Tailors still in vogue in Hong Kong
After a prolonged period of work from home during the pandemic, online meetings and the adoption of hybrid work policies, the way everyone dresses for work has changed, but tailored suits are still in fashion at investment banks.
Bankers in Hong Kong, a city known for its tailors, are still wearing suits at least four days a week. A three-piece suit is increasingly rare and most have stopped wearing ties, though some bankers refuse to budge.
Bobby Daswani, director at Bobby’s Fashions in Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui, said business is good despite all the changes in recent years, including a spate of executive departures from the city.
“We are very busy. I have some banker clients that come back eight to nine times a year,” Daswani said. “[Bankers who have left Hong Kong] will either visit, or order online if we have their measurements.”
He said younger bankers tend to want their trousers and jackets a bit shorter, but traditional cuts remain in fashion among more senior executives and no one is experimenting with colours much either. "Maybe they wear ties less often," he said.
Most banks still require staff to wear formal attire for external meetings – and bankers are generally in favour of dressing up.
A banker at a global investment bank said he always wears a full suit with a tie. “I sleep like this,” he joked, expressing his disappointment at the shift towards casual dress.
Female bankers tend to wear pantsuits or skirt suits less often than they did a few years ago, as ready-to-wear work dresses are often considered as formal as a suit for many occasions.
Still, certain meetings still call for a suit, a Hong Kong-based female investment banker said. “And my suits are always tailored,” she said.
“The finish of a tailor-made suit is very different,” Daswani agreed. “A bespoke suit also means that you can let it out if you gain weight, take it in if you lose some,” he said.
He said even early career bankers come to the store. “They may go for a lower price point.”
Suits here range anywhere between HK$2,800 to HK$30,000 (US$3,850), more than some suits by luxury Italian designers like Prada.
Casual Fridays
Lehman Brothers' last CEO Dick Fuld, who was known for his impeccable dressing, is said to have declared it a “dark day for the firm” when casual Fridays were voted in, and it was not extended to the executive floor. His motto “sloppy dress, sloppy thinking”, was well known in the firm, according to Vicky Ward's book The Devil’s Casino: Friendship, Betrayal, and The High Stakes Games Played Inside Lehman Brothers. These high sartorial standards did not prevent Lehman Brothers from going under in 2008 at the peak of the financial crisis, however.
Over the years, though, most Wall Street banks have loosened their dress code, introducing casual Fridays and some saying it is acceptable to wear business-casual clothes on most occasions. Goldman Sachs told staff in 2019 that they no longer needed to wear formal business attire every day.
While investment bankers usually wear suits to visit clients, the exception is meetings with start-ups, another Hong Kong-based banker said.
“Go to meet a start-up guy in a suit and tie and you may come across as old and stuffy. But going to one of the largest asset managers in trousers and a shirt will also not fly,” the banker said.
Even though there are other destinations in Asia that have gained popularity for their ability to quickly tailor suits for a fraction of the cost, such as Hoi An in Vietnam, Hong Kong's tailors still draw an international crowd. Daswani claims he has dressed bankers from the biggest investment banks across the world, as well as celebrities and athletes, including late American basketball player Kobe Bryant.
“You know what they say: if you haven’t bought a suit in Hong Kong, you haven’t really been to Hong Kong,” he said.