Building a Wardrobe: How to Choose Many Items in the Same General Class

[unbelragazzo]

In recent threads, focus has been put on building a wardrobe of classic, versatile items, in different shades, weights, textures, weaves, etc.. Let's start with navy suits and mid-grey trousers. It could be argued that one needs no other kind of suit than navy suits, and no other sort of odd trousers but mid-grey.

While these classic items "go with" anything, for a given tie or light blue shirt or whatever, some navy suits will be slightly better than others. What are the best strategies for developing a portfolio of these like items?

It seems to me that the best strategy at first is to think of things seasonally. First navy suit, a mid-weight worsted that can be worn in any season. Next a linen or fresco for summer. Then maybe a cashmere blend with a subtle herringbone. For the mid-grey trousers, perhaps a mid-weight pick-and-pick to start, then some flannels, then some linen in a lighter gray. What to consider next? Adding in different shades of color? Different stylistic details? Weaves?

 

[NORE]

I can't think of the member right now OTOH but there is a recent pic where he has like a half dozen navy suits. I suppose if you were sticking with navy the only concern would be to have them made up in different weight cloth as you spoke of. Perhaps you could change up some stylistic details, such as lapel type, width, number of pockets, number or breasts, fun linings. Never get one with a center vent, tho.

 

[zalb916]

I think it's important to determine who is building a wardrobe. The vast majority of men simply do not need to wear a suit each day. In fact, most men only wear a suit a handful of times per year. For people like that, I think it's best to start with one charcoal and one navy suit in medium weights that can be worn, for the most part, all year.

For those who actually wear a suit most days, then I don't think the seasonal approach is necessarily the best advice. I would probably suggest adding a couple more medium weight suits in slightly less conservative fabrics (pinstripes, lighter colors, some texture, etc.) before branching out to seasonal fabrics. If you're wearing a suit four or five days per week, you're probably better off starting with a 4-6 medium weight suits before getting into the seasonal fabrics.

Will has a good post about this:
http://asuitablewardrobe.dynend.com/2009/02/building-suit-wardrobe.html

Of course, I'm only referring to suits, not trousers, coats, etc.

 

[unbelragazzo]

Let's suppose we're thinking of someone who is wearing items in whatever class we are considering, be they suits or odd trousers, virtually every day. Let's also not worry about the wear issue for now - i.e., that having only one four-season suit and two seasonals means at any given time you have only two wearable suits and will therefore wear through them quickly. Just suppose there are some other grey suits there in the background or something.

Or if you'd like, if you're thinking about getting 4 mid-weight before any seasonal, how do you think about spreading out and diversifying those 4 mid-weights?