The other day we got a sad e-mail from a college student — Karen, we'll call her — on the verge of graduating into a merciless job market. Journalism, advertising, finance, real estate, the auto industry, bottle-service schleppery — all of these potential havens of employment had disappeared before her very eyes. "What are the growth areas?" Karen asked us. "What would be a good field for me to get into?" Now, several days after we dispense our usual career advice ("You're asking me? I write crap on the Internet all day. Got a nice rack? Get out there and use it sister."), we see that in his "Thursday Styles" column this week, David Colman has put his finger on the pulse of a growing niche industry.

“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.”

Of course! During the boom, everyone and their mother was a stylist. So it makes perfect logical sense for the recession to give rise to the noncareer of unstyling. Go forth, young college graduates! If you get started now, you could become the Rachel Zoe of unstyle, get a reality show on Bravo, and make your unmark on the world. Or you could just get out there and use the rack, because after all, the clientele is the same.

When No One Wants to Look Like a Banker [NYT]