Wow, some of these entries are way off in terms of meeting OP's cost being a primary concern. I'd suggest a charcoal colored suit. Most are very black in color and only seem grey in direct sunlight. Navy/Blue/Silver/Light grey is nice but doesn't always fit the situation. As much as Google is a good resource, you may want to ask the work place what their expectation is. Maybe engage someone at the company ask what the expected dress requirement is to see if it's very professional, or casual? That way you avoid over or under dressing.
TL;DR - If cost is a concern and you're going to be around professionals who know their basics (overly cheap is not an option), I'd venture to guess $600-700 is a good budget all in for shirt, tie, shoes, belt, suit and possibly a spare pair of pants.
IMO a very good bang for buck with good style and look might be:
- Calvin Klein Suit ($250-350)
- Calvin Klein Shirts($30-70 and style wise look good with the suit)
- Tailoring pants, jacket and shirt ($100-150 bucks ish as long as the fit is correct)
- Steve Madden($50-90)/Calvin Klein shoes($50-90) in that range. I wouldn't go over that budget without consider higher end brands.
- Basic dress belt from Brooks Brothers ($55-65)
- Tie ($30).
- Tie clip ($5-10)
If you're lucky to save somewhere, I'd suggest putting it into the spare pants or shoes. Socks wise, I don't know what to suggest. Most dress socks shred easily. The only ones I haven't destroyed are dressy compression socks that I purchased to help soreness after athletic pursuits ($15-25).
If you're ok with a slightly more versatile, slightly casual (could be deal breaker) and COMFY set up:
- Lululemon ABC pants ($130; tailoring included)
- Suit jacket of your choice ($150-250 but make sure jacket stylistically matches pants)
- Shirt ($30-70; same as jacket)
- Basic dress belt from Brooks Brothers ($55-65)
- Tie ($30)
- Shoes ($50-200; to compensate for the pants)
These pants are literally comfortable enough and flexible enough to do Yoga in. Durability wise and the comfort alone are not comparable to many dress pants as it's easily far superior to wool and cotton options. Huge bonus being the ABC set up being very dad friendly. ABC pants would be easily clean and indestructible to daily dad stuff vs wool/cotton equivalents. You can chuck them in the wash to bring them up to par vs many other options being dry clean only. Now, you may have to boost the shoes to sell the ensemble and you may have to buy the pants, belt and shoes and go to Saks/Nordstrom/Bay and ask a stylist/wife/friend to help you select a good jacket to go with it, but I think it's a worthwhile option to consider. I still suggest a spare pair of pants. Accidents happen and it's always a good idea to have the option to rush to the closet to grab a clean pair of pants.
I have a specific athletic build so many business clothing looks weird on me. Shopping wise, try it all on before buying! You need the components to fit well together or it will be weird. I've seen people with great components to a suit, but patterns on the belt, tie or shoes don't match. Or the fit of the shirt is slightly off. If you must wear watches, make sure it matches. You can easily find an inexpensive DW watch on Amazon for <$100 that can finish off the ensemble.
Shopping, I personally like going to Saks on 5th at Cross Iron for a slightly nicer suit (Zegna cloth or Penguin are the ones I like monitoring personally) and just waiting for the right discount. I don't know if that option fits for you, but I am going to have to assume Henry Singer, Harry Rosen and Holt Renfrew out for you. I have a specific athletic build so many suits just look very odd on me, but awesome on a rack. Almost all the shirts I've tried on often look super baggy on me even with the slim size. I need trim sized dress shirts and Tristan men or Calvin Klein seem like the only ones that ever look good on me with no tailoring. It should be like this anyways before tailoring. Many tailors will refuse to tailor a baggy shirt because it takes a lot of time (expensive) and isn't even guaranteed to look good after tailoring.
Calvin Klein is IMO a surprisingly decent entry level suit. I had a black CK suit for years during uni. I interviewed in it, went clubbing in it and though it shows its age, it surprising looks less ratty than some of the suits I purchased a few years later. Some brands should not make suits. They're essentially modified sports coats that don't have a professional look at all IMO. I've been a fan of keeping tabs at Saks and nabbing some nice suits when they're on sale/clearance. One of my favourite suits is a Zegna cloth suit from Saks that I paid $450 for. I added $100 in tailoring and it looks super good due to the bespoke fit. I also purchased a Boss suit for $550 and again with about $100 in tailoring, it's been a fantastic option in rotation.
I'd say a well fitted suit is more important than the brand or style, but others may disagree. I'd also highly suggest you go to the Bay or Tip Top or somewhere similar and have an actual dude measure you and explain to you the basics of how to wear a suit and how a suit should fit. If you get a wrong sized suit, there's only so much a tailor can do for you and it looks very unprofessional regardless of brand.
The comments about belt and shoes is a good comment. Belt wise though, I grabbed the basic leather dress belts at Brooks Brothers for $55-65 bucks each and both have been great. Hands down, easily one of the best looking belt and value belt out there. I spent a lot of time looking for belts previously but nothing seems to beat these Brooks Brother dress belts for look and price. I'd suggest saving the time on belts and buying this belt.
Shoes, I dunno. I have shoes ranging from $45 Steve Maddens to $300 To Boot New Yorks to $600 Ferregamos and honestly, I don't think I've ever believed that shoes really caused a problem with my image. If anything, I am seemingly noticing comments on socks more than shoes in the last few years. If you're wearing scuffed over sized clown shoes, that's a problem. Steve Maddens are inexpensive and the durability will reflect that. Don't buy them full price. Try them on at the store and see if you can get them on Amazon for 25-40% off/warehouse open box. You can even acquire an extra pair that you rarely wear for the days you feel that you need to make a slightly better impression than normal. Calvin Klein is another brand to look at for shoes, however, I wouldn't spend more than $100 on either brand unless it's something that draws you in like a moth to flame. There's always discounts and sales and both sometimes even pop up in places like Winners (vs typical places like CK store, Bay, Nordstrom, Saks, Tip Top etc.)
Keeping it mid end though, I'd suggest keeping tabs on sales at Nordstrom/Nordstrom Rack and Saks/Saks on 5th for sales. Sometimes higher end shoes drop between 15-30% on a special sale and you might get lucky on brands like To Boot New York, Prada, etc.
Honestly though, I've been rocking Vans as a business casual and I've been loving it (I keep a spare pair of dress shoes at work in case I need to swap). It's comfy, cost didn't break the bank and it actually reasonably matches the style of my business attire.
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