Deconstructing ‘Finance Bro’, the Look
By Lauren CochraneThink of a city worker and you’ll likely think of a smart striped shirt worn with a tie and one of those ubiquitous Succession-adjacent gilets. But, in 2024, the signals are switching, or glitching. Enter ‘Finance Bro’, the look — some of the above garms taken up by the fashion-conscious, creative classes to cosplay someone in the City. Instead of heading into Liverpool Street for a 6.30am breakfast meeting, they might be more likely to wear it for drinks at the Spurstowe or a boogie in Bushwick. But what does it all mean? Let’s dig into it.
What is the Finance Bro aesthetic?
To be clear, this isn’t the full look, as seen on looksmaxxing icon Patrick Bateman or the cast of Industry. Instead, the striped preppy shirt is the key item – one that could pass on the trading floor but, when given a fashion twist, it’s worn absurdly large. To really signpost that its wearer has no desire or talent for making deals, they are often unironed on purpose. Bateman would not approve.
How did we get here?
Like a lot of things in fashion, this can all be traced back to Demna, a man who loves nothing more than an archetype. In 2022, Balenciaga’s creative director brought his ‘Resort’ collection to the New York Stock Exchange, with screens displaying stock prices the backdrop to a collection that included power suits, trenchcoats and briefcases. The ripple began, with influential style newsletter Blackbird Spyplane pushing ‘Pete from Accounting’ shirts the next year, and the terms ‘corpcore’ and ‘office siren’ becoming microtrends.
What increased the Finance Bro’s stock valuation?
A combination of good old-fashioned celebrity endorsement and the badlands of social media. When Harry Styles and new Valentino designer Alessandro Michele stepped out together in May wearing matching oversized striped shirts, Dazed reported that they were now “dressing like finance bros”. Meanwhile, TikTok creator Girl on Couch saw a video detailing her apparent dating desires – “I’m looking for a man in finance, with a trust fund, 6-5, blue eyes” – sampled in a dance track by none other than superstar DJ David Guetta. By June, Google Trends reported that the term had spiked in searches. With ‘finance bro vest’ (American for gilet) also on the up, this deeply unfashionable item could actually do the unthinkable and hit the heights of high fashion.
So, is it ironic?
Sure, some of this comes from a luxury fashion house but the fact it’s taken off shows it chimes with a wider feeling. With a cost of living crisis in full effect (at least in the UK) and while many in the creative arts are again struggling, there’s been a widespread injection of anti-capitalist energy back into the air. Actual finance bros – people who are earning the big bucks – have thus again become objects of ridicule. And by subverting their clothes and wearing them in a NSFW way, there’s an element of revenge. At the very least, it certainly exhibits a working knowledge of irony.
What are some other theories?
With the rise of the hoodies-and-sneakers look of Silicon Valley, the fetishisation of the Finance Bro could be seen as a rejection of what the current faces of the Top 1% deem fashionable. Also, Finance Bros might have been called Yuppies in the eighties – as such, this look is yet another example of how retro style shared on social media affects what we wear.
Where can I score that Pete from Accounting shirt?
Maybe best to avoid actual Finance Bro brands like TM Lewin and Charles Tyrwhitt. Or maybe not? Labels ranging from Dilara Findikoglu to Aries are selling striped shirts subverted enough that they run little risk of their wearer being mistaken for a Deloitte staff member. Or, of course, there’s lots of vintage options online. At the time of writing, there was the perfect Ralph Lauren shirt on Vinted for £20 and – judging by the photos – it comes with the desired wrinkles.
Lauren Cochrane is Senior Fashion Writer of The Guardian and contributes to publications including The Face, ELLE, Service95, Konfekt and Mr Porter. Based in London, she writes about everything from catwalk shows to footballers’ style and the linguistics of Love Island. She is author of The Ten: The Stories Behind the Fashion Classics. Header image: harold.angels94/Instagram