Personal experience: wait for a good sale at Joseph A. Bank, be prepared to spend $800ish (for three suits–I buy on their buy-1-get-2 weekends so my per-suit cost gets down to Sears levels ), and preferably find one in a college town.
For whatever reason they have a weird sorta-reputation as “where college football players can buy suits”, so you might have better luck there than other places. Plus they throw in the initial tailoring, at least at the one here, so that gets taken care of.
I don’t know what you mean by “broad” or “thick”, but I can’t buy off-the-rack suits that feel right at department or mid-range clothing stores due to the same general size issues (neck, shoulders), but I love the ones I got at Banks.
They say that back in the day, BBC radio announcers would still dress up even though no one could see them. Perhaps we should set a Board dress code requiring tuxedos to post. Maybe that would raise the tone a little.
I am looking forward to raining on the parade of the OP, but I don’t especially like wearing dresses or skirts. I’m not a fan of nylons, they run easily and are expensive.
I have things to do and can’t be out cutting the grass in a dress. I need some things I can get dirty. I have things I keep nice for work or dates and I can’t afford to fuck them up.
I need a slip to go under the one gown I do own, and I hate shopping for clothes enough that I am not going to fuck it up wearing it frequently.
I have three dresses and I would never wear them cleaning. I will fuck you UP with my blue jeans before I let you take them.
I would love it if a woman showed up in jeans for a date. I’d immediately think “Comfortable, genuine… and low maintenance!” Minimal makeup, a practical car, and enough cash to leave the tip would be a bonus.
I’m British. I had a school uniform. I was wearing a tie at the age of five (OK, it was one on elastic then, I think I got my first proper one around the age of eight or nine).
I’ll wear a suit, I just don’t find it to be particularly “me”. The girlfriend has seen me in a suit exactly twice. She hasn’t left me yet.
I have one suit that gets trotted out for weddings or funerals. When I first started working ( 1986 ), office employees wore a coat and tie, with ladies in dresses. At some point everyone realized that the clothes you wore were not indicative of the quality of your work so everyone ditched the coat and tie.
I would like to point out that I’m a huge, huge fan of the tradition that chicks can dress like skanks on Hallowe’en, and if it means people showing up to weddings in jeans, so be it.
), and preferably find one in a college town.