So, last year, I decided to use my Clothing Allowance the way Uncle Sam surely intended me to and buy a suit at Men’s Wearhouse (as opposed to, say, buying new PT gear or uniforms. Also, it took me far longer than I am proud to admit to realize that “Men’s Wearhouse” is a pun.) Got a pretty nice two-piece suit from some company the salesman assured me was who Donald Trump or Prince William would buy a suit from if he wanted to spend less than $300 on sale at the mall.
Anyhow, been in Korea for a while now, and I did what pretty much everybody does in Korea, and got a bespoke suit made for me for far less than what I spent at Men’s Wearhouse, and which is much nicer to boot (Mr. Oh’s in Songtan, outside the Main Gate.) This leaves me wondering: “OK, now where do I go to wear this suit?”
An officer who happened to be hanging out nearby when I asked this question out loud suggested that I should go to church. I also make a point to dress up for Aggie Muster every year. Any other ideas?
You can frequent nicer bars. Or try to impress girls on dates.
But to wear a nice suit well, make sure you also have a nice shirt. If it is white, if you put your fingers inside the shirt, you should not be able to see your fingers – the cloth should not be revealing. Also, it should fit correctly: a shirt that comes in size “L” isn’t a dress shirt. The ones that come in sleeve lengths 33/34 are precisely designed to not fit people who have either a 33" or 34" sleeve. If you’re a 34", buy a 34" shirt.
Also, nice dress shoes are good to have. It’s strange to have a very nice handmade suit and non-leather shoes that cost $40. Finally, I bought some ties at Itaewon a couple years ago, and even though they are knock-offs of designer brands, they are MUCH nicer than the kind you’d get at Men’s Wearhouse.
But just remember – with a nice handmade suit, if properly taken care of (hang it up, don’t dryclean it all the time, watch out for moths, etc) will last for a long time. It should be good after you get out of the service… unless maybe you have 17 more years to go or something.
Right now I’m looking at the 17 years, but I figure if I wear out the suit, I can always volunteer for another posting in Korea.
As far as shoes go, I have a nice pair of dress shoes I picked up after Basic (from Men’s Wearhouse again). Actually got complimented on them when I bought the first suit a few years later, so that proves that at least the salesman was a skilled butter-them-upper, while saying relatively little about my shoes. I am toying with the idea of getting a pair of shoes made while I’m in Korea. I know that the BXs in Korea all seem to have shoe stores that advertise custom shoes, but I am betting it’d be cheaper off-base. I am also unsure as to whether they have similar shops at other BXs outside Korea.
If I do get shoes, should I stick with Black, or can I pull off brown or a dark red? Anything in general I should know about other than the whole black-shoes-and-brown-belt taboo?
The first suit is a charcoal two-piece, the new suit is more of a lighter grey three-piece. I’m trying to visualize how that would look with brown shoes, and I’m not sure if it work work, but I’m not sure if that’s not just because I rarely ever see brown dress shoes worn outside of the Navy. And it’s established fact that the Navy dresses funny.
Wear black dress shoes with black, navy blue, charcoal gray suits. Wear brown dress shoes with brown, khaki, tan, olive suits. I’m not sure about checkerboard or white suits, though.
If you intend to wear ties with those suits, get your shirts either bespoke or oversized. My neck is 15.5" and the shirts I can comfortably wear ties with are 16". Have the circumference of your neck measured and go 0.5" to a full inch above that. The shoulders seams won’t fit but you won’t feel like you’re being choked by your tie.
Black shoes are most versatile. Consider a captoe or wingtip. The stiff tip means there are less wrinkles in the front which means it stays shinier.
I’ve not seen custom shoes offered at BX’s outside Korea. Friends who’ve done custom shoes in Osan have had problems getting the correct fit. I’d say if you’re looking for flashy shoes, go for the custom. If you’re looking for sedate business shoes, find some Rockports on zappos.com.
I’ll second MichaelEmouse. Bespoke shirts are excellent. I like my Osan suits but love the custom shirts. They’re so comfortable I prefer wearing them rather than stepping down to polo shirts. A well-fitting shirt will spoil you. No tugging at a collar that’s too tight or having tight cuffs cut off your circulation when you reach or have the waist billow out like a tent or have exactly the opposite happen. For fun, get someone to make a shirt for your dress blues. Your Mondays will be more comfortable.
I doubt you’ll find cheaper business shirts or suits elsewhere in the world, custom or off the rack. Locally E-mart may beat the price but they won’t be tailored for your body. As you can afford them, I’d buy as many suits and shirts as I’d conceivably need for the foreseeable future. Once you’re away from Osan, it’s going to be hard to get more. Word of experience speaking.
No, this is wrong. You wear brown shoes with navy. And gray can be brown or black. If it’s a lighter gray, brown looks great. A darker gray, wear black.
Contrary to popular opinion, you can “go wrong” with black shoes.
I will disagree here. A traditional (and to my eye, inviolate) rule of thumb for matching dress shoes to pants is that your shoes should always be darker than your pants. So it depends on the shade of blue in the pants I suppose (which ranges from sky blue to midnight navy), as well as the shade of “brown” in the shoes (which covers light tan to reddish brown)… But most “navy blue” dress pants are pretty dark.
As one sartorial writer I’ve read gave as an example: what color are the pants an Admiral in the US Navy wears as part of his dress uniform? And what color are HIS shoes?
In the end, shined up black dress shoes go with every suit. Where they mismatch the suit it’s more likely because of the style of shoe vs. the cut of the suit, not the color (e.g., wingtips with flat front mod style pants).
The only time I’d say black shoes might look less than ideal is when paired with *brown *pants, and you basically shouldn’t EVER wear a brown suit unless you want to look like a furniture salesman from the 1960s.
That’s for dress occasions, and since we’re talking about a full suit here (and bespoke at that), that’s what I would figure are the rules of engagement. Go ahead and wear shiny brown boots with black dockers, or brown leather Birkenstocks with black corduroys, or whatever.
That’s also assuming you are going for a sleekly conservative look, to make a statement of “I’m dressing up” in a formal way as opposed to “dressing up” for flash (wearing a chalk pinstriped suit, a wide brim fedora with a feather in it, two-tone shoes, suspenders, playing tinny sounding Zoot Suit music from a cell phone in your jacket pocket while you jitterbug by yourself in a corner, etc.)
