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I'd go charcoal. It's super versatile. You can wear pretty much anything with charcoal - black, white, blue, green, grey, pink, red, yellow... That way you can get a pair of black pants, a pair of khaki pants, some colorful shirts, and black shoes.

Costco sells no iron shirts for $17 a pop. I buy my husband his blue and white solid shirts there.

If your husband is hard to fit, try suiting separates instead of a suit sold together. Ideally, you want something in a blend with a touch of stretch so they move with him and don't wrinkle as badly.

@allison: That makes sense. My husband wears a full suit 5 days a week and is a total clothes horse, so I can get a little carried away. If it's not an environment people wear suits all the time, I would go for:

1 pair grey pants.
1 pair khaki pants.
1 navy sport coat.
2-3 button down shirts in either white, light blue, or french blue.
2 ties - one red/burgandy, one yellow/navy and yellow.
dress loafers rather than cap toe dress shoes with a matching belt.

Do you have a Brooks Brothers outlet near you?

A brown suit is tough to pull off, I haven't seen any in recent memory, but khaki or tan? Looks super with a light blue shirt and brown shoes.

@septca: My husband is a clothes horse too who wears a full suit 5 days a week! haha

If your husband is going to need to dress up a lot (wear suit or dress pants on a regular basis), it will be worth it to invest in good quality pieces. More $$$ upfront, but will last longer and look better for longer as well. For those, my husband prefers Brooks Brothers and Nordstrom, especially since both do tailoring. These shops are also good because they have a variety of sizing, sell by neck size and will measure/size your husband, so he’s not just trying to buy M, L, XL, etc.

For colors, I’d go with black since it goes with almost everything. I don’t think you can go wrong with a crisp white button-down and black pants/shoes/jacket. My other favorite colors for men are French blue, and some pinstripe patterns.

For ties, it seems like super skinny ties are all the rage now, but (IMO) only some men can pull them off. I’d play it safe and go with a regular width tie unless you absolutely feel your hubs can rock the skinny. The same is also true of a lot of men's shirts; "skinny-fit" is making a comeback and just doesn't work for some dudes. My husband is all shoulders and a skinny-fit just won't work.

For more casual professional, I do like personally like khakis with a navy blazer and button-down.

Navy suit.
Gray pants
Brown or olive pants

Dark caramel shoes and belt (if he's risky) or black shoes and belt.

white or cream shirt for any color pants
light gray shirt for gray pants
Pastel shirt for brown pants or navy pants
light olive or tan shirt for olive pants

Have fun with ties to bring color and patterns.

The shirts can have a subtle pattern. From a far they look solid.
pants should be flat front

coordinate sock color to the pants

Burlington is a good place for low cost professional wear.

I am going to respectfully disagree with some pp's. My husband wears suits every day and I work in finance with men in suits every day and I've been told by multiple men that black suits are no good. They only wear them for funerals. Navy or charcoal is the way to go. I can confirm that i rarely see black suits on men unless it is a really young guy out of college.

For a navy suit, dark brown shoes go well!

@allison: I would have never known this if my husband hadn't told me about it!

I think one white, one light blue and maybe a blue patterned shirt will be the most useful and match with the most stuff. If you are sticking with Navy and charcoal suits and pants, brown shoes are probably the best bet.

Brooks brothers outlets surprisingly have a lot of selection and wide variety of sizes. The salespeople are also quite knowledgeable too. If you have one near you, it doesn't hurt to go. even if you don't buy anything, they can measure your husband properly and recommend some things that might look good on him and tie/shirt combos. Then you can go online and search for better deals!

@allison: Navy, Grey, Brown, . . . they are all *neutrals,* so everything *goes* with them. Navy is the most traditional of all three . . . I very very rarely see a man in a black suit at work (professional dress environment), and although I regularly wear black pencil skirts, it is a rare occasion that I wear a black suit to work (mostly brown/khaki, grey, and navy!).

I would avoid pin stripes, btw . . . they are considered *flashy* in a few professional arenas.

@allison: Work with what he's comfortable with (with a little translation), i.e., how about a suit/sport coat with a plaid shirt . . . It might help to make him feel more like himself (similar to flannel) until he feels at home in his new wardrobe (and as long as he keeps his beard trimmed, he should be able to keep it!)

@allison: I don't know if you have a Men's Warehouse close to you, but they usually have good sales, and they can show your DH how to mix/match his selections . . . Take a few pictures of the pairings/ensembles and voila!, your DH won't have to *think* about what to wear every day!