Conservative Navy Cloth

[Guest]

I am currently in college and will be having a suit made up for interviews with banks and consultancies and more conservative settings. An appropriate dark grey suit is already in my closet and I'd like to add a navy worsted. Herringbones and sharkskins appeal to me more than the usual solids, but are these be less appropriate given the circumstances in which the suit will see use? My real concern is if an interviewer will notice the cloth texture for more than a couple seconds and register it as a negative.

Thank you.

[Guest]

A navy solid is something you will get a lot of use out of in situations when discretion is important, like at a job interview. Once you a good grey and a good blue, you can start to branch out to other patterns.

M Alden

[Guest]

With deference to Michael, for me, a navy harringbone and a solid are virtually identical, the difference being textural and sublte at that. Having spent a couple of years in graduate school in Cambridge and working briefly in London, I wouldn't think there to be a practical difference between the two from an interview perspective.

For me, I'd go herringbone. Blue suits are a wonderful staple, the good ones having subtle differences, the herringbone being that subtlty. My advice would be to choose a clean but not self-conscious silhouette with a decent cloth. This suit will last far past the interview and I'll go so far as to say that any potential Boss who wouldn't hire you because of a herringbone pattern is not a man or woman for whom I'd want to work.

More important than the suit or the cloth in an interview is to wear some confidence and show some capacity for creative/proactive thinking.

DDM

[Guest]

With deference to Michael, for me, a navy harringbone and a solid are virtually identical, the difference being textural and sublte at that. . . .

It is a bit more complicated than that. Textures, including herringbones, come in a wide range. There are subtle ones and not so subtle ones and the herringbone can include variations in color as well as texture. Some herringbones have raised “bones”. I certainly agree that a subtle herringbone, particularly a micro one (Smiths has a beautiful one) is equivalent to a solid and more interesting. I just want to alert a novice that some care should be exercised when choosing textured cloth for a very conservative suit.

[Guest]

A dark navy sharkskin has almost no perceptible pattern or weave unless you look at it very closely. That is something to consider. I have my eye on a weave, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say self-pattern, called "hairline" in the Lesser 13 book.

[Guest]

for a second suit, I would agree with Michael - plain navy since you already have a plain charcoal grey. For a young chap doing his first suit, I would recommend a single breasted, no vest - 3 roll to 2 model. And keep it simple so it is flexible for use in formal and informal situations - like you can wear the navy coat with the grey trousers sans tie, (and vice versa) and maybe a cravat inside the shirt collar for an evening out. It will be difficult to do this mix and match with a herringbone or sharkskin...not impossible but more difficult.

I think it is important to be able to mix and match when you only have 2 suits. Many of us have more, but I seldom travel with more than 2 suits, so the skill of mix and match comes in handy.

hope this helps. cheers.

[Guest]

I actually already have several suits, but none of them qualify for interviews and the like, etiher because of the cloth (eg bolder patterns, flannels, lighter colours) or detailing (eg peak lapels, brace-top). This suit will be a 2 button, notch lapel, plain navy suit worn with a belt.

Thank you for the advice.

[Guest]

http://www.hfw-huddersfield.co.uk/hardy ... =264320493?

A "pindot" pattern is a nice way to liven up a navy fabric without leaving the realm of the very conservative. The above doesn't have a great color on screen, but the idea is a good one. The Lesser 13oz book has one that is really very nice.

[Guest]

Would you happen to have the cloth number for the Lesser 13 oz navy pindot/nailhead?

[Guest]

For job interviews, I strongly recommend solid gray.

Also, my understanding is that pindot and nailhead are two different patterns. The latter has small, closely space dots, as depicted in the above link. On the former, the dots are larger and more widely spaced. Pindot is quite a bit louder than nailhead.

[Guest]

A great choice for your project is the Lesser 13 oz. Navy hopsack. I don't have the fabric number .

Smooth Jazz

[Guest]

I understand charcoal grey to be more appropriate than navy for interviews, but I thought the difference was marginal. Why "strongly"?

Thank you for the suggestion, Smooth Jazz. Isn't hopsack usually considered more of a blazer cloth?

[Guest]

Thank you for the suggestion, Smooth Jazz. Isn't hopsack usually considered more of a blazer cloth?

Depends. This version is a tight, hard-worsted suiting fabric with a single color hopsack weave -- would make a great suit. Could make a blazer out of it too. The 16 oz. 3ply hopsack that Mr. Seitelman and Bry2000 bought at Tip Top would look terrible as a suit.

Smooth Jazz

[Guest]

Certainly, not all herringbones are created equally interms of subtley. Perhaps I wrote without qualification, but I intended to reccomend a simple, narowish plain blue herringbne as this (which came from an 11oz Harrisons book, I think the "premier cru" book but I'd have to confirm with Edwin to made certain):


I've found this Harrisons suiting to be very useful. The color is a true navy, it looks lighter due to the use of a flash in the photograph.

On the other side of the spectrum are harringbones that have raised elements, stripes, and/or a wider herringbone such as in this photo of a waistcoat that my father had made in the '70's. I would submit this as neither "plain" nor appropriate for an interview suit for a man in his '20s.



Good luck.

DDM

[Guest]

I have a suit made from the blue herringbone pictured above. I am not sure that the shade is the same, but it is the Premier Cru Harrisons herringbone. It is a terrific cloth, but feels lighter than its weight.