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Comment by lazerpants | Hacker News Reader

>In fact, "formal" clothing and couture has long been a way to show you're on the way up, not that you're there. Old money doesn't try to keep up with fashion.

It's my job to deal with lots and lots of tremendously wealthy people (mostly billionaires). They usually wear formal or semi-formal clothes, or occasionally polos, etc. They do not wear Balenciaga, any of them, ever when I see them, in business environments or casual ones. On average they are older, but even the younger ones I know don't. In NYC the people I see in Balenciaga, Rick Owens, etc., work in fashion, or are European tourists.

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I've heard it said that high fashion brands are meant to be bought by upper middle class people who want to emulate celebrities and the wealthy. Actual celebrities get given this stuff for free so your fashion conscious upper managers and lawyers see them wearing brand X and buy the same thing to emulate them.

I remember watching an interview on Golf Channel long ago, someone asked Bubba Watson about his $100k watch, and he said he would never ever spend that much money on a watch. It seemed like the wrong thing for a person who was sponsored to say, but it gave a glimpse into the way that some pro athletes feel about the things they wear.

> formal or semi-formal clothes,

Are you actually referring to formal

- formal (=full dress, ie morning dress/Cutaway (day) and white tie/tailcoat/Frack (eve)) and

- semi-formal (=half dress, ie stroller/Stresemann (day) and black tie/tux/Smoking (eve)) attire,

or informal formal (ie suits)?

Informal formal, mostly. But sometimes semi-formal for events.

Er, haven't those definitions been out of date for at least a decade, if not 3?

If an office policy is semi formal, do people turn up in a black tie?

Why are black tie parties "black tie" parties and not "semi formal" parties?

IMO you've listed "opera" followed by "black tie."

"Formal" would be "a tie and jacket," "semi formal" would be a jacket without a tie, or (shudder) a tie without a jacket, and then business casual is where the polos come in.

Ugh, this is all stressing me out. I have an interview with a tech company in NY that interfaces with the fashion industry and I've worked from home for the past 3 years. My wardrobe consists of 3 pairs of jeans, 2 dad sweaters, 15 tshirts from various coffee shops and festivals, and 1 pair of target knock off slip on boat shoes.

I'm not much different, though I have probably 4-5 pairs of pants and 2 pairs of shoes, but that is mostly because I had to buy some for a "job" (It was language practice in a working environment, part of the joy of being an immigrant).

All pants are black: All shirts are black or darkish grey. I'm also female, and find fashion rules confusing.

Well, I'm not donning a black or white tie for dinner, but then, I'm not a billionaire or deal with them (particularly old money) on a regular basis. That's why I was asking.

Do you interact with them only in a business setting, or in social settings as well? And are they mostly older men? I am wondering if they also dress in formal attire in social situations, and if age/gender has something to do with it.

Both business and social settings, split pretty well between men and women though, probably 60/40. As I mentioned, they are typically a little older, which could definitely impact what they wear. But then again, I don't see their kids wearing expensive fashion brands either.

True story: I spotted Jack Dorsey 2 weeks rocking Balenciaga kicks and streetwear in Soho NYC. My point is fashion is just fashion and what you wear is relative to what you consider to be your "in group".

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