Is/was there a "color code" for suspenders/braces in corporate US?

[Abraham]

Is there or was there a "color code" for wearing suspenders/braces in corporate US? Back around 1990 I was given a very nice set of red braces as I prepared to intern. A wise old sage in my office said that not only was I too young to wear braces, I also didn't hold the job title to justify wearing red braces. I asked him what he meant?

He said back in the day (post WWII), interns and clerks wore belts, not braces. Professionals wore black braces, middle managers wore navy blue or maroon braces and company executives wore red braces. I thought that was interesting but I never heard it anywhere else?

 

[JackieMatra]

What color braces did Marlene Dietrich wear?

 

[scotrace]

I believe that suspenders were a way for a man to express individuality. I remember seeing some pretty amazing patterns and designs, and guys used to show them off. Abercrombie & Fitch (before they were kid porn), used to have a big display of them with all kinds of whimsical patterns. I don't think (and it was not my experience) that there was a "code." Have a look at the suspenders Niles Crane wore in Frasier.

I wish I'd bought some from A&F at the time. I have a few pair by Brooks Bros. which I found in Filene's Basement in Boston on the cheap, but they're just silk in bright red and tan.

 

[hatsRme]

Every large corporation had (has?) something of a code of dress decorum. IBM Corp. was famous for very conservative suits and ties. The general work office rule in most companies (written or not) was to wear what the boss was wearing, which I think still applies. Another philosophy was (is?) to dress for the job you want, again looking up the ladder. I was once told by a Director of Marketing that I "shouldn't wear that tie again." I thought the tie in question was pretty conservative, but I never wore it again. On the positive side of that Marketing Director, the day I wore my Lee private label (the one in my avatar) he actually called me into his office to tell me how much he loved the hat. That was in 1981, and nobody was wearing hats. Almost nobody!

 

[Bushman]

I would place a bet that rainbow suspenders were likely frowned upon by everyone except Urkel.

 

[hatsRme]

You probably won't get too many "likes," on those around here, either, Bushy! Although they go with ANYTHING!

 

[BobHufford]

I would place a bet that rainbow suspenders were likely frowned upon by everyone except Urkel.

... and Mork.

 

[Bushman]

... and Mork.

I'd give Mork a pass simply because he's an alien and doesn't know any better.

 

[tropicalbob]

When I worked on Wall Street back in the '80's as a speechwriter and later compliance officer, I was attached to the legal dept. At the time there was a style called the "young fogey" look, which included three piece suits, wire-rimmed glasses, and, often, suspenders. I also wore high-button shoes that I got from Stacy Adams up in Harlem. What was great was that there was a wonderful little shop on Exchange Place where you could get beautiful suits with buttons for suspenders for a very reasonable cost. I chose to wear solid colors most of the time, but would occasionally sport some stripes. A couple of my colleagues, though, went for the wilder ones, some with little teddy bears printed on them, as I recall. Then again, some of us chose to wear our hair a bit longer than the norm, and we got away with it mainly because, well, we were the Legal Dept. I also remember that when they started drug-testing employees we were left alone - probably a good thing, too.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Do you know why firemen wear red braces? To hold their trousers up (ancient joke)

 

[Leacock]

Should the colour really matter?

I thought they were supposed to be covered by the waistcoat.

 

[Cobden]

Certainly in conservative British offices (working on Whitehall, for example), you aren't permitted to wear braces with shirtsleeves, due to the British tradition of braces being almost "underwear" - something that is a functional and hidden.