Interview grey suit + brown shoes?

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musicmasta1996

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Hey all,

So I am lucky enough to have my first (of 3) interview this Thursday and I am trying to decide between two pairs of shoes. I have a pair of really uncomfortable but entirely inoffensive black shoes. I also have these brown shoes which are more comfortable but a bit "louder". I am going to be wearing them with this grey suit and a navy tie.

Am I OK to wear these shoes with the suit I have? Or should I just go with black to be safe?
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gyngyn said:
Do not wear brown shoes with a charcoal suit.
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Ahhh...finally figured it out...gyngyn is the reincarnation of Mr Blackwell! :D
 
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OrthoTraumaMD said:
Interesting. I see that combo a lot among ortho attendings at conferences.


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Are you sure the shoes you see are brown and not cordovan? Maybe you're color blind and don't see the difference between those two colors? OR...maybe @gyngyn is really on to something about ortho's fashion sense. :D
 
Are you gellin’? It’s not that big of a deal IMO as many interviewers of mine were at a desk, but I’d shoot for the black shoes unless you think your feet will bleed. People like me would not care, but somebody who does might see it as a rookie mistake (maybe see you as less of an experienced adult, sort of like having a clip-0n tie but not as bad).
 
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Dark brown shoes, as well as oxblood and merlot shoes, go stunningly well with a charcoal suit. If you’re going to an interview, pair black shoes with charcoal. Save the flair for weddings, other events, day-to-day, etc.

Brown shoes (of just about any shade) or black shoes may be paired with a grey suit. Same rules apply as above regarding environment.

Match shoes with belt. Match socks with pants.

I recommend leaving pocket squares out during interviews as well. As a side note: a pocket square may accent the color of your tie, your shirt, or even shoes/belt.

@musicmasta1996 @OrthoTraumaMD @ddek @gyngyn @Med Ed @Toutie @gonnif @the shretiology
 
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Truth is nobody cares. I interviewed with a semi mohawk (the med school i ended up attending) and interviewed at another institution where my pants were so tight you could see my boxers underneath and still got an acceptance (custom made suit but the pants were not made well and I had no time to fix them). Personality and interview skills matter and as long as you you don't wear something insulting on purpose you should be fine.

However If you're worried about it, wear something you won't be; you don't need the distraction.
 
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Nobody cares. I dressed in a shiny sharkskin cobalt blue suit with LV shoes and got accepted.
 
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Shocker, but most schools care more about your character than your outfit.

That being said, you can wear brown shoes with a grey suit. A charcoal suit would prefer a darker shoe.
 
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The way you dress is about the first impression. Character matters more than what you wear, but people will (and have always been!) judging you within about 10 seconds of meeting you. Dressing right let’s you start at a better place. If you show up dressed too flashy/more offensive/etc, you will have a bigger hurdle to overcome. It’s not impossible (unless you’re dressed really unprofessional/offensive to the point where your professionalism/competence/sanity is questioned)-just harder.
 
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I dont want to get into an ortho/gyn fashion food fight. Yet I'm reminded of the old saying, "Just because you got away with something, doesn't mean you did the right thing. It just means you got away with it". Black shoes IMO, set the fashion statement after you're admitted. You might be interviewed by a Fashionista for your professional interview.There is too much on the line to risk it.
 
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Toutie said:
Are you sure the shoes you see are brown and not cordovan? Maybe you're color blind and don't see the difference between those two colors? OR...maybe @gyngyn is really on to something about ortho's fashion sense. :D
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Ouch that really hurts.... us poor Orthopods are gonna cry all the way back to our yachts. ;)


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Sigh...people are so backwards about style. Not you @musicmasta1996...just everyone else telling you to wear black shoes.

The ONLY time you need black shoes is if you are wearing a black suit...full stop. I'll repeat you, the ONLY time you need black shoes is with a black suit.

Now, are you stretching your shades a touch...maybe. The shoes are a little light for the suit, or the suit is a little dark for the shoes, so in an ideal situation you would be a little better matched in your shades, lighter shades better with lighter shades, and darker with darker.

That said, is anyone going to notice and more importantly is anyone going to care? Truthfully no. Anyone who tells you differently is being asinine. It's not going to result in you getting rejected.

As far as fashion faux pas go, the squared off toe is actually far more egregious. But again, it's not going to keep you out of med school .
 
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This thread is stressing me out now. I wore a gray suit and tan/brown shoes.
 
Brown shows with grey suits is the opposite of a faux pas lol. In the outside world, most agree that it totally works, but med schools gonna med school so here we are.
 
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BigRedBeta said:
Sigh...people are so backwards about style. Not you @musicmasta1996...just everyone else telling you to wear black shoes.

The ONLY time you need black shoes is if you are wearing a black suit...full stop. I'll repeat you, the ONLY time you need black shoes is with a black suit.

Now, are you stretching your shades a touch...maybe. The shoes are a little light for the suit, or the suit is a little dark for the shoes, so in an ideal situation you would be a little better matched in your shades, lighter shades better with lighter shades, and darker with darker.

That said, is anyone going to notice and more importantly is anyone going to care? Truthfully no. Anyone who tells you differently is being asinine. It's not going to result in you getting rejected.

As far as fashion faux pas go, the squared off toe is actually far more egregious. But again, it's not going to keep you out of med school .
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Are squared toe really that bad? I have super wide feet and they're the only type that I could find that were comfortable.
 
OrthoTraumaMD said:
Interesting. I see that combo a lot among ortho attendings at conferences.


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Click to expand...
For conferences, sure.

Interviews -- for men - have always been no brown shoes - it's a formal event. Black shoes with grey suit. I'm partial to black shoes with a blue suit too.

Conferences are not formal events. Wear whatever you want as long as you're not interviewing that day.
 
gyngyn said:
Do not wear brown shoes with a charcoal suit.
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Unless they're oxblood and you know what you're doing.

KD6-3.7 said:
This thread is stressing me out now. I wore a gray suit and tan/brown shoes.
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You're fired.

freedoctor17 said:
Are squared toe really that bad? I have super wide feet and they're the only type that I could find that were comfortable.
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They're turbble.

Invest in a pair of shoes that come in wide widths. I suggest allen edmonds. If you can't afford a new pair, find a used pair on ebay (if you're okay with that). Depending on the condition, you can have a pair of shoes that'll last you a decade for a hundred bucks. I used leather conditioner and polished mine up and sent them to a cobbler to have a topy and heel put on. I'm using the same suit and shoes I wore for med school interviews for residency stuff. I wore those same shoes and suit to any formal event that I had during med school.
 
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precisiongraphic said:
For conferences, sure.

Interviews -- for men - have always been no brown shoes - it's a formal event. Black shoes with grey suit. I'm partial to black shoes with a blue suit too.

Conferences are not formal events. Wear whatever you want as long as you're not interviewing that day.
Click to expand...

Let me rephrase. I’ve seen blue suits and brown shoes as well during interviews. No one had an issue with it.


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This thread has me sweating me interview fashion choices :(

It won't let me post links since I am a new member, but if you Google "black borelli mens matthew" they should be the first link. (I know they are pretty bad, but I could not afford better at the time and needed something for job interviews.)

I've been to a couple interviews and nobody has said anything to me but I guess I would never know if they are silently judging me. I can probably scrounge up ~100$ for a better pair of shoes. Does anyone have a recommendation that will last me a while/go with most professional outfits (my suit is charcoal)/be comfortable enough for interview days? My next interview is in a couple weeks.
 
cluelesspremed123 said:
This thread has me sweating me interview fashion choices :(

It won't let me post links since I am a new member, but if you Google "black borelli mens matthew" they should be the first link. (I know they are pretty bad, but I could not afford better at the time and needed something for job interviews.)

I've been to a couple interviews and nobody has said anything to me but I guess I would never know if they are silently judging me. I can probably scrounge up ~100$ for a better pair of shoes. Does anyone have a recommendation that will last me a while/go with most professional outfits (my suit is charcoal)/be comfortable enough for interview days? My next interview is in a couple weeks.
Click to expand...

I know people are hating on square front shoes on here but I've been wearing them the whole time. I actually paid attention at my last interview and noticed like 5 out of the 7 guys also had square front shoes. I don't think it matters. They're not gonna reject you because of your shoe shape. I can't believe I let it get to my head earlier. I was considering buying new shoes because of it then decided I'd rather not waste the little money I have right now...

Also most of my interviewers probably haven't even seen my shoes. They're usually sitting at a desk when I come in or if they come to get us they're usually walking beside me and not staring down...
 
cluelesspremed123 said:
This thread has me sweating me interview fashion choices :(

It won't let me post links since I am a new member, but if you Google "black borelli mens matthew" they should be the first link. (I know they are pretty bad, but I could not afford better at the time and needed something for job interviews.)

I've been to a couple interviews and nobody has said anything to me but I guess I would never know if they are silently judging me. I can probably scrounge up ~100$ for a better pair of shoes. Does anyone have a recommendation that will last me a while/go with most professional outfits (my suit is charcoal)/be comfortable enough for interview days? My next interview is in a couple weeks.
Click to expand...
Those are loafers! ...with square toes, no less.

Black oxfords are the most versatile.
 
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There's more to color than the hue. There are also tints, tones and shades. I think that's the reason for differing opinions, the lack of acknowledgement of other color characteristics.

Also, agreed, square toes are a no-no. Your feet are not boxes, so don't try to make them some.
 
Merlot.... Not just for pairing with red meat.

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Cheers.
Bonus points to those that recognize where the picture was taken!

(Edit: Sorry for the uber fuzzy socks.)
 
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My dad is an SVP at a very large publicly traded bank. I asked him to opine on the brown shoes debate - knowing that he wears brown shoes on occasion. He said he would never wear brown shoes with a gray suit. And most definitely, he would NEVER wear brown shoes with any color suit when meeting with executive management or the board of directors. He said that he wears brown shoes exclusively on business casual days. He will sometimes wear brown shoes with a blue suit as long as he is not in a big meeting.

His advice was that interviews for a medical student are like a meeting with the CEO and Board for a banker. You have to dress the part and you don't want to be making fashion statements. Every man needs a nice pair of black dress shoes - buy them now. Remember, John Molloy's Dress for Success was the bible for new graduates in the late 70's and 80's - they are now the CEO's and Dean's of the world. Why risk it?
 
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ChicagoBear said:
My dad is an SVP at a very large publicly traded bank. I asked him to opine on the brown shoes debate - knowing that he wears brown shoes on occasion. He said he would never wear brown shoes with a gray suit. And most definitely, he would NEVER wear brown shoes with any color suit when meeting with executive management or the board of directors. He said that he wears brown shoes exclusively on business casual days. He will sometimes wear brown shoes with a blue suit as long as he is not in a big meeting.

His advice was that interviews for a medical student are like a meeting with the CEO and Board for a banker. You have to dress the part and you don't want to be making fashion statements. Every man needs a nice pair of black dress shoes - buy them now. Remember, John Molloy's Dress for Success was the bible for new graduates in the late 70's and 80's - they are now the CEO's and Dean's of the world. Why risk it?
Click to expand...

Apparently one can be wealthy and not know how to dress.

Shocking.

(Hint: The term 'brown shoes' is meaningless. There is an index of formality amongst shoes themselves. Brown blucher or derby shoes? 100% casual. A cap toe balmoral? Definitely formal. Even in brown. Obviously a really light tan brown is informal.)
 
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I honestly would wear the brown shoes. I think they look much better than the black, but that's just my opinion.
 
precisiongraphic said:
For conferences, sure.

Interviews -- for men - have always been no brown shoes - it's a formal event.
Click to expand...

Uh, that word doesn't mean what you think it does.

Formal in terms of dress code implies white tie or morning dress for men. Black tie in 2018 is considered "Formal" enough and except in the most rigorous of circumstances won't raise an eyebrow. In these highly regimented events, tradition would dictate no brown shoes, but again in 2018, evening slippers have evolved to allow more variety and a wider range of acceptable styles.

An interview is a business event. Business events by definition and history have significantly different rules. Far fewer restrictions, particularly in terms of color. One could argue that the TYPE of shoe is more critical in this situation - that oxfords (shoes with laces) are required and that loafers and other slip-ons would be problematic, appearing too casual for the type of event. Even within oxfords, there could be a hierarchy, and sticklers would say that you should stick with either plain oxfords or cap toes, avoiding more casual styles like wingtips, monk straps (obviously no laces but not really a loafer), or saddle shoes.

As for the squared off toes...more of a faux pas in terms of being overly trendy - in other words, those squared off shoes are good for going to the bars, less so for going with a suit.

A suit is a uniform, and there are rules and traditions that define the look. You can push those rules in certain contexts but the more important the event is, the less well suited it is for experimentation.

Regionality also matters as in general the East Coast is going to be more traditional than out west. However, each part of the country has it's own quirks on what would be acceptable and not "boundary pushing" - eg a pair of Bass Weejuns in the Northeast would likely be okay, lighter colors, bow ties, and seersucker in the South (assuming appropriate time of year/weather), and Texas with cowboy boots may not fall outside established norms, even for something like a med school interview

All that said, to the people interviewing, your shoe choice, so long as it is within a standard deviation of the mean, is not going to keep you out of medical school.
 
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Doc 1 Day said:
I honestly would wear the brown shoes. I think they look much better than the black, but that's just my opinion.
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Black suits with black shoes are soooo boring and don't really look sharp. Navy suit with brown shoes are the way to go.

Also it's a small point but OP avoid wearing square toed dress shoes. No need to buy a new pair but keep this in mind for the future.
 
There's legitimately a formality scale for suits which is based on color, pattern, texture, and weave, among other things. Also cut re double breasted or peak lapel.

Bringing morning dress into this is malarkey. There is absolutely no one that was talking about that level of formality. No one is going to see the queen here...

I agree about regional differences and those are fine to play with when you're the one interviewing someone. The goal is to get something acceptable everywhere.

The point of dressing like this is to draw as little attention to yourself as possible. It's not supposed to be flashy. It's just supposed to 'be'. Folks that have bright ties or socks, ill fitting suits, weird shoes etc... Those are attention getting for the wrong reasons. A well fitting suit with a good pair of shoes, neutral socks, and a well paired tie just looks appropriate ...
 
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ridethecliche said:
There's legitimately a formality scale for suits which is based on color, pattern, texture, and weave, among other things. Also cut re double breasted or peak lapel.

Bringing morning dress into this is malarkey. There is absolutely no one that was talking about that level of formality. No one is going to see the queen here...
Click to expand...

I only mentioned this to point out that an interview is not, as described by one poster, a formal event.
 
BigRedBeta said:
I only mentioned this to point out that an interview is not, as described by one poster, a formal event.
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Actually, it is. Business formal (aka business professional).
 
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BigRedBeta said:
I only mentioned this to point out that an interview is not, as described by one poster, a formal event.
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When I said formal, I meant as opposed to "informal". I actually know quite a bit about men's formal wear and in no way did I mean that a med school interview was a "black tie" formal event or a "top and tails" formal event. Brown shoes, historically, have been considered more informal that black shoes. Sure, you can wear them with a suit but that is less formal than the same suit with brown shoes.

gyngyn said:
Actually, it is. Business formal.
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Exactly.[/QUOTE]
 
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