Male Executives Are Subtly Changing Their Pinstripes

Getting the male executive to change his corporate uniform is like getting a tiger to wear spots.

For years he has been clinging to the so-called IBM look--a traditional three-piece gray suit, white shirt with button-down collar and red power tie.

Now--slowly, cautiously--in boardrooms across Orange County, the executive is changing his stripes, but you might have to look closely to see the changes.

“He’s not going to be screaming through in a wild green suit,” says Gayla Totaro, an image consultant in Huntington Beach who represents Color Me Beautiful and Color for Men, national franchise operations for advising women and men. “A real executive has to be pretty darn careful how far he strays,” she says.

In the corporate world, a single teal-colored thread running through a navy suit might constitute a fashion risk--and in a very conservative company, signal to superiors that one’s judgment is not to be trusted.

Wayne Wright, president of Incentive Associates, a marketing firm in Laguna Hills, probably sums up the attitude of many executives: “I like some flair, but I wouldn’t want to look like a peacock.”

As dress standards becomes less rigid, men have found they have more choices to make concerning colors and style.

“Women used to complain that all we had to do is change our ties and people would go, ‘Hey, new suit,’ ” says Jon Maddox, president of Charter Savings in Newport Beach.

It’s not that easy anymore. Maddox, for one, is trying to break the mold of the conventional banker by experimenting with just slightly out of the ordinary clothing.

“This is a very conventional business,” he says. “Everything we do is relatively boring, so I try to liven it up.”

Maddox favors single- or double-breasted suits in lightweight wools by Giorgio Armani. He chooses fabrics in light grays or charcoal with thin lines of non-traditional colors such as maroon or purple that he can bring out with a matching tie.

“It’s nothing wild, it’s just a little color,” he says. He likes shirts in pale blue or pink tones rather than the standard white.

“There was a time when if you wore pink as a kid, you’d get beat up,” he says. “You have to keep the colors very light so they don’t overpower the suit.”

“Nobody doesn’t wear a suit; everybody’s fairly conservative,” says Paul L’Esperance, western regional sales manager for Melitta USA Inc. in Anaheim.

Still, he says, he sees more executives who, as he is, are willing to experiment with colors and fabrics. He went to Totaro for advice on which colors look best on him; according to her analysis, he looks better in grays and blues than in the browns and tans he had been wearing .

His new “power suit,” he says, is a gray herringbone worn with a gray-striped shirt and a dull-red tie with gray and red spots.

“I’m trying not to be like everyone else, so I do things just a little different,” he says.

Some executives want small details that will set them apart.

“I have fun with my ties and socks,” says Joseph Riley, director of sales and marketing for Mola Development Corp. in Newport Beach. Riley prefers the classic look of a Ralph Lauren suit such as the double-breasted gray wool with thin chalk stripes and cuffed trousers that has become a recent favorite. To stand out, Riley says, he wears it with a yellow tie and yellow argyle socks.

“The suit may be a little boring, but you can offset that,” he says.

Bjorn Sedleniek, an owner of Posh Gentlemen’s Clothing in Newport Beach, agrees that fashion trends for the executive man are quite subtle. Among the changes gaining ground in local offices: jackets with slightly wider but naturally shaped shoulders, lower buttons and pleated trousers. Suit fabrics now have a smooth, European-style finish that can take a more intricate weave.

“For a guy who’s a traditional dresser, that’s a big change,” Sedleniek says.

Suit colors have gone very dark, he says, and many men are favoring off shades of blue. In shirts, English spread or straight collars are replacing the button-down style.

As for the details, he says that suspenders and silk pocket squares that coordinate with the tie are selling very well.

Carol Priestley, an image consultant with Personal Image Marketing Corp. in Fullerton and El Toro, coaxes her clients to show a little personality even as they maintain a professional air.

“Hollywood flash and dash could be very detrimental in the corporate world,” Priestly says. “Men are just barely willing to set themselves apart.”

Yet she finds, she says, that more executives are willing to wear, say, a vest in a texture that contrasts with that of the suit, shirts in mint or lilac tones, silk ties in sea green or purple, and suit materials whose pinstripes hint of green or purple.

“The man is carefully letting go of his need to fit in,” she says.