Interview Suit Advice

Earlier I blogged about my recommendation to wear a suit to interviews. However, not everyone may be familiar with the intricacies of wearing suits, especially since most of us technical folks rarely have occasion to dress up in our daily lives. So if you do decide to get all decked out, how can you best dazzle the interviewer with your keen fashion sense? Well, to keep you from having to pick up a copy of GQ, here is my “Interview Suit” advice. Of course, if such metrosexual topics don’t interest you, or if you just don’t’ believe in wearing suits to interviews, feel free to skip this blog post.

As I noted earlier most of us wear suits only to interviews, weddings, and funerals. This means you really only need one suit. Or possibly two, if you do lots of interviews or go to lots of weddings (but hopefully not lots of funerals).

Your suit(s) should be dark. Black, dark blue/navy, and charcoal gray are good options. These colors are the most traditional and most reliable. Avoid bold pinstripes and loud patterns.

The jacket should have a conservative cut with two or three buttons. Three is typically considered more traditional and two more stylish. The fashion industry seems to go back and forth over time on the two vs. three button question, but you really can’t miss with either.

I prefer no vents in the jacket but some people prefer a single center back vent. No problem either way. Just don’t go for two side vents; that just screams, “Bond, James Bond”.

The suit material should be wool. No polyester or other man made fabrics. The difference is obvious in the drape, the way the garment hangs. And besides, wool garments last much longer than synthetics.

No matter where you buy your suit you should have it altered to fit. Not just the sleeve length and pant hems, but the jacket itself as well. A lot of young people tend to be lean (yes, even engineers), but jackets are generally cut fuller to accommodate a variety of body types. You should have the jacket taken in so it doesn’t look like a tent hanging from your shoulders.

Here is a page with some good advice on how to select a suit for your body type:
http://www.ev-said.com/2007/08/men-suit-your-shape.html

Now here’s the important part. If at all possible, don’t buy your suit off the rack! Considering that your suit (or suits) is an important investment, you should consider getting a custom tailored suit. Not bespoke, necessarily, but custom tailored (aka “made to order”).

What’s the difference between the two? Well, a bespoke suit involves a tailor who takes your measurements, cuts custom paper patterns, and brings you back for one or two fittings where the suit is tweaked to perfection. Such a process results in a wonderful suit, but it also costs about $4,000 and up, which few people can afford.

The alternative is to go to a tailor who will take your measurements and send them off to lower cost cutters and tailors in Hong Kong, who then assemble the suit to your dimensions. The intermediate fittings are skipped, and you get back a ready made suit in a couple of months. The fit won’t be as perfect as with a bespoke suit, but it will still be far better than anything off the rack, even those that have been altered for you.

These (semi) custom made suits will cost in the neighborhood of $1000, which is within reach for a lot more people. And $1000 is really not that bad for a suit, especially if you are only going to have just one or two made. These suits will last you for years, possibly decades, so you can consider them an investment rather than an expense. And remember, for comparison there are some off the rack designer suits that can cost $2000-3000 or more.

One last piece of advice – if you do decide to shell out $1000 or more for a suit, be sure to keep it stored in a tightly sealed garment bag. Otherwise the moths might decide to feast on the fine wool (which they love), and you’ll be left crying over the newly found holes in your most expensive garment.