Q. Our son is about to graduate from college and my husband and I are desperately hoping he will get a job that moves him out of his room in our home and into his own place. If I can get him to listen to his mother about interview dressing, do you have some ideas for me to give him to follow? We love him dearly, but really don't want him to be living here next year.
A. I definitely can provide some pointers, the first of which would be not to look at the usual sources for how-to-dress-appropriately for men in business. Recently I have observed that they have disappeared or have begun to give a lot of very wrong information. Men's fashion magazines show pictures that not only look ridiculous but also seem guaranteed to be a turnoff for potential employers.
In their huge effort to appear modern and not too stuffy or traditional, the magazines show men wearing too many patterns together, too much that is dark, and too many colors that clash. They also show garments that are unnecessarily expensive fashion samples from over-priced designers. If your son wore some of the examples in upscale men's publications, he might be dismissed out of hand as a maverick.
Here is what I would tell him. It is important to understand that interview dressing is different from regular business dressing and also from stylish fashionable dressing. It should be quite conservative. It should send the message that you are not the type to rock the boat, not the type to try to shock anyone or to call unnecessary attention to yourself.
Many young men say they want to stand out, and I point out that if you need your interview clothing to do that, your potential employer will wonder why your resume, words, experience and approach cannot show that.
Does this sound as though I'm suggesting that you dress rather innocuously for an interview? Yes, I am. This is where you are showing that you can follow some rules and represent the company in a positive manner.
After you have passed the first interview and are ready for the second, usually with someone at a higher level, your clothes may express a touch more individuality. But proceed with caution. After you have the job, you may express more of your own personal style.
To provide some more specifics, the most important elements of interview dressing:
• Two-color dressing: Staying with two colors in an outfit is safe and easy. Start with the suit. It is your base color. Add a second, contrast color with the shirt. It is your accent. With the tie, you tie it all together by repeating the two colors. If the suit has a subtler second color, this should be your choice for the shirt, or, if the shirt is white, then you can add the second color in the tie.
• Do not combine more than two patterns in your mixture (no matter what the magazines show).
• Careful grooming is crucial: Polished shoes, neat haircuts, and clean fingernails are musts.
• Shoes: No matter how much you like the new sneakerlike shoes, no matter how comfortable they are, do not wear them for interviews. Lace-up leather dress shoes are ideal; slip-on loafers will also do.
If there is ever a time when conformity and straightforward conventional dressing is exactly right, this is it. Wear nothing that will be distracting to the interviewer. If you decide to wear a great offbeat tie that you found, a super interesting pocket square, a colorful pair of socks, or an original mix of three handsome patterns (one in the suit, one in the shirt and another in the tie), you might think you are showcasing your creativity. The truth is, your combination becomes a distraction. You want the person who is interviewing you to concentrate on you and your ideas, not on what you are wearing.
In an ongoing effort to hear directly from my readers, I welcome any specific questions that your son or that either you or your husband might have. For the next month, I am offering to email any readers my useful how-to guidelines sheet (the same one I give as a handout at the end of my "Dress for Excellence" lectures) in response to your email.
Send men's fashion queries to Male Call:
lois.fenton@prodigy.net
High Profile on 03/05/2017