MC General Chat - Page 22

I wish I'd read that a few years ago. I'm actually in the process of re-building, after many of my not-so-recent purchases have turned out to be fairly poor choices. I tend to the lightweight fabric side of things with most everything (a fresco suit gets year round wear with me, haters be damned), but I do need to double up on some of the few staples I do have.

Just about all my ties are dark and patterned. They're still all patterned (I've mentioned in other threads that outside of examples with extreme texture, I don't believe in solid ties), but I've tried to bring a few lighter and moderate shades in.

I have too many solid ties, especially in navy and brown; I need more patterned shirts.

I love wool challis ties, which does not help, as I just ordered the last dark red solid wool challis from David Hober.

I seem to collect odd trousers more than any other item. Since i do not use suits on a daily basis, I only have 2 in staple navy and grey. What I would like to start collecting is odd jackets, which I currently have two...

Maybe you used "collecting" for lack of a better word, but I think that is a bad way to look at your wardrobe. I think it goes against what Ed was trying to say in that post that Stitch just quoted. Some of the better advice I have gotten here recently is that you shouldn't collect any pieces of clothing or shoes, because then you end up with tons of one-off pieces that don't work together with anything else you own, at which point you're screwed. I started off the wrong way when I first got interested in better clothing, buying interesting pieces one at a time ("collecting" cool things that I happened to come across), instead of focusing on getting a few staples that fit easily with most other things in my wardrobe.

Again, didn't mean to pick on you, and you might be doing the exact opposite in reality, but the "collecting" term jumped out at me. Since you already own staple navy and grey suits, you're already doing better than me right now

I'm working towards my perfect staple/work wardrobe. I have some of these accounted for already, but this was the list I made for myself about 9 months ago (note: I work in a business casual environment):

2 suits: one navy fresco; one mid grey flannel
5 sport coats: one navy summer weight; one navy winter weight; one brown three season; one tweed; one patterned winter weight
10 pairs of pants: three summer weight wool in blue, mid grey and brown; three winter weight in mid grey, brown and patterned flannel; four cotton formal pants in blue, olive khaki, cream and tan
1 pair of jeans: RRL
15 shirts: 8 pale/sky blue solids (5 button down, 3 semi-spread); 3 white (2 button-down, one semi-spread); 2 navy pencil stripe (semi-spread); 2 OCBDs in blue and maroon stripes
3 v-neck sweaters: one navy merino, one heather grey cashmere, one bottle green cashmere
15 pairs of shoes (already own all of these, but the majority of them are loafers)

Aside from the jeans and shoes, I'm trying to get all of the above bespoke or at least MTM. Honestly, after I get everything above squared away I will be good on clothes for a while. Saving and selecting has kept me the busiest. I generally don't get side-tracked by random items or "good deals."

^excellent list, bb. personally i'd toss in a linen or cotton summer jacket as well, and cut the cotton trousers down to two in favor of some linen or at least linen blend, and toss out the last two striped OCBDs for maybe a tattersall and a gingham check. but very nice list overall. you could live the rest of your life in such a wardrobe.

2 suits and 10 pairs of odd pants? I would personally invert that ratio.

Thanks, unbel. The hope is that it will be good enough to last me for a long while. I don't see my tastes changing that much, so it will likely be waistband specific. I'll likely add a few more odd jackets as time goes on, as I have a soft spot for gun checks and plaids, but in the meantime I'm staying the course with the basics.

When it comes to shirts and pants I think all of your suggestions are spot on. Especially with shirts, there are a ton of versatile varieties. I personally see shirts as more or less disposable so I'll likely be able to fit your options in there sooner or later. Plus shirting is pretty inexpensive and easy to play with from a fabrics/design standpoint. My major struggle right now is finding button-down collars that I really like, as I prefer button-downs with sport coats. Sid Mashburn made me a shirt that I really like the collar on, but the quality of the construction leaves a bit to the imagination. I might stick it out though, based on the collar alone.


Yeah, ideally I would love that. However, as I said, I work in a pretty casual place. And my industry is inherently casual. I wear a suit maybe 1-2 times a quarter and when I do it still is dressed down a considerable amount. Outside of that I only have weddings and the odd fancy dinner. As I move forward I'll likely commission some other suits, though I'll likely only play with material makeup and detailing. I am a big fan of solid suits in shades of navy and grey.

If you've got 5 SCs seems ok? How many suits vs. SC/odd jackets kind of depends on your work environment i think.

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
I don't know what kind of collar you like or how much you're willing to spend (I agree that you should be able to consider your shirts pretty much disposable or life is too difficult), or how often you get to NYC, but Geneva really makes an awesome BD collar IMHO.

I apologies for using the term "collect", I did not mean to mislead, as I do not collect trousers. I simple have plenty of them based on my wardrobe needs. It was an observation, as I do not collect for the purpose of collecting.

Aside from that, I'm sorry you misunderstood, and I take no offense at your comment. I would not be on SF if I took comments seriously.

Still feels like a lot of odd pants but looking at the one pair of jeans, it seems like bb wears them on weekends too so that makes a little more sense. I think I have 7 or 8 pairs of odd pants but really only wear 3 or 4 regularly. I wear 5 or 6 different pairs of jeans on weekends though - so it all adds up at the end...

Ah - yeah I'm in the same situation as bb. I own zero pairs of jeans. I have the following pairs that are in heavy rotation at at least some point during the year:

mid-grey flannels
medium blue flannels
medium brown flannels
mid-grey pick and pick
mid-brown pick and pick
natural linen
light grey linen
beige cotton/linen
greyish mid-blue tropical weight wool

then some other patterned pants and cords that I wear every now and again. I definitely don't feel that I have too many odd trousers, but 1) i rarely wear suits, and 2) i'm on SF, so i'd be pained to say I ever have too much of any clothing item.

Gentlemen, I seek for your help.

Some of you might now, I am a student and joined SF a year ago to learn more about dress and to drastically improve my own wardrobe.
Since I have joined I lurked as much as possible and feel I have now finally learned enough to actually start buying more and more items.
If I'd had to name two guys which embody the style that I am going for the most, it would be NOBD and IST66.
There are some casual outfits of vox I like, still I think they might be too dressy for my day to day routine and what I can afford at the moment.
Also while I do not agree with all the details, PG is a great inspiration as well.

Put into words I want to build a wardrobe of a solid rotation of cotton chinos both with plain and some with pleated front in different weights, a pair of raw denim jeans, BD shirts and solid coloured SCs with patch pockets.

Some of the combinations that caught my eye can be seen in the spoiler tags. Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
What I've got a lot of trouble with, is to imagine what kind of shoes I should buy to pair with combinations like that.

First of all, what do I already posses?
A pair of Rancourt Ranger Mocs in Snuff Suede, which are very comfortable and work great with jeans. I wear them a lot but I feel they are not the best match for a pair of slim chinos.
A pair of Sebago Docksides in navy, which work OK with stone chinos but which I wear a lot less since I got the Rancourts because they wear a lot less comfortable and also because I feel they are too casual for the look I am aiming for.
A pair of Alfred Sargent Kirkham chelsea boots, which are good value for price but once again I feel they are not suitable with a nice pair of chinos.
I feel the rubber sole is just a tad too clunky, maybe I should have it replaced.
A pair of Lendvay & Schwarcz oxford brogues similiar both in style and colour to the C&J Clifford.
They need a resoleing and new laces but other from that they are a pair I enjoy a lot. Not sure though if I should pair an oxford with as casual a pant as a chino?
A pair of Cheaney FS029 boot, which is a great beater for bad weather walks and winter street fairs but nothing I'd wear to university or a night out.

Secondly, which styles do I dislike?
I don't like sneakers, so no CPs, JPs, Supergas etc.
Also, no bucks, no double monks, no blutcher longwings.

What am I thinking about?
Penny, string and tassel loafers, chukka, chelsea and jodhpur boots especially of Alden, Carmina and C&J


Do you think the mentioned styles of shoes would be approriate to pair with what I imagine the rest of my wardrobe to look like?
Any special styles you recommend to me the most?
Do you think I should too pair my chinos with dressier shoes/oxfords like IST66 is doing it most of the time?

Thanks a lot in advance!