complete fashion bum, please help. what goes with a charcoal grey suit

[rotin]

will be going for an interview next week. I have never worn suits before. I settled for one charcoal grey suit , what color shirts should i buy that will allow me to keep it fresh for the whole week even though i'll be wearing the same suit day in and day out. And what ties go with such colors?

thanks i'll apreciate it a whole alot.

 

[sloaney]

Originally Posted by rotin

will be going for an interview next week. I have never worn suits before. I settled for one charcoal grey suit , what color shirts should i buy that will allow me to keep it fresh for the whole week even though i'll be wearing the same suit day in and day out. And what ties go with such colors?

thanks i'll apreciate it a whole alot.

considering it's an interview (for a white collar job, i presume), your only colours are white and possibly pale blue. in non-interview circumstances you could try medium blue as well and pale pink and pale lilac.

 

[horton]

I'd strongly urge just white, and more strongly urge more than one shirt.

Keep the ties simple and conservative for interviews: solids, small dots, or stripes.

I'm sure there are other threads to search here regarding interview attire

 

[rotin]

thanks for the replies so far. im general though how many shirts should i get so that i can rotate them and keep the attire fresh. i dont want to show up to work everyday wearing white or blue. for non-white colors, is the tie suppossed to be darker or lighter than the shirt?

the tie is supposed to match the shirt, right? should it match the suit at tall?

 

[WN2]

The tie should be darker than the shirt as a rule of thumb. Lighter tie might work, but you probably don't want to experiment at the office.

Tie shouldn't really "match" the shirt, but complement it.

 

[Concordia]

How will you wash the shirts, and if a commercial laundry, what is the lead time?

Normally, I'd say a bare minimum is 5 shirts (wash them yourself on the weekend) or 10 (allows a dropoff on Sat AM where you pick up the other 5). Freedom from worry increases with around 20 or 25 shirts. After that, it's diminishing returns unless you have a lot of special occasions that require individual things, or you have a lot of dinners out that require changing at the end of the afternoon.

 

[UMass]

White, blue, pink shirts match well with charcoal. Keep ties simple with stripes and patterns.
A nice white shirt with solid navy blue tie works well for interviews.

 

[Jared]

Originally Posted by rotin

will be going for an interview next week. I have never worn suits before. I settled for one charcoal grey suit , what color shirts should i buy that will allow me to keep it fresh for the whole week even though i'll be wearing the same suit day in and day out. And what ties go with such colors?
Your post is a little unclear: are you asking about dressing for an interview or dressing for work? If you're going to be wearing a suit every day for work, your suit will last much longer if you rotate it with at least one other. Go get one in navy.

 

[MrDaniels]

Originally Posted by Jared

Your post is a little unclear: are you asking about dressing for an interview or dressing for work? If you're going to be wearing a suit every day for work, your suit will last much longer if you rotate it with at least one other. Go get one in navy.

You definately do NOT want to be known in the office as The Guy Who Only Has One Suit and Wears It Every Day.

 

[Joel_Cairo]

Originally Posted by MrDaniels

You definately do NOT want to be known in the office as The Guy Who Only Has One Suit and Wears It Every Day.

for sure on that. Though charcoal's an excellent choice for the one suit (as it goes with eveything), you are absolutely, no question about it going to need more than one for "day in day out" wear. If you are wearing a suit everyday, I'd say the barest minimum is 4 suits in your rotation.