Posted: 4/12/2015 12:11:26 PM EDT
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I recently was hired for a job, the dress code is to dress professional. No coat, but I need to wear a tie, I've never had to dress like this in my life, I'm lost.
Do I need to wear a white t-shirt under a dress shirt? What about shoes? what's proper and what isn't? What kind of knot should I use on my tie? I was told a Windsor? Is there anything I'm forgetting? I was told Gordman's was a great place to buy clothing? Any help/advice would greatly be appreciated Thank you |
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1. I always wear a white t-shirt under my dress shirt. 2. Get one pair of brown dress shoes, and one pair of black dress shoes. 3. Windsor knot (easiest) or double Windsor (a bit harder) 4. Dress socks... Brown, Tan, Black, and blue. (Do NOT wear sweat socks, or white socks with dress pants. 5. NEVER wear a short sleeved dress shirt. Edit: Don't buy boring ties. I like Men's Warehouse www.menswarehouse.com Sign up and they have some awesome 2 for 1 deals. Modern styles, and quality stuff. (I love their NO IRON dress shirts. |
| Yes, please wear a white t shirt under your dress shirt. Buy a loafer style shoe or wing tip but if you are wearing a tie get a shoe that is dressy enough. No brushed suede casual shoes unless you want to look like the manager at starbucks. No idea of the tie knot. I just know how I tie mine when I do have to wear one. Best of luck. |
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Quoted:
Yes, please wear a white t shirt under your dress shirt. Buy a loafer style shoe or wing tip but if you are wearing a tie get a shoe that is dressy enough. No brushed suede casual shoes unless you want to look like the manager at starbucks. No idea of the tie knot. I just know how I tie mine when I do have to wear one. Best of luck. This man knows of what he speaks!! http://www.menswearhouse.com/mens-shoes/mens-dress-shoes/belvedere-bay-bridge-black-dress-shoes-420602 These are the most comfortable shoe I've ever worn. I swear, they feel like tennis shoes, but look awesome!! |
| I second everything everyone else already said, all good advice. I just wanted to throw out an idea, how about picking up a couple of sport coats if you have the funds and it isn't frowned upon at the office? I've always felt that if it's dressy enough for a tie, it's enough to put a coat on as well. I also like the sport coats because you can mix and match with your slacks and gives you a wider wardrobe to draw from. |
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If you're completely new to the whole idea of dressing up, here are a couple of tips.
Iron your clothes. Even non-iron shirts/pants need a little help. You can use a spray bottle with water to mist instead of starch. Buy decent clothes that fit well. If needed, find a tailor tuck excess material out of your shirts/pants/suits. There are plenty of tutorials online that show how pant legs, shirt cuffs/collars etc should sit. Mind your gig line. That's the line between your shirt, belt buckle and pants fly. Keep all of those straight. Keep your shoes shined and well maintained. Match your belt and shoes. Brown on brown, black on black etc. Both should be leather. An undershirt is a good idea to keep your shirts from developing pit stains if you sweat a lot. Some people can get by without them. Those are what I consider the basics, and will have you looking better than most of your peers. |
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Having been in your shoes recently, I'll second just about everything said..my contribution:
Pants: You should be buying wool dress pants. These hardly need ironing and look and feel great. Obviously not talking about heavy weight wool, I think its called 105 or 110, something along those lines. Shirts, Buy some quality no-iron dress shirts. Shoes. Brown or black. I have the Ecco Atlanta plain toe and are like wearing tennis shoes. I wear the brown 99% of the time. You can get away with them in blue, brown, tan and grey pants. Undershirts....YES...white. If you have a brooks brothers outlet close by, go see them. I was able to get all kitted up with 5 pr pants, 5 shirts shirts and a suit and 3 ties for less than $2k. Before you cringe at that price, the stuff is quality, fits right and will look good for a long time. Buy quality and cry once applies here..... |
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Quoted: Having been in your shoes recently, I'll second just about everything said..my contribution: Pants: You should be buying wool dress pants. These hardly need ironing and look and feel great. Obviously not talking about heavy weight wool, I think its called 105 or 110, something along those lines. Shirts, Buy some quality no-iron dress shirts. Shoes. Brown or black. I have the Ecco Atlanta plain toe and are like wearing tennis shoes. I wear the brown 99% of the time. You can get away with them in blue, brown, tan and grey pants. Undershirts....YES...white. If you have a brooks brothers outlet close by, go see them. I was able to get all kitted up with 5 pr pants, 5 shirts shirts and a suit and 3 ties for less than $2k. Before you cringe at that price, the stuff is quality, fits right and will look good for a long time. Buy quality and cry once applies here..... I am so happy with my Ecco dress shoes... I have two pairs of cordovan though because they go with pretty much all my dress wear except black slacks and I don't wear those. Grey, brown, tan/taupe/whatever...good to go. Jeans even in the right situation. |
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Get black Park Avenues and brown Fifth Avenues for shoes.
Tie your tie in a half Windsor. Wear a white v neck T under your dress shirt. Wear dress socks that match your pants. Wear matching belt with you shoes. Match metals in your belt buckle, jewelry and cufflinks, etc. Make sure your clothing fits well. |
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Brown shoes + brown belt & black shoes + black belt; you'll need one of each. Wing tips are classy and will never go out of style. Cap toes are a little more casual. Wing tip boots are cool and can be dressed up or down. It has become acceptable (even trendy) to display a little style with socks; I tend to stick with the basics though (either match your pants or shoes).
I used to always wear an undershirt under dress shirts. My reasoning was that the sweat/anti antiperspirant would ruin my undershirt instead of my dress shirts. What it has taken me many years to figure out is that the antiperspirant was leaving a coating on my undershirts not allowing them to breath. This would lead to more underarm sweat accelerating the process. I've since switched to deodorant and no undershirt and I rarely have wetness issues anymore. I'll now only wear an undershirt if I wear a white dress shirt. |
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Always keep your shoes shined. Belts wear out so keep an Eye on the fading and cracking. When you find shirts on sale buy a few extra in solid colors. They never go out of style. Find an Allen Edmunds outlet store for shoes. Great deals and great shoes. Light weight wool pants wear great and don't show wrinkles. Dark colors don't show that stain you will find I always wear socks that match the pants color. It is ok to wear some designs in your socks to break it up. |
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Wear a t-shirt if your shirt is at all see-through. This would be any white and lighter colors for sure, and any thin material. Might as well keep it common practice to wear one anyway.
Shoes depend pretty heavily on what you do based on level of formality. You can never go wrong with plain, round-toe oxfords, derbies, and bluchers. Brown is more versatile but black, cordovan, and oxblood are fine. Have at least two pairs and alternate wear. What do other people there wear? Wing-tips and cap-toes are more formal, square-toes, loafers, and boat shoes are less but may be acceptable depending on the environment. Cheap ones will suck, you're better off getting two good pairs than five cheap ones. Match your belt leather to your shoes, and your watch strap if you wear a leather one. Windsor is a good knot, as are half-windsor and four-in-hand in order of decreasing knot size. Stick with those and don't do crazy shit like the "eldredge" or "merovingian." Small knots for narrower collars with narrower spacing, wide knots for wider ones. Tip of the tie touches your belt buckle, don't over-tighten. It should be snug but not tight. You'll probably need to practice. No idea anything about Gordman's. You can get decent stuff at most department stores, but niceness will typically correspond to budget. I usually get my shirts from Joseph A. Bank. A lot of people here dislike them, but they're good enough for me and pretty comfortable fabric. 100% cotton will feel much, much better and look much, much nicer than anything with polyester. You'll need several. Get them dry-cleaned and pressed, they'll last longer and look nicer than if you machine wash them. No french cuffs, no button-down collars, and cuffs and collars should match the shirt color unless it's normal at your office. Ties should be silk, stick with solid colors, repp stripes, or basic patterns at first. Get several, they should color-coordinate with the rest of your outfit. Main colors should probably be red, blue, green, or maybe yellow. Don't wear ones that are lighter than your shirt. |
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Combat Gent has everything you need, with the caveat that if you're a normal sized fit dude, your sizes will be OOS more often than not. I've been able to find a few shirts in stock over the last 2 months, and they are wonderful for the price. Finally snagged 2 suits in my size within the last week too.
ETA - I don't think their "notify me" feature works on OOS sizes, so don't rely on it. Just check a few times a week. |
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1. A four in hand knot is casual and dressy. Perfect for any environment.
2. Always wear a white undershirt. Unless the shirt you're wearing is dark, then wear a black one. In a professional environment you should always wear white or light blue dressshirts. 3. To pick out a tie, you cant go wrong with burgundy or navy blue. Don't get a solid color tie choose one with a muted pattern. You don't want crazy zig zags, but small diamonds or horizontal lines is ok. 4. Shoes are incredibly important. Brown and black are the staples. Pick up a pair of oxfords or balmorals in either color. Its best to splurge a little as you will be in your shoes all day. Be comfortable. 5. As a rule, dress socks should match the color of your shoes. Brown shoes brown socks, black shoes black socks. This is more a suggestion than an actual guideline. 6. Your belt SHOULD match your shoes. Brown belt brown shoes. This is more a guideline than a suggestion. 7. I like to shop at Goodwill for my suits and stuff. Usually someone has passed on a very expensive suit, shoes, or ties and I can pick them up dirt cheap. i bought three, three piece suits, one grey, one blue, and one brown, for fifteen dollars. I took them to the cleaners, had them fitted and cleaned. All told for this entire process was seventy five dollars. I do suggest getting your dress shirts new. Look for sales at Macy's or J C Penny's or whatever. Usually you can pick up three shirts for like 20$ if the sale is right. Lastly, the colors that you choose are important. The most important color you can get for a pair of trousers is blue. This is highly debatable, but you can wear it anywhere: weddings, funerals, graduations, parties, fancy restaurants, and with the proper tie and jacket you can make it go from professional to casual to formal quickly. Charcoal grey is nearly the same, but its more somber and doesn't have quite the same pop that a navy blue does. Power suit = Blue pants, burgundy tie, blue jacket. Or grey pants, burgundy tie with white stripes, grey jacket. I could go on and on, but I'll spare you haha |
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Quoted:
Without wanting to repeat what was said, learn to tie a tie well, and tie it well each time. That simple step usually speaks a lot about someone. If your tie is tied like shit, my first impression would be that you are a careless person. This is good advice. Also, do not buy "cute" or "novelty" ties, they are tacky and ugly. Stand in front of a mirror, and if it takes 50 tries, learn to tie a tie well. I prefer the Pratt knot but they are all fine. |