Suit for Young Professional

InsideInsurance

pablakeman wrote: »

Especially as a grad trainee I will be happy to go conservative. Dark colours to blend in etc...

I will be working in Audit. Not sure exactly what industry though I will be based in Edinburgh, which specialises in Financial Services. Of course it isn't limited to this.

Thanks for all your tips, really helps to hear it off people who actually have FH experience as I am a complete novice! I wore a shirt and jumper to my assessment centre and everyone else there was in suits!

If its FS then assume conservative. Insurance is less conservative than Banking, esp when you get outside of Lloyds, but wouldt imagine its more banking in Edinburgh

Black shoes, dark suit (personally would say charcoal or navy as dont like black), match your socks to your suit. Straightforward ties but avoid anything that looks like a club tie. Straight forward shirts, mainly white or light blue. Semi-cut away collar. Four in hand or half windsor knot.

If it turns out that they are more relaxed about these things you can easily mix in some more interesting ties, shirts and add pocket squares. On that note, never get a tie + square set, the shirt, tie and square should be complementary not identical. Ideally pick an accent colour from the tie and have that as the main colour for the square if you want a simple approach (as I need)

[Deleted User]

Reminds me of my first job out from uni, I was a computational biologist working in a lab (not that I knew I was going to be in a lab). I turn up on the first day in my brand new £150 'interview suit' and everyone else is wearing t-shirts, jeans and white lab coats.

You'll never go too wrong with a dark charcoal/dark navy suit, good white shirt and a simple tie.

googler

If you're prone to excess perspiration, a lightweight T-shirt style 'undershirt' as the Americans call it, will help your shirts to last longer, and avoid underarm circles. Most offices are air-conditioned these days, and are likely to be colder rather than warmer.

If you're not going for cufflinks, and choose shirts with button cuffs, note that many come with two buttons on each cuff. ONE OF THESE IS A SPARE BUTTON, intended to be removed and stored for when it's needed. Find the button that gives you a comfortable cuff, and remove the other one(s) and all the thread that goes with them. Likewise, at the bottom of the front, you'll find one or two buttons which have no matching button hole - whilst these will be hidden in general use, they are also spares.

Learn how to iron your shirts properly. Make sure you hang the suit up at the end of the day, on a proper shaped hanger, not a thin wire or plastic one. Bargain on getting each suit dry cleaned on a regular basis, so you need at least two so you can be wearing one whilst another is away at the dry cleaner. Don't press the trousers by ironing them directly. Always have a cloth layer inbetween, a clean dish towel or similar. If you're not confident about pressing them, get a family member or someone who is to show you how.

For an object lesson in how to wear a suit, go to YouTube, queue up an early episode of Frasier, and observe the Niles and Frasier characters when they're suited up and ready for business.

http://imagegranted.com/style-icon-the-crane-brothers/

Or the three male leads here -

http://leaderonomics.com/articles/image-matters/wardrobe-lessons-from-suits

soupdragon10

Plain white shirts are always a good investment - you can't go wrong as they can be worn with any colour suit. Also invest in a range of plain dark ties, black, grey, navy, dark blue, very dark red so that you can ring the changes without making a faux pas about dress.

Sinhanada

I've used Burtons for my suits for a while and when I had it their store card. The suits are fairly decent quality and fit decently. That said though, they're now only keeping slim and tailored fit which doesn't "suit" my build.

I'd certainly agree with cufflinks, although again it's difficult to find decent double cuffed shirts at a reasonable price.

Do you have any factory outlets near you such as York factory outlet etc? They tend to have great bargains for that type of thing

ceh209

pablakeman wrote: »

Also good luck for whatever your pastures new bring you!

Thanks, going to a slightly smaller firm but not breaking my rule that I only work for firms with initials for their name

getmore4less

Get on the emails list for a few of the places that do suits.

There can be some stonking bargains if you hit lucky and have one of the stores you can get too so you know the sizes/styles that fit you.

Many have the on-line stuff delivery to store so you can double check.

Some of the House of Fraser kit is good, picked up a nice black suite for funerals, over £200, in the sale and final markdowns < £40

Once you start you will have the rest of the team to guide you on where thye get their bargains.

The thing with quality is it lasts longer as it cleans better same with shirts a really good shirt will last ages and clean loads of times before loosing it's edge.

also got a nice jacket from austin reed and their other suits looked good.


http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/Suits+Tailoring/S213,default,sc.html&cm_sp=Homepage-_-Priority1message-_-Link2

http://www.austinreed.co.uk/fcp/categorylist/dept/sale_mens-suits?gclid=CL_bo-PF070CFefMtAodHnEAGA

http://www.slaters.co.uk/clearance/slaters-mens-sale/discount-mens-suits

plenty of others, just got be out there trying stuff on checking prices watching for the drops.

trailingspouse

If you've got a MacArthur Glen near you, the prices are much better (OH got a Hugo Boss suit for £150).

I would also suggest that you go for grey with a slight pattern (nothing crazy!!!), because as you're quite young anything in plain dark colours might look like school uniform! My son has this problem - he's 23, married, with a house and two dogs, but still only looks 15...

theoretica

If you really like a suit which is too expensive or know of brands which fit you well you can look to see what you can find on ebay.

CruisingSaver

Another vote for Slaters here, my OH swears by them.


As someone who started in Audit over 25 years ago, good luck in your new career :-)


CS