License Collector for the City of St. Louis Mike McMillan admits that he’s “very pleased with how things have gone so far” in the 14 months he’s spent in the office. It’s a place where things are professional, running smoothly and where the office workers up front wear embroidered blazers, typifying the business-ready, professional look McMillan strives for.

McMillian doesn’t see himself as a paragon of panache. Contrary to the custom-made pinstripe suit by-the-way of local haberdasher Tommy Tucker, he’s quite nonchalant about it all, calling it “normal business style.”

“It would be presumptuous of me to assume anything else,” McMillan said.

Every flare is politely and effortlessly explained away. The tie bar?

“It’s the cheapest thing I can do on a daily basis that I enjoy.”

The cuff links?

“Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. They were a Christmas gift from my mother,” McMillan said, calling the blue ones he wore on each cuff “plain.”

Then there was ring with the seal of the city emblazoned on it. Nothing to note there. He just happened to have that, purchased from Vincent’s Jewelry downtown before they moved out of the city.

While McMillan is stylishly humble, it’s not surprising he would rank high on Revenue Collector Gregg Daly’s list of well dressed politicos. McMillan returned the compliment to Daly, listing him as well as former Mayor Freeman Bosley, Jr. and State Rep. Rodney Hubbard as others with styles he admired. But he reserved the most compliments for former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.

“He had an exceptional style … He’s at the top of any political fashion discussion,” McMillan said.

As for the blazers his office workers wear, McMillan said he had the idea before he became license collector. He wanted to demonstrate that his staff had the right appearance and the work ethic to back it up.

Paraphrasing Black Enterprise Magazine founder Earl G. Graves, Sr. McMillan said, “There is no business casual in the office because there is nothing casual about business.”

Photos by Danielle Belton