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Anonymous User wrote:i have a navy pinstriped suit.
because it's navy, it looks stylish with brown shoes and belt.

but will i look weird in a crowd of people wearing black shoes?

i live in SF, if location matters.

What color of brown? Is it a dark brown or a light brown?

Is a belt with a solid buckle inappropriate?

What do you mean by a solid buckle?

http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/i ... 6spc%3D298

Ignoring the style of the leather itself, something like this.

A little metro for business

/adds belt to shopping list.

Bronte wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:i have a navy pinstriped suit.
because it's navy, it looks stylish with brown shoes and belt.

but will i look weird in a crowd of people wearing black shoes?

i live in SF, if location matters.

I may have invented this idea in this context, but I think it's best to only break one rule at a time if you're going to do it at all. You can get away with a navy pinstripe suit, although pinstripes are generally inadvisable. Navy suits categorically look better with brown shoes, but wearing brown shoes is also breaking one of the rules. You can never go wrong with black shoes and belt (except, maybe, with certain more obscure color suits). You will stand out more with brown shoes by far.

Note that I assume you're talking about legal interviews. If you're talking about general wear, rock the brown shoes and throw in a multicolor paisley tie if you feel like it.

Similar question to Anon.'s: how about oxblood-colored shoes with a navy suit for OCI? To me, it looks better than black, but I don't want to stand out too much just due to the shoes. Thoughts?

PirateCap'n wrote:Similar question to Anon.'s: how about oxblood-colored shoes with a navy suit for OCI? To me, it looks better than black, but I don't want to stand out too much just due to the shoes. Thoughts?

Again, it's fairly widely understood that brown (and its variants, like oxblood) look better with navy than black. Black basically clashes with navy, especially midnight navy. However, it's also fairly widely understood that you should forgo your aesthetic qualms and wear black shoes for the purposes of the interview. If you feel very strongly about it, I don't think it's going to make or break you. But if you have black captoes and a belt, I would wear those.

Bronte wrote:

PirateCap'n wrote:Similar question to Anon.'s: how about oxblood-colored shoes with a navy suit for OCI? To me, it looks better than black, but I don't want to stand out too much just due to the shoes. Thoughts?

Again, it's fairly widely understood that brown (and its variants, like oxblood) look better with navy than black. Black basically clashes with navy, especially midnight navy. However, it's also fairly widely understood that you should forgo your aesthetic qualms and wear black shoes for the purposes of the interview. If you feel very strongly about it, I don't think it's going to make or break you. But if you have black captoes and a belt, I would wear those.

I'd add that if you do wear black with navy, make sure your shoes are polished to a high shine. It adds some contrast between the navy and black.

What are the credited tie colors for a navy suit? Are gold, silver, and red all acceptable colors? Would one of those colors with blue stripes be good?

Any belt recommendations?

Anonymous User wrote:What are the credited tie colors for a navy suit? Are gold, silver, and red all acceptable colors? Would one of those colors with blue stripes be good?

Red, crimson, and royal blue are probably the best interview colors I would stick with for a navy suit. I would avoid gold and silver. Also avoid ties that are mostly navy. These are probably good:

http://www.thetiebar.com/order_page.asp ... nValueIds=

http://www.thetiebar.com/order_page.asp ... nValueIds=

http://www.thetiebar.com/order_page.asp ... nValueIds=

JollyGreenGiant wrote:Any belt recommendations?

It can actually be strangely difficult to find a good belt. I assume you're looking for black leather, stainless buckle. I have this belt http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/allen-edmon ... tback=2057 and I love it, but it's a bit pricey and doesn't look like it went on sale for the half-yearly. Most of the other belts Nordstrom has going there are hideous. It might make sense to go in store to see how the belt fits and to check out it quality in person.

Some other options:

http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/i ... 6spc%3D298

http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/i ... 6spc%3D127 (I have a Perry Ellis belt, and it gets the job done but it's really a piece of shit. I would go with Ralph Lauren probably.)

http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/i ... 6spc%3D127 (If you really just want something that fits the bill.)

JollyGreenGiant wrote:Any belt recommendations?

I picked up a pretty sweet Allen Edmonds dress belt at Nordstrom the other day, they have some big sale right now so it was something like 30% off.

Emma. wrote:

JollyGreenGiant wrote:Any belt recommendations?

I picked up a pretty sweet Allen Edmonds dress belt at Nordstrom the other day, they have some big sale right now so it was something like 30% off.

This one? http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/allen-edmon ... ltback=402. I should have thrown that in there.

Bronte wrote:

Emma. wrote:

JollyGreenGiant wrote:Any belt recommendations?

I picked up a pretty sweet Allen Edmonds dress belt at Nordstrom the other day, they have some big sale right now so it was something like 30% off.

This one? http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/allen-edmon ... ltback=402. I should have thrown that in there.

That's the one.

So I don't want to always come across as contrarian, but IMO blue ties look pretty sharp with a navy suit. It just has to be a lighter shade of blue.

I would argue that both of those pictures are demonstrating what you might call "controlled clashing" or "intentional mismatching." As you might expect me to say, I think it's a little fashion forward for an interview.

Bronte wrote:I would argue that both of those pictures are demonstrating what you might call "controlled clashing" or "intentional mismatching." As you might expect me to say, I think it's a little fashion forward for an interview.

Haha.

I can't say I really love either of those looks, but I'll probably wear something like this with my navy suit:

--ImageRemoved--

Just to be contrarian with some of the advice ITT, I got my 1L SA (with one of the more notably "conservative" firms) wearing a blue gingham dress shirt, large patterned red tie, grey pinstripe suit and brown shoes.

Granted, I'm gay, so I might get a little extra leeway. I tend to agree that more conservative is probably better, but being a little "fashion forward", if it makes you feel more confident, isn't a dealbreaker.

Now I'm off to buy some Zegna's at Off 5th.

omg i didn't know it has to be this conservative.
so pretty much everyone wears solid black suit?
then i would stand out too much and feel uncomfortable if i dress appropriate and 'formal', just not 'conservative' enough.

btw, i seriously don't have a quality black suit.
i have a grey sharkskin - obvi not so conservative;
a navy pinstripe - i was surprised that this would 'break the rule';
a dark grey flannel - used it for legal interviews before, although i feel flannel is not for summer?

Anonymous User wrote:omg i didn't know it has to be this conservative.
so pretty much everyone wears solid black suit?
then i would stand out too much and feel uncomfortable if i dress appropriate and 'formal', just not 'conservative' enough.

btw, i seriously don't have a quality black suit.
i have a grey sharkskin - obvi not so conservative;
a navy pinstripe - i was surprised that this would 'break the rule';
a dark grey flannel - used it for legal interviews before, although i feel flannel is not for summer?

Where'd you get black? The colors are solid navy or charcoal. You can get away with any of those three suits probably. The flannel is probably the most questionable, but it depends on what it looks like. The basic advice is that if you're buying a new suit for interviews, it should be solid navy or charcoal. If you already own suits and cannot afford to buy new ones, then wear what you have and make the rest of your outfit conservative. If you can afford to get at least one more suit, consider getting a solid charcoal and wearing that instead, maybe alternating with your navy pinstripe.

Kretzy wrote:Just to be contrarian with some of the advice ITT, I got my 1L SA (with one of the more notably "conservative" firms) wearing a blue gingham dress shirt, large patterned red tie, grey pinstripe suit and brown shoes.

Granted, I'm gay, so I might get a little extra leeway. I tend to agree that more conservative is probably better, but being a little "fashion forward", if it makes you feel more confident, isn't a dealbreaker.

Now I'm off to buy some Zegna's at Off 5th.

I love this.

I'm not gay, but apparently I dress like a gay man.

Anonymous User wrote:
btw, i seriously don't have a quality black suit.
i have a grey sharkskin - obvi not so conservative;
a navy pinstripe - i was surprised that this would 'break the rule';
a dark grey flannel - used it for legal interviews before, although i feel flannel is not for summer?

Don't wear black.

From how you describe the sharkskin it is probably a no-go, but a relatively toned down (not too shiny) grey sharkskin would probably be fine. The pinstripe, it is hard to tell. I think if it is a dark navy with a really bold white pinstripe or chalkstripe you might want to avoid it. I'd probably go with the flannel if it isn't incredibly heavy, and as long as you aren't interviewing in SoCal or something. I guess it depends when your OCI is too. Ours is late August where it is more legitimately fall and I wouldn't worry about the heavier suit.

Anonymous User wrote:omg i didn't know it has to be this conservative.
so pretty much everyone wears solid black suit?

No. Navy or charcoal. I would wear subtle pinstripes before I wore black.

the sharkskin is from BR on sale, pretty light color, so i'm ruling it out.

the navy pinstripe is from jcrew ludlow, like this one:
http://www.jcrew.com/mens_category/suit ... /35591.jsp
although mine is from last yr, one center vent.
i would say the navy is very dark in person, the stripes are subtle. i guess it's a pretty standard jcrew navy suit that doesn't change much from yr to yr, so you'll know the color if you are familiar with jcrew.
i was confident that it would be appropriate for a legal interview in SF, until i read this thread.
although the bay area is pretty casual - lawyers wear just shirts and dress pants for work. a tie is rarely needed.

Anonymous User wrote:the sharkskin is from BR on sale, pretty light color, so i'm ruling it out.

the navy pinstripe is from jcrew ludlow, like this one:
http://www.jcrew.com/mens_category/suit ... /35591.jsp
although mine is from last yr, one center vent.
i would say the navy is very dark in person, the stripes are subtle. i guess it's a pretty standard jcrew navy suit that doesn't change much from yr to yr, so you'll know the color if you are familiar with jcrew.
i was confident that it would be appropriate for a legal interview in SF, until i read this thread.
although the bay area is pretty casual - lawyers wear just shirts and dress pants for work. a tie is rarely needed.

I would go with the Ludlow if you don't want to buy a new suit. J. Crew suits have somewhat of an edgy cut, so hopefully you're a skinny guy. The striping is very subtle, so you'll be fine. I would just bring the rest of your outfit into a conformity. Wear a white shirt, black captoes, and something to the effect of a crimson pindot tie. I think that outfit would maximize your chances.

(Which, at the risk of sounding even more like a broken record, is what at least my posts ITT are about. It's not about what you can pull off. It's about what maximizes your chances within your budget constraints. People get jobs wearing gingham shirts with pink paisley ties and peaked lapel suits, but that does not mean they weren't hurt by that choice of attire. It's about controlling what you can control.)