a looming crisis: men's clothing, wtf

Man that sounds frustrating. I gave up buying new women's clothes years ago. I used to sew my own, now I shop secondhand, they have a much wider variety of styles when you go secondhand, and you can afford higher quality items and more of them.

Wish the manufacturers could hear you! "I have money, want to spend it, nothing I want to buy!"

Stop shopping in the ghetto. There are good stores with nice clothes available. They cost more but you get what you pay for .

Yeah, today's "hip" clothing sucks. And yeah, younger members of my family all wear skinny jeans.

Me? I usually rock a leather jacket, jeans and a shirt. For when I want something warm and casual? Jeans and a hoody.

Fashion is bullshit

Go shop at Eddie Bauer for casual and Brooks Brothers for dress up.

LLBean has everything you describe, you're just shopping at the wrong places. Roots might be good too but I think they're only in Canada.

OP, just go to Target and get white, black or grey undershirts. They look fine if you keep them clean and cost $4 each.

Jeans: $20

Doc martins that last 4 years: $100.

You are done.

Says the welfare dog.



Last Edited by The Blue Cabal on 11/03/2012 11:43 AM

It's time for you to start shopping at Land's End.

Nothing but well made classics there.

And the stuff lasts forever.

[link to www.landsend.com]

Dear OP:

I don't know your age range from your posting - but if you can afford it (and it sounds like you can) get yourself to one of the top mens' stores in the country. Wilkes Bashford in SF, or Saks Fifth Ave Men's store in NYC, or Brooks Brothers all over the US, or Neiman-Marcus in SF or LA or Dallas or Barney's (LA/NYC/Scottsdale/and more.)

Find the men's department manger and tell him/her you need a wardrobe. Both casual and business. You want real clothing - not high fashion designer shit that will be out of style in a year. (With the price of a good suit being easily $1800 and up, no one can afford to throw them out in a year and the good ones will last at least 10 years with decent care.)

Or in the alternative: If you've got the cash - you can revamp your whole image in a few months. There are stylists who dress celebs who will shop for you, bring the shit to you, supervise the tailoring, fitting, etc., and they make their money by taking a percentage from the stores on what you spend and some charge you $50/hr for shopping and consulting time. Worth every penny if you don't know what you're doing, yet. Just make sure the "stylist" is highly recommended and knows what you want to look like. There is obviously a big difference between dressing Justin Bieber and dressing a 40 year old executive. Pick the stylist carefully and talk to some of their clients BEFORE you work with them. If they don't get it right, then fire them and hire another.

Once they know what you want - and don't get seduced by "Prada" or "Gucci" designer shit - it's hugely inflated prices and often times the quality isn't that good - A good stylist should be able to put together several "looks" for you that all work and allow for a lot of interchange between outfits, too!

Ask about "investment dressing" where you buy a few classic pieces of wardrobe, but you're buying really high quality stuff that will last 20 years. Then build out the rest of your wardrobe around those pieces. For instance: Fashion dictates that Tie widths change every four or five years. Keep your ties. They'll come back into style eventually. I have double-breasted suits I bought in the mid 90's and they're back in style today. Pair with a new shirt/tie and new shoes/belt and I'm "up to the minute" and yet not spending a fortune on new suits. (Invest in good wooden hangers - the big ones. They are worth their weight in gold for keeping your suits and knits and sport coats in great shape.)

If you can wait a little bit - go to Bergdorf Goodman in NYC and look at the Charvet shirts. Try to get the real ones from France. They're amazing. They will do custom shirts, too. They start at $240/300 and can go up from there. Again, with proper care they last 20 years or more.

Coats/jackets/etc.: DO NOT BUY faux anything. If you get leather it should be real leather. Same thing for suede or fur. Belts and shoes should be the best you can afford - you don't need that many of them - so buy for the long haul and buy the real thing! A "classic" Burberry's man's raincoat will cost you about $2100 today. Get the one with the button in liner and you have a raincoat and a coat for cold weather all in one. If you're in a cold climate or will visit them often, get yourself a good cashmere topcoat, too. Again, this is an investment piece and will set you back a cool $3000 at the low end. More at the high end. Worth every penny, however. You may pass that one on to your sons! Yes, they last that long with reasonable care.

Jeans can be tailored. This is where the store manager or department manager who knows you're spending serious money comes in handy. Their tailors can do miracles. Don't forget to tip the guy $20 - $100 depending on how much he does and how well it's done. (The $100/tip would be for tailoring a couple of suits for you in a hurry and getting it right the first time so you don't have to fuck with re-do's.) Hemming or tailoring a pair of pants or two - then $10/20 is ample for the tailor's tip.

Men's clothing costs serious money for quality. Buy less but buy the best you can find. If you don't know what makes the difference, ask the department managers to show and explain the difference in fabric, assembly, sewing, finishing, etc., to you. Talk to old tailors who've been in the business for 30 years or more. Those guys are a wealth of info and are anxious to educate a potential customer as to why their offerings are better and worth more money than the off-the-rack shit you find in most ordinary stores.

I dropped about $50k at one of these stores mentioned above, a few years ago, in preparation for a round-the-world cruise that someone invited me to go on as their guest. My "friend" paid over $163,000 for two state rooms on the "Queens Grill Level" on a Cunard Liner. So dressing the part was important. The people I met and rubbed elbows with -some have turned out to be dear friends thru the years. And the cruise was over 180 days in length. It really was a once in a life-time opportunity and I grabbed it, of course! I got one hell of a nice wardrobe for that kind of money, and the store even had the shirts pre-washed and ironed and in individual zippered bags packed for travel when I picked them up. The service was amazing. All labels and tags were removed, everything pressed to perfection and then tissue wrapped for packing. The day before I left, the department manager and two sales guys came to my home and helped me do a 'check list' and took care of last minute things I almost forgot! (Handkerchiefs for one! Woolen socks for cold climates for another.)

The best thing about it was that EVERYTHING FIT because most of it was either tailored to me or made for me. Nothing was too tight or too loose. I looked and felt like Cary Grant in those 30's movies. Yeah, that elegant and well dressed.

Good luck. Hope I gave you an idea or two to toy with. Clothes don't make the man, but they can sure as hell help shape his image either for good or bad. Take the time to get it right and you'll never regret the investment.

Didn't you learn anything from us hippies? Wear clothes that are comfortable, durable and serve a purpose - or wear nothing at all. Cleanliness is most desirable, appearance is of little importance.

MarkinAZ, wonderful post! Did you used to be MarkinNYC? And then LA for a while - - if it's you I always liked your well written long posts.