When a younger professional is building out his tailored clothing wardrobe, he often finds the transition from shirt and trouser dressing to be somewhat awkward. Simply wearing an odd jacket on more formal occasions is often the easiest step up the wardrobe ladder, but a trap may lie there for the unwary. For budgets are usually limited in those same years, and the purchase of enough odd jackets so that a different one can be worn every day of the week is likely to preclude purchases of suits that will be a considerably better choice after a few years of further career progression.
Now all but the most self confident of men are hesitant to dress more formally than their peers and this is usually an error. For so long as one does not cross the line into costume, no-one pays attention after a few days, and what attention may be paid is likely to be the thought that the suit-wearer is perhaps to be emulated.
The way to introduce suits into the workplace is to begin with less formal designs and work them in a day or two a week. Glen checks are probably the best pattern, mid-gray flannel the best solid for cool weather and tan its peer for warm. Pin stripes should be reserved for board meetings.
Further, suits worn in odd jacket milieus should also be accessorized so that they are approximately as formal as an odd jacket. Slip-on shoes, especially monk straps, work well to reduce the formality of a suit in warmer weather, for example, as do shirts with button down collars and buttoning cuffs. Knit ties are effective year-round. One might even, and I write this with great reluctance, emulate Clooney from time to time and go tieless.
But wear a suit.
Google, whose software underlies this weblog, appears to be having difficulties with its code for uploading photography lately. Today's photo was not originally intended to illustrate this post, but it was the best that could be done under the circumstances. I do not, however, recommend wearing silk pocket squares to most offices.
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12 comments:
"Glen checks are probably the best pattern, mid-gray flannel the best solid for cool weather and tan its peer for warm. Pin stripes should be reserved for board meetings."
All very sound advice but I would take minor issue with some of the above.
In the City of London tan is not done, at least by locals. Anyone wearing this hue of suit would be instantly recogniable as a German transplant, possibly an American or I.T. consultant. "No brown in town" may be cliche but it is sound advice.
Nor do I see any reason to confine pin stripes to the board room. Perhaps my views are coloured by the formailty of a fiancial setting but wearing pin stripes of various descriptions daily in the City is perfectly appropriate.
I should add the caveat that this post was written for the 99.999 percent of the world that does not work in the City of London.
I'd question the sum of the advice given in the post. By my reading, you are suggesting the 'younger professional' introduce suits into the workplace by means of fabrics such as a glen check, worn with monkstraps and knit ties.
To my mind, such an outfit becomes the 'costume' you are quite right to caution against in the second paragraph. It takes a confident dresser to pull off unusual fabrics and styles (i.e. monkstraps), not to mention often rather more money than a more commonplace design can be found for.
I would therefore argue in support of the opposite. When introducing suits for the first time, try something conservative. A classic navy blue single breasted suit will
look timeless and be suitable in a wide range of situations. Colleagues won't bat an eyelid. And if budgets are constrained, most of the usual manufacturers offer something to suit. Leave the more unusual fabrics and accessories until your fellow employees are used to seeing you in a suit.
I will confess to a bit of tie-aversion, but, as in so many areas, it is good to know the rules that one is breaking. If I recall correctly, Jeeves tells Bertie Wooster that "[t]here is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter."
W's caution seems a bit stringent to me. I was in the City of London not 5 weeks back and in three locations I saw more than one brown suit. In Westminster I spied more than a few. They were very dark brown, and some may have been a linen/wool mix..they had a bit of a sheen.
At home here in he Netherlands I notice dark brown has crept in among some medical professionals.
'No brown in town' is a nonsense rule that needs to disappear; either that or people need to learn how work with it more successfully
For some reason the suit in the photograph looks a bit trimmer than others I've seen. I'm curious if this represents a change in tailor or silhouette. It's a good look.
Roger:W's caution seems a bit stringent to me.
Actually I'd say you rather proved his point because basically he is correct about browns in the city as he is about ubiquity of stripes.
Simon said...
I'd question the sum of the advice given in the post.
While Will is right about starting with suits rather than odd coats, I'd have to agree with you as to type of suit Simon. If you want to reverse the dress down trend you need to start with navy blue or maybe a grey worsted of some sort. Certainly not glen checks. As you say, within a day or two people will stop noticing and start emulating.
I agree with Will. If you read what he says ("The way to introduce suits into the workplace is to begin with less formal designs and work them in a day or two a week. Glen checks are probably the best pattern"), he merely speaks of introducing patterns as a way of adding variety to greys and blues without standing out as much with a pinstripe. Since this post is directed towards young professionals starting out, a pinstripe might be tempting to acquire and wear often, based on perhaps having seen more of these in movies, which would soon become the "costume" of which to be avoided. Also, the younger crowd might seek variety in the wrong places, and the glen check would help with this, perhaps as a nice Friday suit.
" he merely speaks of introducing patterns as a way of adding variety to greys"
Actually I did read him. In fact he speaks of introducing suits as an alternative to odd jackets and suggests starting with less formal patterns. Like Simon I think this is back to front for reasons of economy and visibility.
Brum Joe:"Actually I'd say you rather proved his point because basically he is correct about browns in the city as he is about ubiquity of stripes."
I only highlighted his point that people foolishly stick to that rule which is based on tradition not reason. Not that the rule is sensible
1)I wholeheartedly agree with W. Being mainly around senior medical and also legal professional, my more recent experiences with the local professionals in Central London, meetings in the larger Japanese cities, Hong Kong and Melbourne (Australia) is that indeed tan/brown is not done by locals, especially in the CBDs. Roger as a (very welcome) Continental transplant in London only confirms W's view. Arriving from the country or the airport in your club or hotel is an occasion where brown is acceptable in Town, but one is going to change clothes very soon anyway. Even at a meeting with about one hundred very young lawyers in the Melbourne CBD had one young chap wearing a dark brown suit and looked and was, justifiably, completely out of place. It turned out he now works for an outer suburban firm and had no time to change. Everybody can break the rules, but they risk breaking any good impression they might otherwise make.
"No brown in Town" is a very good rule. For an excellent and succinct summary of this matter I recommend Will's nigh classic post published here on Friday, July 24th 2009. Additionally, Will's post of today (December 20th) states the crucial point in regards to the slobification and pseudo-countrification of City wear: "After all, if you do not maintain standards, who will?" Certainly not the non-travelling brown-wearers on The Strand.
2) Will's advice to start with Glen Checks is a good one in many surroundings, although in the situations where I wore suits in less sartorially sophisticated environs I adopted Simon/Brummagem Joe's approach. I would also add that monk straps are not for the serious professional dresser, although they are great in an arty environment and for leisure. Will's "Glen Check" approach, however, will work well in some areas, especially outside the CBD. Above all, Will outlined a way of gradually stepping up to better style of dressing as a man – and I believe that any way attempt to improve our fellow-men’s sartorial standards is commendable.
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