…and when I talk about being bearish on pinstripes, I’m not talking about the new Yankee Stadium, though that certainly has its detractors at the moment. NYT – in an article that uses several buzzwords that make me want to hurl – tells us, looking like a banker is “out”:

What has landed on the slag heap of style is the old three-button power suit: slickly conservative, oversize and overpriced, worn with a boxy white shirt and a wide silk tie. It was all, as GQ’s creative director, Jim Moore, put it, “too big and too bold in all the wrong places.” Not so long ago, that ensemble blared of Wall Street success. Now, with public sentiment against financial institutions still high, racks of expensive Italian beauties languish in shops across the country.

“I have guys coming in here saying, ‘I don’t want to look like a banker anymore,’ ” said Eric Goldstein, an owner of Jean Shop, a premium denim store in the meatpacking district. He is now dispensing advice on how to look like a “creative professional.”

The new look is still professional enough for work, even a business lunch. But it is quirky and cool enough to suggest that you haven’t spent the last decade lounging in the old boys’ room inhaling cigar smoke and default swaps.

So, you got that? More “hipster,” more “prepster;” less “banker.” The power suit has returned to villain status. (Was there a section in AIG’s “Guide To Not Getting Shanked By Protesters When You Come To Work” on top boutiques in Williamsburg?) This guy from the NYT’s article, bedecked in American Apparel pants, and shoes and sunglasses I would expect to see on an elderly man playing shuffleboard, BEGS to be captioned (any suggestions?):

Actually that picture reminds me… my Chicago counsel was raving to me about his white, velcro Rockports last week. (Sorry to call you out, J!) Guess even the attorneys don’t want to look like they might have worked on one of these CDS deals.

If there’s any solace for the retail sector, though “stodgy” is dead for now, “expensive” is still in. Check out the men’s retail stats:

Mr. Amendola echoes press officers at Prada, Gucci, Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman and Paul Stuart who confirm that men’s business has fared better than women’s. According to NPD Group, which tracks retail sales, comparison of the six months ending Feb. 29, 2008, and Feb. 28, 2009, reveals that sales of men’s clothes costing more than $100 were up 4.3 percent. It is a surprising figure given the general retail anemia.

Sadly for the Drexler haters on Team LOLFed (including LoLo, who sent me the article), JCrew is mentioned several times in the article as a beneficiary of the hipster-prepster trend. And here we thought there was only going to be one guy running around in critter shorts this summer. Ugh.