Derek Guy — better known as Twitter’s “menswear guy” — prefers men to wear “chicken suits” to work rather than the current business trend: blue dress shirt, slim-cut chinos, a vest Patagonia and a pair of dress sneakers.
“It’s a really ugly aesthetic,” Guy said Wealth.
The ensemble — which some have called “finance bro wear” — is vanilla, shows little personality and isn’t body-flattering, he said.
Those who have recently spent time on X (formerly Twitter) may not be initially surprised by Guy’s take. The Canadian-born, California-based style blogger has amassed nearly 1 million followers on X by asking politicians and celebrities for their fashion choices. Many X users, beyond the typical fashion critics, have read Guy’s sartorial advice since it inexplicably went viral last year.
However, Guy is not the formality-obsessed hater his critics make him out to be. Instead, he wants men to wear clothes that make them feel comfortable and good, rather than wearing the same uniform to work every day.
“We live in a time where there are more options and more freedom than ever,” he said. “It’s just that a lot of guys don’t take advantage of it.”
Most finance bros don’t settle for their button-downs and chinos, Guy believes, because they’re not meant to look good; it’s just the odd outfit, something you wear to look respectable. Men fear that stepping outside these norms can lead to harassment, look unprofessional, or seem too formal or stuck up.
Guy dismisses those fears. In the post-work-from-home era, where office culture is pushing new casual norms, we’ve arrived at the “uglier” version of the business-casual aesthetic, he said. Men still want to look formal but are afraid to stand out.
“I’d rather you put on clothes and say, ‘I feel great,'” Guy said.
How are men supposed to navigate the new, casual office culture while still looking good? The answer, Guy said, starts with a tailored sport coat.
Start formally, then move down
“Try as much as you can to incorporate a tailored sport coat into your outfit,” Guy said. The piece gives men a silhouette with broader shoulders and a slimmer waist, which is flattering, he added.
How do you style a sport coat? Men should try on a classic, formal work outfit and then adjust the elements of the outfit based on the office culture, Guy said.
The classic outfit he suggests is a button-down oxford, layered under a navy sport coat, with gray wool trousers and leather dress shoes.
Many men may find it too formal for the office, Guy said. So swap your pants for chinos. If this is still too dressy, try jeans, a long-sleeved polo and simple white sneakers instead of shoes.
If the sport coat still looks too worn, try a shirt with a texture. For winter, a textured sweater: an Irish fisherman, cable knit or Shetland knit. In the summer, a johnny-collar polo shirt, a camp-collar shirt, or a sweater with a cardigan is “much cooler” than a button-up.
Men can find inspiration in brands, or other businessmen who have good style, Guy said. Classic brands like J. Crew, Todd Snyder and Buck Mason excel at offering dress shirt alternatives, he noted.
One man who has owned a casual business that looks good is Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, Guy added. Rocking cardigans, polos and t-shirts with a sport coat, Mosseri is Guy’s style icon for new menswear back to work.
However, if after trying on new shirts it doesn’t feel as right as the dress shirt – fine, said Guy, but at least make it fit well. He recommends online store Proper Cloth, which designs custom-fit dress shirts that are pricey but well worth the cost.
Stop wearing skinny chinos
Think about how to dress to best flatter your body type, Guy said.
“A lot of guys are squeezing into these really thin chinos that don’t flatter them,” he noted. “That’s not to say that nobody should wear skinny pants, but skinny pants have to work with the aesthetic, and they don’t really work with a business-professional aesthetic.”
Aim for pants that have a slightly wider fit so your silhouette looks more rounded, Guy said.
It’s easy to prove if your pants are too small, Guy added. Look at yourself in the mirror and if your hip pockets are opening, the pants are too tight around the hips. If the pants wrinkle in the lap, they may be too tight on your legs. If you grab a three-way mirror, see how the pants fit your legs. If they are causing ripples in the back, this is another sign that the pants are too small.
“When you fit properly and things are covered well, they look better,” Guy said. “As opposed to when guys squeeze into these tight shirts, they end up being too tight and it doesn’t flatter and they don’t feel comfortable.”
Above all wear the leather jacket, or whatever makes you feel better
There’s another path Guy would prefer the finance bros take: Wear whatever you want, including a leather jacket, à la Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia.
“Huang dresses very stylishly,” Guy said.
If we allowed true blue casual in the office, which might include truckers or leather jackets, “that would be better than forcing everyone into this business casual, which doesn’t have the flattering effects of tailoring nor the creative expression possible for casual wear,” he added.
In a world of Bill Gates T-shirts and Huang leather jackets — a world in which we’ve let go of old notions of respectability — we can move beyond judging people for their clothing, he said. In the workplace, someone wearing a T-shirt should be expected to do the same quality of work as someone in a suit.
“A lot of guys are so scared of exploring that they assume if they wear the wrong jacket, something bad will happen,” Guy said. “I don’t think the world is that bad.”
