Non-Rule "Rules" - Page 14

Originally Posted by mafoofan 

Sorry Spoo--you seem like a nice guy, but you dress poorly, and it doesn't have to be that way.

Originally Posted by mafoofan 

That is certainly the popular opinion here, but you will find that many of the better informed members would strongly disagree. Sorry Spoo--you seem like a nice guy, but you dress poorly, and it doesn't have to be that way.
Think less about finding "combos." We are not women. We don't buy outfits. We build wardrobes. Buy staples that can be easily paired. Learn to do that by picking up "rules" and learning what is classic. You will naturally develop your own taste and eccentricities over time without trying to grow a personality.
For fall/winter trousers: buy many, many pairs in light or medium grey. Flannel or twill are very versatile. The former arguably looks and feels better, but the latter is harder wearing and perhaps easier to take care of. You can wear grey trousers with pretty much any jacket without having to think hard about it.
For jackets, concentrate on simple, staple patterns with brown and tan backgrounds. Preferably, these jackets should be in rough, textured cloth appropriate for odd jackets. Anything smooth and fine is wrong. Get a navy blue blazer.
Shirts: light blue should be your staple. Again, can be worn with anything. Branch out with some blue/white patterned shirts (checks, stripes, etc.). Reserve other colors for when you have build up enough of a foundation and get used to using it effectively. Reserve white shirts for business formal dress. Don't wear them with odd jackets.
Shoes: don't feel the need to buy many black pairs, though you should have one pair of black cap toes (punch caps if you like) for when you want to look the most business formal possible (to go with your white shirt). Instead, pick up many brown and burgundy shoes. In my opinion medium to dark brown, along with cordovan, are the the most versatile. Lighter browns and and warmer chestnut-oriented hues can be very striking and beautiful, but are often harder to wear because they stand out more (they don't work well with dark grey suits, for example).
Done. More or less.

Originally Posted by Geezer 

Your orthodoxy and my associationalism are quite close concepts. My argument (as per the navy blazer) would be that orthodoxy changes, sometimes dramatically.

Originally Posted by jrd617 

lol wut

Originally Posted by Liquidus 

What about people (Eastern Asian) with a skin tone that doesn't go well with brown jackets?

Originally Posted by mafoofan 

We are not women.

Originally Posted by mafoofan 

It does not confuse it for a piece of tweed.

Originally Posted by mmkn 

True (last I checked).
But we dress ourselves for women . . .
- M

Originally Posted by Manton 

Navy trousers are objectively wrong.
I don't own a navy shirt and don't think I ever would but I do have a navy sweater and a sort of cotton pullover that are OK.
re: suits without ties, the only time I do this is when I am travelling and I don't want to pack the suit and I don't want to bother with a tie. Makes me feel vaguely sketchy, like a pick up artist, mobster, or professional con man.

Originally Posted by unbelragazzo 

I think I could like it, but it would depend on the fabric. Almost-black, looks-like-they-came-from-a-suit trouser, no. But a slightly more textured, slightly lighter charcoal, yes. I should add, although...I'm not much for "rules" in general in the strictest sense. And there could be other reasons for the disdain of the navy odd trouser than what I have mentioned here, that don't extend to the charcoal trouser, so I'll wait for those who first began the navy trouser discussion in this thread to further justify their opposition to the navy trouser.

Originally Posted by mafoofan 

The problem with navy blue trousers is not that they are difficult to match color-wise, but that orthodox expectations of formality reserve them for wearing as part of a business suit.

Originally Posted by Manton 

I think there may be something else to the no navy trouser thing.
For many decades before WW2 by far the most common suit was blue serge. Men who only owned one suit owned a blue serge. It was their "Sunday best." They would often wear them as separates, and more often the pants seperatly since working class men really had no call for odd jackets. So blue pants got a lower class connotation.
If you read Depression era literature such as Steinbek and Dos Passos, many of the lower class/working class characters will be described as wearing blue serge pants.

Originally Posted by mafoofan 

Casual summer suit with unbuttoned shirt is fine by me, though I'd strongly prefer that shirt to have a button-down collar.

Originally Posted by pocketsquareguy 

I wear jeans with every odd jacket I own on a frequent basis, yet I never wear blue pants with any of them.

Originally Posted by in stitches 

i know others have expressed general dislike of navy office pants, but i find with darker blues, like navy, a brown or gray SC looks very nice. just my opinion.

Originally Posted by in stitches 

i meant just that maybe you could wear lighter navy with a darker brown SC. i actually have a combo that i have been waiting to wear that is like this, but its at the tailor. ill lyk when its up, id like to hear your opinion.
at to darker navy, i personally like them, for sure with no SC, but maybe even with a SC. but there i agree, its hard to find a darker SC for dark navy trou.
as to the lighter SC issue. here is one i have just kopped. was planning on wearing with charcoal trou, but i would call the trou darker than the SC, at least based off of the pic. where does that fall in the scheme of these "rules" iyo?

Originally Posted by Manton 

I think there may be something else to the no navy trouser thing.
For many decades before WW2 by far the most common suit was blue serge. Men who only owned one suit owned a blue serge. It was their "Sunday best." They would often wear them as separates, and more often the pants seperately since working class men really had no call for odd jackets. So blue pants got a lower class connotation.
If you read Depression era literature such as Steinbeck and Dos Passos, many of the lower class/working class characters will be described as wearing blue serge pants.

Originally Posted by mafoofan 

That is certainly the popular opinion here, but you will find that many of the better informed members would strongly disagree. Sorry Spoo--you seem like a nice guy, but you dress poorly, and it doesn't have to be that way.