The Investment Banker Wardrobe Has Changed. a Pro Stylist Explains How to Get It Right.

Whether advising on mega-mergers or convincing a client you can manage their millions, how you look can be as important as what you know.

At least that's how Jessica Cadmus, a personal stylist specializing in dressing Wall Street execs, sees it. 

"A lot of these people, because they're so smart and so used to dominating with their brain, think that there's some inherent frivolity in tending too closely to your aesthetic. They could not be more wrong," Cadmus said.

"If you're going to stand in front of someone like a client and you're going to raise money, you need to look like you can handle that money. And there are visual cues that will help you do that," Cadmus explained. "It's not all just about your brain. It's a total package."

Cadmus' past life working for one of Wall Street's most prestigious banks grants her a unique perspective. 

She was an associate at Goldman Sachs from 2005 to 2010. Cadmus loved to dress up at the office and said her eye for fashion was noticed by senior colleagues, who enlisted her to help spruce up their closets. Word of her talent spread, and soon, she was helping so many coworkers that she started a personal styling business, Wardrobe Whisperer, in 2007. Her services — doing closet deep-dives, customized shopping trips, and creating "look books" — became so popular that by 2010, she quit Goldman to style full time. 

Nearly 16 years later, Cadmus is still dressing bankers and financiers and has founded a luxury accessories line called  Rogue Paq. Today, about 85% of her clients work in finance, and they're among the highest-ranking employees — mostly MDs and partners — at major banks and hedge funds. 

Cadmus spends her days helping them look both stylish and office-appropriate, a task complicated by the move to business casual. The pandemic — and the tech boom before that — has done away with ties, suits, and stilettos. Even in the formal finance industry, sneakers and sometimes jeans are the new norm.

"A suit is a uniform, that's easy," Cadmus explained. "It's the in-between gray area where people are just absolutely struggling."

Cadmus shared with Insider her playbook for dressing VIP finance clients, including her top brands, top do's and don'ts, and specific buy recommendations for both men and women. 

Of course, following her playbook is pricey. The financial industry is known for big paydays, and some of her recommendations may equal what some readers pay in monthly rent. (See her lower-cost recommendations in Insider's styles guide for summer interns.) But for high-paid MDs and partners, a put-together wardrobe should be thought of as an essential career investment, Cadmus says.

One of the keys to dressing like a rainmaker is to embrace "quiet luxury," Cadmus said — wearing pieces that are very high-quality (and expensive) but that don't sport conspicuous logos and are not necessarily made by big-name brands.

"You need to invest the time, the energy, and the dollars, frankly, to put yourself together in a way that you are coming from a place of power," she said. "Dressing like a partner is about taking the time to do it. Don't phone it in. And so many of them are still phoning it in."

Editor's note: This story was first published in June 2023 and has been updated to include the latest style tips. 

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