It depends, I live in South FL. 32 and have owned multiple businesses and done consulting for years, dealt with plenty of high-pow peeps and CEOs etc here (and other states). Guess what, never wore a suit, only once about 8 years ago and never again. You'd be surprised at how many "meetings" I've had where the CEO and others were even in jeans and flip flops sometimes depending on where we were meeting, but even in their office it was very very rare to see them decked out in a suit. Now on the flip side, my wifes fam lives in Rochestor MI and people there act like you have to be in a fur coat or suit 24/7 to do any business, so it depends, we have a very laid back lifestyle here, their a lot more conservative up north. But I've always traveled for biz all over the U.S., even securing contracts in my late 20's on large mid-cap companies. My normal attire for a meeting like that ---> nice jeans (not some Levis lol), nice shoes, and usually a long sleeve not tucked in and sometimes sleeves rolled up and I'll have a nice watch on anyway. Know what I've had people tell me over and over these years, something to the effect of liking me and how I came off without being in a full suit, had CEOs tell me that if a sales rep or even other business owner comes in in some decked out fitted suit it comes off as used car salesman like. I've even spoken at events where I was the only one dressed like that and yet after the event I had more people coming up to me or my company/employees I had there then other larger and known "suited" firms lol. South FL.... who the hell wants to be running around in suit sweating your ass off lol, did that one time, never again
, even my attorney buddies are only in suits when in court.
Now I don't dress like a bum lol, when up north in winter especially for business I have nicer clothes and my leather coats etc but mainly b/c its freezing. But I usually get a feel for the person/company I'm meeting and know how to roll from there, granted I also have the personality to pull it off and know what the f' I'm doing, however I've seen others try to do the same and fail. So it all depends. I have worn a sport coat sometimes in South FL.
I do have 5 custom tailored suits that were $$$, but more so for occasions like weddings, business/charity type events etc.