After bouncing around the boards for a wee bit, and generally creating confusion and havok in my wake, I’ve decided to finally make my very own thread.
My question is how the heck do you choose clothes. As a guy, I usually resort to the “looking lost and bewildered” gambit and attract better dressed female assisstants that can smell an easy sale miles away.
I’ve tried buying random clothes, I have no idea about colours, and fashion magazines confuse the hell out of me. Isn’t there a nice FAQ somewhere that can explain what (not) to wear? I’m trying to go ‘tidy casual’. Any hints for a 6", light/medium built guy in his mid twenties?
Dear RS – I have 4 sons. I tell them to buy:
couple of pair of classic blue jeans
3-4 nice white t shirts
ditto black
khakis
good black leather belt, neat gold buckle
a good light-weight blazer-type jacket, black or tan
with clean sneakers or polished black boots, you’re good to go.
Add as needed: white & blue dress shirts, black pants, a couple of ties
Leather jacket
Long black or navy overcoat
un-fussy sweaters
This is the ideal wardrobe for the color-confused.
Keep your grungy stuff for playtime. Long-sleeved sport shirts are fine over your t shirt with jeans or khakis when a jacket is too much. When you’ve established your clean, classic look, you can add some color.
A man can’t go wrong with clean white & classic black. Oh, and get a good haircut & some cool shades.
If there’s a Nordstrom’s close to you go during one of the semi-annual sales. They have great clothes, reasonable prices, and the sales folks love to help people.
Summerbreeze’s advice is good, my boys pretty much have the same types of stuff in their closets.
Hmm, well, why not try some of the catalogs? Such as J Crew or LL Bean or um, um…(trying to think of a catalog that has decent men’s clothing)…In the catalog they will show you what goes with what. You could just buy what the model has on if you’re so inclined. Plus, you don’t have to go out shopping!
!ce Queen – just one daughter & I always say I’d rather shop with 6 debutantes than with one of my sons. Show one of them anything with 1% polyester & he says “I don’t wear plastic.” Another one says, “I can’t wear those – they fit.” One wears size 15 shoes. One is color-blind. And so on. My daughter just shops out of my closet.
Personally, I have lots of black & white after spending too much time trying to find something that looks good with kiwi.
The problem is—and this is a problem many people never solve—what looks good on you? You may be a tweed suit guy; a khakis and button-down shirt guy; a jeans and T-shirt guy . . . There are a lot of looks (not quite as many for men, but . . . ).
Maybe have some reliable friends spend a day with you: try on different looks, take snapshots, figure out what look you’re comfotable in and what looks best on you.
It took me about 20 years to discover I’m a “sweater and skirt” gal.
You’re six inches tall? No wonder you have a hard time finding clothes!
But seriously, for my money, if you’re trying to go “tidy casual” you can’t go too far wrong with khaki trousers. You can wear them with a jacket to work. You can wear them with a button-down shirt to a business lunch. You can wear them with a casual shirt to outside-of-work events. They’re pretty universal, and they do seem to work well with taller guys (I’m 6’2" myself.) I must have ten pairs.
Any other advice I might be able to give you would be more dependent on, as Eve so succinctly put it, what looks good on you. But khaki trousers can go with just about anything.
Your age has a lot to do w/ where you buy clothes. I hardly see anyone over 30 going to American Eagle or Abercrombie; just as you won’t catch too many teenage guys in Structure/Express.
I usually go for the “city look”; Gap has decent jeans; Express is a good place to get sweaters and such, and for nicer shirts or jackets, Banana can be a good bet.
Gee, EVE, you’re right. Somehow it never occurred to me that 25-year-old Rabid Squirrel might be a tweed suit guy. But he could certainly be a pipe-smoking academic, for all we know. Just think good advice for someone admittedly fashion-challenged is KISS.
Guys should not really dress from a fashion magazine unless they are planning to appear on MTV.
A good thing to do is look at what other guys are wearing and wear something similar. The downside is that you may end up looking just like all your friends.
I generally have several styles of clothes:
Casual:
Black pants or chinos. Solid or plaid J. Crew or Banana Republic shirt. Black or brown shoes.
Super-casual
Dark jeans. Ambercrombie or J Crew V-neck or rollneck sweater.
Derelicte
Dark jeans, cargo pants or sweat pants. Ripped T-shirt over thermals. Sneakers
For work, I generally dress Business Casual:
Dark dress slacks and blue or white dress shirt from Brooks Brothers.
As a guy, I usually resort to the “looking lost and bewildered” gambit and attract better dressed female assisstants that can smell an easy sale miles away.