By Graham Hill* – The tieless suit wearers are a ‘first world problem’. Its IDGAF impertinence, polarises opinion with its studied and contrived insouciance.
First world problems are ones that span: ‘one pillow is too low but two pillows is too high’ or “I cannot get 3G in the bathroom” and from a lawyer, “true story “, ‘I can’t look at your case now; I am stressed out because the satellite decoder won’t record channel one while I am watching channel 3.”
Or a local one “my second (or is it third?) 4by4‘s battery keeps going flat at my Denarau holiday home” A trend has usually reached its peak and is well on the slopes of ‘yesterday’ and the passé avalanche when the legal profession picks it up and then bankers
A member of the local bar was seen brazenly bounding down A-d St, in a pronounced pin striped suit and tieless The second shirt button retired from active service and shirt collars akimbo and not like the Fairy Godmother’s fairy wings.
The “possum fur” creeping out of the shirt’s opening must either be a frightener for clients or an incentive to possum pluckers. My wife said “who’s is that thug coming from the Court house.” “Someone from the drunk tank recently released on bail” I said.
The intent and origins perhaps for the look, usually accompanied with gelled hair, pointy shoes with toe turn ups and as with dress in general, is a tribal concoction, a corporate culture semiotic – the Friday- night- drinks-at –the- office- code, or the code red of engage´ of I worked to 2 Am. Usually the latter is said in the hearing of senior partners, or more adroitly the staff partner. The origins- if these be the origins- have parted company with the message.
The tieless seedy shagged subterranean look advertises a night on the rantan, a morning hangover and that you had to go straight to work from someone else’s bed or some such facility.
Like so much déclassé style the key is in the irony. It is tatty tack and short hand for “don’t care -do- what- I –want-when-I-want, and screw you.”
The mismatch of intent and message is seen in one firm which advertises professional legal ethics advice with the look and with bold pinstripes, but a 70’s garish purple shirt sans tie. A Johnny Revolter trying out for the small town production of Grease.
In the professions where fees are not small, caring rather than indifference to a client’s interests do matter: people that care matter: people that don’t care don’t matter.
Good Dress = Good Manners
Good dress sense, like good manners, come from a desire to please others. A good and properly tied tie never fails.
The tieless look requires some work and thought to pull it off so as not to look lazy and half arsed. The insouciance look suits the slimness of raffish youth,, the Armani male model caught in cross light, and not the shaggy head wild look of paunch and grey unkempt hair.
One client remarked recently, whether a senior town lawyer, with shaggy beard and wild hair, no tie a floppy no guts collar cheap shirt was either a gold miner who had lost his way (and mule) to the Mother Lode in California of ‘ 49 or was sleeping rough with the winos under the town bridge.
Senior partner’s don’t look insouciant or engage but look like something of the madness out of Euripides and silly in aping the juniors who will later topple them.
The experts say this:
- The secret is in the collar. The collar frames the face. Flappy stubby Prince of Wales collars won’t do, nor will flopsy un-starched collars. An Italian style collar fitted with good collar stays/ bones are needed; not the
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bendy plastic HB ones. Some experts propose some form of fastener Velcro or cello tape to hold the collar up. The look does not suit the bloated puffy face and shaggy head of hair resplendent with bushy eye brows and a forest of ear and nose hair; - A good quality cotton shirt with properly made and double stitched collars. The absence of tie throws attention on the other parts of the wardrobe. The shirt is going to hold up the absence of tie as is the suit because of colour. Shirts with small patterns or Tattersil stripes.
- Pin stripes suits are not a runner: very Bold pin stripes not at all. These look tardy when crumpled. The suit should be one colour – a solid or in subtle pattern.
- Pocket square handkerchief can work in place of the tie too.
- Shoes…brown shoes with dark suits and tieless as seen at a recent public function: aka the fashion dumpster diving look or I grabbed my “mate’s” shoes in the dark. Socklessness has been seen as an extension of the tiles suit look: a Zoolander “Dero look” because there were no socks in the dumpster;
- Slim in figure and then you can get away with the Armani male model facial stubble.
- It has been suggested by the cognoscenti that wearing a jacket with non-suit trousers is better than suits without ties. I am uncertain on this. But it brings home the clash of smart casual v suit and ties. Smart casual sans tie looks better than tieless suits.
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In Scandinavia a good light weight dress scarves- not a big footy or varsity one or the one grandma knitted-can also carry the time honoured function that a tie does.
It has been said that the “man who takes the plunge off a bad tie cliff will still look like a rock star next to the guy in no tie at all”. Fashion- and being a fashionista- is temporary and expensive: style is timeless, classic and affordable.
Graham Hill is a lawyer practicing in Marlborough. A former Judge’s clerk he has worked for both large law firms and 
boutiques before setting up his own specialist litigation practice working in contract and commercial law, boat and marine law, IP and commercial law. He also writes on legal and non-legal matters, like this fashion piece.
>>See Also: “Briefcase” – Avoiding Friday Foolishness
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