Ross' Rules: Dress for Success

When I go to the grave, the one thing I know people will say about me (other than I was a man of great wisdom and brilliant business sense) is that I was always the best-dressed man in any room.

For the powerful businessman, the perfect suit brings everything together. Though you may have an Ivy League pedigree and winning personality, you are nothing without the proper presentation. In fact, the proper presentation is perhaps the most fundamentally important weapon in the businessman’s arsenal. It also happens to be this week’s rule.

Those who know men’s fashion respect one name above all others- William Fioravanti. One look at a Fioravanti communicates wealth, power and class. Refined, yet never flashy. Polished, yet never ostentatious, a Fioravanti says to the world, “I am a man of incredible means, impeccable taste and I am better than you.”

Now, I understand that at this point in your career you have not the means to afford an $11,000 suit. Perhaps you can afford one of their less expensive models, but I doubt it. However, I cannot stress enough the importance of looking your best. Whether that means a simple off-the-rack Brooks Brothers or a cheaper Bloomingdale’s knock-off, the businessman looking to make something of himself must model himself in the mold of his superiors. Short-sleeved dress-shirts and wrinkle-free khakis are for high-school science teachers and rural insurance salesmen.

After my grandson returned from Iraq, the first thing I did was fly my tailor to Walter Reed to take his measurements. The boy had lost a considerable amount of weight due to the many surgeries needed to treat his wounds, but the tailor was able to work with his doctors and came up with projected measurements that proved to be very accurate. Though my grandson would not accept my phone calls nor return my letters, my tailor told me he successfully impressed upon the young man the importance of looking his best. “Would you rather they notice your scars or your suit,” he asked.

"Will they notice my scars?" I can think of no finer summary of my rule than that simple question. Remember it everytime you look in the mirror.