Do you own a suit?

The simple number is 22 suits. With 16-17 of them in a fairly common rotation. Some three-button jobbies that I still cling to. Mostly blue, black, grey, olive, brown. Some solid. Some pinstripe. A few windowpane. One white (rarely wear it), one orange, one purple. A few skinny suits that are Express-style.

I also keep one blue and one black at work at all times — in case there’s a serious news situation and I have something lighter. (That goes back to the 1988 SI article on Gumbel by Rick Reilly. Read that when I was 14 and never forgot it.)

26 dress shirts.

111 ties. I keep those at work. 20 pocket squares.

30 pair or socks - some that only go with certain suits.

Every other Friday, I will “set a rotation” for the next two weeks of 10 outfits but I’ll save the tie to match my co-anchor later. Just did it earlier today to start off on Monday.

I only wear the suits when I am actually on the air. I wear polos and khakis until 20 minutes before airtime. This preserves the clothing.

I once got $4,500 a year for clothing that I would get reimbursed for. Then it was $4,000 in straight cash. Now I get nothing but it’s fine — I have clothing from a decade ago that still looks good.

That being said, I’m pretty frugal. Rarely pay more than $20 for any tie, $30 for any shirt or $150 for a suit. The suit only has to look good on TV. Doesn’t have to be high quality to the touch.

That purple suit gets a lot of compliments but it feels like a $12 Halloween costume. But looks great on TV.

 

Based on my profession, suits have been a key part of my work. I own close to 10 now that I wear. We've actually gone jeans any day now but I still wear them for formal meetings and sometimes just to remember I'm not just hanging out at home.

What I learned more than anything about wearing a well-fitting (not necessarily expensive) suit is that if you've got everything put together, shoes, shirt, tie, people will let you go anywhere in their place and do whatever you want because you frankly look important. (I've got to roam the halls of my clients' businesses all the time and when I need an emergency bathroom, if I've got a suit on, I got to any office complex and am immediately trustworthy.)

 

Very true on fit. It’s crucial. I’ll go cheap on suits but my Croatian tailor is a very good. Talks like teddy KGB and has the same humor.

 

I used to keep a button-down shirt and a tie at the office at all times, just in case I was dressed a little casually and I had to do an on-camera unexpectedly on serious subject.
You just reminded me that I have not done the same during the past three years.
I need to rectify that.

I think I'm in the office late next week, and I'm putting a shirt and tie in there, in case of emergency.

 

I have a Vietnamese tailor; they are like gold. I'll buy a great suit on eBay and then let him tailor it; looks great and feels great (more important.)

 

Three when I needed them. One was a Boss handed down from a relative when he outgrew it. (And now I have outgrown it.)
I don't like wearing them, but in the right weather I find them a lot more comfortable than everyday apparel.

 

I have a Boss jacket that cost $500. Didn't want to pay anywhere that much, so I tried to bargain it down, but no-go. Walked away hoping they'd cave, but no-go. But it was exactly the jacket I was looking for, and I couldn't find anything comparable in the look I wanted for a pending job interview, so I went back to the Boss store and bought it.

Best jacket I've ever had. ... Didn't get the job, though.

Got the same job at the same place six years later. Same jacket, too.

 

One suit, three sport coats, a tuxedo and a white dinner jacket.

 

nice

 

This is so true.

A well-cut understated suit worn correctly is a suit of armor. You're invincible. Welcome and trusted everywhere.

Conversely, depending on the setting, you also recede into the background. You're just another suit. Faceless. Unremarkable.

So a suit is a kind of bulletproof camouflage.