suit for interview

black is typically a no no. Even I know that. Wear a dark blue or charcoal. Pin stripes are a nice touch, go subtle...I tend to view the drastic pinstripes as powersuit/banker looking. You can get your personality across with the shirt/tie.

Might be an East Coast/Midwest thing. I'm just saying people I saw here at Berkeley/UCLA in some I banking/consulting meeting, or going to interviews were wearing black. At work, a formal event or presentation to executives is usually black suits too.

When we toured the career services/interview room area at Ross the two guys who were waiting to interview for internships were wearing black.

I know nothing about formal fashion I am going by what I was told by a much reliable source. The loud pinstripe thing was mine. My future sister in-law is a fashion designer and during a party I was talking to her friend who works in mens fashion and he said black suits are for funerals not for work or interviews. He said go navy if you want super dark.

One interesting thing I did hear was that a tux is something that might be worth looking into buying for school. Several students said that they have gone to many formal events that required black-tie attire. I never would have pictured that but for some industries it may be worth a thought.

oh boy... lots of money going out the door if I get into b-school...

Sometimes fashion designers are not the people you always want to listen to, since they're promoting a new trend that generally only the most fashion conscious (i.e. people with lots of $$$ ) follow. I generally follow what most people wear in the situation. If it's black suits, then black suit it is. If it's navy, then I will have to go buy a navy suit. I mean, men's fashion folks are pretty much telling us that shaving against the grain, not wearing name brand moisturizers, and not wearing designer jeans are a fashion faux paux...

btw, it's not the easiest to tell, but other than 1-2 gray/navy suits, the others look black (or is very dark blue/gray) to me...

https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/zone/clubs ... icers.html

Damned, my only suit is black (from Marks and Spencer and I love it). I had never heard of this and don't think that this "rule" exists here in Europe.




Ok, I did not know that it was possible to have it readjusted (anything else that the sleeves at least). Made to measure is probably very expensive.

unless you get it done in Hong Kong... $100-200 USD for a tailored suit...

Well, I'd go to a reputable tailor in that case. There is often a reason why things are cheap (quality of fabric for instance, something that you may no see when you buy the suit and that would make the suit look rubbish after a few washes).

Then you don't know about Asian tailors. The quality is first rate, it's just the labor is cheaper, so you save on what makes the suit expensive here in the States or in Europe.

In Asia, you can get a lot of things tailor made with high quality material for cheap. If you don't trust the fabric they have, you can also bring your own in.

All the Armani, Hugo, Versace, Valentino fabrics are made in India and Hong Kong... so the quality is the same whether u pay 2000 bucks or 200 bucks..

All my suits are black with pin stripe.... I hate gray suits.. coz all Japanese salary men wear them.. reminds me of school uniforms..

Navy blue is cool.. and reminds me of pilots...

What I really want is a white suit with pin stripes... now thats pimpin...

A lot of fabrics are still made in Italy but even the ones made in asia there is still a difference. There is no way a 200 dollar suit is using super 180 or any real high quality fabric. Also they aren't going to have the same build inside, big difference between canvas and gluing stuff together.

River,
You will be surprised to find really super high quality fabrics used in 200 dollar suits in Asia... as kryzak said.. its all due to labor costs... I will give you an example..
I bought an off the shelf sports jacket.. it was a local Thai company at a reputed department store in Bangkok...something equivalent of Neiman Marcus/Nordstorm for about 100 bucks....

I returned to LA.. fast forward a few months.. I went out for some window shopping on Rodeo Drive and pray what do I see.. the same coat hanging on a Versace mannequin...the coat had a tag much much higher than what I paid...

Clothes are unbeliavebly cheap in South East Asia...

yeah, I think the common misconception (or marketing brain-washing) in the Western World is that "if the item is cheap, it couldn't *possibly* use high quality materials or have high quality labor."

I'm not trying to knock anyone here, but as Avi and I already said, most of the stuff that we wear from the "name brands" are made in China, India, some SE Asian country, or Lesotho anyways. Also, for those who argue the fabrics are better if they come from Italy, well, these days even some of those fabrics are made in these SE Asian/African countries. It's business. It's all about lowering cost and maximizing profit.

Case in point, I bought a nice cashmere sweater from a nice store for a nice sum of money. In the end, it's made in China. After searching Wikipedia, I find out that Cashmere yarn/wool (from the Kashmir goats) can only be found in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and China anyways. So that nice store probably made a hefty profit from my purchase.

Another example, the Alpaca stuff I found in Peru were a million times better in quality than those found at Nordstrom or other expensive stores and expensive brands (you can feel and see the quality difference). They cost 1/2 or 1/3 of those in the US (and are better quality). The irony is, those expensive brands were probably made in Peru anyways (or Chile/Bolivia).

So yes, there may still be some fabrics that are hand made in some part of Europe/Americas that have excellent quality, but the truth of the matter is, most things these days are made at places that have cheap labor, and for this moment, SE Asia/China/India = cheap labor.

I plan on going to Hong Kong next spring (if I get into any schools) and custom tailoring 3-4 nice suits for myself for $200 each, it's worth the plane ticket there and back (of course I'm also traveling in Asia then).

I'll be taking orders...

Any online store to buy nice winter wear

I checked LL Bean/Eddie Bauer/Lands End -

but they all sell the same stuff made out of china

Do you want a winter dress coat or a pea coat or ski jacket? What you are looking for really matters.

Also its all gonna be made in china unless you want to drop a chunk of change and get something really pricey.

Here is pretty much what I have been following over the years:




Suits
A navy blue suit is best. Other suits may be acceptable, such as cadet blue or medium gray in a solid or pinstripe. Two-piece suits are most popular in the business world.

Dress Shirts
The most effective shirts are white or solid colors (blue). A simple striped shirt also is acceptable. All shirts should be long-sleeved.

Ties
A solid tie is a good buy. A tie with a small design is also very versatile and conservative paisleys are suitable business ties. Coordinate the color of the tie with your shirt and suit. Avoid bow ties.

Socks and Shoes
Wear navy, black, or charcoal gray over-the-calf length socks. Never wear short socks. Match the color of your sock with the color of your pants. Wear black oxford or wingtip shoes.

There should always be contrast between your shirt and tie. Also, the level of darkness should generally increase as you go pants - socks - shoes.

I am not a big fan of wearing black suits in a business environment but I work at a Big4 accounting firm and the partner who is in charge of the Northeast area for my function once told me that black suits are fine. As long as you are not wearing a pink tie ;)

thanks for the detailed info raptr!

What I'm concluding is, we are a bit too worried about things that have no "real" answers. There are general guidelines, but to say definitively that black suits are NOT good for interviews or ties have to be a certain color (I agree with the pink = not too good part ) just holds no weight.

I say, present yourself in a good light and in a professional manner (wear shirt/tie/slacks/shoes, or suit, however you like), don't wear anything *too* flashy (pink ties, bow ties, white pinstripe suits - yes, that's for you Avi ), then you're fine. Everything else is just personal preference.