I Need a Good Suit

So this Christmas I basically spend over $2000 to update my wardrobe and that's just for 5 pieces. I'm in my third year of college, with hope of graduating next year May 2009 with a good job once I get out. How can I ensure both graduating and landing a good job? The equation is easy. Or at least the partial equation is:

Look Good=Feel Good=Outstanding Performance
DUH! It's easy, Right? Not so much, especially looking good is proportionate to how well one performs. And looking good, one has to be willing to spend some money. How you chose to spend it, is up to you. But I recommend don't be frugal if you don't have to be. Looking slouchy and like the clothes were from your father's closet will make you feel exactly that, outdated or like an italian guido. Unless you work in the mafia, please refrain. However, I'm optimistic in believing that mafias out there have been upgraded to Jil Sanders and Versace suits.

I prefer not to look like my father or in a Mafia unless your father is 30, an investment banker or trader for Prada, Jil Sander, Dior Homme, or Armani. Just kidding. There's also Valentino and Versace. I'm not saying for you to live off of Ramen Noodles for the next year just so you could have a nice fitted suit ang some Ferragamo shoes, I'm asking that you would be smart, know your audience and dress appropriately.

If you plan on working corporate, dress formal. I suggest Jos A. Bank. They will help educate you on what to wear. After learning how many breaks you are supposed to have in your pants, then move on to Bergdorf. Or you can take smaller steps and go to Macys before upgrading to Brooks Brother. If you plan on working in marketing at Vogue, step it up further and wear Thom Browne or one of Anna Wintour's favorite asian loves. But I'm sure if marketing department at Vogue is your goal, I'm sure you're fashion concious and know how to dress appropriately for Wintour.

I digress. I need a good suit. I haven't invest in a suit since...I have no idea. Mother use to buy suits for me back in high school and I dreaded wearing them. They would not fit me well and I turned out looking like my dad, which is understandable because to her, that's her ideal man.

My ideal man? Terron Woods in any of the wardrobe above. Or any of the men in the pictures. The cuts are tailored, falls on the body and hugs it just right and nothing is too extreme, screaming clean, but not stuffy and impersonal. Of course I don't have that all-american look like Terron Woods does, not yet at least; however, it's good to be concious of the proportion. Where the jacket should fall, how the sleeves fall, how the collar is not crunched or crimped or cramped, where the legs end. All that is important. But since I'm anal and insecure, I alway like something that fall where it should be so I tend to get most of my pants tailored. I'm 5'7 so unless I plan on getting a suit cut by Raf or Albert Elbaz themselves, I have invested in a tailor I trust. I like her not only for her skills but because she gives me gum.

For me, it's important to look clean and crisp. It's important for what I wear to not be dull - I always need a pop of color somewhere. Whether it is through my sweater sleeve, my button up shirt, my socks, my belt, watch, or whatever single piece there is that makes the piece me. Or, dare I say, a brooch. Yes, I said a brooch, some pieces can be worn by men. MEN not boys. Well, I guess that could be argued both ways depending on your age.

What I like about the pictures above is that it is stylized but subtle. There's no pop of color, but a pop through cut and through turtlenecks or pashmina, helping emphasize the head and body. Such pieces helps make the look seem casual but still retaining that formality that most job will require.

When I was little, I hated feeling stuffy because I noticed all the grown up around me looked (I didn't live in New York, Paris or Milan) boring and I didn't like how the men look. But with the styling presented in the pictures above, I could have a better appreciation for a good suit, a better understanding of my own style. I like that it's clean and looks effortless so it's not a choir to get dressed up anymore. The suits are not so much an obligation, but something I actually want to put on and flaunt. The suits or the accesories with it, though monotone, became that pop that I look for, but without color.

I've made it a goal to dress with jeans less this year and foward because I think dressing affects how I act or think that day. Jeans is an American influence and as much as it's a globalized trend now, if one goes abroad people can be seen to wear pants than jeans. Though that is questionable since the jeans market have been increasing, especially since Chanel Spring 2008 just had a collection where the fabrics were jeans. Though that is the case, pants and slack gives a sense of casual elegance that many still favor. I'm more conservative in dressing so I'm bias and prefered that look more. Also, I want to be more serious in my studies and what I'm pursueing so I noticed that by waking up, no matter how crappy I feel, if I wear a jacket with slacks, I feel better in the day than going out in something wrinkled and gross.

Standing out of the crowd of slack, skinny jeans, and urban outfitters brand tees, I feel more individualized and that gives me confidence. In the long run, I know that if I get used to this new mode of dressing, I'll be a more productive person. I'm not saying I'll dress up in a suit everyday, but a little bit more conservative. With Prada's latest collection, along with Lanvin and Gucci, dressing formal isn't dressing like your dad anymore. So to be productive and feeling better, I don't necessarily need to invest in an Armani or Valentino suit, I could scale down and recognize the contemporary pieces and see if other affordable brands out there are imitating the cuts, or just get the pieces made by some local tailor.

I've never been more excited to invest in/wear a suit. I've never been more excited to have recuitors look at the fit and proportions of my suit and my individualized style among the stuffy Men's Wearhouse drab, which works for some people but not for me. I'm confident in my look. Though confidence alone may not get me a job, my confidence through my wardrobe will get me noticed and will allow me to present myself in a manner many would want to invest in since I have heavily invested in presenting myself for the job, $1000+ worth. Hah.