Dapper or Crapper: Bill’s Interview Suit
9 Comments Published by Joel November 3rd, 2006 in Clothes. Share This
It’s a safe choice, Bill, but you’re not trying to sell them your sartorial genius, so I think you’re okay. In the picture that suit looks like it has a bluish hue, but I’m presuming that’s an artifact of the flash and that it’s actually charcoal.
What’s going to make or break that outfit, as per usual with a suit, is going to be the shoes. Go dark and simple if that’s all you’ve got—and it’s always going to be dark with a charcoal suit, although I still contend the right brown shoes can make a grey suit a knockout—but give them a good shine, at least.
It’s not the height of fashion, by far, but from what we can see it’s acceptable. Job interviews are one time I’m not going to encourage you to take any risks.
I’d be able to give you more to go on if I could see the whole thing from head to toe—how a suit fits is just as important as what it’s made out of.
Verdict: Not quite dapper, but far from crapper.
I prefer 3 button suits. Maybe go with a more simple designed tie, like with once kind of stripe. I don’t know, I haven’t had a lot of job interviews.
“What’s going to make or break that outfit, as per usual with a suit, is going to be the shoes.”
I disagree with that. In most cases, the shoes will only serve to “break” the outfit, and generally don’t ever “make” it. If you throw on some terrible footwear, you’re going to look like a jackass, but if you wear something acceptable, then most people won’t even notice them.
What makes or breaks the outfit is always the suit-shirt-tie combo since that’s what people are staring at most of the time.
Overall, without knowing what job he’s interviewing for, it’s hard to say whether or not he’s in the clear. If he’s interviewing to be a cashier at the local supermarket, they’ll be impressed that he decided to wear a suit to the interview. If he’s going into a corporate interview, where things tend to be conservative, that tie and shirt combo is going to come off like he’s a big flake. Maybe a job for a “creative” industry like marketing the green-on-green combo won’t be out of line.
I’ve interviewed a lot of people and if that outfit came into my office, I’d be concerned that he was “unserious” and too worried about matching his clothes. That might be unfair, but it’s not an uncommon reaction as far as I’ve discussed with others.
i HATE the tie. shiny? yuck.
yeah I’m not feeling that shirt and tie combo with the suit. I don’t think you can go wrong with a more conservative color combo. I think the green shirt should be shaved for when you go business casual. If the tie really is that shiny then it is too loud.
nice tie, Caesar.
I’m with them. I would have killed for the green shirt at the business casual happy hour pre-interview I did, but when the interview rolled around, you go with a white or blue shirt, and a tie to complement. I have one yellow/blue/white tie that works great with most of my shirts. As a CS major trying to hack the business IT world, you gotta play the conservative rules of the land. But if you’re going for a more creative or lib. arts job, then I think you’re fine.
It matters a lot more what comes out of your mouth, than what you wear. Just don’t make your outfit your first mistake, and you’ll be fine.
I have to say that nice (really nice) shoes will be noticed, whether or not they will “make” the interview I don’t know.
But what about the brown shoes with a charcoal suit? I don’t think I’ve heard of that.
I’m not down with that tie, my friend. Drop it for something simpler, like a non-shiny one-stripe regimental. Unless you’re interviewing at a movie studio, flash isn’t generally an interview objective.
Jai–It’s almost universally accepted that you can wear chestnut brown shoes with a charcoal suit. Think almost oxblood; very dark brown with a hint of red creeping in.
Alternatively, if the suit is a lighter charcoal, it’s not a strictly formal event, you’re young-ish, and you’re confident enough to pull it off, it’s my personal belief that you can wear lighter, saddle-toned shoes with your charcoal/dark grey suit as long as you match the belt. Others may not share this opinion, though; it’s kind of like the whole stripes-and-patterns together debate.
As far as the flash goes, I once received a bit of very prescient interview fashion advice from a quite-well-dressed contemporary: If your interviewer can remember what you wore, you f’d up.