How often do you wear your suit in day to day life?

[Pierce98]

I've been trying to update my style a bit, when I'm out and about.

Maybe it's my region of Canada, but honestly I don't see men dressed particularly... debonair(?).

Realistically, what is it like for you?

 

[jchance]

Professionally, as a lawyer, I have to dress up for courts fairly often. Even so, I only wore suits 3-4 times a year.

Personally, there are 2-5 weddings each year that I’d wear suits for.

So once every few months. Sometimes twice a month, as weddings are concentrated during summer.

 

[GHT]

When you shop for provisions at your supermarket you may, on occasion, see the large truck and trailer at the delivery point bringing in the replenishment stock. That truck would have come from a distribution centre that services a given number of the company's stores within a geographical area. In my working life I was the head honcho of one of those distribution centres.

Wearing a suit, collar, and tie gave kudos to a general manager's rank. My suits in those days were more of a 'uniform,' always a conventional, conservative, navy blue feignt pin-stripe, or a mid to dark grey of a similar pin-stripe. The rest of my attire was similarly conventional, white shirt, company tie and black, well polished shoes.

Wearing such a suit among the large number of staff, all in company uniforms, there was no need for the word, Manager, on the back of my hi-viz vest. Outside of work my suits were anything but conventional, nor was anything else, from the spearpoint collared shirts down to the two tone spectator shoes. I wore colours like light blue and silver grey.

Now retired, striped blazers, known as boating blazers, with plain trousers, in bold colours are my preference after a working life in conventional, conservative suits.
One suit that I do have that's anything like conventional, is a zoot suit. Look it up.

 

[Peacoat]

I wore a suit four days a week–Monday through Thursday. Fridays were casual days, so it was a sport jacket (Blazer) with a tie. White shirts with the suits, blue button down Oxford cloths with the jackets on Friday.

 

[GHT]

Here's a couple of suits that you will find in my wardrobe. Not the colour or style of that of my working life.

 

[Edward]

In an ideal world, I'd wear a suit most days. Unfortunately my tastes and my budget limit them to more occasional wear until I can afford more of them (the ideal for me would be to won around a dozen or eighteen suits, so four days a week would entail each of them being worn something like once a fortnight). My default is a blazer and trousers most days as more affordable (trousers being, inevitably, what I wear through faster). Most office days are tie days - entirely by choice. Academia has gone very casual, especially over the last decade. Typically very dressed down day to day this year, though, as I'm on sabbatical. Currently wearing a flannel shirt and denim battledress trousers. Very fond of the latter. They wear like jeans, and they were great for kicking about in during the Summer when the oppressive seasonal weather meant I couldn't wear a jacket; the big map pocket on the thigh is a great, and secure, place to stow wallet and phone when not able to wear a jacket. Reminds me of my combat trousers days back in the 90s (indeed, for next Summer I'm tempted now to pick up a pair of the 43 pattern HBT trousers with the cargo pocket on each side, not a style I've worn in forty odd years).

For now, a suit four days a week remains aspirational, but hopefully I'll realise that within the next decade.

 

[GHT]

Edward said: "Academia has gone very casual, especially over the last decade. " Has academia lost the chalk dust. At school our teachers still wore the gowns, the mortar boards were only for ceremony, the gowns were forever covered in blackboard chalk dust.
It was much the same at Queen Mary's, lecturers with the inevitable chalk dust. That aside, whilst collar and tie wasn't obligatory, it was the order of the day. Our lectureres all wore dogtooth patterned jackets, or is that my memory fantasy? Sartorial elegance was not in their dictionary.

 

[Pierce98]

Edward said: "Academia has gone very casual, especially over the last decade. " Has academia lost the chalk dust. At school our teachers still wore the gowns, the mortar boards were only for ceremony, the gowns were forever covered in blackboard chalk dust.
It was much the same at Queen Mary's, lecturers with the inevitable chalk dust. That aside, whilst collar and tie wasn't obligatory, it was the order of the day. Our lectureres all wore dogtooth patterned jackets, or is that my memory fantasy? Sartorial elegance was not in their dictionary.

Bless your heart

 

[Benny Holiday]

Well my tailor retired a couple of years ago, he's now 83, but I have fortunately quite a few suits he made me over the years, plus a couple of Cathcart of London suits. I wear a suit at least 5 days per week, all 1930s-40s style, or a sports coat and slacks in the same style. Here's a pic with my daughter just before her high school formal. Typical Benny Holiday suit lol:

 

[Pierce98]

For example, I wear a suit more "based on my mood" than out of necessity: there are weeks when I don't take it out of my closet at all, and sometimes I suddenly want to add a little formality even to an ordinary day. It's interesting that the less often you wear a suit, the more people notice it—it's as if the contrast is working. I think that's why in some regions it seems like no one dresses up much: such moments are just rare flashes of light, not a familiar backdrop.

This came to mind a bit. I live in more rural Canada where people aren't known to dress up much. I'd like to do that more than once a year!

 

[The Rumple]

I don't wear a full-on suit and tie very often at all. A few times a year. But I do sport coats and casual trousers all the time and I'm trying to wear suits styled casually more often - like with a turtleneck or shirt and no tie. We split our time between France and the US; you definitely stand out more in the US, older men tend to be dressed better (than their Texas counterparts) where we live in Europe.

 

[jfive67]

I wear suits to work whenever a meeting is important enough to justify a tie. Typically quarterly board meetings or if meeting execs from large companies. Otherwise, sport coats and trousers/chinos seem less intrusive in the increasingly casual work place

 

[Fayrawks]

Maybe once or twice a year for special events. My industry's business culture has shifted such that only the most senior person in the room wears a suit, and only a tie if they're C-suite. Everyone else seems to wear golf polos/button-ups, overly tight stretch chinos, and dress sneakers.

When I was last interviewing, I got chewed out in an old school stress interview (3rd round, KPMG, Sr Assoc/Manager) for wearing a suit and tie, despite the interview guides saying to do so. Seems the average attire is dress shirt for an interview and nothing else.

 

[BaslerChrysler]

I think a lot has changed after Covid. I’m a lawyer and used to wear suits to office, any external meeting or courts but only to the meetings with management and courts. I see less and less people would wear suits to the office or meetings. Maybe jacket and chino at best. Though, I really like it but concerned people would look at me like I’m a weirdo

 

[Clossonrr1]

I use to wear them Monday through Friday, but no longer have the need. For a period I went back to wearing suits even for casual purposes, but have since gone fault lazy with the rest of America.

 

[jfive67]

Funny enough, I find dressing in suits is easier than having to pick an outfit

 

[Tiki Tom]

I miss my suits. I used to wear a suit Monday through Friday. Plus I lived in a city where most of the year I could wear a long coat, a scarf, and a fedora. Every day was dress up day. Now I live in Hawaii, where long trousers and a shirt with a collar is considered to be dressing up. Like I said, I miss my suits, hats, etc. (not to mention riding metros, and walking through train stations on my way to work.)

 

[Edward]

Funny enough, I find dressing in suits is easier than having to pick an outfit

I suppose as with anything it's what you get used to, but certainly I would put a lot less thought into throwing together a co-ordinated blazer/trousers / tie look than I might need to for something of the uber-casual nature I wear much more rarely. Suits are even easier as there's no need to give any consideration whatever to which trousers with which jacket. I suspect if I was ever obligated to wear jeans to the office, I'd overthink it to a ridiculous degree on a regular basis.

 

[GHT]

I use to wear them Monday through Friday, but no longer have the need. For a period I went back to wearing suits even for casual purposes, but have since gone fault lazy with the rest of America.

Like others have said, I too miss wearing suits day to day, nothing to stop me though, but after a lifetime in suits, the flambouyance of the boating blazer has that certain appeal.

At work, As a General Manager, wearing a suit provided the strategic gravitas by functioning as a deliberate tool for psychological, cultural and operational leadership.

Retirement has me reminiscing when I spent decades directing operations, managing eye watering budgets, and steering the ship. Now, my primary strategic objective is figuring out how the new smart-TV remote works and negotiating who gets to use the good armchair.

But hey-ho, it was time to retire and there's a lot to do currently, due to our house move!

 

[Harp]

Retired US Federal Civil Service after an ischemic stroke and loss of right arm/leg function,
which mandates sartorial ease. Slip on sweats and casual wear are preferable my present role
as a Thoroughbred graded stakes player; courtesy home internet wager.

I miss dressing occupational part, and, as with Shakespeare's observe ages have passed
since a war in youth and life's supreme test ended by twenty; university, law school, finance,
federal civil stint listing. A Christian Brother of Ireland called recently to inquire whether my prepatory school class reunion attendance; and, I declined but remarked how much I would
give to return those long ago student days. Knowing, of course, what I know now.