Absolutely. No ridiculous Mickey Mouse/Donald Duck/Homer Simpson ties. They suggest zero credibility.
I believe it was top never middle always bottom sometimes.
Right, Harmonix, generally. Although if the lapels are pressed flatly against the breast of the jacket, then buttoning the top button is okay. Looks pretty sharp so it’s not just some ambiguous rule. Lapels that gently roll over don’t look right if you button the top button. And either way don’t button the bottom button. More freedom of movement. Good to see that GQ doesn’t just mean General Questions!
My husband hated leather dress shoes until I introduced him to wide-width shoes. He really likes a brand called Deer Stags. A suit with anything but proper dress shoes looks terrible, IMHO.
Socks: dark and for Og’s sake no patterns.
Plaids: only if you work at Scotch or for casual day.
Here in Spain stores often sell what they call a “3 piece combo”: matching pants and jacket, and another pant that also goes well with the jacket but which does not make a suit with it. You can get for example a grey patterned suit and then wear the jacket with trousers that are exactly the same grey, a darker grey, or black. (wish I knew the English names of patterns, they neves teach you that in school!)
If you’re going to work with foreigner customers, don’t wear a green suit for that meeting. The US is the only country I know of where they’re not seen as enormously inappropiate (people interviewed include all continents and over 50 countries; the UN has 173 member countries).
Tie: small patterns work best. No pattern reminds people too much of hollywood style mafia, specially if you wear a dark suit. If it makes you feel like you’re about to choke and your company policy doesn’t require it, don’t wear it. If company policy requires it, wear one around the house so you get used to it and look natural with it.
If you have to do some sort of presentation, grey suit with white shirt or dark blue suit with barely-blue shirt work best, if you’re white (you didn’t say). You want people to look at your face and hands, not your tie or shirt.
Double-breasted suits go fully buttoned. Suits with three buttons: either learn to button and unbutton the bottom one speedily and discreetely when you sit down/stand back up, or leave unbuttoned. Having to unbutton after you’ve sat down makes you look like you’re not used to the suit… like “the clothes wear you.”
Pay no attention to fashion - what you want to do is develop your own sense of style.
She’s right. I hate gray and khaki together. At least light gray. A dark gray might be okay, though. Black and khaki, yes. I’ve never heard of the green/gray thing either. We need Eve for that one!
The trick is to find your own sense of style within the boundaries set by the environment you work in. And that will vary wildly from place to place, region to region, and job to job. The Pacific NW is a hell of a lot less formal (wearing your ‘good’ flannel is dressed up) than London (khakis and blazer is NOT dressed up) or New York.
Minimum for a dressy ‘office job’
2 pairs shoes; one brown, one black. Conservative is good, leather is mandatory. The more you pay for them, the less frequently you will have to replace them and the more comfortable they will be. Take care of them - polish them (or have them polished) once a week, use shoe trees, and only wear max of two days in a row to let them air out (less if you walk a lot or work in hot climates)
2 belts, one to match each pair of shoes.
3 suits, one grey, one navy blue, one black. Black is also for formal social events, especially those at night.
5 shirts - white, blue (dark or light), or if you’re adventurous lt pink or green; button down or not is your call, really, and MAKE SURE THEY FIT RIGHT! Not too long in the sleeve, not too tight (or too loose!) on the collar. Subtle patterns are OK, but make sure you have some plain ones as well. Don’t wear blue shirts with a blue suit, no matter how light the shirt or how dark the suit (it looks stupid)
5 ties - some variety of colours and patterns, but at least 1 each solid primary colour and simple pattern
Buy socks to match the suits. If you must have patterns, have subtle ones.
The above will get you through one week without having to wash or clean anything.
Bonus items:
More shirts, more ties, means more variety.
Navy blue suit or gray with pinstripes, but as said before don’t mix patterns or you’ll look like you should be golfing with your Gran.
Top coat, either wool or ‘raincoat’ style. I like a big black wool trenchcoat myself, it just makes a suit look damn good, but it’s damn hot even in winter.
cufflinks. You can get some mighty cool ones, but make sure your shirts are made to take them and not many American dress shirts are…
suspenders / braces (depending on if you’re in the UK or not :)) Subtle, matching your tie, and if you wear them don’t wear a belt.
jewelry should be a watch, a ring (or two), and maybe a bracelet. Anything else is just over the top.
PS - you can wear a suit 3-4 times without having to clean it, or even more depending on conditions, as long as you take it off and hang it up as soon as you get home. But as soon as it gets a stain on it, gets badly wet, or gets smelly clean that sucker!
Seriously? I have never in my life heard anyone say anything than bottom = always unbuttoned, top always buttoned, and the middle (if there is one, there are two button suits) is up to the wearer.
Socks – wear them long. Some manufacturers call them “over the calf.” Sit down, cross your legs and tug your pants leg so it doesn’t bind around yur knee. If you can see the slightest trace of leg, buy socks that are even longer.
Don’t wear brown suits. (There’s a rumor that Chief Justice Rehnquist once sent a lawyer home to change before her oral argument because she was wearing a brown pantsuit.)
–Cliffy
Sometimes
Always
Never
As a handy mnemonic is spells out SAN – if you do it any other way you are sans style. The top button, as was stated, depending on the lapel. And the bottom button, if it’s visible, is never buttoned on anything [jackets and vests].
This is straight from Carson on Queer Eye – if you believe he’s an authority – and I’ve always done it this way myself. [So there’s two gay men who agree on it, which I believe makes it fashion law.]
Mostly good advice. I’ll add:
Socks: Match to shoes or slacks.
Shoes: Leather bottoms are much more professional. Sketchers with suits never looks professional. Leather bottoms are easily replaced, extending the life of a comfortable, well-maintained pair of shoes.
Slacks: Wool. It will always look better than khakis.
Suits: If you are wearing a suit daily, start a rotation. Wear a suit, and as soon as you get home, hang it up and put it at the end of your rotation. Don’t crowd it in your closet. Dry clean no more than monthly; if you have more than 4 suits in your rotation, 6-8 weeks is better. A steamer is your friend between wearings. Always dry clean suits together. Always make sure your suit fits properly.
Ties: Silk. Mixture of bright and subdued. Properly tied, the tip should be on your belt buckle when standing. Treat your ties nice; good ties are fragile creatures, compared to the rest of your wardrobe.
Shirts: I swear by all-cotton. I get mine laundered, because I don’t want to iron. Hangers, not boxed. I will disagree with Ravenman on starch: I hate starched shirts. Starching does not make a properly laundered and ironed shirt sit better on me, it just irritates me. If you don’t already, learn to wear an undershirt. White matches any suit, so that should make up the bulk of your shirts. Light blue is fairly universal. Yellow, pink, blue striped are uncommon but dressy enough for infrequent wear. If you can pull off a dark suit with a dark shirt, more power to you. I’ve seen people who can and more who can’t. I can’t.
Although I hadn’t planned on offering fashion advice, I think it would be helpful if the OP would identify his location. Suggestions have been coming in from all over the world, and I’ve travelled enough to know that fashion standards that would be perfectly acceptable in, say, Paris or Milan might raise an eyebrow or two in more conservative parts of the U.S.
It would also be helpful to know more about the type of work you do. People engaged in creative work (graphic artists, writers, etc.) generally have more leeway for colorful fashions than bureaucrats and mid-level managers.
As a few posters here have said, look around at what other people in your office/work community are wearing, and follow the lead of the ones whose style you find most appealing.
Krokodil said, “There is no upside to dressing like your boss.” I would have said exactly the opposite. In most cases, dressing like your boss (but not better than your boss) is probably a safe move. (I’d be interested in hearing why Krokodil doesn’t think this is a good idea.)
Conservative styles are generally safe because they are unlikely to offend anyone and will remain in fashion longer. The only downside to conservative dressing is that more flamboyant people may prejudge you to be stodgy. But you can disabuse them of that notion with your personality, if you wish.
Interesting thread! I’m a woman who wears tailored suits and I follow a lot of “guy advice” on dressing (except I can, apparently, be wilder in the sock department without getting in trouble.)
Earlier reply mentioned that suits should be dry cleaned after three or four wearings. I read an article in the New Yorker about a famous tailor, who insisted that suits should be only rarely dry cleaned as cleaning is evidently quite violent on the fabric (he suggested once or twice a year unless there are stinkies/stains!) He instead suggested hanging suits outside for 12-24 hours after wearing.
I’ve been following this advice for the past couple of months and it seems to keep my clothes smelling nice and retaining their crisp shape, but I kinda feel like I’m cheating/being dirty. Any thoughts on this tailor’s advice?
Some department stores offer the services of a personal stylist. I intend to make use of this person when I graduate and find myself in need of good, professional clothing that actually looks good on me. One of the problems I have is that I’m built funny, and no amount of advice works when you can’t find clothes that look good for your shape.
Robin
That might be a little exteme, but might partly depend on how many different suits one is rotating through (more suits equal less wearings) and where one works (NYC pollutants are also quite violent on fabric). I don’t hang my suits outdoors (bird doo is also violent on fabric), but I will steam them to extend their shelf life between cleanings.
As to 3 button coats: Middle: always. Top: should be pretty much always, but you can get away with “often”. Bottom: never. (Two button is simpler: always the top, never the bottom - and anything other than 2 or three is, well, let’s not think on that). Of course, this is when standing. When sitting, no button is fastened. Get used to quickly fasten and unfasten - it should become second nature. So much so, that when rising because a lady enters the room or joins your table, you fasten it for however briefly you’re standing, even though not doing so wouldn’t be an issue.
“American” suits tend to be a little baggy. Fortunately, Americans don’t mind (and somewhat admire) Italian cut suits (more fitted). So if you can wear them, buy that style, it’s ever so much more attractive. With the execption of the unvented suit: unless you are in perfect shape, from behind a fitted unvented suit looks like you’re wearing a giant rubber over your torso.
Getting a jacket altered to fit you well can cost as little as 40 bucks. Well worth it.
Shirts: having shirts made to your measurements is a very luxurious feeling, and looks sharp as heck. It’s unfortunately very expensive, too. There are outfits in Thailand who will make shirts (and suits) to order for you at more reasonable prices, they do a pretty decent job (Google for them!). Thirts should not be see-through, in my opinion, so be careful with white shirts from certain makers.
If you’re wearing cufflinks, wear a jacket. Links without a jacket ar but one step away from the mid-seventies gold medallions at mid-chest.
Putting your monogram on your shirt is not neccesary, unless you have a thieving roommate. Your dry cleaner should know which shirts are yours without them, or you need a new cleaner. You should know also, and everyone else will assume it’s your shirt since you’re wearing it.
Socks should match or at least not clash with the slacks.
I call bullsh*t on the no black and navy rule: I think you can wear black shoes and belt under a navy suit. But it’s a minority opinion.
Ties can be fanciful, if your shirt and suit are muted.
Dressing in a nice suit is a great thing - you look better, and it conveys instant credibility.
For what it’s worth, since I was asking a lot of questions along with the OP, I am a brand-new attorney in Central Florida (and I’ll be 100% official once I take and pass the Bar Exam this year). I work strictly behind-the-scenes doing research and writing on criminal matters, and occasionally meeting with judges to advise them. I have my own office in the courthouse, I never meet with clients, I never appear in court, and I don’t do anything where I’d have to “dress to impress.” That’s why I figure I can get away with a couple suits, a couple blazer/slacks combinations, and nice-looking Skechers (because skinny wingtips seriously kill my feet). I hate brown so I only have black shoes and belts. I have plenty of dress shirts and ties, though. I also have a beard, but I keep it short and neat.
I’m learning a lot from this thread, I really am. But even though I work in the legal profession, I think I’m safe from having to buy a whole new wardrobe just because of the nature of my job. I’m a state employee in a relatively laid-back environment, most people don’t even know what I do (or what my position does, I should say), and I’m only 26 and the only male in the entire circuit (comprising two large mostly-urban counties) with this position. Of course, I’m open to further advice!
But never ever white!
I’m goine to add something here that might get me looked down upon by some hardcore suit-wearers here, but it’s one thing that managed to get me through the day when I was in my monkey-suit wearin’ job.
I hate hate hate dress socks. They’re too thin, they always fall down and for those of us who sweat more than the norm, they make your feet stinky. As such, I always bought plain black athletic socks and wore those instead. Replace as soon as they start to lose the black from washing.
However. I spent most of my day behind a desk; the only time people saw my ankles was a quick glimpse as I walked from one area to the other. The socks were sufficient for that, but if you’re going to be spending a lot of time with other people or in meetings, you’ll have to bite the bullet.