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How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Suit

maintcoder

A-List Customer
Messages
320
Location
WA
Riposte3 said:
My manager picked up 2 new suits yesterday, and decided to wear one today to "try it out." Seems reasonable, right? Except...

He's not wearing a tie!!! :rage:

It makes me cringe every time I see it! When I suggested that he should wear a tie with it, he said he thinks it looks good for a casual look, and that he only wears a tie when he wants to look "corporate." :eusa_doh:

Very frustrating.

-Jake

I get ribbed by co-workers when I don't wear a tie with my suits. There are just some days (few and far between) I decide to not wear a tie. Especially if I am wearing a light grey double breasted suit with a black shirt. I like the collar open for a more casual, but classic look - in my mind sort of a relaxed Cary Grant. And I am not the boss or going for the corporate look - I just like to dress well and decided to do so. Believe me, in high tech (software development and support), anything goes in the office pretty much... :whistling
 

Riposte3

One of the Regulars
Messages
142
Location
Blacksburg, Virginia
Wild Root said:
I can share in your frustration... when I think of a well ran office, I'd expect to see the boss man in a tie as well.

On the other side, a suit can and is appropriate to wear as dressy or casual.
In this image below, we see the famous vocal group "The Pied Pipers" that sang with Tommy Dorsey... Note: The first member of the group on the far left, he's wearing a nice single breasted suit with... A clean T-shirt under it!
CDAJA5587.jpg

I've seen plenty of photos of men in the 40's wearing this same type of style. I like a button up shirt with open collars spread out over the collar of the suit... That look is nice I feel for when causal dress is appropriate.

=WR=

While I agree that a suit without a tie can be a good casual outfit, I also feel that it needs to be done with the appropriate shirt. For instance a banded collar shirt, or a clean t-shirt as in that picture. Otherwise, without some kind of neck accessory, it just looks incomplete, or like the person doesn't care.

In this case, he's just wearing a normal white dress shirt with the collar unbuttoned, with a black suit. It just doesn't look very professional, especially for a manager. [huh]

At least he's wearing black dress shoes. Don't even get me started on how the other salesman dresses.

-Jake
 

Wild Root

Gone Home
Messages
5,532
Location
Monrovia California.
Riposte3 said:
In this case, he's just wearing a normal white dress shirt with the collar unbuttoned, with a black suit. It just doesn't look very professional, especially for a manager. [huh]

At least he's wearing black dress shoes. Don't even get me started on how the other salesman dresses.

-Jake

Yes, I'm in total agreement with you! A white dress shirt should be worn with a tie with a power suit such as that! A black suit, a white dress shirt and nice dress shoes scream for a necktie!

=WR=
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,704
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
Thought you fellas might enjoy this pic --

aasuits.jpg


These two spiffy gents are Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, radio's original Amos and Andy, leaving Studio F at NBC-Chicago following their broadcast of August 22, 1935. I've never seen a men's shirt quite like the one Gosden is wearing, with that little button-loopy thing at the top, but I very much like the fact that he's wearing saddle shoes. More guys should.

Correll seems to be wearing spats, which don't go with the sport shirt open-collar look at all...
 

herringbonekid

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,016
Location
East Sussex, England
Lizzie, i'd guess that shirt is a knitted sports shirt or something else stretchy judging by the way it's opening beneath the button. many gabardine shirts of the 30s-50s have this button and loop feature. usually the button is hidden under the collar.
 

Wild Root

Gone Home
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5,532
Location
Monrovia California.
Lizy, I'm not sold on the idea of those shoes he's wearing have spats... I believe they're two tones... a white buck and leather combo. It's hard to tell in that photo but, being dressed the way he is, it's most likely two tones. ;)

Cool photo nevertheless... I love that program... so did my great grandfather!

=WR=
 

Benny Holiday

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,794
Location
Sydney Australia
Wild Root said:
In this image below, we see the famous vocal group "The Pied Pipers" that sang with Tommy Dorsey... Note: The first member of the group on the far left, he's wearing a nice single breasted suit with... A clean T-shirt under it!
CDAJA5587.jpg

=WR=

Say, isn't that Hemingway Jones's loafer jacket on the fellow second in from the right?
 

strangways

New in Town
Messages
3
Location
finland
In finland the most common affront are shoes. I don't know if it is in the genes, but finnish male population just have no clue when it comes to dress shoes. Various loafers and monk straps from eighties or hideous things they sell in our "wal-marts" paired with a decent suit just blow the whole ensemble to hell. If i had dictatorial powers for just one day, i would make sure that every guy in the realm would possess at least one pair of cap-toes or wingtips and plenty of shoe polish...and myself i would get hundred pairs, naturally. It's good to be king.
Thankfully baseball cap with a suit is quite a rare sight, unfortunately pocket squares fall in the same category. Younger hip guys who don't wear a tie, may sport one, but middle-aged corporates probably think it's too dandyish. Finland is, after all, country with a large calvinistic streak.
Ties that are too long and huge windsor knots are one of my personal pet peeves, but latter style has it's defenders, so maybe it's not so much in the "ruin" category.:)
 

Marc Chevalier

Gone Home
Messages
18,192
Location
Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
There are two points of view about this.


One POV takes the position that clothing should flatter the human figure, and that harmonious proportions, colors and textures "do the trick".


Another POV argues that clothing should "make a statement" about the wearer's attitudes. A tall, thin man who sees himself as a "Blues Brothers" kind of guy will wear a skinny-lapelled black suit, even though it makes his body look like a burnt stringbean. Doesn't matter to him, since his goal is to have the suit make him feel like a Blues Brother.


I believe that both POVs have merit.

.
 

GeniusInTheLamp

One of the Regulars
Messages
140
Location
Darien, IL
I've seen this on more than a few occasions, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned this faux pas - sandals. Those duck shoes look better with a suit - at least I don't have to look at the wearer's ugly feet.

And I agree about baseball caps. I always think of either Rick Nielson (the guitarist from Cheap Trick) or Steve Reich (the minimalist composer) when I see that.
 

Orgetorix

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,241
Location
Louisville, KY...and I'm a 42R, 7 1/2
GeniusInTheLamp said:
I've seen this on more than a few occasions, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned this faux pas - sandals. Those duck shoes look better with a suit - at least I don't have to look at the wearer's ugly feet.

Wow. I've seen a lot of egregious stuff on the streets of DC, but I've never seen someone wearing a suit with sandals!
 

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