Pete Alfie Bailey
THE business suit serves a purpose; it evokes trust and tells the world; I’m dressed for business and am a professional; everything about the outfit should
make the observer look into your eyes, and trust what say.
There are three main points to remember when building a business wardrobe: colour, fit, and proportion, if you get any of theses points wrong then your
clothes will draw unnecessary attention to themselves, and become the focus of people’s attention.
Charcoal Grey and Navy Blue have been the staple colours for business suits for decades, these colours can be matched to various shirt and tie
combinations, and both go well with black Oxford Shoes, but most importantly, nobody looks out of place in Navy or Charcoal.
Shirts should be light in colour and preferably Blue, White or off White, choose a tie that brings out your eye colour; if you have a plain complexion then some
red in the tie can help improve this. If however you have a ruddy complexion, red can exaggerate this.
Think of your face as a painting with your hair and eye colour forming the top and sides of the frame - what ever colours you put immediately below your chin
will act as the bottom of the frame - if you choose these colours wisely; you achieve the objective of making people look you in the eyes.
Theses days most men wear their jacket sleeves far too long, giving a sloppy appearance, and if you look sloppy don’t expect people to believe your
judgement or your work to be otherwise.
When stood upright with arms naturally by your side, your jacket sleeves should end at your wrist; shirt sleeves should carry on for up to half an inch, this not
only looks nice but also keeps the jacket cuffs clean.
The top of the jacket collar should sit just below the top of the shirt collar, and there should never be a gap between jacket and shirt collar.
Trousers should just touch the top of your shoes, there may or may not be a slight break over the shoes, I believe wider trouser bottoms and turn-ups look
better with a break, and narrower plain bottom trousers look better with out, plain bottoms may be cut so they extend slightly at the back.
Take care to choose the proper shirt collar shape for your face; an angular chiselled face needs a rounded or spread collar, whereas a round face needs a
pointed collar, this is because if collar and face are the same shape, your face shape will seem exaggerated and make people look at your shirt, not your
eyes.
Jacket lapels and tie should be the same width, and that width should be in proportion to your build; 3 1/5” is about right for a 40” chest.
Trouser width should be half way along your shoes when stood upright. It’s advisable to have an extra pair of trousers with each suit, worn in rotation to cut
down on trips to the cleaners; also if the second pair of trousers in a different style to the first it can appear that you have two suits in that colour. If you have a
company in your area that does sponge and press (usually a tailor), trust them with cleaning your suits, dry cleaning can kill a suit, and should be used
sparingly.
Aim initially to have; two suits: five shirts; two pairs of shoes: and five ties. Assuming you have a second pair of trousers with each suit, you shouldn’t need to
wear the exact same outfit twice in one year, so although initial costs may be high, clothes of good quality should last at least five years, before shoes, shirts
and ties need replacing, the suits should last a good ten years.
Avoid wearing the same garment two days in a row; this extends the lifetime of your suits and shoes by allowing then to rest, it also allows any condensation
to escape. Shirts should be laundered after each wearing, as they have been in direct contact with the body.
Shoes should be cleaned using wax polish to protect them, and stored using maple shoe trees, the trees help the shoes return to there natural shape after
use, and the wood draws out all the condensation. If you’ve ever had an insole come astray it’s because of trapped condensation, the same goes for the
insides of the shoes warping.
You should be aware of any gaps in your wardrobe, if you’ve started of with plain shirts and suits, you might be tempted to add some striped or check shirts
or suits, but first you should consider the seasons, are either of your suits warm enough for winter? Or light enough for summer?
Also do those patterned shirts clash with your ties? Pattern mixing and matching takes a skilled eye to pull off and even then, you may find your clothes
drawing attention to themselves, so it’s best to have no more than two patterns at a time, and to keep the type or proportions different.
Think of it this way, if you wear a pinstripe suit and a tie of a similar sized stripe, the stripes could run into each other causing an optical illusion, but a wider
stripe on the tie would look fine.
Similarly if you wore a check tie with that same suit, the patterns could be of the same proportion without causing any discord.
Two small patterns next to each other, either shirt and tie or shirt and jacket look too busy causing people to squint.
I’ve only scratched to surface here and I’d recommend the following three books for a more in-depth view.
Further reading:
‘Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion By Alan Flusser: ‘
‘The Suit: A Machiavellian Approach to Men's Style by Nicholas Antongiavanni’
And ‘Gentleman: A Timeless Fashion by Bernhard Roetzel and Guenter Beer’
Peter Bailey. © 2009
How To Dress For Business
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