Very hot weather dress

[Rugger]

I'm moving to a warm weather climate. Lowest monthly average is about 60, highest monthly average is about 105. Any general tips? A lot of cotton suits?

Too lazy to search and just didn't want to.

 

[Another New Yorker]

At 105, I've seen the general consensus is a lot of linen. That being said, surely you don't need coat and tie outdoors in that sort of weather. I'd imagine if you had to wear suits to work, you'd be air conditioned round trip, otherwise the dress code is beyond impractical.

 

[Will]

You're going to be airconditioned, or you won't be wearing a suit at all. Lightweight wool does fine in those cicumstances.

 

[Ich_Dien]

Unlined jackets and suits. A lot of linen. What about Bermuda shorts?

 

[westinghouse]

Linen.

 

[TheButler]

Birthday suit. Tie optional.

 

[NewYorkBuck]

I have recently taken a different view of my wardrobe regarding the summer heat, and I confess part of the reason is I own my own business now and can pretty much wear whatever I want.

I used to try to balance my suits in terms of heavy and light weights for the NYC weather. But I have found that I just love heavy weight suits that much more, especially when I get them bespoke. Further, no matter how tropical the weight or how open the fresco weave, you are going to be sweating like a pig in a NYC subway in mid August. No way around it.

So what I have done is given into summer here. I no longer will purchase any expensive lightweight suits for summer just to have me sweat them up. Cheap cotton suits from BB sales is the way I have been going. Fun (and cheap) seersucker pants and jackets. Next summer purchase will probably be a low priced pincord from Haspel. I still have a SFT Lesser from Raphael that I will wear the few times I need to look very business-like during the summer heat, but save that its back to the cheap fun stuff.

When the fall returns, the leaves change, and my beloved college football returns, I will again don my 11.5 oz pinstripes and heavy flannels. They will keep me warm through the NYC winter and chilly early spring, will wear like iron, and hang on the body like no SFT could ever hope to. And, I will never soak them in sweat.......

 

[stevent]

Linen's nice. And you may not always be A/C depending on where you are going so if you're worried just have an extra shirt or two and leave it at your office to change into if necessary.

 

[SD1]

Wear undershirts for one.

Linen, as mentioned, is always a good bet. You can find some nice linen/cotton blends that are light,yet don't wrinkle when you look at them.

Do not ever, under any circumstances, wear socks with any type of sandal.

 

[invadernick]

I live on a tropical island where it's summer almost everyday. I've never tried linen, but cotton suits feel comfortable for me. If you spend your time outside, sweat will be inevitable with or without a jacket at that temperature.

It takes some getting used to, but you won't mind it so much once you've given it a chance and try to stay indoors.

 

[12345Michael54321]

Originally Posted by Rugger

I'm moving to a warm weather climate.

So as not to assume too much, is this a warm weather place in the United States? Since wardrobe suggestions for some place in equatorial Africa, a tropical island in the S. Pacific, or parts of Asia, might be wildly different from those for, say, south Florida.

And I just know that if I assume you're in the US, 3 posts later I'll read that you're moving to Saudi Arabia.

For that matter, if it is in the US, could you give us some idea where in the US? Domestic regional differences do exist, although they're often fairly minor and/or subtle.

Giving us an idea of what you'll be doing could also be helpful. To give a somewhat extreme example, a prominent middle-aged corporate lawyer in a warm weather climate may have very different clothing needs than will someone in his mid-20s who surfs all day and plays in a rock group most nights.

Too lazy to search and just didn't want to.

Delightful.
--
Michael

 

[Rugger]

Its a desert, high temperature for a year is usually something like 115. I will be in a professional environment. Dress is business casual to business formal for work.

 

[Don Carlos]

Originally Posted by Rugger

Its a desert, high temperature for a year is usually something like 115. I will be in a professional environment. Dress is business casual to business formal for work.
A lot depends on what type of heat you're dealing with. Dry heat isn't as challenging as sticky, humid heat. I've found that, generally speaking, I feel more disgusting and sweaty in 85 degree weather with high humidity than I do in 110 degree weather with low humidity. Since you're saying "desert" here, I'm going to assume you'll be working with dry heat. LA in the summer gets pretty hot and dry, and that's from whence most of my personal experience is drawn. I do fine in lightweight tropical wools, with the occasional linen/cotton blend. Usually I avoid pure linen, as it looks like **** by the end of the day and is a nuisance to maintain. If I lived in a more humid climate, though, I might change my tune on the pure linen.

 

[12345Michael54321]

Originally Posted by Don Carlos

Dry heat isn't as challenging as sticky, humid heat.

+1

I live just outside of Baltimore, MD. And I've been to Arizona and Nevada on business a fair number of times.

Baltimore in July and August, when it's likely to be 93 deg. with very high humidity, seems way less comfortable to me than 105 deg. and dry in the desert southwest. Not that I find either particularly pleasant, mind you. It's just that after spending a while outside I'll look and feel worse here, than there.

'Course, with air conditioned cars, stores, offices, homes, restaurants, etc., in both places, it's possible to wear a suit and tie and still be comfortable most of the time. My mind boggles at what summer must have been like in these places, back in the days before a/c. Or what it's like even today, in the many extremely warm places where air conditioning remains uncommon. (My own personal memories only extend back to the late '60s, and while a/c wasn't nearly as ubiquitous in the US then as it is today, we at least had it at home. And I did experience a few days of a summer heat wave in France, several years ago, where cooling was hard to come by. But it was only a few days, not week after week.)

But hey, I hate hot weather. I get that there are folks who love it when it's 90+ degrees, and who hate air conditioning. More power to 'em, but that's not me.
--
Michael

 

[Don Carlos]

^^

I lived in Chicago for a couple of years, in a building that didn't have year-round A/C. It was one of those weird systems where the A/C and the heat run through the same vents, so the building management office controls whether or not the building is getting heat or air on any given month.

The management office was chock full of 'tards who insisted that heat be run during what was technically the fall and winter, and A/C only be run during the summer. So there would be some seriously painful transitional months (September, October, late March, April, May, and June) in which the weather could get blisteringly hot and muggy, but the building wouldn't turn on the A/C. To make matters worse, this was Chicago, so the building was super-insulated to protect against winter. The net result was basically like living inside a microwave oven.

So no, not every building in the U.S. has reliable A/C when it's needed. A lot of office buildings do, but again, you're not in control of that thermostat. If you're the type of person who gets hot easily, and who likes it a few degrees cooler than everyone else (Lord knows I am such a person), you'd better dress for the heat -- regardless of how you're planning to spend the day, indoors or outdoors.