Back from New York shopping trip - How'd I do?

[closetmess]

So I just returned from my first trip to NYC. Highlights (other than shopping) were beers at McSorley's on 7th, MoMA, and a Yankees game.

As for the items I picked up shopping - this marks my "first shop" since joining SF - I have all the pics up other than the 2 suits and blazer which I will post when I get them back from the tailor.

My circumstances: I am law student starting articling with a law firm next week where it is business suit Mon-Fri. While some items may seem extravagant on a student budget, I must say I got some terrific deals (PM me if interested) and have recently lost about 25 lbs., so about 98% of what I had in terms of business wear is now useless to me.

So, here's the rundown of what I picked up over the weekend - most of these items were purchased at either Woodbury, Bergdorfs, Century 21 or Barneys...

Suits/Jackets

RLBL brown pinstriped peak lapel, fully canvassed, hand pickstitching, double vented, 2B suit. Pants are slim, no pleats with side adjusters.

Boss Black flat black, double vented 3B suit. Pants are slim, no pleats with belt loops.

Piatelli for Barneys navy 3 button, fully canvassed blazer.

Dress Shirts

Thomas Pink sky blue shirt with purple and pink vertical stripes, barrel cuffed.

Theory texturized cotton plain white Oxford shirt, barrel cuffed, button down collar, plastic buttons.

Ties

Hickey Freeman navy with pattern "leafs" that are brown with white border and pink accenting - handmade, 3.5" width, 76% silk, 24% wool - saw a similar one in B/S earlier last week, beautiful tie


JCrew baby blue repp tie with thin red stripes - 3.25" width, 100% silk


JCrew navy blue with white pindotting (similar to the Breuer "SF" tie, although of lower quality, I'm sure) - 3.25" width, 100% silk


Theory plain navy skinny tie - 2.5" width, 100% Italian silk


Tumi brown with silver and purple repeat pattern - handmade in Italy, 3.5" width, 100% silk (extremely impressed with the quality and cut of this tie - didn't realize Tumi even made ties)


Shoes

Tod's light brown (caramel?) calfskin capless bluchers

- true colour

Accessories

Coach brown leather portfolio

(photo credit to Coach website)


Tumi black nylon with leather bottom full zip duffel bag

Sterling silver paperclip tiebar (Barneys)

Ecco cedar shoe trees (which came with free golf spikes, always needed)

Barney's half-dozen white handkerchiefs

Barney's woven silk knot cufflinks (package of 3 in white, black, and white/black)

Banana Republic cashmere socks and boxer-briefs

Casualwear

Theory cream linen sweater (very light, see through material)

Theory grey patterned knit sweater

4 (orange, blue, white, khaki) Benetton golf shirts, very slim fit, hangs right at the waist ($10 each!)



2 (black, white) linen Benetton shorts, slim fit, straight leg, hangs at knee


Actually, now that I've written it all out, I likely will take pictures of the highlights - the suits and blazer are already at a tailor, who was very impressed with the cut and quality of the Boss suit in particular. He only sells Kiton, Luciano Barbera, Samuelsohn MTM and Pal Zileri, so it was appreciated.

Comments/questions are appreciated!

 

[jsherman02]

pics!

 

[RichmondStyle]

A brown, peak-lapel suit is not something that I would pick for a conservative business rotation, much less a black suit.

Why are you going with the peak lapel. I spent several years at a top-5 firm in NY and never once saw someone with peak lapels.

 

[closetmess]

Originally Posted by jsherman02

pics!

Charging my old camera as we speak, new one is already moved to new apartment that I move into next week

Originally Posted by RichmondStyle

A brown, peak-lapel suit is not something that I would pick for a conservative business rotation, much less a black suit.

Why are you going with the peak lapel. I spent several years at a top-5 firm in NY and never once saw someone with peak lapels.

Sorry, only the brown RLBL suit is peak lapel. I believe the Boss and Piatellis are not. They are at the tailors so I was kinda just cutting and pasting from the RLBL description to save time. Post edited.

And - I really do like the peak lapel look, really nice frame for a thinner, modern cut suit. I think that "conservative" does not necessarily rule out being fashionable or modern.

 

[closetmess]

Originally Posted by jsherman02

pics!

Okay - so most of the pics of what I came home with this weekend are up.

As earlier mentioned, the 2 suits and jacket are at my tailors, so I will post picks upon their return, probably Tuesday of next week.

Oh, and aside from being a poor photographer, I also had to use my old 4.1MP camera, so bear with the pics. PM me if you want better ones of particular items.

Please comment/question!

 

[Mr. Potato]

Like the ties. Not too big on everything else. The Thoman Pink shirt especially. It's too loud for work. Maybe a night club shirt. Even then, I wouldn't wear it.

 

[closetmess]

Originally Posted by Mr. Potato

Like the ties. Not too big on everything else. The Thoman Pink shirt especially. It's too loud for work. Maybe a night club shirt. Even then, I wouldn't wear it.

Thanks, other than the suits, I feel the ties were the big score for sure.

As for the Thomas Pink shirt, it would be for "casual" fridays with a navy blazer and possibly jeans, which I think would mute it quite a bit. Even the pic with the plain navy tie tones it back to a suitable office level IMHO.

 

[EL72]

Glad you enjoyed your trip and don't take offense but, even though it may be a nice suit, a brown pinstripe peak lapel suit (and those shoes) will make you stand out like a sore thumb in a law firm. And Boss suits are not canvassed.

 

[closetmess]

Originally Posted by EL72

Glad you enjoyed your trip and don't take offense but, even though it may be a nice suit, a brown pinstripe peak lapel suit (and those shoes) will make you stand out like a sore thumb in a law firm. And Boss suits are not canvassed.

Forgot that Boss does fused (with some half-canvassed) - again, I just copied and pasted from the RLBL to save time. And I know Boss gets ripped on SF, but this is a great cut and got it for under $300 at Barney's Co-op's 50% sale...they only had a few 36Rs and this one fit and looked great.

As for standing out, I will use discretion when pairing the BL suit. It will likely only ever see solid shirts, mostly white, and simple ties. The shoes are darker than they appear under the flash, and are a conservative style. This pic here of the shoes is the closest to true colour:



Again, I'm fairly new at the Sartorial game, so I do appreciate any comments, good or bad.

 

[R-H]

Congratulations on the the big weight loss. Nice work.

You need to get the conservative basics down before you buy stuff like this. Nobody will likely notice you wearing the same conservative navy suit 2-3 times per week but they will notice the brown peak label suit everytime.

The same applies to the shoes. Black may seem boring, but it is so much more versatile for someone with a limited professional wardrobe.

Build up the wardrobe with the staples and then branch out a bit.

 

[closetmess]

Originally Posted by R-H

Congratulations on the the big weight loss. Nice work.

You need to get the conservative basics down before you buy stuff like this. Nobody will likely notice you wearing the same conservative navy suit 2-3 times per week but they will notice the brown peak label suit everytime.

The same applies to the shoes. Black may seem boring, but it is so much more versatile for someone with a limited professional wardrobe.

Build up the wardrobe with the staples and then branch out a bit.

I have an uber-conservative (albeit slim) 3 button grey suit from a Montreal company that will be the staple. The black HB suit is also conservative. I also have a brown understated 3B windowpane from Ben Sherman that will see some Winter time.

I have 2 pairs of black AE shoes, one cap toe lace-up, the other a monk. Also have a split toe Saks brand (Folio?) pair of cherry brown shoes that look good with everything.

I should have rephrased that this is my first "venture" to a more fashion forward look rather than leading you all to believe I didn't have any basic/conservative clothes in my closet.

I am really happy with the suits, and will hopefully change some minds when I get them back next week after alterations.

 

[babygreenspots]

To some extent it depends on the deals you got. The ties are quite nice. I don't think the Thomas Pink is that bad, except if you want to wear it to the office. The RLPL suit sounds lovely, though probably not for a law firm, as they have been saying

 

[babygreenspots]

To some extent it depends on the deals you got. The ties are quite nice. I don't think the Thomas Pink is that bad, except if you want to wear it to the office. The RLPL suit sounds lovely, though probably not for a law firm, as they have been saying

 

[closetmess]

Originally Posted by babygreenspots

To some extent it depends on the deals you got. The ties are quite nice. I don't think the Thomas Pink is that bad, except if you want to wear it to the office. The RLPL suit sounds lovely, though probably not for a law firm, as they have been saying

I agree - And I did get some amazing deals

I think I got the last 38S from the Woodbury RL store, the BL suit was $449 after discount, retail $1795

The Tod's shoes were sample size, $140 after discount, original $385.

As mentioned above, the HB suit was under $300 at Barney's Co-op, retail $1095.

The Piatelli navy blazer was $117 after discount, retail was $695.

The Thomas Pink shirt was $90, the Coach portfolio $99, the Tumi bag $99.

The ties were all on discount, although each certainly worth full pop.

 

[gumercindo]

nice prices. I'm cool with the shirts, ties and casualwear. Not sure about the suit - will have to see pics.