This story was featured in The Must Read, a newsletter in which our editors recommend one can’t-miss story every weekday. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

Manhattan’s sidewalk stench was particularly thick at the start of July as trash bags cooked sous vide during a five-day heat wave. Those with flexible work dress codes seized the opportunity to wear linens, open-toed footwear, and even shorts—which still provided little, if any, relief from the conditions outside. But when it comes to dressing for the office during the summer swelter, there’s no respite or leniency for at least one group of men: the finance guys.

“I'm wearing the wrong socks today,” Aedam, who’s interning at the Conrad Hotel’s financial department for the summer, told me on a day when the mercury was pushing 100 degrees. As he prepared to dig into some Italian fare for lunch, droves of World Cup tourists walked past in breezy shorts and floppy hats. But Aedam still came to work in what he described as his usual getup of a single-breasted navy blue Ted Baker suit, a bright white Tommy Hilfiger button-down, and a pair of brown sneaker loafers. The one weather-influenced anomaly in his fit: exposed ankles.

“It was so hot, I just decided to go with ankle socks,” he admitted. “Usually, you're not really supposed to show as much ankle as I am. It's not necessarily business-professional.”

Bumbling around the Financial District, I also encountered an AmEx consultant who sat basking in the air conditioning inside of the food court at Lower Manhattan’s Brookfield Place, which shares a sprawling layout with several financial institutions, including American Express, Brookfield Asset Management, and RBC Capital Markets. While most of his coworkers were already away for the Fourth of July holiday, he wanted to get a head start on the following week. He left his jacket at home and ditched a necktie to mitigate the heat but still wore a sharp royal oxford shirt, creased trousers, and wing-tipped brogues. When asked what would happen if he were to show up to work in shorts, he burst into laughter.

“I would not recommend that,” he deadpanned, once he had collected himself.

Of course, finance workers are not the only ones expected to suit up in a heat wave. I spotted several legal professionals dabbing the sweat beads off their foreheads with jacket sleeves and tie tips. Security guards, too, are expected to wear heavy uniforms—rain, shine, or scorch. (“Torture” was the word one high-rise building’s doorman used when I asked him to describe the experience of commuting in a black suit in 103 degree weather.) Fleet Week also sees dozens of service members in spotless dress uniforms wandering around the blistering Manhattan heat. Even New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appeared on air in his signature suit and tie while advising residents on how to stay cool. It also bears mentioning that those directly interacting with the sun when it’s at its most relentless—construction workers or road repairers—are not in French cuffs but in heavy-duty workwear.

Chatting with the finance guys, I gathered that figuring out the uniform—and sticking with it despite the temperatures—is crucial to decoding the industry’s culture.

“You want to be totally part of the pack,” said Jonathan Tristan, a finance content creator who advises Wall Street pledges on TikTok under the moniker Your Finance Brother. “It’s always fun when I’m commuting home at 10:00 or 11:00 p.m., and it's still hot. I see people going out, and I'm wearing a suit and tie, just going to bed.” On his TikTok, Tristan offers an array of style tips from his years in investment banking. From not one-upping your superior’s status watch to minding your lapel width, most of his style advice ultimately boils down to translating the unspoken nuances of the industry’s suit mandate.

“Over time, the cohort of people that stay in it long-term are genuine. You don't necessarily see it as, ‘Oh, this is such a painful thing I have to do every day.’ It's more, ‘Oh, I do actually enjoy stylistically how this looks and feeling put together like this,’” Tristan said of the dress code. That mindset certainly doesn’t hurt when you're mid–heat wave.

One intern I spoke with seemed to display an early allegiance to the suit. “I picked this outfit with no consideration for the weather,” said Ramses, an inter-dealer broker in training, wearing black slacks and a white dress shirt, slightly unbuttoned. For a summer intern, anything from a poorly knotted tie, a too-mussed-up shirt, or, again, the “wrong socks,” could play a deciding factor in whether or not they receive an offer at the end of the summer. Ramses was advised to wear “business professional” his first week in this specific rotational program, with the suggestion that he tailor his style to the culture of the desk he’s assigned.

“Right now, I'm sitting on a desk which is more Latin in culture. I would say that they stick to the traditional sense—show up looking nice, dress shirt, dress pants,” he said. Though the American stock market was closed ahead of the Fourth of July weekend, global markets were still active, and Ramses was at his desk, sans tie—a common summertime wardrobe exception at companies that require suits. (Client meetings are the exception to the exception.) Cologne and deodorant also go a long way in the heat, he added. When asked if he’d rather wear shorts to work on a syrupy-hot day than a full suit, he said he wouldn’t.

“I like dressing up, and I like feeling good, so I'm fine taking the heat,” he said. Plus, it was just practical: “I would definitely not get a return offer.”