Demarre Johnson usually keeps his phone on “Do Not Disturb” during the workday. When he finally glanced at it on Thursday, it was lighting up with messages from professional contacts he hadn’t heard from in ages.
Most were texting him about the now-viral article profiling Wall Street’s “finest boys in finance,” a glossy photo shoot in Interview magazine published Wednesday evening that’s spawned a wave of memes and discourse among Wall Street’s chronically online.
Business Insider caught Johnson, a 23-year-old financial services data and AI consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and one of the young men featured, during his lunch break on Thursday. He said he was approached for the article because of his TikTok presence, where he posts about his life at work.
When he got to the photo shoot at the heart of the piece, which profiled four junior Wall Street employees decked out in designer clothes, he had his pick of brands.
“They had a plethora of brands to choose from: Loro Piana to Prada to Celine to Dior,” he said, in addition to the Rolex and Hugo Boss watches. Johnson said he has vintage pants, Ralph Lauren pieces, and Vineyard Vines in his own closet (in addition to the six vests he mentioned in the article).
The photos of Johnson and three other junior finance bros, two from Goldman Sachs and one from Barclays, ran alongside interviews that reveal their work hours, most expensive and stupid purchases, and top pieces of financial advice, and the internet is taking the boys to task.
One of Wall Street’s many unspoken rules for juniors is to avoid being too flashy, or at least to avoid being flashier than your managing director. The article, with its references to stereotypical finance bro gyms and designer briefcases, has rubbed many the wrong way for its mere cringiness by Wall Street standards.
An Instagram post about the feature has racked up almost 1,500 comments, most mocking either the Andy Warhol-founded publication and the junior employees — including one that said they “look like kids wearing their father’s suits.” Finance accounts on X that had been posting oil prices hours prior became a steady stream of memes and photos from the shoot inside Delmonico’s, a storied Wall Street steakhouse.
Johnson said that he expected the piece to get a big reaction because “controversy sells,” and that he takes criticism well. His Instagram following is ticking up (it stood at 6,265 at the time of publication). Coworkers, he said, have thought it’s hilarious, and friends who work in finance told him the article was sent around in group chats.
“My initial reaction was, ‘Oh, they’re going to clown us because we think we’re pretty,'” Johnson said. “That’s exactly what happened.”
Many commenters said they were stunned the professionals agreed to the shoot at all, given how strict their employers tend to be about speaking to the press. Tony Fratto, a spokesperson for Goldman Sachs, told Business Insider that “media relations did not approve these interviews.” Representatives for Barclays declined to comment, and PwC representatives did not respond to Business Insider’s request. The other employees profiled could not be reached.
Johnson, however, isn’t lying low. He posted about the article on TikTok, including a meme making fun of him specifically for self-identifying as a Wall Street guy despite working at a consulting firm.
“I’m viral on twitter,” he said in the post, complete with four crying emojis.
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