How to buy Interview Attire During COVID

[mreyno18]

I was planning on buying a suit for internship and medical school interviews / secondaries photo during my winter break. However, all the stores I was going to look at do not have dressing rooms open. For other casual clothing, I think that online shopping and estimating in stores is probably good enough, but not for a suit.
I don't own anything business professional, so I want to make sure that it fits perfectly and I'm worried that dressing rooms aren't going to open back up any time soon.

Any advise on how I should go about this? What are other people doing -- just waiting? I am pretty busy during school to go and find one so I have the next month or so, and then not until May. My fear is that when my spring semester is over in May that they still won't be open and then i'll be in even more of a time crunch.

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[eartharte]

I'm assuming that you're applying for next cycle? If that's the case, then your interview season most likely won't start until next August. I'm not a guy so I was able to buy my blazer without trying it on and it fit fine, but I would recommend waiting until next summer when ~hopefully~ things start to calm down and dressing rooms open back up again.

Bottom line: you still have a lot of time to find/buy a suit for the next interview cycle so I wouldn't stress about it.

 

[Redpancreas]

FWIW, if interviews are still virtual next season look into salvaging whatever you've used before. No one's going to see if your suit looks old.

 

[borrawin95]

If you buy some measuring tape you can check the measurements yourself:

Men's Suit Fit Guide & Size Chart | Nordstrom

If interviews remain virtual then you really only need a dress shirt, tie, blazer, and some joggers that match the blazer. The joggers are even optional as I've had admissions directors & deans joke that they hope we're comfortable in sweatpants. Just hope you don't run into the guy who is a stickler for the double windsor knot.

 

[mreyno18]

@Syncrohnize That's actually a really good point. While I hope they are in person, there definitly is a chance they won't be.

@eartharte and @borrawin95 Thanks for the advice. Unfortuantly I am a girl and from what I've found from talking to both my male and female college friends is that women tend to struggle more finding that perfect fit for a suit. I am also very tall, making pants and sleeves always short and I can't go up too much in sizes because I'm slim.

But thank you to everyone.... Sounds like I should probably wait until this summer to stress about it and hopefully at least some dressing rooms are open somewhere!

 

[Katy16]

If you’re like me and not super body conscious, you could try wearing a tight tank top and leggings/bike shorts to the store, and just try the suit separates on over your other clothes. (This is a strategy I use even when dressing rooms are open but I just don’t want to wait in line to try things on).

 

[DokterMom]

Business suits of the caliber you'll want for in-person interviews will almost always be tailored anyway, so allow time to have that done no matter how you buy your suit. If you already have a suit that fits, that size should give you a good starting point. If you have one that 'almost' fits, measure it and add a half-inch here / subtract one there to get you started. You can also call the store and ask how they handle suit fittings, alterations, returns, etc. with closed dressing rooms and all.

The advice to wait if you can also makes sense.

 

[eartharte]

Sorry! Definitely didn't mean to assume gender, but yeah I've been doing online interviews and got my blazer last minute at Kohl's (for cheap too!) and since it's online it really does not look bad at all.

 

[borrawin95]

@Syncrohnize That's actually a really good point. While I hope they are in person, there definitly is a chance they won't be.

@eartharte and @borrawin95 Thanks for the advice. Unfortuantly I am a girl and from what I've found from talking to both my male and female college friends is that women tend to struggle more finding that perfect fit for a suit. I am also very tall, making pants and sleeves always short and I can't go up too much in sizes because I'm slim.

But thank you to everyone.... Sounds like I should probably wait until this summer to stress about it and hopefully at least some dressing rooms are open somewhere!

I'd also like to apologize for assuming your gender--100% my bad.

 

[deleted1079620]

Nordstrom...free shipping and free returns. Buy what you think will fit, return what doesn't or what you don't like, take anything that needs it to a tailor.

 

[doingmybest10]

Nordstrom...free shipping and free returns. Buy what you think will fit, return what doesn't or what you don't like, take anything that needs it to a tailor.

+1 i did a fair bit of this myself - women's suits can be SO tricky, especially if you're tall/short/athletic/pretty much anything lol and finding a good tailor definitely saved my butt - it's worth the little bit of investment cost because it's truly the only way to get the stuff to fit perfectly, and once it fits you wonderfully, you can keep it for a lonngggg time, especially if it's a nicer piece! bloomingdales/ jcrew/ banana republic can also be good places to look!

 

[reburke]

I was planning on buying a suit for internship and medical school interviews / secondaries photo during my winter break. However, all the stores I was going to look at do not have dressing rooms open. For other casual clothing, I think that online shopping and estimating in stores is probably good enough, but not for a suit.
I don't own anything business professional, so I want to make sure that it fits perfectly and I'm worried that dressing rooms aren't going to open back up any time soon.

Any advise on how I should go about this? What are other people doing -- just waiting? I am pretty busy during school to go and find one so I have the next month or so, and then not until May. My fear is that when my spring semester is over in May that they still won't be open and then i'll be in even more of a time crunch.

Girl, look at Express! Their pants are super long, and if you catch it at the right time, you can usually get a really good deal. I'm 6'1", and that's the only place I can find dress pants/suits.