Need fashion advice - for a guy with an interview

In My Humble Opinion
1

My fiance has an interview on Tuesday and he and I have a difference of opinions on what he should wear.
In his current job, when he has to dress up (which is rare) he wears show black (black pants, black shirt, black shoes). The rest of the time he wears shorts, jeans, t-shirts.

The interview is with a company which will have him doing pretty much the same work but on a much larger scale. It’s highly unlikely that his work clothes will change.

Anyway, what he wears to work isn’t all that important to the interview (except that he was the only person to wear a suit to interview with his current employer. Everyone else wore jeans and one didn’t even take his baseball hat off).

He thinks he should wear his fancy outfit (black dress pants, wine colored dress shirt, very nice tie, black suit coat). Now, the suit coat doesn’t fit him any more so if he’s going to wear this, he needs to buy a new one.

The problems I have with this are:
It’s way too formal for a summer interview. It’s very dark and looks like something you’d wear to a winter night time wedding, or to a funeral (which is pretty much where he does wear it). He’ll be hot and uncomfortable. Most importantly, he will look uncomfortable because it’s not how he dresses (he has worn this suit 4 times in the last 7 years).

I think he should wear light colored slacks, a dress shirt, a tie, and maybe a sweater vest or sport coat. I think he’ll look more comfortable and that will make him be more relaxed in the interview. He wont be as hot and he wont look like he’s interviewing for a very formal job but will still look put together and respectful.

I think something like this but with a tie, would make him look neat and polished but still make him look and feel relaxed and confident.

So, he knows that Dopers are the smartest people in the world so he asked me to get some opinions.

What say you?

2

I’d go with a sport coat rather than a sweater vest.

3

A sweater vest? Seriously?

This suitcoat and chinos in wheat or stone with matching chinos and a slim shirt and tie

http://www.jcrew.com/mens_feature/TheLudlowShop/PRDOVR~66240/66240.jsp

or

http://www.jcrew.com/mens_feature/TheLudlowShop/PRDOVR~16899/16899.jsp

4

The main reason I suggested the sweater vest and not the sport coat is because his build makes it very hard to find jackets that fit without a bunch of tailoring (which there’s isn’t time for in this case). If he did wear a sport coat, would it be ok to not button it? His big shoulders make things hang on his chest (even though he’s overweight) but leaving it open would probably make it less obvious.
In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m even more fashion challenged than he is but I know he looks good in slacks and sweaters. :smiley:

5

He needs a classic summer suit that fits, but it doesn’t need to be buttoned.

6

That would work, as long as it’s appropriate. Our only real choice for shopping is JC Penney. Hopefully we’ll find something good tomorrow.

today…

Damn. I think I lost a day somewhere.

7

If he doesn’t wear suits much, I might go for grey over the beige or cream - make it more of a three season suit.

8

Was he the only person from that batch to get hired? There you go.

Now, if you mean that all of his co-workers wore jeans to their interviews, then that’s something else. The purpose of dressing up for an interview is to show respect – for the boss, for the workplace, for the interview process, for the culture of work. It says “I am willing to learn the rules and follow them.” It’s true (and regrettable) that some employers and managers are so obtuse, or so threatened, that they discourage this, so it’s good to know ahead of time whether your interviewers are of this type.

In your fiancé’s case, I’d generally say a suit is overdoing it – it’s at least two steps above the required work wear, and I doubt anyone will expect it. The show black would be a misstep to me, and wine-colored is even worse – it’s what I’d wear for a night out. Those J. Crew outfits Lurker linked to would be OK if they weren’t so damn tight. The purpose of interview wear is not to show off, and certainly not to be fashionable, unless that is required by the work.

Your suggestion sounds fine; I have an aversion to the idea of wearing light-colored slacks, but I never notice when other people wear them. Sweater vests have a somewhat fussy vibe, but it’s fine if he doesn’t have a sport coat that fits.

9

A suit would be ideal. Failing that grey trousers and a blazer at least. It may not be a formal workplace, but it is a formal occasion.

10

Nametag - He was the only one hired but he was pretty much guaranteed to get the job even if she showed up in shorts and a wife-beater. The boss made the job for him specifically. It also helped that he was the only one of the interviewees who actually WAS an engineer. However, the boss did help two of the other guys get jobs with a different company - jobs their experience had them more suited for so everyone ended up with jobs anyway.

Anyway - thank you all for the advice. We’re going to go shopping before the BBQ today. We’ll look into every option but I think we’ll probably end up with some not light but not dark slacks with a dress shirt, tie, and sport coat. I like the suggestion of getting season neutral colors. It definitely wont be tight like in Lurker’s links but that’s because he’s a 39 year old engineer and not a J Crew model. :smiley:

To be honest, he’d have to be a complete douche to not get this job. They need 5 new engineers and the guy who does the hiring is a friend of his. He probably could show up in jeans and a t-shirt for the interview but that is incredibly disrespectful to the interviewer.

11

After reading that last sentence, I feel I should mention that he is actually very qualified for this job - it’s not all nepotism. :smiley: However, the broadcast profession in New England is practically inbred. Everyone knows everyone else - especially on the engineer level because there aren’t that many of them.