[fintstone]

These guys (below) are on the money. The suit and white shirt are classic....and practically the uniform of the successful executive. If you want to jazz it up, do so with more colorful ties or even a pocket hanky. A light colored tie with a black suit looks great in the summer. The worse your physique, the less you want to try to jazz up your dress as it usually draws attention to the pot belly (folks say..."check out this dude...should have spent his money on a gym membership instead"). Don't risk that your fashion statement that says "clown."

Originally Posted by Tobra

Stick with solid colors on the shirts, unless you have a lot of solid color ties. Striped shirt with a busy pattern tie is rarely going to work.

I see plenty of stuff that guys are wearing or in ads that makes me cringe

Originally Posted by MRM

Don't change. If you are wearing a suit and tie, you want to look professional and you should wear a white shirt. IBM was successful with their business uniform of white shirt, red tie and blue or gray suit for a reason. It's what looks most professional.

Blue shirts are less formal and professional. I save them for specific suits that go well with brown shoes and brown belt. I'm old fashioned so I think you should wear a white shirt with a suit. Usually I limit anything but white shirts to days when I wear a sport coats with no tie. I consider that more business casual and any nice dress shirt will do. I have the white dress shirt collection to rival Tabs' shoe collection.