruistic place where qualifications, merit, degrees, and diplomas are all that count. Cough. Cough. Image still matters heavily, but it matters in a different way than in other parts of the country.
In Gray’s post he explained how he went to an interview wearing a suit with no tie, and unbuttoned his dress shirt at the collar. The company vice president gave him a sartorial thumb’s down, even though the recruiter’s feedback was flying high. He promised to dress more appropriately for additional interviews. When he went back to meet with the president and the CEO, he wore a suit, tie, and even shined his shoes for the occasion. When the CEO showed Gray out of the building he told him to “never wear a tie to an interview at a startup!”
There are all sorts of issues with this story. One is that he took advice from two sets of colleagues but didn’t get more insight. A second issue is that he didn’t know more about the startup company’s culture. A third issue is that after meeting with the company vice president he should have had some ideas of how to dress for subsequent interviews based on how the vice president was dressed and based on the vice president’s feedback about the way he showed up for the interview. A fourth issue is that the recruiter should have provided better information to Mr. Gray about the way he should dress for subsequent interviews.
Jon Gray got caught in a wardrobe game played by many men in the Silicon Valley counterculture. How does a guy be an individual and still fit in to the culture of the Valley, and the technology sector culture?
The simple answer is the complex answer: Guys like Jon Gray have to know themselves and have to know the company they are [going to be] employed by.
As I said in my comment response to Gray’s blog post, “A self-assured man dresses for the purpose of achieving his goals, and goal number one is being able to look at yourself in the mirror knowing you represented yourself properly.” This answers the part of knowing yourself. “The idea of dressing appropriately for an occasion means balancing your own needs and goals with the expectations of your audience.” Without losing your sense of self, you need to know your audience. “If you don’t know your audience’s expectations, you need to inquire.” This means, do your due diligence and research a company even if it means parking your car in the lot and watching the comings and goings of the people.
Jon and others might wish for the good old days of rules – as we knew them to be. In fact, there are ‘rules’ of dress that apply to Jon’s situation but they aren’t the classic rules found in dog-eared copies of published books. These rules are experiential and are ever-changing. It only makes sense this is happening here in Silicon Valley, a place where game playing is an art form.
Designing and managing your image is the secret science of your success.
Joseph Rosenfeld helps professional men and corporate workgroups create effective visual brands. Visit JosephRosenfeld.com for details.
Fall is fast approaching and the stores are filling with fresh fall fashions. Unlike past seasons when designers mused of men’s fall from masculinity, this season shows new signs of strength – and of survival – for the modern man.
Internationally celebrated designers created the current collections during the worst economic downturn in recent history, and it shows. The resulting designs aren’t a public pity party about the current value of the world’s currencies or about loss of wealth. Rather, designers seem to be cheerleading their customers to victory with timeless, if iconic, menswear pieces to rebuild their images as the new modern man: a tough guy who’s emotionally stable, yet tinged with the mid-century ethos of doing the right thing for the good of all. It’s a tall order, but so is the return of prosperity after emerging from an economic emergency.
Whatever the crisis leveled on the average man, it consolidated the efforts of the designers who dress them. Men are now focused on keeping a job or getting one. Designers kno
w this, and as if an economic bomb dropped on Western civilization, they reacted to the resultant new way of living by preparing collections to help men achieve their goals. As a man this season, wearing certain key items will keep you looking current in your quest to get made, laid, or paid.
When it comes to tailored clothes, keep it classic. The double-breasted suit made a strong catwalk comeback because its strong-shouldered silhouette says, “I’m serious about business.” While the season’s tailored items are all about sartorial structure, suited for corporate dragon slaying, slouchy sweaters convey calm, cool collectedness once the workday has ended. Try an atypically long cardigan or sweater-jacket, or put on a familiar Fair Isle crewneck, something well worn that Grandma would have knit for you.
Contemporary wingtip shoes smartly compliment a strong suit. Whether black, cordovan, or brown choose a pair with a sturdy leather sole and a toebox that’s right for your personal style. Choose carefully to look current, or risk looking like an outdated and overbearing curmudgeon.
Footwear fashions extend to boots, too. Menswear retail buyers think men need to take a hike or a ride – as long as he’s in Americana Style boots. Motorcycle and suede desert boots are great for more than biking or traipsing through sand dunes. Moreover, with wear and weather they become evermore comfortable. Another great thing about this season’s boot selection is that if chosen well, one could be worn with a suit. Just promise not to wreck them because doing so would eliminate them as a wearable option with a suit.
Outerwear is so important for fall, and the peacoat is a must have. Peacoats give this great look of structured strength on the exterior, a nod to military might. Once indoors and when unbuttoned or removed, a modern man can wow everyone with his softer side. Get your motor running by showing your tough side with a leather motorcycle jacket. From stiff to soft grades of leather, you can look like a total badass or a bit more the strong, sensitive type.
It’s a season of gray goods, which is good for the men who look great in gray garb. A great thing about gray is that there’s a gray suited for most people, from greenish cement gray, to cool bluish gray, to dark charcoal. So complex are some fabrics, some grays are even toasted, ranging from khaki or taupe in their lighter form, to blatant brown-gray blends. Gray has been on the recent fashion scene making the statement of cool ease, but this fall it represents steely strength. From suits to sweaters and everything else that completes a man’s wardrobe, gray makes this strong steadfast statement, and compliments the season’s perky palette.
Designers like Paul Smith, known for his prolific use of color, played with a palette of yellow and red, contrasting with a gray theme. Relying on varying twill textures, his collection took on a town and country attitude. At super luxe fashion house Hermes, gold and red was also de rigueur, juxtaposed against the passivity of gray and navy, and the fighting spirit of khaki. Dolce & Gabbana used lots of black and white with touches of ink, berry, and red hues, perfect for the self-indulgent narcissist to show off to everyone else and say, “Look at me!”
This is just the point of men’s fall fashions. It’s a time to bolster visual appearance so others pay attention to the new well-tailored man with dreams and goals of prosperity. Clothes, such as what are available this fall, certainly do help to make and transform the man.
Designing and managing your image is the secret science of your success.
Joseph Rosenfeld helps professional men and corporate workgroups create effective visual brands. Visit JosephRosenfeld.com for details.
I just returned home from the annual AICI conference for image consultants and find myself reflecting positively about the experience. The conference is a traveling pilgrimage of sorts, one part educational, and one part experiential, just held in a different locale each year. This year’s conference was one of the best overall experiences I’ve encountered in some time.
Much of the educational content I was drawn to revolved around effective communication. Ironic, eh? I thought so, too. Jason Alba, the founder of JibberJobber.com spoke at a session where he laid out a sound strategy for communicating online and following up with contacts. The volume of people I encounter makes communicating online an absolute must, and Jason’s counsel came at a great time. Apparently my blog posts are too long!
The great thing about learning is that you don’t know what you don’t know until you know that you don’t know it. When you stumble into that area of ‘unknowingness,’ like the wilderness, you start to find your way around and learn new things. It’s better to deal with the unknown than the unknowable.
Colleagues Dominique Isbecque and Lynne Marks also facilitated great communication-based presentations. It was great learning from Dominique about profiling people in order to effectively provide value, while Lynne’s program was at least as much about listening as it was about conversing.
Liz Weinstein also facilitated a program I thoroughly enjoyed. She’s a great corporate presenter and makes it look rather easy. But I think part of the secret to her success is how she uses activities to engage participants as she did with us. It was also the point of her helpful program and really got me thinking about new ways to present material.
It was my pleasure to share knowledge with colleagues about men’s neckwear. The tie may be a small piece of cloth, but it carries a big message about its wearer. Like all clothing, it can tell an authentic story as much as it can help the wearer overcome personal challenges and communicate strength. I had a blast and invited people to stay afterward for a question and answer session. About a third of the participants took the opportunity to stick around.
The conference got me all fired up to keep learning and sharing, and to stay focused on helping my clients, present and future.
Welcome to my presentation!
The participants preparing for the program
Neckwear
Sarah Brummitt from London participating in a demonstration
More sharing information, post workshop
Getting all Hollywood with Sherlyn Fox
Messing with Texas: Bethany Buice Siggins and Deborah King
Canadian Queens Zayna Mosam and Karen Brunger
(Hey, I’m not Canadian!)
Designing and managing your image is the secret science of your success.
Joseph Rosenfeld helps professional men, women, and corporate workgroups create effective visual brands. Visit JosephRosenfeld.com for details.