JB's Guide to Dressing & Interview Attire

Even in the States it is still far better to go without a pocket square than cotton or linen. Linen is for handkerchiefs NOT pocket squares. Wear silk pocket squares (Aspinal, HN, Turnbull & Asser, G&H, E&R, and Drakes all do quality pocket squares) avoid linen like the plague. Perhaps you have never worn one or wear you work people had not been exposed to them overly, hence the linen error.

Again if you have ever been to London or even more so Paris, Milan, or Rome black suits are absolutely in style and if one has a well tailored suit, they will hardly look like a waiter. Perhaps the people who get mistaken for a waiter, etc. should actually invest in something other than cheap, off the rack nonsense. I can also speak to colleagues from the New York office of my old bank, and particularly from the more old money banks, well tailored black suits do make an appearance fairly regularly. This is a fallacy I've heard espoused by a few Americans, generally those who have never owned a tailored suit or are from the mid-west. One can always tell a quality suit and black, as long as it is good material, lends itself fantastically to the purpose.