Hey folks, just a quick question for ya. I’m fairly new to the corporate world, having landed my first professional job out of college back in August. So far, I’ve survived on owning just a single suit (I got it recently - didn’t even have a suit during my interviews), as most days it’s acceptable to wear just a shirt, tie, sports coat, and khakis.
However, I plan on expanding my wardrobe considerably, mainly with the addition of a few new suits. If I were working in a building where a suit was mandatory every day of the week, should I be expected to own at least five suits (one for each day of the week)? Or do most people “recycle” suits throughout the week, say wearing a the same suit on Thursday as they did on Monday?
Oh, and how often should I wash them? Only until they are noticeably dirty? My office clothes don’t really suffer through much when I’m just sitting on my ass all day.
The general advice is that you need two basic suits: a charcoal one and a navy one. After that, you can add a lighter gray-toned one, and if you like brown colors, a taupe or tan one. Olive green was an in color for a while in the late 90s, but charcoal, navy and gray never go out of fashion.
Don’t wear a black suit unless you are going to a funeral or will be waiting on tables. Or are Hasidic I suppose.
Yes, one cycles through suits. Back when I worked at a place with a full suit and tie dress code I owned five suits in the colors listed above (charcoal, navy, gray, taupe and olive), though I found myself sticking to the first three 85% of the time, the taupe got very little time and the olive soon seemed out of fashion.
As you won’t wear the jacket much anyway once you’re indoors (unless you sit right under an A/C vent), I would say if you’re planning to dress up a bit, I’d suggest getting a wider variety of dress slacks and 2, maybe 3 matching sport coats rather than getting five suits to rotate through. You’ll wear out the pants before the jackets.
Dry clean only, don’t “wash” them! I typically only do it when I get them noticeably wrinkled or stained. You’ll probably iron them more than you clean them.
It may sound silly, but that old book Dress for Success by Malloy has a lot of meat n’ potatoes common sense for a man on how to manage a wardrobe. It is very basic and sensible and not full of GQ-fashionista crap. Just tell me what types of suits, how many shirts and ties and what to look for, okay?..
My dad was in sales for years and wore suits every day. He had three – blue, grey, and brown – which he rotated through. He also had a blazer or two to mix and match with some trousers every now and then for a little variety. But, yeah, I’d tend to generally concur with what **robardin **said.
Thanks, robardin, for a very complete answer. I was afraid that I’d have to go out and buy half a dozen new suits.
And what’s this I hear about pinstripes? Is it true that men should have at least one suit with pinstripes? Are they for special occasions, kind of like black suits?
If you stick with a nice mix of blue, gray, and black I think you could get a way with 4-5 suits. The secret is having 2-3 ties that go with each suit. It’s a whole other look and makes it seem like another suit. We always had to wear white dress shirts, but the same could be said about varying them.
I dunno, what is it that you hear about pinstripes? Nothing to do with a baseball jersey, I hope?
Typically, your suits will have some kind of pattern already; purely solid suits are fairly rare, unless it’s in some kind of luxury material that is being shown off (e.g., a silk blend suit). Pinstripes are just one option. Subtle pinstripes are the most conservative; low-contrast “houndstoothing”, or the V-like “herringbone” pattern are other options. Going for high-contrast patterns, like chalk white pinstripes on a dark suit, is venturing into Zoot Suit territory, or taking a page from GQ to go trawling through SoHo rather than going to the office.
I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a plaid suit that didn’t look like a fox hunting outfit, or made the wearer look like a used car salesman from 20+ years ago.
I’m taking all of this in, but more and more questions come to mind.
After browsing suits on the Men’s Warehouse website, I was checking out the different styles. While viewing them, one option was to filter the suits by number of jacket buttons. What is the deal here? As per my personal preference, I seem to like the two-button jackets more than say jackets with three or four buttons. Actually, whenever I wear a suit, I rarely button the jacket anyway.
How much should I factor in the number of buttons on the jacket when I do my suit shopping?
BTW – I’ve found this one retailer on eBay, The Wizard of Aahs, to be selling really very nice quality suits at a good price (particularly the “Baroni” suits). The same price you’d pay for a suit at Men’s Wearhouse or someplace like that, but for a much better suit in terms of the look, feel and cut of the fabric.
Thanks, I’ll check it out. Oh, btw, where did you learn so much about suits?
Also, another question (sorry, I’m clueless when it comes to this subject), when the pants say “inseam: unfinished,” what does that look like? Does that mean there is an unacceptable-looking disarray of thread and fabric at the “cuff” of the leg? Is it something that needs attention before one wears it out?
Jacket buttons, like pants styles, go in and out of fashion. Either 2 or 3 buttons is standard. A 2 button jacket will have a more open look and show more of the tie. You can’t really go wrong with either one, particularly the two-button jacket, though if you’re very big/tall (if your jacket size has an “L” in it or are a size 46+) the third button might look better.
Don’t go for four buttons or one button, those are “cutting edge fashion” statements that again, are not really necessary to pay extra for in an workplace suit.
Same thing for a double-breasted suit. They’re very dressy and have not been in fashion for some time. I suppose sooner or later they will be again but it won’t be for long.
As for buttoning the jacket, leaving it open is always OK (except for a double-breasted suit, which due to the extra fabric should always be buttoned, unless you’re David Letterman and are deliberately looking dorky – another reason to avoid them). But when buttoning the jacket up, leave the bottom button open. On a 3-button suit, you can button just the middle button if you want instead of the top 2 buttons. I don’t know where these rules came from, but they’re on a par with wearing a belt that’s the same color as your shoes (i.e., violations are immediately noticed by almost anyone).
(Boy, I’m really coming off like a Beau Brummel, though really I’m not.)
I learned about suits from having to wear them every day in a Wall Street environment from 1994 through 1999. Then the dress code got relaxed even here, and I’m now wearing corduroy pants with a dress shirt and a sweater as I type.
Yes, unfinished inseams are the norm, you’ll have to get your pants hemmed at a tailor (most dry cleaners do this tailoring, as will any clothing shop that sells suits). You get the pants hemmed before you ever wear them.
As for the pants hemming, the tailor may ask you “cuff, or no cuff?”. This means folding up and stitching in the end of the pants a bit at the bottom (I’m sure if you Google for images of pants cuffs you’ll see). The rule of thumb is that pleated pants should have cuffs, and unpleated (flat-front) pants should not, and in fact some tailors will assume this rule and not ask unless you specify that you want them cuffed or not. Double- or triple-pleated pants are again, venturing into the “Zoot Suit” look.
Traditional suit styling has single pleated pants with cuffs. A more modern look currently in style is to have flat front pants with no cuffs. You’ll find surprising heat in discussions about pants pleats/cuffs from some people. Personally I have suits/pants in both styles and don’t see the big deal, though I do prefer flat front pants right now.
What does matter is getting a suit that fits your body – not what you think your body should be. You’re young so this is less likely a problem for you, but there are a lot of guys walking around in suits (particularly the pants) that are too tight on them because they think “I’m a size 38”, which they were when they were 21, but they’ve put on 25 lbs. and 15 years since then and it’s just not true any more.
You should not “overhang” your pants waist. You should be able to raise your arms into a T shape (not necessarily over your head) without popping the closed jacket buttons. If your pants have pleats, they should look folded flat against your thighs and not “accordioned” out. For flat-front pants, the pockets should be flat and not sticking outwards from your thighs. All these things scream “this guy got fatter and won’t admit it”.
If you don’t know what “unhemmed” pants are you probably will eventually wonder: What does it mean for a jacket to have “vents”? Single, double vented means what?
Jacket vents are the 4" or so slits that may or may not be there, to facilitate lifting the sides or rear of the jacket to reach your pockets without unbuttoning it. A single-vented jacket has a single slit in the back, at the center, while a double-vented jacket has two slits near where the pockets are. You can pick from either one, though single-vented jackets are slightly more casual in that you may find either configuration for suit jackets, but just about all sport coats I’ve seen are single-vented.
An unvented jacket just wraps around your torso and buttons in the front. A detractor of this style once called it “like wearing a three-quarter body condom” because to get at your wallet or anything in your pockets, you have to lift up the bottom edge of the jacket to do so, and sitting down in a seat with the jacket on (as at a formal dinner) will bunch it up. That very graphic description has turned me off of unvented jackets ever since
My husband, who works in a bank as an executive level manager, has three suits, each with 2 pairs of pants. One is grey, one is…er…darker grey, and one is blueish black - not quite navy.
He rotates through these four days a week. “Casual” Friday for him means dockers/dress pants and the same tie/shirt combo as for a suit.
He changes the look with different ties, shirts, and shirt types (French cuff vs not). His suits are pretty plain - small, unobtrusive pinstripes in either white or a contrasting color. This means they blend in and he can wear enough different shirts/ties to not look like he’s wearing the same thing all the time.
Shirts and ties are something you want to think about with your suit. Get measured! Shirts that don’t fit look awful, and you’ll be out of your jacket probably most of the day, especially in summer. Get quality shirts and ties - people notice, even if you think they don’t. Frayed collars should retire a shirt (unless you want to pay to get them turned). Give some though to cuff styles - what do you like, what suits you? For example, if you like to roll up your sleeves, French cuffs are a pain.
Quality ties are a must, too. This is your chance to be expressive, so do it with ties. Cartoon characters and so forth are out, though, in a professional environment.
Heh. Can’t find a decent cite right now, but I’ve been told that the reason you never button the third jacket button is because back in the bad old days, King Henry VIII got so fat he couldn’t button his. So everyone who didn’t want to waltz with the guillotine didn’t button theirs either. I’d have been a goner in ten minutes back then.
For my 15 months in a professional environment, I have survived with two suits - a navy and a black pinstripe. I did however start with about 12 different ties, which has now steadily increased to about 30, and 3 or 4 different types/colours of shirt.
I have just replaced the navy suit as the trousers are worn through, and I was debating whether or not to get extra trousers. I eventually decided not to, saying to the salesman: “well, it should last a couple of years, anyway”. He looked horrified and said he bought a new suit every six months! Well yes, I thought, but you work in a shop that sells them.
I normally button all three buttons on my jacket - it just looks wrong to me to have the bottom one open, I don’t care if it’s against normal etiquette.
Hello. I hate to revive an old thread, but I don’t think creating a new one is really necessary, as this has turned into an omnibus of “suit Q&As.”
Anyways, I just purchased a suit, had it tailored, and was really excited to wear it. In fact, today is the first time I’ve worn it out. However, it happened to be raining quite hard, and although I tried shielding myself under an umbrella, the jacket got pretty soaked.
Fears had crossed my mind as to whether or not the rain would somehow damage the fabric. As it dried, it didn’t leave any marks, but the area where the sleeve meets the shoulder looks a little misshapen. I have no idea what the fabric is, but it’s definitely not in the same condition as it was pre-rain. For future reference, should I not wear suits in the rain? My slacks, which were equally wet, show no noticeable deformation.
I’m kind of worried that I ruined my new suit. Can this be fixed somehow? Via pressing maybe? I don’t even know what the hell “pressing” is. Help me, please!
