Seems some businessmen are abandoning ties. I think it is a mistake. The look of no tie and open collar looks unprofessional and reduces confidence. It looks like something is missing – which may be your image.
What is the message? “My ease is more important than respect for you”? Or, “I realize I am too powerful-looking in my suit and tie, so I am toning myself down”?
“Clothes make the man” is a mantra of many men. Esquire and GQ magazines still love suits and ties. “Dress for success” is still taught. Women have never given up looking their best. What’s the deal?
We expect professionals to look the part, at least during business hours. This provides the public reassurance. We still want the judge in robes, lawyers in ties, police in blue, clergy with a collar, military with fatigues and pilots with shoulder strips and caps. We would be dismayed if the judge showed in a bathrobe, police in tank tops, a soldier in a jogging suit, pilots in sweatshirts and clergy in pajamas, although these things might be near.
Most “authorities” wear ties. There must be reasons such as looking the part, looking confident. News bulletin: Customers do not want you to look like them. They want you to represent a higher authority, knowledge or stature, and dress communicates that. Why diminish it? Those dressing too casually for business may be spending more time with themselves and their ideas than with customers.
There is thought that says “look like your customer, don’t be too stiff.” OK. Don’t look like a “suit,” I guess. If so, shouldn’t you ditch the suit instead of the tie? And some do. The tie is aptly named in that it ties together the rest of the triad of shirt and coat. Eliminate the tie and things just don’t tie together.
If you insist on going tieless, consider going without the sport coat. Wear French cuffs to show some class. Shoes shined. Wear a suit coat with the straight collar and no button-down collar. A pocket square helps. If you cannot project confidence, customers perceive you don’t have any. Yes, Jobs wears jeans and Zuckerberg a hoodie, but you are not them.
Wearing a button-down collar (undershirt showing?!), blazer and contrasting pants has the look of an eighth-grade geometry teacher. Perhaps that is the goal – to look academic – but it makes one look somewhat tired in my opinion. Part of the casualness may be we are overweight and lack confidence in clothes. A tailor helps.
The best dress shows the most respect for customers – that is No. 1. I met with someone well-dressed who was trying to sell me something. I wore a shirt but no tie or coat on a day off. When I arrived, I was miffed that he immediately took off his tie! Why? Weird. He had a gold watch, too, and I did not, but he didn’t remove that.
Rule: In front of customers, wear your best stuff. If chumming with peers or after hours, then whatever.
How many are for cravats and how many against? It may come down to a tie.
Tom Pease is owner of e/Doc Systems Inc., a provider of office equipment and paperless software. Email: [email protected].