Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wall Street's Iconic Power Shirt: The Gekko (2nd nomination)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   speedy delete, unambiguous copyright violation from a website with an unacceptable licence. Also repost of deleted material, original research, advertising, and etcetera. - Smerdis of Tlön (talk) 15:38, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

Wall Street's Iconic Power Shirt: The Gekko
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Repost of an article already deleted in August 2009 for lack of notability and spam. Untruthful claims about the movie's shirtmaker (actually | another one) and the meaning of the -shortlived- expression "Gekko shirt" (actually a | white collar shirt as shown here). The article on the movie is sufficient. Delete. Racconish (talk) 10:48, 11 January 2010 (UTC) A rehash of | this press release. Racconish (talk) 11:34, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Delete: Misleading article, redirect to the film would be good enough and avoid any further confusion.—Ash (talk) 11:08, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
 * A redirect would still give some credibility to the product spam in the title. Racconish (talk) 13:09, 11 January 2010 (UTC)

A generic striped shirt finished with white collar and cuffs does not qualify it as a "Gekko" shirt, as mistakenly noted by the Greenwood Encyclopedia's errored attribution. Instead, its original nickname, "The Arrow Man Shirt," dates to the early-1900s. In the 1987 movie, Wall Street, there only a small handful of scenes that feature Michael Douglas wardrobed in shirt finished with a white "contrast" collar and white "contrast" white French cuff. They are not striped. Instead, all are solid colored bodied. The most prominent and memorable image features Douglas in his office with a solid, mid-blue bodied dress shirt finished with white collar and his sleeves rolled-up as: (1) he stands with his hands in his trouser pockets or (2)barks trading orders to assistants while reviewing financial data. That scene is also renowned for its Albert Thurston braces worn by Douglas.

History of the white collar and white cuffed shirt dates to the late-1890s. In the late-1800s to early-1900s, any striped or solid colored shirt finished with a white collar and white cuffs was nicknamed an "Arrow Collar Shirt" or the "Arrow Man Shirt," a moniker won from Arrow Shirt Company's unbiquitous domination of the debactable collar and cuff shirt business from the late-1800s through the early-1920s.

In the late-1970s to mid-1980s, the white collar and white cuff shirt, whether finished with a striped body or solid color body, gained still another nickname: the (1) "Lee Iacocca Shirt" or (2) "Iacocca Shirt," these later monikers earned from its on-screen favor with Lee Iacocca, then Chrysler's CEO and media spokesman. Beside worn countless times in network TV commercials by Iacocca during which he "touted" Chrysler's hugely successful turnaround and the company's entire re-payment -- plus interest -- of its government-backed bailout by American taxpayers, Iacocca also wore the white collar and white cuff shirt that the Greenwood Encyclopdia mistakenly calls the "Gekko" in hundreds of additional TV commercials between 1979 and 1984 while "pitching" the sale of Chrysler's product line-up to American buyers. The shirt style won still added fame from Iacocca's near constant news media coverage during countless nCongressional hearings and meetings. In nearly every newspaper photo image or broadcast news sound-bite from 1979 to 1984, Iaccoca is shown in either a striped or solid colored shirt finished with white collar and white cuffs, hence the shirt style's well-earned and media saturated nickname: "The Iacocca" or "Lee Iacocca Shirt."

Specifically, "The Gekko" refers to a (1) dress shirt (2) with a horizontally striped body, the (3) stripe pattern/weight typically called a "pencil" stripe. Even more specifically, it refers to a horizontally positioned, pencil striped shirt with its collar and cuffs finished in a vertical stripe motif whose diretion travels opposite the horizontal body stripe. In fashion-speak, this collar and cuff stripe format is called a "reverse stripe," thanks to its un-traditional "setting." "Setting," in fashion speak, refers to a pattern-motif's traditional design format.

The Gekko won it own fame -- as well as its nickname -- from a pivotal scene in Wall Street shot in New York's 21 Club that features Douglas and Sheen during a lunch meeting. In that scene, Douglas wears the black and white, horizontally striped dress shirt with reverese-striped collar and French cuff that retailers, fashion editors, journalists and writers, along with fashion-savvy consumers, all call "The Gekko." The Greenwood Encylcopedia's author, by the way, was never a fashion editor, fashion journalist nor noted fashion commentator at any major fashion magazine.

Please, re-watch 1987's Wall Street. Please, Wikipedia sooths, research the history of both the detachable collar shirt, its origins in Troy, New York. Then, research Lee Iacocca's photo images from the late-1970s to mid-1980s, all pre-dating Wall Street's 1987 debut. In addition, please call Karen Alberg, the editor-in-chief at MR magazine, menswear fashion trade magazine. Her number is redacted phone and e-mail.

I have two more suggestions: First, The Greenwood Enclyclopdia is riddled with errors. I would not use it again for accurate attribution. Second, Alex Kabbaz's claim to have created Michael Douglas's Wall Street shirts has been discredited, over and over, since his 1988 NY Times' claim as self-serving falsehood.

Alan Flusser was retained by Oliver Stone as Wall Street's wardrobing consultant. Beginning in the early-1980s, Mel Gambert created Flusser's branded shirts as a private label maker. To this day, Flusser's line up of Alan Flusser dress shirts are still Gambert made. Not a one made by Alex Kabbaz. Contact info redacted

Before handing out "Racoons," willy-nilly, my final suggestion is that Wikipedia's expert editors do both their homework and due diligence by consulting industry experts. My own book is now being considered for publication by both Fairchild and Assouline. I'm more than happy to provide chapter drafts for review. My apologies for not reviewing for either grammer or spelling.

Andy stinson (talk) 20:54, 11 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Film-related deletion discussions.  -- Ash (talk) 11:09, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Fashion-related deletion discussions.  -- Ash (talk) 11:09, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
 * This AfD nomination was incomplete (missing step 3). It is listed now. DumbBOT (talk) 12:43, 12 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Speedy Delete. The tone of the article is 100% unacceptable for an encyclopedia - it reads very much like advertising copy or the verbatim text of a magazine article. And now I know why - it's word-for-word copy from a press release here. The PR website licenses its content under creative commons, except that it must be adapted for news coverage (which this isn't), or else it "Must not be altered if redistributed". So it's entirely unsuitable. The only reason I did not delete immediately was this debate. I'll let another admin handle that. UltraExactZZ Said~ Did 13:33, 12 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Speedy Delete - clear copyvio and wholly unacceptable material. —DoRD (talk) 14:00, 12 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Speedy Delete. User:SRELY&P( talk), the author of the article, wrote here the article was posted so that the people he created it for could see it and used Andy Stinson as a reference, whom he described | here as a "frequently quoted fashion historian and author", while Andy Stinson presents himself | here as a partner with Stinson/R. Ely & Partners, the PR firm for the "Gekko shirt". Is it just a coincidence that SRELY&P is the acronym of Stinson/R. Ely & Partners?  Could User:SRELY&P and User:Andy stinson be one and the same? Racconish (talk) 14:50, 12 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I have raised COI notices on both user talk pages ( and ). If you believe there is a direct violation of the guidance of SOCK, please raise the evidence at SPI.—Ash (talk) 15:02, 12 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Following the close, I redacted phone and e-mail contact information posted above. It remains in the history, and may be oversighted upon request. UltraExactZZ Said~ Did 15:51, 12 January 2010 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.