Professor Susan Scafidi, founder and academic director of Fordham Law’s Fashion Law Institute, joined KCBXFM to share her thoughts on the rise of “the vest” as a staple in the financial and technology industry and the reasons that dress codes have relaxed in recent years.
Ever since the rise of Silicon Valley, followed by the financial crisis, the dress code of the finance and technology industries has become more relaxed. Hoodies and jeans are one thing but, lately, tech and finance companies have embraced a different accessory: the vest. Worn over business casual attire, often with a company logo on the right breast, vests are a big part of the way business looks right now.
“Years ago, it would have been something that you might see worn at Walmart by your greeter,” said Susan Scafidi, founder of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham University School of Law.
Scafidi says the vest emerged as the dress code of finance grew more casual in recent years, partly because expensive suits seemed garish after the financial crisis. And when Silicon Valley guys started showing up to meetings in jeans and hoodies, suits looked a little out of place.
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