Help picking tie for dinner interview for newbie (to the forum, not to interviewing)

Hi,
I have an all day interview with executives and managers from across the organization. This is the second such interview. I plan to wear a gray suit with light blue shirt and have a great tie picked out for that.
My question is the night before-- I have a dinner the night before with the group I will be working with, including my future direct manager and possibly his manager as well. I do not think it will be a fancy restaurant, more of a casual atmosphere sit down restaurant. However, I want to be dressier than the restaurant requires.
I don't want to wear the gray suit I will be interviewing in the next day.
I also have a navy blue suit (I wore it to the first interview) and can wear that for the dinner the night before. I anticipate taking my jacket off immediately upon sitting down and not wearing it again until I leave the restaurant.
So here is where i need the help-- I don't want to wear a white shirt unless I can't match something up for this gray shirt or in case the gray shirt would look bad with a navy suit.
I'm hoping you can pick a tie out of the pictures I provide here-- or tell me they are all bad and suggest something else!
Thanks for any advice you are willing to give.
One picture is up close of the shirt.
The solid dark tie is black, not navy. I didn't put a blue in there only because I wore a blue to the first interview and I am wearing a different blue to the interview the day after the dinner.

It is almost impossible to wear a grey shirt without it looking cheap/tacky.
I know you are trying to go for as many different ties/suits as possible to show variety but I think this may be a mistake.

At night, a white shirt is a perfectly acceptable choice with a navy blue suit.

I honestly would get rid of most of those ties (the black one is fine) and start again. The first one, in particular, looks like leopard print. Very garish in my opinion and not at all a business apropriate look. What line of business are you in, if you don't mind me asking?

I would replace them with a dark blue, a burgundy (not bright red) and a grey tie.
These should all be either solids or feature a subtle pattern such as a pin dot.
All 3 of those colours can be worn with both blue and white shirts. burgundy works with blue and grey suits and the blue and grey ties work with their opposing coloured suits.

Navy shrit really should go with a white or light blue shirt. The navy suit and the suggested ties simply will not work with that grey shirt. Don't worry about wearing a light shirt at dinner then another light shirt the following day at interview.

I find the red tie quite bold/agressive, probably more due to the pattern than the colour. It sounds like you're already got these ties packed and can just choose from those? Out of the ties you have got, the black is the best by miles, but the one with brown/grey rhomboids is ok too and could perhaps go with a lighter shirt (and if you do end up sticking to the grey shirt, that is the tie I'd pick).

Wear a white shirt and a black tie. The other ties are hideous, burn them.

Thank you for the honest feedback, that is what I was hoping for.
Jermyn- I have been working in heavy manufacturing and we really only where suits for customers and interviews, so we get out of practice.
I will ditch the gray shirt and go with white shirt to dinner, since I am wearing light blue the next day. I will give all the ties to Goodwill and go with some of the suggestions here. I plan everything very early and still have time-- the dinner and interview are next week.
Just to confirm-- with the navy suit, a white shirt and solid navy or black tie would be fine for the dinner?
Thanks again. In my latest role and this coming role, I will have more opportunity to dress up far more often and am looking forward to getting better at it.



crazyglue1 said:

Just to confirm-- with the navy suit, a white shirt and solid navy or black tie would be fine for the dinner?

Click to expand...

Definitely, as long as suit and tie are appropriate. If you want to check out some more ties, go through the 'Soporific Tie Appreciation' thread for a while and you'll get plenty of ideas.

Navy suit., white shirt and black tie will go very well together. I'd avoid wearing a navy tie with a navy suit, it will probably look off unless the shades are quite different and there is a distinct pattern breaking up the tie.

Great attitude you're showing here, this kind of thread is what SF is all about. The only way this could get any better would be if you bought your new ties on the B&S section of the forum. I'm really glad we were able to help.

Good luck with the interview!

Kudos to the OP for taking the advice very well.

If you're looking for new ties, stick to the basics. A lot of ties you have are "geometric" over-designed ties that look like they came from the 80s or 90s. In my opinion, they never looked sharp.

These simple looking ties are always sharp:

Grenadines (a type of weave):



Simple striped regimentals and repps:



Pindots:

Thanks again to everyone for their advice.
Well, it turns out the dinner the evening before-- when they picked me up at the hotel, they said, 'go and put your jacket and tie back in your room." So it was a lot of coordination for nothing. However, I did wear the gray suit the next day for the eight hours of interviewing and looked great.
Now they want to see me again for two dinners, with two high ranking people and spouses, two nights in a row.
So all the stress starts over again in a week or two.

This is good news.
It means they want you. Just wear something appropriate that you're comfortable with. From your previous posts here you're heading in the right dirction.
And remember, you're "political" capital is highest right now, while they are wooing you.
Once you sign, you're theirs. So enjoy and exercise this power while you've got it.
You'll do fine. Good luck!

Totally agree. I've been in many situations when this is the best time of the whole work relationship - when they don't "own" you yet.