Why Abandoning the Dress Code Works

It usually starts at a young age. A coat, a blazer, a deep (and now slightly regrettable) commitment to a pair of metallic boots. For those of us who noticed early how dressing could slide from necessity to joyride, the conversion was swift. Clothing is what everyone else wears. Style is the defiant break that says this is better. The interior design world has always sidled close to fashion, but mostly as beaming admirer.

Here, we turn the spotlight by profiling five design-industry men whose personal style is a natural, inextricable part of their business. We did this without stylists or wardrobes. Instead, we invited each industry personality—known for creating interiors and furniture, finding talent, and representing design brands—to dress in their own clothes, wearing their individual versions of a day in the design life. This is how they showed up.