The Serious Advice Thread

[Caustic Man]

Need advise on what you are wearing? Is it in good taste? Are the patterns/textures coherent? With the gradual waning of the old school "advice givers" (see: Manton, foo, whnay, etc.) participation in SF, I believe it is time for a new generation to step up to the plate. No one's education in classic menswear is ever complete, so I would be thrilled if some of the old school guys come back and participate (guide?) this thread. However anyone is free to rate (more on that later) and critique someone seeking advice. Just be prepared to back up your critique, discussion is encouraged.

What this thread is: This thread will be a place for people seeking serious advice about what they are wearing. Color combinations, pattern matching, any complete outfit that YOU put together is fair game. Also, please be proactive enough to post pictures of you actually wearing what you want critiqued. A pile of clothes on the side of your bed is no way to judge an outfit.

What this thread is not: This thread will not be a "What should I wear to my wedding?", or "How does my suit fit?" thread. Complete outfits ready for critique only. Although anyone is free to post as many outfits as they like, the critique is meant to be tough and detailed. Therefore it will not be a "make me feel better about myself" WAYWRN thread.

As mentioned, anyone is free to critique, but please keep in mind that if your critique is blatantly awful there will be plenty of people on SF who will call you out on it.

If you are going to critique please also rate the submitted outfit on a scale of 1-5. Hat tip to Foo for the basic concept.

* = Awful. There is nothing right about this.

** = Some good elements, but still mostly bad.

*** = More good than bad, but with some costly errors.

**** = High caliber sartorialism. Perhaps one or two small mistakes.

***** = Perfection. Would make Manton weep with joy. (Obviously this rating should be very rare.)

This thread is meant to echo the tough and detailed critiques that I received early on and led to, what I like to think, is a vast improvement in the way I dress. Negative critiques were infinitely more useful to me in that growth than were positive critiques. Because of that I hope this thread will be tough and honest. Don't hold back. N00bs and old hands alike are encouraged to post. I wanted a thread like this as much to get critiques from all of you as I did to give some of us the opportunity to give an honest critique. So if this thread survives and takes off you can expect me to seek advise from everyone as well.

Hopefully this thread becomes useful and fun, and survives it's infancy. On with the show!

 

[gringodaddy]

 

[Caustic Man]

Score: **

Picture quality makes this difficult but here's a try. Foo once gave me a bit of advice that if you are going to wear two patterns they should never be in the tie and pocket square. His reasoning was that they look too much like bolted on accessories. Now, I don't always think that is true, but in this case I think it is. I think this might have gone better with a striped shirt and a solid tie, if you were intent on sticking with two patterns. Also, the pattern on the tie and the pocket square are too close in scale. Another reason to go with solid tie in this case. I can't tell if the shirt is white or blue, but the tie is so light that is seems to melt into the background the shirt provides. Especially with such a dark blazer I would have gone with a darker, more contrasting tie. The pocket square has the same problem. It matches too closely with the jacket and offers very little contrast. There is some weirdness going on with the fit of your jacket. There is a pretty big gap between your shirt collar and the jacket, and the shoulders seem a bit large. On the plus side, the sleeves look about right and I love the style of the jacket itself. Can't really see much of the trousers, but I have no problem with the color combination of the trousers and jacket. All in all, not one of my favorites.

 

[gringodaddy]

Score: **

Picture quality makes this difficult but here's a try. Foo once gave me a bit of advice that if you are going to wear two patterns they should never be in the tie and pocket square. His reasoning was that they look too much like bolted on accessories. Now, I don't always think that is true, but in this case I think it is. I think this might have gone better with a striped shirt and a solid tie, if you were intent on sticking with two patterns. Also, the pattern on the tie and the pocket square are too close in scale. Another reason to go with solid tie in this case. I can't tell if the shirt is white or blue, but the tie is so light that is seems to melt into the background the shirt provides. Especially with such a dark blazer I would have gone with a darker, more contrasting tie. The pocket square has the same problem. It matches too closely with the jacket and offers very little contrast. There is some weirdness going on with the fit of your jacket. There is a pretty big gap between your shirt collar and the jacket, and the shoulders seem a bit large. On the plus side, the sleeves look about right and I love the style of the jacket itself. Can't really see much of the trousers, but I have no problem with the color combination of the trousers and jacket. All in all, not one of my favorites.

Thank you for the feedback. The jacket is unpadded and unstructured, those cursedly large shoulders are mine

Shirt is a pale blue bd, and I agree I should have gone for more contrast and either a: no square or b: different square

 

[Caustic Man]

Just a note, the reason I said the shoulders were too large is because of the shape. They seem to be bowing in an awkward manner that at least makes them look too large for you. Either way, the shoulders seem to have a problem, whether it is with fit or construction. Cheers!

 

[gringodaddy]

 

[gringodaddy]

 

[Caustic Man]

You gave me a lot of work! lol



I sure hope someone else stops in and gives an opinion or two. Kinda feel like I'm shouting in the dark, and my opinions could definitely use a counter argument sometimes. Ok, here goes...

Looks like you have a lot of sport coats to work with, and those trousers were probably the safest choice you could have gone with in every case. The trousers themselves need tailoring. Have the hem raised up a bit to get rid of that bunching at the bottom and a slight taper from the knee down would probably give them a more streamlined and modern look. As for the rest, I think my favorite is the camel hair blazer. I think the reason for that is that it at least has a little bit of color. Something all of these generally lack. You don't have to be a peacock, but I would prefer a bit of color even when going without a tie. A pocket square would fit the bill and still look casual. Here is a hint, try opening one more button on your shirt. It solves that awkward pulling on the uppermost fastened button and leaves the placket in a nice clean line. You're a pretty fit looking dude so you can get away with it! A word of caution, I would hesitate to wear that jacket with your trousers. The colors look close enough that I would look at is and like to see a little more contrast.

Rating: Those lot of them get ** from me.

 

[gringodaddy]

You gave me a lot of work! lol



I sure hope someone else stops in and gives an opinion or two. Kinda feel like I'm shouting in the dark, and my opinions could definitely use a counter argument sometimes. Ok, here goes...

Looks like you have a lot of sport coats to work with, and those trousers were probably the safest choice you could have gone with in every case. The trousers themselves need tailoring. Have the hem raised up a bit to get rid of that bunching at the bottom and a slight taper from the knee down would probably give them a more streamlined and modern look. As for the rest, I think my favorite is the camel hair blazer. I think the reason for that is that it at least has a little bit of color. Something all of these generally lack. You don't have to be a peacock, but I would prefer a bit of color even when going without a tie. A pocket square would fit the bill and still look casual. Here is a hint, try opening one more button on your shirt. It solves that awkward pulling on the uppermost fastened button and leaves the placket in a nice clean line. You're a pretty fit looking dude so you can get away with it! A word of caution, I would hesitate to wear that jacket with your trousers. The colors look close enough that I would look at is and like to see a little more contrast.

Rating: Those lot of them get ** from me.

Thank you again for the feedback. I indeed have a lot of sport coats to work with. The pants are a flannel that I thought I was done with till next autumn. I've lost some weight and these will be getting tailored over the summer. I struggle with trouser length, to little of a break makes me feel like I am wearing pants that are too short .
I am a pocket square w/ tie (sometimes w/o) Monday through Friday. I was running errands on the Saturday or Memorial Day so felt any accessories would have been too much.
I prefer the brown corduroy the best, camel hair second. Would prefer it most if it weren't so "retro". Lapels are kind of curved, otherwise I love the coat. Went with the blue. I am a security guard at heart!

 

[gringodaddy]

and ps, I am doing my best to solicit feedback, as a new poster. I again appreciate yours and will continue to post int this thread!

 

[Caustic Man]

Thank you again for the feedback. I indeed have a lot of sport coats to work with. The pants are a flannel that I thought I was done with till next autumn. I've lost some weight and these will be getting tailored over the summer. I struggle with trouser length, to little of a break makes me feel like I am wearing pants that are too short .
I am a pocket square w/ tie (sometimes w/o) Monday through Friday. I was running errands on the Saturday or Memorial Day so felt any accessories would have been too much.
I prefer the brown corduroy the best, camel hair second. Would prefer it most if it weren't so "retro". Lapels are kind of curved, otherwise I love the coat. Went with the blue. I am a security guard at heart!

I know that little or no break can feel like it is too short sometimes, and there is nothing wrong with a full break. However I think that if you step back and look and trousers with a very small break it doesn't look as short as it feels. Either way your trousers are too long. They have more than even a full break. I personally can't complain about being retro because I kind of like that sort of thing, but there are more modern looks for sure. Congratulations on losing the weight btw!

 

[gringodaddy]

 

[gringodaddy]

 

[comrade]

Your shoulders slope, correct?

 

[gringodaddy]

I don't really know what that means. This coat is very lightly padded.