Bloomberg for Tips

Banana-Shaped Coats

Bloomberg Television, surprising as it might seem, is a better place to see examples of classic men's style than Fashion TV, which seems to be off the air now anyway. You'll get presenters, such as Tom Keene, displaying some classic Wall Street looks, with bow ties and button-down shirts. There's an economist that pops up occasionally  who dresses so traditionally he looks positively radical - certainly far more radical than the designers who try so hard to be edgy on Fashion TV and try and outdo each other by dressing men in banana-shaped coats and three-legged trousers and such. Was it Camus who said convention is true rebellion?

Convention is true rebellion

When the figures behind and underneath are all flashing red, the clothes seem to exude an air of composure and unflappability. I wish I could get away with a bow tie, but I just can't - not through want of trying.

You will see insights into what might be the future of management style (in a clothes sense) — a little more relaxed but still meaning business with echoes of a modern preppy style, as filtered through Japan. The guests who've started web-based companies appear in the obligatory blue open-shirt and chinos - a la J. Crew. Can look very good. It tries to say they're not like the corporate stuffed-shirts they're competing against. But it's on its way, if not there already, to becoming the de facto corporate uniform itself.

I'll plump for Tom's tried-and-tested pinstripes and bow ties any day.