"In today's office, the rakish dresser...

is the tall poppy, standing out to be downsized — raked away."

Thus Edward Tenner in "Suiting Ourselves" (at the Chronicle of Higher Education), a review of a clothing exhibition. So, I wonder, is Mahendra's dress a bit too rakish? In one interesting paragraph, Tenner continues:

But in the mid-70s, John T. Molloy's Dress for Success heralded the end of such polymeric exuberance. Molloy's meticulous research revealed clothing's signals of social class and education, confirming that conservative cuts and colors, and dressing like one's superiors, were the means of advancement. Science had developed brightly colored polyester double-knits to defy conformity; Molloy made conformity a science, helping consign the leisure suit to comic punch lines.

Read the whole article...