I am an IB analyst about to start my FT job in July. I wanted some help rebuilding my wardrobe. Specifically looking for formal and semi formal outfits to wear to the office, client meetings, and office social events. According to you guys what should my wardrobe consist off?
Also particularly curious about what does an average outfit look for you guys when are you in the office.
Thanks for all your help.
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Good luck!
Thanks for the response, really helpful. Just curious, what are some essential items you'd recommend I buy before the job starts. Would love to here what you are seeing analysts wear in your office.
Also wanted your opinion on what kind of shoes and belts to buy. Would like some recommendations on styles of shoes/belts or products you like to wear.
Get enough chinos and shirts (mostly oxfords) to get you through each workday (at least 5, more if you can). Try to buy one extra shirt that you can keep at work just in case you ever have a wardrobe failure. For now, focus on basic solid colors like white, blues, sands/khaki, charcoal/black. Get yourself at least one good sportcoat, navy or charcoal, and wear that according to what you see others doing in the office. After that, you just apply some common sense to how you mix things up i.e. don't wear black pants with a white oxford, that makes you look like a waiter.
For shoes, make an investment in something that can be re-crafted like Allen Edmonds. I know they can be a bit of money when you're young, but if you consider that they will last you a long time (decades, if you treat them right), they make sense as a purchase.
Any suggestions on everyday belts?
Don't get bonded/"genuine" leather belts, they usually peel and look like shit in less than a year
agree with everything except for last sentence. is it really smart to buy 5+ pants just to change them every day? and you need to have a top to each pants, if we're talking about suits, so it can be quite expensive, especially if you gain/lose weight and have to buy 5-10 more pants couple of sizes up/down.
We're not talking suits, we're talking chinos. Even if we were though, wearing the same clothes multiple times is rarely a good idea.
Again, the kid specifically said IB. Those are long hours. You WILL NOT want to spend your precious free time having to tend to your clothes. Just get as much as you need up front and then rotate out and minimize the amount of time you will have to spend on laundry and use that for rest instead. You will be much happier in the long run if you do this.
This comment is dead-on. WAIT until you see how your office dresses. I work at an EB, and post-COVID dress code has changed significantly (pre-COVID you would have found me in slacks and a blazer most days, now I almost exclusively wear chinos/lululemon pants and a button-down oxford). Still worth it to go buy a nice navy suit, and a blazer, but hold off on anything too formal until you see how your fellow bankers dress. Also, I have a very simple wardrobe (exclusively white and light blue shirts, and navy pants) which, while boring, has made "clothing selection" extremely easy each morning. Good luck
The following works well for me (Analyst PE):
- Four suit jackets, eight pairs of pants (two per suit jacket, try to get them with side adjusters -> no belt needed)
- Ten shirts (Four white, four light blue, two pink for Fridays). Would go for French cuff shirts btw
- One pair of chinos (Fridays)
- At least two pairs of dress shoes (can add more pairs later on), clean sneakers (Fridays)
- A couple of sweaters/ vests for autumn/ winter
- Get name brand socks/ boxers, it makes a difference especially during those 90h weeks
Who wears cuff links nowadays
people in their 60s
60% of juniors and most seniors, although I can only speak of London and Munich.
Damn I feel like a lot of people commenting here have a lot of dress clothes -- maybe because they bought their wardrobe precovid? Since covid dress code has relaxed a lot -- at my EB nobody wears a suit anymore, pretty much exclusively dress shirts and pants.
My work wardrobe:
Two suits (only worn if there's going to be an in person client meeting, ie: never), a sport coat, four pairs of pants (including the two from the suits), 5-7 dress shirts, one nice pair of shoes / belt.
Do you not have a lot of dress clothes??? Most people that have a lot of clothes, like me, like to maintain a certain aesthetic at all times. It's OK to dress for other stuff that's not work, you know?
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