Question for men that wear suits every day (or folks with SOs that do).

[geckodani]

Okay, so DH passed the bar exam and got a job. Yay!

Problem is that his previous job was a chino and polo kind of a place, and he now has to at the very least have a jacket handy in case a client shows up at his office. Shirt and tie with dress slacks is fine, unless a client comes in.

So, how many suits and/or sport coats do you think we need to get a good rotation going? He''s got a grey suit, a khaki suit, a black sport coat and a khaki sport coat. We''ve got khaki, black and grey pants as well. I''m just trying to make sure we can have a decent rotation going for him. Thoughts?

 

[RaiKai]

Date: 5/19/2010 1:51:50 PM
Author:geckodani
Okay, so DH passed the bar exam and got a job. Yay!

Problem is that his previous job was a chino and polo kind of a place, and he now has to at the very least have a jacket handy in case a client shows up at his office. Shirt and tie with dress slacks is fine, unless a client comes in.


So, how many suits and/or sport coats do you think we need to get a good rotation going? He's got a grey suit, a khaki suit, a black sport coat and a khaki sport coat. We've got khaki, black and grey pants as well. I'm just trying to make sure we can have a decent rotation going for him. Thoughts?

He should always keep a suit at the office (a more formal one) in case he has to run to court or something. I am not sure what sort of law he is going into (if he is going into corporate it might not be so much an issue), but I often have to run over at last minute to enter orders or make an application for either myself or someone else in the office who can't go for whatever reason. I always have one hanging on the back of my door. And shoes too

I recommend he get at least a black/dark pinstripe suit now. One should be fine for starting out with since he does not have to wear them everyday. It tends to be a bit more formal at court (even when you don't have to don robes or anything). He may want to add another in a few months or so.

I tend to be able to dress business-casual at work most days (except court days) but even I have about 4-5 suits and a few jackets.

It sounds like he might be okay with what he has now to start (plus a more formal suit) and if he finds he needs to add more it can sort of be done as things go along.

 

[geckodani]

Date: 5/19/2010 2:18:06 PM
Author: RaiKai

He should always keep a suit at the office (a more formal one) in case he has to run to court or something. I am not sure what sort of law he is going into (if he is going into corporate it might not be so much an issue), but I often have to run over at last minute to enter orders or make an application for either myself or someone else in the office who can''t go for whatever reason. I always have one hanging on the back of my door. And shoes too

I recommend he get at least a black/pinstripe suit. One should be fine for starting out with since he does not have to wear them everyday. It tends to be a bit more formal at court (even when you don''t have to don robes or anything).

I tend to be able to dress business-casual at work most days (except court days) but even I have about 4-5 suits and a few jackets.

It sounds like he might be okay with what he has now to start (plus a more formal suit) and if he finds he needs to add more it can sort of be done as things go along.

He''s doing real estate/condo law stuff, and they farm out most of their litigation, so he should have a good chunk of advance warning if he''s going to have to be at court. I concur on the black/pinstripe suit for court days. I think that will be our next purchase! Just trying to figure it all out! Thanks for the input.

I appreciate it!

 

[RaiKai]

Date: 5/19/2010 2:21:25 PM
Author: geckodani

Date: 5/19/2010 2:18:06 PM

Author: RaiKai


He should always keep a suit at the office (a more formal one) in case he has to run to court or something. I am not sure what sort of law he is going into (if he is going into corporate it might not be so much an issue), but I often have to run over at last minute to enter orders or make an application for either myself or someone else in the office who can''t go for whatever reason. I always have one hanging on the back of my door. And shoes too


I recommend he get at least a black/pinstripe suit. One should be fine for starting out with since he does not have to wear them everyday. It tends to be a bit more formal at court (even when you don''t have to don robes or anything).


I tend to be able to dress business-casual at work most days (except court days) but even I have about 4-5 suits and a few jackets.


It sounds like he might be okay with what he has now to start (plus a more formal suit) and if he finds he needs to add more it can sort of be done as things go along.

He''s doing real estate/condo law stuff, and they farm out most of their litigation, so he should have a good chunk of advance warning if he''s going to have to be at court. I concur on the black/pinstripe suit for court days. I think that will be our next purchase! Just trying to figure it all out! Thanks for the input.

I appreciate it!

Okay, yes he won''t have to show up in court very often then (well, if he does, it''s probably not a transaction that went too well!).

Mostly he just has to worry about meeting clients (or "networking events"). I think just the black/pinstripe should be fine for now. As he gets a bit more settled he will probably have a better idea of whether he needs more or not.

 

[zipzapgirl]

DH and I have both had period where we had to wear suits to the office every day.

I think three good suits that are dark colored would work. Charcoal gray, dark navy, and another blackish suit (not solid black--that looks like a funeral, or a tux

) are a good start. Try to avoid something where the fabric stands out so that people notice--hey, you wore that jacket on Monday, you know? Avoid pinstripes unless they are very subtle--you don''t want to look like a 20''s gangster.

The khaki suit may not get much wear if he is in a very conservative office. Look around to what people a level or two up are doing and see if they are wearing more casual suits or more formal suits. I think a matching suit with the same material for the jacket and pants looks a lot snazzier than the sportcoat and khakis option.

My big tip is to always buy two pairs of pants (or two bottom pieces for women) for each jacket. If you are just hanging the jacket on your chair for most of the day, it will get so much less wear and drycleaning traffic than the pants, and having two pairs of pants extends the life of the suit as a whole.

BTW, congrats to your DH for passing the bar and landing a job!

 

[kittybean]

Gecko, before you do black or black with pinstripes, I would suggest solid navy (no gold buttons) or navy pinstripe. Navy is a more classic suit color for men, and I find that most of my male attorney colleagues wear navy a lot, and we go to court almost daily in my office.

What color is your DH''s gray suit? My DH just got a light gray one made, and he looks amazing in it

. Love light gray suits on men!

 

[Octavia]

Also, maybe look into getting a couple pairs of pants to go with one jacket -- most attorneys I know who wear suits to the office take off their jackets when they're at their desks, so the jackets won't need to be dry cleaned that often. This way, the whole suit isn't out of commission while parts are at the cleaners. And pants are usually the less expensive piece, so it's a good way to stretch the budget a bit. Especially with men's suits, people won't really notice if he wears the same navy blue suit on Monday and again on Thursday, as long as it doesn't have flashy details that stand out.

 

[geckodani]

zipzapgirl - thanks for the congrats! And the advice.

I definitely prefer the matching pants and jacket look, but we can't really go buy a bunch right now, so the sport coat was a quick fix option!

Date: 5/19/2010 3:11:19 PM
Author: kittybean
Gecko, before you do black or black with pinstripes, I would suggest solid navy (no gold buttons) or navy pinstripe. Navy is a more classic suit color for men, and I find that most of my male attorney colleagues wear navy a lot, and we go to court almost daily in my office.

What color is your DH's gray suit? My DH just got a light gray one made, and he looks amazing in it

. Love light gray suits on men!

It's a charcoal grey, and I LOVE it. He's had it for a few years, and it's so versatile! Navy could be an excellent option as well!

Octavia - for any suits we purchase going forward, I'll definitely get 2 pairs of pants! We're kinda stuck on the ones he already owns. I have this fear that they WILL notice that we're rotating the same 3 or 4 suits, LOL!

Thanks all!

ETA. I use a lot of !!!!! don't I?

 

[NewEnglandLady]

D isn't a lawyer, but he has to wear a suit and/or jacket and tie every day.

He buys a suit a year, so by now he has four or five nice suits (navy, black, grey, dark grey and pinstripe). He wears his dark navy suit the most. He also keeps two sports coats and a few ties in his office.

This is the thing, my husband is NOT the kind of guy who can coordinate an outfit. Like, at all. But everything he owns pretty much goes together. He only shops at one store (Brooks Brothers) and just makes sure that everything coordinates. So he has about 10 dress shirts and 6 pairs of dress pants and they all match. He's accumulated about 25 ties, but honestly he only wears about half of them regularly. On days when he doesn't wear a suit, one of his sports coats will go with what he's wearing (he has a navy sports coat and a grey sports coat). If he's wearing black pants, he'll wear the grey sports coat. Grey or khaki-colored pants get the navy sports coat.

I can tell you that shopping at one store where everything is basically coordinated for him has been my husband's saving grace.

 

[jewelerman]

one thing to remember is proper care and feeding of your suits...dry clean only 3-4 times a year...rotate them, hang them on proper hangers,change out of them after work,and make sure they are the right size and altered by a pro...go with the navy in most situations.

 

[february2003bride]

Date: 5/19/2010 4:44:45 PM
Author: NewEnglandLady
D isn''t a lawyer, but he has to wear a suit and/or jacket and tie every day.

He buys a suit a year, so by now he has four or five nice suits (navy, black, grey, dark grey and pinstripe). He wears his dark navy suit the most. He also keeps two sports coats and a few ties in his office.

This is the thing, my husband is NOT the kind of guy who can coordinate an outfit. Like, at all. But everything he owns pretty much goes together. He only shops at one store (Brooks Brothers) and just makes sure that everything coordinates. So he has about 10 dress shirts and 6 pairs of dress pants and they all match. He''s accumulated about 25 ties, but honestly he only wears about half of them regularly. On days when he doesn''t wear a suit, one of his sports coats will go with what he''s wearing (he has a navy sports coat and a grey sports coat). If he''s wearing black pants, he''ll wear the grey sports coat. Grey or khaki-colored pants get the navy sports coat.

I can tell you that shopping at one store where everything is basically coordinated for him has been my husband''s saving grace.

My DH isn''t an lawyer but does have to wear suits and ties to work quite often. I ditto NEL''s suggestion on Brooks Brothers but also want to add Lands End! I got DH a suit form LE last year that was reasonably priced and is just handsome! I plan on buying him another one for Christmas. Their dress shirts are great as well.

 

[megumic]

Brooks Brothers Outlet store has awesome sales. FI got a great suit there last year around Memorial Day sales for about $200 - a total steal if you ask me! He wears suits everyday and he has three, but feels he could really use one or two more. So four to five seems to be the number, but three works for him.

 

[pennquaker09]

The five essential suits are:

Grey - Right in the middle of charcoal and light grey.
Solid Navy
Solid Black
Pin-striped Navy
Khaki Cotton

Once he has all of those, he could branch out and get a Glen Plaid or Grey Windowpane suit. Those are both different yet still very classic. I''ve always thought of the solid black suit as more of a funeral director type suit, but when I was graduating and I went to get suits, the advice I got was to get a suit that was cut on the slim side (which is hilarious because if the wind blows too hard I''d probably get knocked over).

My DH gets nearly all of his suits from Brooks Brothers. For affordable, but great quality, look at Banana Republic. J. Crew has great quality suits, and if you want good quality and don''t have a whole lot to spend, Express is would be a great place. Banana Republic offers tailoring if you have their card (or the gapcard) which could come in handy. Either way, he needs a good tailor because all suits have to be altered.

Personally, I like Ralph Lauren and Hugo Boss. Hugo Boss suits tend to be great for slim guys.

Essential dress shirts:

White, Blue, and Pink Royal Oxfords (Yellow is also good, but not everyone can pull off a yellow shirt. Get more than one white and more than one blue because those are the shirts that he will go through the most.)
Blue and White Stripe
French Blue (good idea to get more than one of those too)

I don''t think gingham is necessarily an essential, but I think it does kind of round out a nice shirt collection. Thomas Pink dress shirts are awesome. The gap has a great classic white shirt for something like $40.

Black shoes and black belt with the black suit. Brown shoes and brown belt with all of the others. Preferably, the shoes would be a slightly pointed wingtip or loafer. NO SQUARE TOED SHOES. Like ever.

Classic silver tie bar.

Good ties to have: navy, red, black, pink, black pin dot, navy polka dot, blue/white and red/blue striped repp, and a blue and pink paisley. Striped shirts can be worn with striped ties as long as the stripes are noticeably different. Paul Stuart is a great place to look for ties.

My DH is a doctor, and he probably wears navy most of the time. He takes his jacket off and wears a lab coat, but I think he has meetings and things of that nature so he wears suits pretty much every day. Sometimes, he''ll wear a pair of dark raw jeans with his khaki suit coat. The key is that the denim is raw and not distressed. Lots and lots of ties because he doesn''t like wearing the same ties all the time. So, whenever I''m in NYC, I will drop into Paul Stuart or Brooks Brothers and get him a tie, shirt, or something.

 

[geckodani]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! NEL - I had to laugh when I read your post, since DH is EXACTLY the same way (couldn''t match an outfit if his life depended on it). I lay out his stuff in the morning.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Gecko, may I also suggest that he keep an extra shirt at the office in case of a coffee/lunch emergency?

 

[ts44]

Gecko - Congrats to your DH! My FI wears jeans and a t-shirt to work every day (software engineers

) but my father has been a practicing attorney for over 30 years and he said that he buys his suits from Jos. A. Banks because you can't beat their sales and the quality is great for the price. They very often have sales, too. They do in-store alterations and our local store at least has an extremely competent alterations staff - he always looks like a million bucks!

I think 10 ties of varying patterns - 4 for blue shirts/suits, 4 for black/grey shirts/suits, 2 for neutral shirts/suits, is a good starter set. You can never have too many ties! Get him a rotating tie rack, he'll fill it.

Pennquaker09 has great shirt advice - I agree completely and see all of these things in my father's wardrobe.

If he can wear a shirt and tie unless a client comes in, he could probably invest in a couple of really smart sport coats in different colors. A dark green sport coat, or a dark camel colored sport coat in wool would be nice. What he could always do is rotate his current items for a couple of weeks and take notes on what he sees worn in the office - it's always good to dress to your office instead of guessing right off the bat. I bought two suits, three pairs of slacks and like five button-down dress shirts when I got hired by my current office - I never wear them, I wouldn't say my office is business casual but I found out a smart dress and pair of heels is more appropriate day to day than a suit. I wore one of the suits once for a meeting with a client and I was definitely the only one in a suit.

 

[geckodani]

Date: 5/20/2010 9:10:36 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
Gecko, may I also suggest that he keep an extra shirt at the office in case of a coffee/lunch emergency?

This is a fantastic idea, and I'm embarrassed that I did not think of it.

Ts44- Hee hee. Ties are not a problem. I LOVE ties. Love the man in a tie. Like, a lot.

We have lots of ties.

We have the beginnings of a sport coat collection (a black and a tan/camel/khaki one in wool). The only other lawyer in the office rolls in in a shirt and tie and throws a jacket on for meetings (apparently he's got like 10 coats on a rack in the corner, LOL!). The three paralegals are women, and dress, as Adam put it, "like you do for work." (Dress slacks and a nice blouse basically.)

Thank you so much everyone. I'm in uncharted territory here!

ETA: I used to think that guys had it easy. There are a lot of options though!

ETAA: Minor phrasing edits.

 

[AmberGretchen]

gecko - I''ll ditto most of what everyone else said. My DH has actually been kind of obsessed with men''s dress clothes since we visited London a few years ago and he saw how men dress there.

He insists that charcoal grey and navy are more formal and versatile than straight black, and now that I''m working in a corporate environment myself, I completely agree with him.

Also - a tip if your hubby has an unusual shape of any kind, Nordstrom does what are basically custom suits for very reasonable prices - I think around $750 normally, and closer to $550-600 if you can get them during their half-yearly or anniversary sales (I''m pretty sure both are coming up soon). I know that might seem a little more expensive than some suits off the rack, but my DH has done this now for two suits, and they fit him exquisitely - he gets compliments regularly, and having a well-made suit that is impeccably tailored goes a long way towards making a man look professional, polished, and on top of things.

 

[geckodani]

Date: 5/21/2010 9:09:52 AM
Author: AmberGretchen
gecko - I''ll ditto most of what everyone else said. My DH has actually been kind of obsessed with men''s dress clothes since we visited London a few years ago and he saw how men dress there.

He insists that charcoal grey and navy are more formal and versatile than straight black, and now that I''m working in a corporate environment myself, I completely agree with him.

Also - a tip if your hubby has an unusual shape of any kind, Nordstrom does what are basically custom suits for very reasonable prices - I think around $750 normally, and closer to $550-600 if you can get them during their half-yearly or anniversary sales (I''m pretty sure both are coming up soon). I know that might seem a little more expensive than some suits off the rack, but my DH has done this now for two suits, and they fit him exquisitely - he gets compliments regularly, and having a well-made suit that is impeccably tailored goes a long way towards making a man look professional, polished, and on top of things.

Thanks for the tip. He''s definitely not the standard size, LOL!