Light Suit vs. Dark Suit For Warm Evening Events

Ask A Woman:  Summertime suits – Light at Night?

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Beth:

First off, thanks to you and all of the folks at Dappered that give me a reason to log on in the mornings. I have two weddings, that I know of, that I will be attending this late spring/ early summer.  I have been considering getting a suit for them.  I am a fireman and a welder on the side, so I don’t often get the chance to wear a suit.  My problem is which color to get.  I like the look of khaki suits, but I am questioning how appropriate that would be at an evening event.  My other thought is a navy suit due to its sheer versatility.  What are your thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

– Ty

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Hi Ty,

Nice to hear that Dappered is the reason you log on in the mornings.  I log on to find out how many emails I sent the previous night after that third glass of wine.  But that’s a story for another time.  Pass the Advil, and please try to speak quietly.

Don’t get a khaki-colored suit. Get the navy one.  And BOOM goes the dynamite! Man, that was easy.  So who wants to go get a Bloody Mary?  You know, hair of the dog?

No one?  Fine, fine, I’ll do a full column.  I’m not inviting any of you squares to my birthday party.

First, let’s establish the color we’re speaking of.  I am going to operate under the assumption that you mean a true, light khaki color, one that is beige or taupe or cream, not brown or olive green.  A light-colored suit can look modern, and it’s seasonal for summertime.  But, you absolutely cannot wear it during the late fall and winter, so its use is limited.  I’m sure at some point in the future, you’ll have cause to wear a suit in the cooler months, so you might as well get a suit you can wear year round, yes?

Another reason to avoid light-colored suits is that they get noticeably dirty in a hurry.  And by in a hurry, I mean that they get dirty just walking down a city block.  Your light-colored suit will pick up lots of dirt around the leg, and if you get within ten feet of a glass of red wine, your goose is cooked.  Which means lots of dry cleaning.  Because this column is devoted to hard-hitting journalistic standards, I called up Jason at my (well not my) local haberdashery and asked him how often one should dry clean a suit:

“We recommend rarely to never.”

Really?

“Unless you have a stain that you can’t get out, you should very rarely dry clean your suit.  If you need it freshened up, just get it professionally pressed.”

Dry cleaning vastly reduces the life of the suit, another reason that a light-colored suit is not a great investment.  Incidentally, none of this has to do with the fact that you’re attending an evening event.  There’s nothing wrong with a light-colored suit at an evening wedding in the summer.  Summer is inherently a more casual season.  The women at the wedding will be showing more skin because of the warm weather, and more skin always means more casual.  (This is why you’re not required to wear a tie to see the dancers at the Lusty Lady.)

Buy the navy blue suit.  You can wear it year round and you will rarely have to pay to clean it, which will make it last longer.  That’s what she said.

-Beth

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