OMO@c #4 Your First Suit and a Formal Wedding Invitation

I was invited to a formal wedding and, at 27 years old, I need to buy my first suit.

REPLY:
" Danger, Will Robinson!" Listen to the wise old robot here.

"Formal" means black tie. Or that's what it usually (or even should) mean. This is not a suit as such. This is a tux. I once went to a formal wedding the only guy not in a tux. You do not want to be that guy. I would ask what they mean by formal before you buy a suit.

The recommendation for JCrew is a good start because they are cheap and look good for about 10 wears. Your first trip to the dry cleaner may come close to "ruining" this suit.  Try using a steamer and press yourself (look up how to do that).  Dry cleaning is not your friend with any suit.

That said, JCrew is way better than the cheap mall varieties, like Men's Wearhouse. If you want to get MUCH better then you're going to have to spend twice as much. My suggestion is not to bump up unless 1. you're going to wear it often and 2. you've already had suits and know your style. That's only important too if you aren't following the trends.

I got my first Savile Row suit when I was 27---stopped in London on the way out, picked it up on the way home. That was from Huntsman and it was the most money I ever spent, eva', well almost. I wore it for a decade and only sold it because I lost my shirt (the metaphor works here...). Now a made to measure (not bespoke) is upwards of 3K on the Row but such a garment will outlive you, or at least your hair.

A black suit is not versatile, surprisingly enough. It's best for funerals and late nights at The Stork Club or 21 or if you are especially cool a last set at The Vanguard. You will look like the lost Blues Brother otherwise. It is genuinely hard to wear a black suit at a wedding unless it is winter, imo. And it is not a substitute for a tux. Never. Not even a little. Nope.

Blue gets you through everything but if you are a young lawyer or are in business that requires a suit then grey before blue. Gray in lighter shades are good for almost everything, even more versatile than blue because grey has the business edge. When you are older you get away more with darker and lighter colors work better when you are still young (under 40).

All that said, a navy blue suit fights it out with a standard grey (middle range color) for versatility over all. But it's context: blue at a wedding, grey at a business meeting. That's the world I grew up in. As a far too old Why Is Indiana Jones Still Teaching at 80 and What's With Still the Leather Jacket and Hat professor, I plan teaching till I am at least 75 (10 years) in tweed suits, Harris jackets, and Savile tailoring, when I'm not wearing denim and leather.

I have rarely left the house in four years. University went Zoom during covid and I was in heaven. You mean I don't have to go there? But I got dressed every day because otherwise I would be auditioning for homeless man extra. Now we are back but I still make myself scarce in the world (and live in the boondocks). (If there is a DSM category for sociable misanthrope than I'm the poster boy.) My future plan is still tailoring and tweeds with fancy boots and shoes and denim and heritage boots at home (alternative days, whenever but everyday) even if the only person I see is my wife and the dog. I never want to be too comfortable. That would be death in advance