Clothes No Longer Make the Man

In 1963 I wouldn't have worn a suit to paint the porch furniture. My father certainly wouldn't have donned one of his Brooks Brothers sack suits before touching up the trim on the barn. So why is the man in this 1963 Chase nest egg ad wearing a suit?

Because a guy wearing an old sweater and stained khakis wouldn't have looked rich.

Half a century later, rich men display a variety of looks: bespoke suit, black tee shirt,  jeans and boots, hoodie . . . . Mark Shaw, the Chase photographer, would have a tough time depicting a generic "rich man."

A decade after this Chase ad ran, Thomas Stanley began studying the affluent. After discovering that many did not look that rich, he became a popular speaker at financial marketing gatherings, gaining national prominence with his 1988 book, "The Millionaire Next Door."

Before that best-seller, Dr. Stanley wrote "Marketing to the Affluent." A generation later, aspiring brokers and investment advisers still might find it worth reading.

Postscript: Strictly speaking, Mark Twain pointed out, clothes do make the man: "Naked people have little or no influence on society."