The Worst Look

[Caustic Man]

This professor does. Always. Odd jacket, not suit.

I should say that I never wear a suit to class. I rarely wear suits at all, but for me a suit to class really WOULD be overdoing it. A sport coat with a pair of casual trousers? Not a big deal.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Another professor here who wears jacket and tie, but just as often suits, while at work. All my pictures here are taken in my office. And yes, I do have and wear a 3-piece tweed suit, sometimes with a bow tie, in the winter. In fact, I have several 3-piece suits that I wear regularly. People do comment but only ever positively. Of my colleagues, the women tend to dress much better than the men, but I am in a Sociology Department... oh, and I never use a shoulder strap when wearing a tailored jacket, it looks terrible.

 

[Caustic Man]

You know, interesting that you mention the women dressing better than the men. One of the things that motivates me to not get lazy with my appearance is that my GF is an exceptional dresser. All around town I see women who wear nice clothes, shoes, and so on, out with men who wear cargo shorts and t-shirts. I never wanted to be one of those guys who looks like a scrub, next to a woman who looks exceptional.

Oh, and I look awesome wearing a tailored jacket with a bag slung over the shoulder.

 

[Willin]

I went to the wedding of a friend I grew up with this past summer and THREE guys were unintentionally wearing the same exact outfit - a black suit with a lime green shirt and a lime green tie. I kid you not!

At times I feel like I have exited the matrix and others are still stuck in it. When I start to feel guilty about how much I spend on clothes I can't help but think of the dire alternatives.

 

[Caustic Man]

I bet the chicks didn't even notice, though.

 

[AMProf]



Another professor here who wears jacket and tie, but just as often suits, while at work. All my pictures here are taken in my office. And yes, I do have and wear a 3-piece tweed suit, sometimes with a bow tie, in the winter. In fact, I have several 3-piece suits that I wear regularly. People do comment but only ever positively. Of my colleagues, the women tend to dress much better than the men, but I am in a Sociology Department... oh, and I never use a shoulder strap when wearing a tailored jacket, it looks terrible.

A couple of years back a major business school conference and sociology conference fell in the same city in hotels adjacent to each other. I was there with a colleague who was a member of both organizations (organizational sociologist, teaching in a b-school), and we had a fun time sitting at the hotel bar identifying the sociology professors and the b-school professors by their clothes (she in particular felt she could make the judgment just by looking at the women's shoes).

 

[Willin]



I bet the chicks didn't even notice, though.

One guy's girlfriend was neck-breaking hot. Kill me.

 

[Caustic Man]

One guy's girlfriend was neck-breaking hot. Kill me.

You know what they say, women don't dress well for men. They dress well to impress other women. Same can be said for us I suppose.

 

[aravenel]

If I were a professor, I would seriously wear three piece tweed suits all the damn time. I mean, its one of the few places you can do it and not look completely out of place. What's the worst someone is going to say, "you look like a professor?"

 

[Caustic Man]

^^^ If you aren't English gentry who lives in the country, this is very true. lol

 

[aravenel]



One guy's girlfriend was neck-breaking hot. Kill me.

I think it is pB that had the theory that women notice flashy stuff--loud ties, shirts, etc. Seems like a reasonable theory IMO.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

If I were a professor, I would seriously wear three piece tweed suits all the damn time. I mean, its one of the few places you can do it and not look completely out of place. What's the worst someone is going to say, "you look like a professor?"

I dress deliberately like this because 1. very few professors do any more, if indeed they ever did, and it's almost radical to do so now but at the same time, it still says 'professor' to most people; and 2. I can. Academia is one of the few areas where you can wear pretty much whatever you want, with some exceptions like Business and Law schools, which tend to follow (or at least make a nod to) the norms of the professions they serve.

 

[NefariousSabatour]

Ugh, I do the suit and no tie thing often.

I have a reason though...

I'm a sales exec that meets with high level IT execs. These guys are usually in button downs and slacks. Showing up with no jacket is dressing down feels like I'm going in there naked while wearing a tie gets a lot of "casket salesman" jokes and a general level of discomfort in my clients. I absolutely hate it, but I've found that the suit and no tie strikes a balance and these guys aren't exactly great dressers themselves.

But really, the only thing that matters is getting paid.

 

[lwmarti]

And yet, speaking to most sales persons in the better stores in SanFrancisco, one hears the
Mantra, "the suit is coming back", "the suit is coming back"... Based on my own observations,
both in the City and Silicon Valley, these sales persons are hallucinating.

That matches perfectly with what I've heard from a couple of tailors in NY recently. Both of these guys owe a significant fraction of their business to making tailored suits, and neither see that part of their business growing. The exact opposite, actually. And they don't anticipate it coming back any time soon.

 

[Quadcammer]



That matches perfectly with what I've heard from a couple of tailors in NY recently. Both of these guys owe a significant fraction of their business to making tailored suits, and neither see that part of their business growing. The exact opposite, actually. And they don't anticipate it coming back any time soon.

I feel the market for cheap, fast-fashion style suits (insanely tight, short jacket, tiny lapels, etc) is growing as younger people think they look sharp and dressed up in them. Essentially club/going out gear.

This does not translate to bespoke or mtm tailors for the most part.