Just One Suit: Solid Navy Blue

If you can have just one suit, make it a solid, navy blue suit with notched lapels and two or three buttons, like the gentleman to the right.

The solid navy suit offers you tremendous versatility. You can dress it up and wear it very formally with:

• A solid white shirt
• A solid blue or pewter necktie
• Black captoe balmoral shoes

Or you can dress it down and wear it more causally with:

• A yellow butcher's block checked shirt
• No necktie
• Brown monkstrap shoes

It's a suit you can wear to oral argument before the US Supreme court in the morning, change your shirt and shoes, lose your necktie, and wear out in Georgetown later that evening. It's also ideal for:

• Job interviews
• Client meetings
• Speeches and presentations
• Weddings
• Other occasions that don't require formal wear

And if you don't have a black suit, it'll work at a funeral too.

If you're willing to spend more time shopping, or wait for a made to measure or bespoke suit, you can add refinement with two vents along the side of your jacket, instead of one vent in the center of the back. But keep in mind side vents will usually cost you more too.

Other virtues of the solid navy blue suit:

• They're easy to find. Just about any menswear store you go into will offer solid navy suits. Great when an airline loses your bags
• The dark blue color conceals dirt and stains
• It's a timeless classic that won't go out of style. As long as you don't "outgrow" or wear-out a traditional solid navy suit, you should be able to wear it at least a decade from now
• You can spend a lot or a little: several thousand dollars for a bespoke suit from Saville Row to $300-$600 from stores like:
  • Brooks Brothers (example on the gentleman above)
  • The Wizard of Aahs
  • Joseph A. Bank

There's few places or occasions that call for a suit where solid navy isn't appropriate and flattering. So if you're a lawyer with just one suit, make it solid navy.

Why Write A Blog About How Lawyers Dress?

This past week Lynne Marek of The National Law Journal wrote an article titled Federal Judges Grouse About Lawyers' Courtroom Attire. That inspired me to start writing this blog.

With judges lamenting how lawyers appearing before them dress , perhaps it's time for members of the bar help improve the sartorial knowledge of their brethren and sistren without imposing a second law school education's worth of debt. This blog is my attempt to do that. I hope it's not in vain.

Some caveats:

• The advice here is focused on menswear. I don't know much about ladies attire, so I can't offer much advice about it. But I will suggest other places to go if you're looking for it.
• Advice here focuses on classic men's style. The inspiration is from Savile Row and Brooks Brothers, not Hugo Boss, Giorgio Armani, and the like. As you read on in the future, you'll see why. There are plenty of places to go for advice on that look; I'll suggest some.
• Most advice here is on the dressing at the more formal end of the spectrum. It's about traditional American lawyer attire. What you wear to a job interview, appear in court, or an important client meeting. It's definitely not robes and horsehair wigs. And it's only a little about "business causal".
• Remarks here are principally focused on junior lawyers - law students, junior associates, junior lawyers working for the government, in-house, and not-for-profits. More seasoned lawyers reading here and saying "duh" to yourself, remember this blog is a primer on how to dress well as a lawyer without dressing like a clone.

You can go to Professor Kingsfield to think like a lawyer. Come here to learn to dress like one.