[Closed] Wearing a suit to work, WHY.

I work in the law, and most of our clients dress smartly and expect their lawyers to look the same.

So, as far as meetings go, I wouldn't even dream of turning up without a tie, nevermind anything other than a suit.

I do take slight issue with having to sit in the office for 12 hours at a time wearing a suit when I have no meetings, and the female lawyer next to me is dressed far more casually.

(good) suits are expensive to buy and get trashed when sitting around the office in them all day. Just seems a bit pointless.

That said, I LOVE wearing a suit. I think it's often harder for a guy to pick something appropriate to wear that isn't a suit. Suits can be casually smart, dapper, business smart, trendy, laid back. You only need a handful of suits, shirts and ties to have a pretty versatile wardrobe.

If i'm not in a suit of some description, I'm wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Keeps it nice and simple.

I choose not to wear a suit. I'm a lawyer.

Actually, I must buy myself a new one - never know when one needs to attend a job interview..!

i love it when the 'IT professionals' get involved and quite rightly state that a suit has no place in their business as they are required to crawl around under desks and the like.

I dont make the cleaner crawl around on the floor and i doubt he refers to himself as a 'hygiene professional'

I actually don't mind the hypocrisy in the disparity of the male/ female dress code. So long as it's recognised.

I choose not to wear a suit. I'm a lawyer.

I thought you were inhouse though?

You know you'd never get away with that in PP 😉

[b](good) suits are expensive to buy[/b] and get trashed when sitting around the office in them all day.

*looks down at current wardrobe of Vans, Craghoppers and Berghaus (complete with dog hair)*

*looks up at IT-centric office*

Nope, no sign of a suit here. Mind you, I do wear things like that to weddings. And funerals. And if I am going somewhere smart. That's about it.

a decent suit must be worth at least £100/hr on top of fees to a PP lawyer?
your tie makes you look like a cowboy, are you wearing cuban heels?

Suits are for court.... I'd have been told off and or sent into the cells if i'd not worn one today but now i'm out of court i'm back in jeans and a howies hoodie with a chain ring stain on the front.

a decent suit must be worth at least £100/hr on top of fees to a PP lawyer?
your tie makes you look like a cowboy, are you wearing cuban heels?

Nah, it's just standard practise and good manners to look smart when someone paying you a lot of money comes to talk to you.

I am a cowboy, my clients tell me this all the time.

IME the more important the work I've done, the less need there was to wear a suit. The worst people I've ever worked for were the most likely to expect staff to wear suits.

IME the more important the work I've done, the less need there was to wear a suit.

[i]Seems as if a lot of companies are forceing staff to wear a suit and shirt and tie, along with shoes, as opposed to t shirt, jeans and trainers as i wear to work.[/i]

I'm guessing you are in your 20's, or maybe early 30's?

When I started in IT we (men) wore a suit/shirt/tie, and that was working inside a computer room - never seeing anyone else all day.

tbh Even now I always wear a suit and collared long-sleeve shirt (the tie went a couple of years ago), even on the casual Fridays that most now seem to have - and I find it very hard to take anyone senior who wears a t-shirt serious... Must be my age.

I am a cowboy, my clients tell me this all the time.

especially when you expense your Ozwald Boateng suit

Trendy suits in an office are fine IMO, I wear a suit without a tie unless I feel like it, then it's something endearing.

I like suits, no let me clarify.. I like nice cut trendy suits.

I don't like the cheap shite that most wear.

Corporate uniforms are hidious too.

Interesting. I'm a 50 year old GP.

What would you... or your mum expect me to wear?

I stopped wearing ties about 5 years ago.
I didn't wear a suit for 18 years, but recently restarted when M&S were knocking 25% off the price and I had to buy some new trousers and the jackets came almost free. So now suits and smart shoes but no tie... But jacket off in work.
Normally it would have been blazer/jacket (linen or tweed) and smart trousers.
Brogues or boots in winter, Deck shoes in summer.
Once came in wearing no socks and an old lady pointedly offered to buy me some...

Part of what I can achieve by reassurance and the placebo effect of seeing me depends on how people view my knowledge and authority. Tricky.

What would you want your GP to wear?

GP - tweeds and a pipe surely 🙂

Its a peculiar outdated thing the suit and slowly dying.

TJ - I thought you'd been banned!

Its a peculiar outdated thing the suit and slowly dying.

What would you want your GP to wear?

I saw this German movie once...

s'funny. I was at a presentation a few weeks back - the launch of a new compact pyrolysis plant. Everyone there was in at least a jacket and tie

Ah well a pyrolysis plant is at the more interesting and expensive end of the recycling industry. My clients are usually owners of knackered and muddy transfer stations and tend to have a fondness for wearing company branded polo shirts stretched over beer guts. Ties and picking line conveyors also aren't a good mix!

I don't know how you got this from either this thread or the Mad Men / Board Walk Empire fuelled menswear resurgence in popular culture. Maybe you mean ties.

No, it's a FACT. TJ hath spaken, and lo it was made FACT.

I bought three new suits this year. Which was nice.

I thought you were inhouse though?

Volkswagen Golfs are more expensive than the equivalent Mazda or Toyota. But they are also more likely to leave you stranded at the side of the road.

I know how I'd rather judge a book.

I know how I'd rather judge a book.

It's OK, you're both Core Business (TM)

F-- Off..! I'm [b]business core (gold edition)[/b].

i sense a synergy coming on...

I bought three new suits this year. Which was nice.

😆 No, sorry, meant in the last twelve months!

GP's should wear Lab Coat surely?

And a stethoscope.

And glasses teetering on the end of ones nose.

A beard.

Sport wild hair.

A Cravat made of silk.

A 6" thermometer dangling from the top left pocket of said Lab Coat.

One of those chinese face masks.

Green (hunter) wellies.

and..

A toothless smile.

Our place used to be suit trousers/shirt/tie and I hated having to wear a tie - totally pointless piece of crap I'm sure in the future they'll laugh at the fact people used to wear them. We then got acquired by a Canadian company and I found their dress-code policy that allowed polo shirts/smart trousers so that's what I started wearing (much to the annoyance of the local HR department).
This year I'm actually going back to wearing a shirt/suit trousers as I do stand out as a bit of a scruff and it's not great that people who report to me look smarter :p I'll only ever wear a tie to client meetings and funerals though.

Very simple really - if you need to ask the question (in the OP) you don't need to wear a suit. 😉

I only wear a suit when meeting important clients, (managemnt level meetings) on site for weekly meetings with oily rags I wear shirt and trousers.
In the office it is much the same, short sleeved shirt and trousers/coloured jeans.
I gave up wearing good stuff ages ago as I tend to spend a lot of time climbing on plant, or on and off warships.

The university I work for has no dress code. A bloke in my office wears a suit through choice. Perfectly acceptable. But then the bellend has his own dress down Friday....

I feel more confident in a suit.

Seriously? You need to put on particular clothes in order to feel more confident? 😯

Wow.

I know some folk on here are properly insecure, but Jeeze....

Suits are for court

😀

I wear suits but without a tie, I also wear trousers with a shirt and nice v neck jumper, if I work weekends then I wear jeans, what suprized me when i was at a product launch and a number of my German counterparts mentioned they go to work in jeans but wear suits for functions...they strangely didn't have mullet haircuts, must of caught up their fashion sense 😀

Part of what I can achieve by reassurance and the placebo effect of seeing me depends on how people view my knowledge and authority. Tricky.

What would you want your GP to wear?

One of my freinds is a GP, and sometimes when i go round he is in his Dr suit, and looks very profesional, and on his days of, open neck shirt and jeans.

Strangely when he is a suit, i call him DR, when in jeans its his first name.

Recently was at his house and a delivery arrived, the chap needed a signiture,he asked are you Dr.........., i said no so i shouted .........., who appeared in paint coated warehouse coat, the chap refused to hand over the package until DR, showed his id card.

Volkswagen Golfs are more expensive than the equivalent Mazda or Toyota. But they are also more likely to leave you stranded at the side of the road.

I know how I'd rather judge a book.

Golfs still look better though 😉

In all seriousness though, surely now you dress in a style which is more in keeping with people of a similar level of seniority in your company, rather than the PP approach of "thou shalt wear a suit or thou shalt not be treated seriously"?

suits don't fit me because i'm not massively fat, they're cold in winter, and hot in summer, you can't wash them, the jacket sleeves don't allow for any arm movement.

i hate suits.

Badly made suits don't fit me because i'm not massively fat, they're cold in winter, and hot in summer, you can't wash them, the jacket sleeves don't allow for any arm movement.

i hate suits.

FTFY.

Washing? Dry cleaners, simples.
No movement in the sleeves? That's because it doesn't fit. Buy a suit which does.
Too hot? You bought the wrong suit. I recently bought a lovely lightwheight for wearing in warmer climes. It's ace!
Too cold? You bought the wrong suit. One of mine is a heavyweight for winter.

Wouldn't want a doctor to wear a tie, well known source of infection (think about it: how often do you clean a tie?)

Would expect a doctor to look reasonably smart, though - or otherwise lab coat / hospital uniform.

I like suits, no let me clarify.. I like nice cut trendy suits

Suits should be classic. 'Trendy' suits are fo X Factor contestants and other C list celeb wannabes.

[i]suits don't fit me because i'm not massively fat, they're cold in winter, and hot in summer, you can't wash them, the jacket sleeves don't allow for any arm movement.[/i]

You need to buy better (fitting) suits..., and made-to-measure is the answer - and cheaper than you think.

tbh I've different suits for different seasons 🙂

Keep two suits at work in my locker with shoes and emergency underwear. Commute with a clean shirt and underwear daily. I also keep a pair of jeans for dress down Friday 😆 .

A well-fitting suit gives confidence, moves well and is nicer than a jumper in an air-conditioned office. I get them cleaned at work and rotate for Summer and Winter. Replace about one per year (normally due to fashion 🙄 ). I am also lucky enough to be the standard size for UK 38R, which makes selection easy; Jaeger and Paul Smith for balance.

Ties went out years ago, however. In fact eleven years ago I was told to stop wearing one! I don't even wear one to see the regulators these days. Bright shirts however...

Suits make me appreciate I'm female 🙂

People in many other European countries manage to take their colleagues seriously without the need for a suit so I'm not sure why we can't do the same.

I'm quite skinny and off the shelf suits fit me great. I can buy a suit in tesco and it'll look FANTASTIC on me. (And two of my suits are from Tesco)

I quite like wearing a suit sometimes but it is nice to have the choice. Just open necked shirt and trousers most of the time.

Buy a suit which does. (fit)

they don't exist, they really don't - i'm not massively fat, and i don't have very short arms.

You need to buy better (fitting) suits..., and made-to-measure is the answer - and cheaper than you think.

it seems your idea of 'cheap' and mine are radically different. Do you mean 'made to measure' or 'tailored'? - neither is a cheap option. i'm looking at around £100/£150 to get my suit altered.

(i have to go up a size so that the arms and legs are only a bit too short, but this means the waist is very loose - even on 'slim fit' suits)

well fitting suits may well be very nice to wear, i'm not minted so i will never know.

i hate suits.