Formal/Business Professional attire question...

So…It gets really hot here in the summer and my office does not have AC. I am trying to find some suits that are more comfortable, so when clients come in I’m not sitting around sweating my balls off in a normal suit. I’ve been seeing more and more people wear what’s called a Mens Walking Suit…I’ve been debating on picking up a few of these, is it considered an alternative to a Seer Sucker?

Here are the suits I’m looking at. What are your thoughts?

http://italiandesignersuit.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/walkingsuit_009.260113438_std.jpg

Do you work in the south? If so, why doesn’t your office have AC? If not, seersucker suits are not appropriate.

Are you a goodfella?

Get an intern to cool you off with a palm leaf.

Yeah, I would wonder why your office doesn’t have A/C if you’re in a hot area.

I grew up in Texas, where everybody has AC and run it from March through October.

Then I went to boot camp in San Diego and MOS school in Monterey, where nobody had AC’s or furnaces. I thought that was the strangest thing in the world.

If you were a true BSD you would have visited this link www. tommybahama.com and would have no need to post this rubbish and bother us BSDs on AF.

I’m too poor to wear classy stuff like that

The African men in my area are big fans of this style of dress. I’m guessing it’s what they wore back home to deal with 95 and humid year round. If your building is in sub-Saharan Africa, I say go for it.

You should wear one of those Saudi like white robes. Seriously have considered one for around the house on a hot day (no AC up here in the Arctic).

Curious as to Numi’s take on this, since Numi is our in-house sartoiral savant.

In my opinion, the trousers might work, but the shirts made me want to retch (particularly the one on the far right).

If you are a used car salesmen in the US south, or (as TTM says) in sub-Saharan Africa - maybe this could be considered professional attire. But I assume you are in the US. And the fact that you have “formal” in the title of this thread makes me chuckle a bit and wonder if you’re just trolling us (and if so, I’m amused by this one, not annoyed).

CVM definitely pointed you to better stuff, and remember that work clothes are to some extent an investment choice more than a consumption choice, and even more so if you are in an industry that evaluates you in part by how you dress. Better clothes will generally last you longer as well, assuming your size stays the same and you are reasonably careful not to stain them or something.

Another secret, by the way, is that your wardrobe does not have to contain all brand name expensive stuff in it (though true BSDs like to do that to show off that they can afford it). It’s definitely possible to start by having just a few higher-price point things to show some style and class, and wear just one item on that list per day. The other stuff doesn’t have to be brand-label awesome, it just has to “not suck” so that the nicer stuff you have shows through without other stuff distracting from it.

If you have a woman friend whose style you trust or like, ask her to help you out shopping. Women typically love to do this - it’s like you get to be her live Ken doll and she gets to go shopping with your money (though you get to keep what and use what you buy, so it’s win-win). Note that some women are better for helping you with business clothes; others are better for casual clothes, but they tend to be fairly self-aware about what they’re good at.

Also, if you have a gay friend that dresses smart, and you’re comfortable around him, they are also good sources of help. Not all gay men dress like Richard Simmons - many are very chic and masculine. We straight men can learn a fair amount from them about dressing.

Probably the most important thing is to have nice (and comfortable) shoes and a nice haircut. After that, you can start to work with shirts and trousers and jackets and stuff. One thing that can help is a nice undershirt to absorb sweat. There are some with light materials that breathe better so you don’t get quite so hot in normal attire. And stay away from polyester (pure and blends) because that traps heat and you sweat like a dog. It’s tricky because sometimes the fabric can feel nice, but then it catches you by surprise because it feels as hot as if you were wearing a rubber suit.

Also - if you have to wear a jacket, there are “summer jackets” that have almost no lining so they can breathe. Look for linen or cotton as opposed to wool, since they breathe better.

And if you really are in a region that has that heat and humidity, it’s puzzling that a place that would require you to have formal wear would also not have air conditioning. Presumably customers would not like to stand around sweating, so if they care enough about their customers to ask you to wear something formal, why wouldn’t they care enough about their customers to keep them cool.

This holds all your answers.

http://www.businessinsider.com/american-psycho-style-2013-9

^ I can hear Bateman’s narrative of the slideshow above.