Does a tweed cap make someone below 35 look too old?

[londonboy]

I wore a new tweed (cashmere actually) cap to work, a classic one with the orange and green checks. My secretary and colleagues commented it made me look twenty years older, and I should get the shotgun, hounds and country estate to go with it. Not that it did not look dapper, but they commented that I should have chosen a grey hat over tweed designs. Has anyone received this kind of feedback?

 

[jkingrph]

I wore a new tweed (cashmere actually) cap to work, a classic one with the orange and green checks. My secretary and colleagues commented it made me look twenty years older, and I should get the shotgun, hounds and country estate to go with it. Not that it did not look dapper, but they commented that I should have chosen a grey hat over tweed designs. Has anyone received this kind of feedback?

I think I would go along with their suggestions on the things to go with/compliment your cap.

 

["Doc" Devereux]

I was thinking about tweed caps a couple of weeks ago, and decided against one for just this reason. Try a solid colour and you may well find it receives a better reception.

 

[Feraud]

I wore a new tweed (cashmere actually) cap to work, a classic one with the orange and green checks. My secretary and colleagues commented it made me look twenty years older, and I should get the shotgun, hounds and country estate to go with it. Not that it did not look dapper, but they commented that I should have chosen a grey hat over tweed designs. Has anyone received this kind of feedback?

I would take the comments as a compliment. The choice of a solid color over a tweed is a personal one you can base on your outfits.

 

[Starius]

I haven't had mine too long, but I've only gotten compliments so far.

Does it make you look older? I don't think so. I think it makes one look more mature perhaps, but maturity isn't solely bound to age.

 

[londonboy]

My boss and his senior colleagues saw me on my way out and had the final word. They gave their sincere compliments, but noted that it looked so out of place in the city that I should tell my everyone that I am on my way to Hampton.

 

[johnnycanuck]

its not the hat that makes you look old. ITS YOU! ha......... I found it funny....... never mind.
The only caps I own I inherited form my Pop when he passed away. He found one on sale and bought it, intending on wearing it when the one he was wearing wore out. Didn't live long enough. But I now have a grey one made out of some nylon type of material (his daily) and a brown one with a plaid top made out of wool (going to be his replacement). Any time I had it on, I never got a comment. Maybe your secretary is hat fascist....... Down with hat fascism! Just because I am the grandson of a labor class Scotsman does not mean I have to wear a tartan cap! I have the freedom to choose! ....................I will get off my soap box now.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

They were just yanking your chain (esp. the shotgun stuff). In such a uniform-conscious place as the city, anything out of the ordinary will generate comments. May even affect your promotion opportunities.

They are that cretinous about how people look (in that it is cretinous to care what someone looks like).

bk

 

[londonboy]

Promotion opportunities? The senior people decided it would be nice for me to dress properly for the city. They are sending me to Lock to fetch a bowler hat, to Brigg to fetch an umbrella, and advised me to have a pinstripe suit made. I understand that the bowler is currently deemed costume, but they felt it would be nice for a solicitor in London who is not actually British to sport the classic solicitor/banker/accountant look.

They were not joking, so I am now trying to determine whether I would get better quality by purchasing a new bowler from Lock or waiting for a vintage one.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

yes, there's been discussion here before on the order of "i wouldn't hire/promote the guy that looks 'out of the ordinary'" etc. etc. Having been seen wearing something that your cohort is probably not wearing, you are marked as a non-conformist. Never a good thing in the business/city community - or so it would seem from previous threads.

I would take the comments of your superiors as a not-so-subtle hint that you shouldn't wear that hat to work again. Maybe i'm paranoid.

With the joking comment, i was referring to the secretary/colleagues who appeared to be yanking your chain.

bk

 

[londonboy]

No, it was just a few good natured moments that I treasure. It was a tweed cap, not a tribal headdress. One of my superiors asked me where I purchased it and how much, and I mentioned the brief tour of Nelson and Wellington's hats.

 

[Will]

No, it was just a few good natured moments that I treasure. It was a tweed cap, not a tribal headdress.

But a tweed cap IS an English tribal headdress.

 

["Doc" Devereux]

I would take the comments of your superiors as a not-so-subtle hint that you shouldn't wear that hat to work again. Maybe i'm paranoid.

I have a feeling that the good Baron may well be right, but I know that we've got ay least one City-type here on the board who will know the culture far better than I. Perhaps they'd offer an opinion?

 

[mike]

[QUOTE="Doc" Devereux]I have a feeling that the good Baron may well be right, but I know that we've got ay least one City-type here on the board who will know the culture far better than I. Perhaps they'd offer an opinion?[/QUOTE]

I've run into this issue multiple times. Virtually any comment from someone at work should be taken as a sign that you better dumb down your professional look. It's awful, but true! I've literally been taken aside at one of my previous jobs and told by my supervisor that the boss of the company thinks I don't fit the aesthetic of the company and that I will be moved into a dead end position until I decide to quit. That they would not be giving me a raise or a promotion, my supervisor who was a really nice guy, told me that I am therefore wasting my time there and to look elsewhere...! Meanwhile, what they were referring to - I wore a subdued pompadour, button up long sleeve shirts, suspenders and slacks! And this was in a supposed 'creative' environment!
At my present job, I certainly stick out. I'm trying to get a promotion out of my department so I recently shaved off my gable-esque mustache and have been wearing less three piece suits. Opting for slacks with sweaters & sometimes ties to try to go for a bit of a dressed down look that I can still feel comfortable in and yet don't always get commented on being 'over dressed' since los angeles business attire is barely one step up from sweat pants & sandals nowadays!
Anyway, it's a hard road to walk but I think it's important to remember that no matter how friendly your coworkers and bosses seem to be, if you are the odd man out, in many cases there is no way to succeed in that environment.

 

[mike]

By the way, I wear caps to work and it is probably too much, but I really like them and don't wear them while working. I would not wear a fedora or a double breasted suit to work as it would be really pushing it. I want to leave my job if and when on my own terms and not someone elses
Man do I sound grown up - this coming from a guy that used to go to work with a foot and a half high bright blue quiff lol

 

[Baron Kurtz]

No, it was just a few good natured moments that I treasure.

The definition of "yanking your chain", no? Banter: Humerous, well meaning comments at the expense of "X" (be it a cap, a new hairstyle, whatever).

bk

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Promotion opportunities? The senior people decided it would be nice for me to dress properly for the city. They are sending me to Lock to fetch a bowler hat, to Brigg to fetch an umbrella, and advised me to have a pinstripe suit made. I understand that the bowler is currently deemed costume, but they felt it would be nice for a solicitor in London who is not actually British to sport the classic solicitor/banker/accountant look.

They were not joking, so I am now trying to determine whether I would get better quality by purchasing a new bowler from Lock or waiting for a vintage one.

I am truly a cynic. I won't beat about the bush. I think there's quite a bit of chain yanking going on. "Let's see if we can get him to look like Winston Churchill . . . guffaw guffaw". [huh] Maybe i'm reading too much into it, but i wouldn't trust someone in the city advising me to look like an anachronism.

For example: The only people i've seen at Paternoster Square (truly the heart of "the city". I was a cycle courier at the time, and spent 5 hours a day in "the city") wearing bowler hats and morning suit were handing out flyers for, i believe, life insurance, or maybe a restaurant.

In an extremely competitive environment, and one so obsessed with appearance, i'd be wary of someone advising me to look different from the rest of my cohort. Hence i did not embrace that environment. But if you do, be wary of such advice.

bk

 

[TCameron]

I feel as though those in a professional are acting unprofessional if they tell you you are out of line by dressing the way you. I understand it may distract from "corporate aesthetic"; but you are carrying yourself in a professional way and paying homage to an era gone past in a subtle way that does not inherently detract from corporate productivity. I too have been told to dress down on various occasions, and it was for wearing actual shoes, and not the overall acceptable sneakers. I kept the shoes.

As for a tweed cap making you look too old, I do not see how it can make someone look too old, its merely a tweed cap, not a walker! Continue sporting it, but I suppose it depends on the setting and so on.

Cheers,

T Cameron

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I am truly a cynic. I won't beat about the bush. I think there's quite a bit of chain yanking going on. "Let's see if we can get him to look like Winston Churchill . . . guffaw guffaw". [huh] Maybe i'm reading too much into it, but i wouldn't trust someone in the city advising me to look like an anachronism.

bk

I got the same feeling.

Unless these 'Senior People' actually are wearing a Lock bowler a Brigg brolly, and are wearing pinstripe suits.

Then maybe its not them taking the piss

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I lust after a Brigg umbrella. I went with the cheaper Jas. Smith, and it's nice (malacca handle etc.), but i still lust after a Brigg. Can't afford it.

I'm liking the word "guffaw" too. Looks really funny on the screen.

bk