This weekend we spent a lot of time suit shopping. We visited Nordstrom, Macy’s, Nordstrom Rack, Brooks Brothers, Men’s Wearhouse, Ross, TJ Maxx, Burlington Coat Factory (the winter coat shopping destination of my youth), and outlet stores for Banana Republic, J. Crew, Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. And you know what we learned? A nice, charcoal, three piece, two-button suit with flat front pants simply does not exist in this universe. We did end up getting two suits that look really great despite the lack of a matching vest. The first is a nice and soft one from Nordstrom Rack, the other was a suit from the Banana Republic outlet which isn’t made as fine of a cloth but there was a sale, and a Friends and Family coupon which a friendly random stranger handed to us on her way out of the store and we managed to buy the suit and a matching pair of pants (from which to possibly make a matching vest) for about $200. So far the suit from Nordstrom Rack is winning.
Who knew the biggest clothing struggle for our wedding would involve his outfit?
We also found a tie which is a very nice match for the dress and picks up some of the deeper champagne colors in the middle of the fabric flower applique. It’s just dark enough to be a good contrast against a white shirt. At least we have one complete victory to show for our shopping efforts. (more…)