Beginner and Stuck, Please Help!

[BeginnerFashion]

Hi, I'm a young professional (24 yo) who isn't a huge fan of time spent on shopping/fashion, but nonetheless has realized that I need to dress a little better than jeans + polos if I want to make good impressions socially. However, despite a lot of effort, time, and money, I am having some difficulty following the advice that I've found on the internet.

My first problem is finding pants. I found some chinos, which seem to be the go-to versatile thing to wear for pants, but none were my size in the stores I went to (JCPenney and Target). I am pretty short at 5' 6”, but I know plenty of guys who are shorter, so I would have expected there to be something my size. There were a few chinos that were about the proper length (seems to be about size 28-29), but those were all much much wider in the waist than they should be. I am probably somewhere around 28-30, and all of those were 36 or more! (Related question...all the pants were expensive, like $60, I have the money if it truly needs to be spent, but is that normal or can I get good pants for a more reasonable price?)

My second problem is finding decent shirts. The girl at the JCPenney helped me by getting my measurements, and then I picked out a white, light blue, and black OCBD, and a patterned button down. They were all “fitted” cuts. I figured that since we had gotten my measurements, they would fit. I was wrong. When I got home, I tried them on and realized the damn things were so long that they were like dresses!! Even if I tuck them in (which I'd rather have the option of not doing sometimes) the damn things “balloon” out uncontrollably. What the hell?!

Is this all just because I'm short? I know plenty of guys who are significantly shorter than me...at 5' 6” I didn't think I was that far on the left of the bell curve that stores wouldn't have my sizes. What am I doing wrong here? I find shopping and doing this sort of research to be very painful, and am getting very discouraged to spent this much time and effort on this (not to mention money) and be getting nowhere. I'm not trying to become some all-out awesome fashion guy (although that's awesome for those of you who enjoy that sort of thing) I just want to have something that is considered nice to wear socially, please help!!

 

[Mr Degausser]

You've mainly mentioned dress shirts and chino-style khaki pants. I'm assuming that you aren't necessarily in a suit and tie environment? More of business casual?

Now is the time to definitely shop mark downs because you can find pretty great professional chinos at something more affordable than $60. That being said, for a quality pair of pants $60 is fairly normal.

Depending on what your work environment is like, grey trousers would also be a good call. Target and JC Penny occasionally do have pants in a 28 x 30 size. I have a similar problem since I am a pants size 28 x 32.

What I tend to do is just go on as many clothing sites as possible, key in my measurements to make sure I'm only looking at pants that fit me, and then choose from whatever fits what I need at the time. In a business casual environment, Dockers style khakis usually work. If you want to step it up a bit, wearing dress trousers work too. Because you already mentioned JC Penny, I provided the below link:

http://www.jcpenney.com/jf-j-ferrar.../dress/28/_/N-1nopetZ1z141u0Z1z141l7/cat.jump

They come in a few conservative colors and a 28 waist.

Also, in terms of shirts, the easiest thing to do for a great fit that avoids blousing is to find a solid OTR shirt and get it tailored. It will fit you better than anything you own and then you can use the measurements from the shirt to get MTM shirts from modern tailor in a whole variety of colors. A solid OTR shirt for $30 plus $20 for tailoring is pretty tough to beat.


That's just my two cents from someone who had similar issues a few months ago before lurking on SF.

 

[Veremund]

Mistake number one: trusting the sales girl.
Mistake number two: not trying on the shirts before you buy them.

For pants, don't worry about the length. Just get ones that fit as well as possible around the waist and thighs. A tailor will shorten them later.

For shirts, make sure the shoulders and sleeves fit best. A tailor can add darts to take in the chest and waist.

 

[Mr Degausser]

Mistake number one: trusting the sales girl.
Mistake number two: not trying on the shirts before you buy them.

For pants, don't worry about the length. Just get ones that fit as well as possible around the waist and thighs. A tailor will shorten them later.

For shirts, make sure the shoulders and sleeves fit best. A tailor can add darts to take in the chest and waist.

This.

The cost of tailoring is nothing next to the cost of continually buying things that don't fit properly.