Need help figuring out best stores I have access to, young professional in tech
23yo looking to update my wardrobe to fit a tech workplace like Google, and I need to balance professional yet casual. I'm wondering which stores would be best to start my search. Below is the list of stores at my local mall, it should give you an idea of what I have access to. Both store recommendations and general advice would be appreciated!
https://www.westfield.com/united-states/annapolis/retailers
25 Replies
that's a genuinely grim list of retailers. also you can wear pretty much anything in a tech workspace, so more of a sense of where you fall on the casual <-> professional spectrum or what kinds of clothing items you would want to most regularly wear will help a lot.
and also read #fashion-guides if the above question is hard to answer
Are you on the engineering or business side? If you are an engineer, I would be very surprised if there any formal or informal expectations about looking "professional". (Source: I am an engineer at a tech company)
Don't wear shoes from Allbirds or On. Don't wear clothing emblazoned with your company's logo. You will already be better dressed than your coworkers.
I'm an engineer and have many friends at google. If you're on the engineering side, you can, truly and honestly, wear pretty much whatever casual shit you want, unless you happen to have a very unusual team dynamic. I'm talking flip flops, swim trunks, tank tops, rumpled t-shirts with holes in them... pretty much none of these will impact your career at all, people might make a joke but that's about all. Not saying you should be a slob, but that you can be without any real consequence.
So if that's you, you pretty much have the whole world open to you. Good jeans a t-shirts? Nice. Shoes that are clean? Would have to be truly terrible to be noticed poorly. Quarter zips? Super in right now. Want that branded outerwear from outdoorsy brands? Absolutely, everyone loves either hiking or climbing or camping or backpacking, or pretending they do.
You won't stand out in chinos and polos and more-casual button-front shirts, whether camp collar hawaiian shirts or big-plaid oxford cloths. Pretty much any belts. Pretty much any sweater or jacket nicer than a hoodie is seen as pretty nice.
So, big big gamut
Now if you're more finance, or you have older pickier bosses, expectations go more towards the casual side of business-casual. You'd be amongst the best dressed in the office in ... honestly, any non-beat-up non-monstrosity shoes, chinos, and a tucked in shirt with a collar. So like, really the casual side of business casual.
Hope this helps
Engineering side. Also need to figure out options for during interviews, which might need to be a little more dressed up, but without appearing too stuffy (culture fit)
Jeans and a polo are fine for interviews
Annapolis interview culture is likely different from bay area culture
Oh...yeah, maybe
Bay area tech, jeans and polo is more than adequate.
Will be in washington DC area
when I work
DC is a mishmash. Many people are very dressed up on a daily basis. Tons of lawyers, politicians, government, NGO and various non-profit/not-for-profit... and people who want to be shakers and movers. But newer-company-tech usually still dresses way, way down from that. Older-company-tech though is often government, or government contractor, like defense, who dress up, relatively speaking.
Definitely ask the recruiter
So this is one of those know-your-audience questions I think. An interview with some tatted coder-manager at google is going to have a very different expectation than an interview with textron missile firmware engineers. Even if both are in DC/DMV
One size won't fit all and asking the recruiter for guidance is key
And, when in doubt, I would go a bit more formal, but only a bit
Like, if the recruiter says a polo shirt is fine, maybe wear a button up shirt, but not a suit
If I worked in tech in DC and needed to do interviews semi regularly, I'd probably own:
- One standard weight sober (navy/charcoal) suit, and one very lightweight sober (navy/charcoal) suit, depending on winter vs summer. Because in the summer it's fucking hot and humid as shit.
- A couple sport coats of varying hot-ness-es, and a few slacks/trousers, same. In a small gamut of less formal to more formal.
- A few pairs of chinos or similarly less-formal trousers
- A couple white and ice blue dress shirts
- A couple white and ice blue oxford cloth shirts
- Black captoe oxfords, brown brogued or plaintoe bluchers, black or brown loafers of some sort
- A set of ties
That would cover most social expectations (weddings, business-adjacent lunches, galas and openings of various sorts) and most professional requirements (wear to work, interviews, meetings). But how you dress up for an individual interview would depend.
got it, any particular brands I should look at?
Also if its not on that list I can drive a bit to find something
But check with the recruiter before you panic and go buy a suit
I have a black suit
not sure if it's too much though
you mentioned gray / navy
We can't tell you if it's too much. It depends on the company.
If a suit is expected, I'm pretty sure black will be fine.
One of these days I will have my copypasta ready on why black suits are usually not worn in america and, at least, western europe, outside of a few exceptions, HOWEVER, you have what you have and if you need to wear a suit for an interview, you are probably better off wearing a well-fitting and comfortable black suit than spending $800 on a new one.
Gray and navy are just the alternatives to black that are accepted almost everywhere for almost any more-formal occasion. That's the context of the men's formalwear world
Brands... well, it depends on what you need to buy. There's a lot of brands out there, and some do some things well, some are better for people of a certain physique than others.
Lowest common denominator stuff... this isn't like a list to take as gospel or anything. Good dress shoes widely available to try on (no internet-only): Allen Edmonds at sale / factory seconds pricing, or grant stone, meermin, etc. Shirts: A lot of brands at various malls, just stick to 100% cotton and get good fit (and maybe tailoring.) Chinos and slacks: ralph lauren (often polo ralph lauren) is often a good bet, but there are many other options such as todd snyder and j crew. Ties: buy second-hand online, seriously, you get great stuff for like $15-30, from a large list of brands. Sport coats: Depends on physique, just don't get shitty mall brands and don't get fused (glued interlining) jackets. Other jackets: Too many to list.
You ought to write a "how to buy a suit" guide
Much more intelligent, experienced people have done so already
Also, I don't actually buy new suits, so I would be a terrible person to write authoritatively on the subject. All my tailoring is either second-hand or bespoke
It's like asking me to write on how to sell a car. I have helped other people sell cars, but I have only ever bought cars, never sold them :P
Well, I credit you with opening my eyes to the possibilities of ebay
ebay is pretty dope with enough patience, yeah. :)
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