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What You Wear to a $50 Million Deal Closing in Silicon Valley
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kiddicus
08/11/09

In reply to What You Wear to a $50 Million Deal Closing in Silicon Valley
Unless I'm going to court, a wedding or a funeral, I'm not wearing a tie or any shirt with buttons.
I, for one, welcome our new casual overlords.
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snugbug
08/11/09

In reply to What You Wear to a $50 Million Deal Closing in Silicon Valley
So deliciously hilarious! Please admit nobody's wearing flip-flops, or open-toe beach sandals, so in that sense they are somewhat put-together on the nerd-overlord fashion scale.
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Conchie Birdie
08/11/09

In reply to What You Wear to a $50 Million Deal Closing in Silicon Valley
Let's face it: New York business transactions are completely different than twentysomething silicon valley guy transactions. I'll be honest and say, um, is anyone really surprised this is what they wore?
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LorenzoDesomma
08/11/09

In reply to What You Wear to a $50 Million Deal Closing in Silicon Valley
In the Valley, your level of formalwear is inversely related to your power. Only the schlep lawyers and bankers have to (slightly, in CA) dress up - the principals dress down. Way down, if you're exceedingly rich and powerful. It's a game, kids.
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Motoko Kusanagi
08/11/09

@LorenzoDesomma: It's this attitude that is most objectionable. Wearing a suit is a gesture of respect. You act as if your parents made you do it. It's this infantile man-baby attitude that will be the West Coast's real cultural legacy.
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snugbug
08/11/09

@Motoko Kusanagi: Look, I'm all for decorum, pomp & circumstance. But these guys have made up a Brave New World, and we're kinda all living in it now. Why shouldn't they be allowed to also make up their own sartorial rules for it? I very much love a man in a sharply tailored suit, but I also love a designer/programmer/surfer nerd-superman in baggy shorts. I dated a bunch of them and found that the glasses/chinos/flip-flops uniform is almost kind of sexy after you fall in love with their brains.
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snugbug
08/11/09

@Motoko Kusanagi: Look, I'm all for decorum, pomp & circumstance. But these guys have made up a Brave New World, and we're kinda all living in it now. Why shouldn't they be allowed to also make up their own sartorial rules for it? I very much love a man in a sharply tailored suit, but I also love a designer/programmer/surfer nerd-superman in baggy shorts. I dated a bunch of them and found that the glasses/chinos/flip-flops uniform is almost kind of sexy after they rope you in with their brains.
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snugbug
08/12/09

@snugbug: @Everyone: Yikes, sorry for the echo, echo, echo
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Motoko Kusanagi
08/12/09

@snugbug: My point is that baggy shorts, glasses, flip-flops (all of which I am wearing now, while I work from home) are essentially playing out an infantile fantasy of "you can't make me do it".
This is especially true when the business environment in the Valley has essentially canonized the "anti-suit" look as a conscious rejection of suit-types.
When I go into my office (I own my company), I wear a suit and tie. Everyone that works for me does the same. Why? Because they: (a) understand that image matters, (b) would rather die than wear that fucking Patagucci garbage, and (c) look damn good all the time.
Now, there was a time that "geek-chic" did not exist, when guys like Woz set the "anti-suit" ball in motion, and guys like Steve found innovative ways to essentially walk the line. And there was a certain logic to following their lead, since the whole milieu was hung up on not being square IBM "suits".
Those days are so long gone. Now, it's actually uncommon to see someone wearing a suit in NYC. Most law firms and banks are casual. Their employees look like fucking holiday golfers on their best days. The whole business casual thing is so fucking pathetically wishy-washy and unclear that it just turns to shit.
So, in a funny way, my office wears suits because it's time for the "anti-anti-suit" backlash.
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Unsolicited Advice
08/11/09

In reply to What You Wear to a $50 Million Deal Closing in Silicon Valley
Wear a collared shirt with a tie, you ninnies. This is why your shareholders secretly hate you and your business partners don't respect you.
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DaveCrabtree
08/11/09

@Unsolicited Advice: I agree, but that's because I'm a fee whore. If someone wants to give me and two of my buddies $50 million to share, I'll dress however I want and my shareholders and business partners can hate and disrespect me all they want.
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gogetemguy
08/11/09

@Unsolicited Advice: totally agree- dress as though your closing a $50 million deal, not going to play world of warcraft! Act like a business person and maybe the rest of the world (not just the valley) will take you seriously.
And for God's sake Zuch, come up with something more orignial that the black Patagonia fleece- you're not Jobs kid.
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kiddicus
08/11/09

@Unsolicited Advice: Jealous? Look, they're in their late 20s (early 30s?) and worth ten times what any of us are, so I'm guessing they can wear whatever they want, whenever they want.
Shirts and ties are out, unless you're a lawyer
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snugbug
08/11/09

@gogetemguy: Uh, since everybody and his mom is on Facebook, I do believe the whole planet Earth is taking them seriously. And look, the Founding Father does know how to tie on a tie:
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smokee
08/11/09

@Unsolicited Advice:
The only people not taking them seriously are the people that are completely out of touch with the culture of the entire tech sector.
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Unsolicited Advice
08/11/09

@smokee:
Right. Let me inform you of that culture: there are kids in apartments coding "the new economy." And then there are people who actually dress in the morning paying for it all.
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smokee
08/11/09

@Unsolicited Advice:
Thank god for those kids, because we are going to need someone to pick up the pieces after the suits finish driving "the old economy" into the ground.
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Motoko Kusanagi
08/11/09

@snugbug: That is not wearing a tie. Nice try though.
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Aaron Altman
08/11/09

In reply to What You Wear to a $50 Million Deal Closing in Silicon Valley
Yeah, but in New York, you don't get the luxury of real-wood, 6x8 privacy panels with latticed tops.
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Aaron Altman
08/11/09

@Aaron Altman: Or a rocking chair.
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Motoko Kusanagi
08/11/09

@Aaron Altman: Or a spotlight that turns on when you move.
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