I'm pretty sure that, if a software engineer, you were to pick up and conform to executive social and cultural norms, and did the work required to be able to manage people, raise money, and so on, your salary COULD go up 3-4x. Clothing is but one tiny piece of that. You'd also need to learn a new communication style, learn to code-switch ethics/values, and so on.

People who can bridge technical, business, marketing, and sales are extremely highly valued.

I've learned to adapt, and I have a choice of jobs spanning about a 10x salary range as a result.

The choice I made: I chose the job which was the most fun and fulfilling, while still paying enough to where I don't need to stress about money (so long as I live a modest life). At the time, I had an offer at 2x that salary, and was being recruited into jobs at 2x that in turn. I also had more academic job offers where I could financially scrape by, but /with/ financial stress, which didn't seem worthwhile.

Also: If financial institutions were so conservative, we wouldn't have regular meltdowns like the subprime mortgage crisis.