Mistakes you made when updating your wardrobe - Page 6

At least 6?

 

Heck yeah. I don't want to look like a noob. lol

 

If your OTR suits never lasted a year, stay away from bespoke suits.

Late to the party but:

—Overestimated the usefulness of grenadine ties, after seeing them hyped on blogs and on the forums. I have eight Hober grenadines now that don't get much use—they seem overly formal for the sport coats I wear most often, and I wish I'd picked more patterned ties instead.

—Bought stuff when I wasn't at my ideal weight. I lost 20 lbs recently and will lose another 10 or 15. Wish I had done this first, as suddenly nothing fits. I won't be making more purchases until I hit my optimal weight, and then I'll do whatever it takes to stay there.

—Bought tan shoes first rather than brown.

—Like everyone else, I bought too much too quickly.

Hi I'm new here. As for me, I bought a lot of off the rack suits impulsively without really checking my real measurements. And I also bought a lot of dark suits, no variety whatsoever.

Great thread!!

 

I started updating my wardrobe about a year ago and went through ALOT of mixtakes.

 

1. Buying too much to soon - Now the reason why I did was to have a descent rotation early. At the I was going on vacation with my girlfriend and needed about 3 outfits. I almost fell for the Jos A Banks buy 1 sportscoat get  2 free scam

 

2. Buying pants too tight to get the slim look - some of you guys seen my "How much should I taper" a while ago and seen that my pants fitted on the waist but were too damn tight on the thighs(http://www.styleforum.net/t/313607/how-much-should-i-taper-my-pants/0_30) . I bought about 5 pair of pants with the same fit the time(which goes back to mistake no. 1).

 

3. Not paying attention to details when dressing - learning various was to tie a knot,having a certain tie knot to a certain shirt collar type ,having a neat tie knot (tie dimples),matching lapels with tie width. There were times where I wore a skinny tie with a notch lapel sportscoat and vice vice versa. BIG MISTAKE!

 

4.Not tapering my pants if needed  - I bought pants that would be covering about half of my shoe, which is a sloppy look in my opinion

 

5. Trying to put to much colors together - having a orange shirt, purple tie, and orange red pocket square lol. Clean and simple it good

 

6. Buying a sportscoat just for the color and not the quality and brand - I bought a Paul Fredrick sportscoat because it was forest green smh. I should have return it but never did. I spent a good chunk of tailoring just to get the fit right.

 

7.Buying Polyester pants - this is the latest mistake I realized  I did.Luckily I only bought 2(about 30 bucks each) which can be replacable in the future. I prefer  wool pants.More expensive but worth it in the long run.

 

8. Not paying attention to material of clothing - knowing when your buying Cotton,Linen, Polyester or Wool and knowing the difference.

-- Don't start trying to dress well right around the time you go off to film school. It screws up your priorities -- you end up wanting lenses and food.

-- I bought too much stuff in thrift stores. Oh well. Didn't cost a whole bunch, but it was dumb of me because I've always had trouble getting rid of stuff.

 

I'm trying to shift my clothes budget towards buying the handful of things I know I'll wear the hell out of -- better-fitting OCBDs, gray flannel trousers, calfskin shoes.

Too many newbie mistakes, I use to go to places like Macy's and buy beige suits for summer, black blazers, Ecco shoes...

I wanted to participate so much in my new hobby, that I forgot about the basics, bought because things were a bargain, and compromise when I should have just saved up for my real grail items. I have also made the mistake of kopping SF coveted brands, just because they were on extreme discount, and I thought I could make them work with some tailoring. Too much money spend on nonsense.

Now I'm more patient, and I have more of a sense of my own style, and I slowly work to hone it...
Edited by JubeiSpiegel - 4/5/13 at 8:21am

9. Bought suit seperates rather than blazers

This is more of a dilemma than a regret. Edward Green shoes are outrageously priced, but I have many of them.

I could have had a few more very nice vacations in '08 / '09 (when I was only a few years out of school) if I'd bought C&Js instead of EGs, but the EGs are definitely nicer, and I like them.

It's not a matter of budget, but it forces substitution within the spending budget.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, for me (and probably many of you), it may have made more sense to do more seeing the world/spending time with friends, and less spending on ultra expensive items.

The ultra luxury skew on this forum is a curse, in that respect. A quote about Churchill's tastes comes to mind, "He is easily satisfied with the best."