Wall Street often sets fashion for the financial industry. If this trend catches on, fashionable advisors may want to stock up on funky socks.
Wall Street often sets fashion for the financial industry. If this trend catches on, fashionable advisors may want to stock up on funky socks.
Some of Wall Street’s big-money players have taken up a new fashion trend, accenting their bespoke suits with outrageously flamboyant socks. However, conservative dress remains the norm and the adventurous stockings are only for Fridays.
The trend was started by Joshua Weiner, a 25 year-old who works at a real estate investment firm and who had previously worked in private equity and investment banking, the Business Insider website reported. An in-development website, fridaysocks.com, ambitiously describes the trend as a “social movement.”
While “casual Friday” is the norm for most businesses in North America, Wall Streeters will often keep their suits – either because of dress codes or just to confirm to the ways of The Street. Investment bank Goldman Sachs, for instance, is notoriously formal (though it once allowed traders to wear denim as part of charity fundraising activities).
Spokespeople for Canada’s Big Six banks could not confirm whether their advisory arms had dress codes for client-facing staff on Fridays.
However, during a quick lunch-hour stroll at the intersection of Bay St. and King St. in Toronto’s financial district, Wealth Professional observed: neckties at BMO Nesbitt Burns, business casual at ScotiaMcleod, jackets and ties at CIBC, dress shirts with rolled-up sleeves at TD and business casual at National Bank.
In spite of the variety of casual and formal styles at the various financial institutions, socks – when visible – were uniformly conservative.
