Where did you get your first nice suit?

I would get navy blue or charcoal. The former more so...just my preference

Ok good call on not going black, I was leaning towards that because I already have a charcoal which fits me pretty well but the quality of the material is not so good so I think I'll probably just go with a dark navy. Ill definitely be checking out Hickey Freeman though. Also does anyone have any experience with suits tailored from scratch for a reasonable price in the city or close by?

Jesus Christ- You're actually thinking about going Bespoke/MTM for your first suit? I know a guy that does a bespoke suit for $1,200, and that is the absolute lowest I've heard.

If you have the money, then definitely go for it. A tailored suit is a great look- having a suit that fits is MOST important. But I'm sure you can find a great HF suit for less than $600- throw in alterations, that should come out to $850 max. Save that $500 and put it into a bunch of good ties/shirts/slacks or even just save it for when you really need it. Your first year (pre-Bonus) will be very difficult for you financially in NY.

Haha relax I am definitely looking to spend less than $1000. I've just heard of some shops offering them at sub $500 price range so I was wondering if anyone had any experience with something like that or is it just going to be complete crap. A friend of mine actually got a couple in Hong Kong for under $500 and the fit is really excellent but I'll be limited to the city at this point.

Go for Canali, their "Proposta" line (model #s in the 14000s) is very well-made (Made in Italy, Super 120s wool, fully-canvassed, fake pick-stitching) and slim-fitting. At full retail, they're definitely a little on the pricey side (~$1200-1500), but they can be had on sale at places like Nordstrom Rack, C21 or Saks Off Fifth for under $900. Corneliani is also a good bet if you can find it (similar worksmanship to Canali, and they make suits for Ralph Lauren so it's also slim-fitting).

You can try Paul Stuart also; very nice suits and they have HUGE sales sometimes ($1700 wso/">suit for $600).

I find Hickey Freeman to be a boxy, American cut. Canali is a more elegant and slimmer Italian cut. But in the end, certain suits fit certain people better. And yes, I agree about not getting a wso/">black suit: Black suits are for formal evening events and funerals. Not only that, but it makes your skin look paler than it is, and it makes you look like some clubster. Go with navy and charcoal. Get a couple solids and a pinstripe (nothing too flashy; no chalkstripes).

Hugo Boss is a ripoff; the quality is shit and not near that of the aforementioned brands. I don't think Armani is that bad; while the craftsmanship isn't great (fused instead of canvas), they have nice fabrics and great cuts.

Shirts-- Ralph Lauren black label dress shirts fit like a glove for slim guys. They're 250 a pop but if you're lucky you can find them on sale for $80ish.

Suits-- Also try Ralph Lauren BL. They're 1700/suit which isn't a bad deal for a slim fitting suit that's fully canvased. The only reason I wouldn't buy one is because of the narrow lapel. The HF is also a good suggestion, those fit well. If you really wanna blow some cash, Brioni will fit you well too (6k). Or, you could also try RL Purple Label which will be 4k. Go to Saks and they'll be more than happy to show you the way.

Thanks for all the helpful feedback. I've heard good things about Black Label but they're on the pricier side, will have to wait for year 2. Anyway, I'll definitely be doing some post christmas shopping, hopefully I can find some good deals.

Make sure you go early on December 26. By early, I mean 8 am. I know Brooks is also having a special 40% off from 8-12, and 25% for the rest of the day. Neiman is also having a sale, but I am not sure as to how much they are discounting.

Will do, thanks for the tip

Try a tailor called "LS Mens". They make MTM suits for under $650, super high quality, better than the Brooks suits I've had in the past. Plus you can customize it however you want, where the lapels should fall, if you want a ticket pocket, working sleeves, etc. The website is http://www.lsmensclothing.com/. I just got my first MTM suit for interviews from there and it's awesome. Izzy is very helpful and if you bring in some pictures he can help you get the exact look you want.

If you're going to get a Paul Stuart, save some money and buy a Samuelsohn off of SierraTradingPost.com, because that's who makes Paul Stuart suits. Just make sure to try it on in person and have all of the model information before you order it online.

Oh, and HF is not a 'boxy' American fit. Boss suits are.

I got a Zegna suit at Filene's for $750 over the summer. Shop around.

If you know exactly what you want, have pictures/exact specifications and a rough knowledge of different types/qualities of materials and a few weeks before your start work, then take a trip to Vietnam for a break and stop off in Hoi An for a week. They have amazingly cheap tailors there (although it's like everything in Vietnam, you have to shop around to find people who won't rip you off) and some of them are pretty decent. If you have pictures of what you want then they'll make it up from scratch to your specification, give you three or four fittings to make sure you're happy with it and charge you a tiny fraction of what it'd cost for a similar off the rail suit at home. The cheapest are around $30 (for relatively nasty polyester), but you can definitely find good quality wool and knowledgeable tailors.

If you're finishing college and have a month or two to go travelling before work then it's definitely something to consider.

Mr. Ned's is my tailor. They do MTM with three fittings. Each suit costs about $950.

$800 Brooks Brothers charcoal pinstriped, cant go wrong

First suit I ever bought was a Hickey Freeman. I happen to think style is very nice. I'm also partial to Zegna, but then again, I believe that Italian suits happen to be the nicest suits you can get.

I'm not sure of any sales going on right now, but you might want to consider taking a trek outside of Manhattan to either Woodburry Commons or some other outlet mall. I've had wonderful luck getting great suits from well respected designers when I was first starting out. The last time I was there, I bought 3 Hickey Freemans, a Burburry, a Zegna suit and sport jacket for about 4000... I'd need to dig up the reciept to make sure on exact price, as it's been a while since I was there. Woodburry Commons has a Saks Off Fifth, Neiman Marcus Last Call, Hickey Freeman, Joseph Aboud (the original line, not the JAZ line, if you follow mens suits and know the dif.), Zegna, Armani and a few others. You'll find some great deals, but you gotta look hard for them. I'd check it out.

Any large sums of money I get after graduation will be going towards building my net worth. Student loans baby! They gotta go! (course I'm prolly the only one on here that has that problem)

Do most big banks make you wear suits every day?

my 2 cents: don't go crazy buying an expensive suit. especially with a non-standard body type (very few people have "average" measurements), you're much better off buying custom shirts. you can get custom shirts for about the same price as the equivalent quality off-the-rack shirt (~$100 and up depending on fabric). most people don't realize but the difference between a shirt that fits and one that doesn't is dramatic. plus, you'll likely rarely wear the suit jacket but your shirt will almost always be seen. as for suits, Italian made clothes tend to fit skinny people better. After Xmas (through Feb) is a good time to buy as you should see sales of anywhere from 40-70% off at the major dept stores (try Barneys, Saks and Bloomingdales).

I am looking for some advice on what would be appropriate to wear for the first day of training in July, or until I get a feel of the everyday dress that's acceptable at my firm. I will be starting at a BB where the dress code is described as “business-appropriate,” but don’t know how most of the analysts in IBD usually dress because I was not an intern there. When I met with some analysts during my superday they said people dress in anything from a suit to dress slacks and a button down. If anyone could give me some insight I would really appreciate it.

Weird- I don't see anything wrong with dressing up if your bank is business casual. For one, shirts that are not buttdown just look silly without a tie.

There's nothing wrong with dressing up- at least in my opinion.

ex-banker, agree with the importance of a tailored shirt. I am very skinny, so slim fits dont usually do the trick for me. Can you recommend a place to get reasonable priced custom dress shirts?

a good way to get bang for your buck is to go to the barneys warehouse sale. show up on the first day and you'll be minted with very good deals think (50+% off retail).

if you're on the east coast, definitely worth coming down to NYC for the sale.

calvin, i have the same issue. my wife likes to refer to me as manorexic. i really like shirts from Ascot Chang. the shirts are made in Hong Kong but they have a store on Central Park South (it used to be 57th street - they just moved). The shirts usually take about 4-5 weeks and i think the minimum number of shirts is also 4 or 5. Their least expensive custom shirts (it all depends on fabrics) start at about $125 I think and go up to several multiples of that. If you are ever in Hong Kong, they have a few stores and you can have your shirts made in about 2 days and not pay duty.

Coincidently, I have a friend (also an ex-banker) who started an internet based custom shirt company. It's called Alexander West (www.alexander-west.com). He's in NY and he'll come and measure you in your home or office. I haven't tried his shirts so I can't vouch too much but they seem to be pretty high quality. I don't think he has any minimum and I think they run around $100.

I'm in the same boat too. I haven't seen Massimo Dutti (spanish brand) in the states, but it's popular in Europe. The suits are formal, look great on skinny guys and they are well stocked across a good range of sizes. You can probably bag one for around $600. http://www.massimodutti.com/ is their site so if you're doing the whole europe thing this summer then you should check out a store.

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I'm in the same boat too. I haven't seen Massimo Dutti (spanish brand) in the states, but it's popular in Europe. The suits are formal, look great on skinny guys and they are well stocked across a good range of sizes. You can probably bag one for around $600. http://www.massimodutti.com/ is their site so if you're doing the whole europe thing this summer then you should check out a store.

I would buy it from Nordstrom. Chances are you will make a mistake, and no matter what, Nordstrom takes care of you. My first suit was $500 from Nordstrom and I had to get it tailored out of store because I needed it the next day. The other tailor, not affiliated with Nordstrom, royally fucked the suit. I brought it back to Nordstrom, and they literally offered to let me exchange it for a brand new suit. I mean, this suit was ruined. Anyway, I have a tall, slim build, so after a lot of looking, I wound up getting a Hugo Boss for $800. I normally should have a 41XL, which no one has, so I should have to go to 42XL, which is too big. In the Boss, I was able to get a 40L that fits perfectly.

I've bought suits at Nordstroms before and have had a great experience like you have Aspiring. They really know how to take care of their clients. Then again, I've also had that at Neimans and Bergdorf (I bought a suit there as a gift to myself after dropping some major weight because I couldn't find it at neimans, nordstroms or saks). The high end retailors really know how to take care of their customers. That being said, they will only tailor what they sell, and the salesmen know exactly what is there. The reason for it is because if someone brings in a suit that the store doesn't sell and the in-house tailor screws up, they cannot replace the damaged suit, which is a big no-no.

As far as dress is concerned, DCM204, the first day always come in dressed to the nines. I would suggest a suit and tie. This way, you are overdressed and can gauge how everyone else dresses. Coming in overdressed is much more appropriate than being underdressed because you can blame it on trying to be as professional as possible.

I was greatly disappointed with a Hugo Boss suit I bought this past summer. It cost me $900 but literally was of less quality than a $299 suit I got from Men's warehouse in my Freshman year. So far, within my budget (suit), Ralph Lauren has been the most reasonable--price vs. quality wise. If you can throw in around 1500 bucks, checkout Prada, Zegna suits. I tried on few of those and they looked darn good! I just couldn't bring myself to pay that price before I start working.

I was greatly disappointed with a Hugo Boss suit I bought this past summer. It cost me $900 but literally was of less quality than a $299 suit I got from Men's warehouse in my Freshman year. So far, within my budget (suit), Ralph Lauren has been the most reasonable--price vs. quality wise. If you can throw in around 1500 bucks, checkout Prada, Zegna suits. I tried on few of those and they looked darn good! I just couldn't bring myself to pay that price before I start working.

Don't wear khakis... just get a few pairs of nice wool separates. Dress shirt without a tie and a pair of wool dress pants will be fine for any business casual environment, don't have to worry about being "overdressed" (unless you are in industry). And don't lose your collar stays in the dry cleaners, typical rookie mistake.

Don't wear a Prada suit, unless you're off to a club with your Gucci loafers, black shirt, and silver tie. And Zegna suits are 3k. Unless you get the 'Z Zegna' brand which is just another stepchild brand (like Armani Collezioni)which has poor construction quality and usually a weird 'fashion' fit that will look ever more stupid in 2 years.

Gents:

Does anyone know anything about charles tyrwhitt suits? I have a few of their shirts and love them, but I know nothing about their suits.

Woodbury Commons is a great outlet for NYC and if you are in Boston check out the Wrentham outlets in Wrentham.