Help the Style Impaired - Wardrobe Rebuild

[constant struggle]

I don't know if it is your stance, but it looks like you have a huge cameltoe of some sort

 

[Racove]

are you buying 10's right now? you already admitted that you wear your shoes too big, and its common to size down for dress shoes. want to try to get the right size, especially in dress shoes.

luckily AE park avenues are a pretty well known shoe. Give us some feedback on what you wear in other brands or on a Braddock device and someone here can help tell you if those will fit.

 

[laxaj]

Nice, a fellow ohio stater.

Just a quick comment. Unless you have crap genetics, you're going to put on at least 30 pounds very easily if you actually stick to starting strength for 6 months. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[heisenberg]

are you buying 10's right now? you already admitted that you wear your shoes too big, and its common to size down for dress shoes. want to try to get the right size, especially in dress shoes.

luckily AE park avenues are a pretty well known shoe. Give us some feedback on what you wear in other brands or on a Braddock device and someone here can help tell you if those will fit.

I wear my shoes big, and the Eccos I have are 46 EUR. I'll stop by Nordstrom tomorrow to try on some AEs. Most AE shoes should fit about the same, correct?

Just a quick comment. Unless you have crap genetics, you're going to put on at least 30 pounds very easily if you actually stick to starting strength for 6 months. Just something to keep in mind.

Interesting - but 30 lbs of muscle looks a lot better than 30 lbs of fat

 

[laxaj]

Originally Posted by heisenberg

Interesting - but 30 lbs of muscle looks a lot better than 30 lbs of fat

Aye. Just expect some size gains in your chest, butt, and legs. Like other people have said, don't buy too much when stuff's going to change.

 

[Listi]

Neither one of those jeans really looks good on you. Finding a good pair of jeans takes some time, I say keep looking, but don't rush.

 

[milosz]

Just a thought here, but have you considered what style you're wanting to work toward? Before you go on a shopping spree, maybe spend more time with the WAYWTs to see where you're headed.

A lot of advice you'll receive is based on an individual's personal tastes. I like workboots, Doc Martens, repro cut jeans on the slightly slim end, Fred Perry, Americana/workwear. I'm influenced by a medley of youth subcultures from the '40s on - mods, skins, punks, greasers, country, whatever. I don't own a tie. That's the area I have some knowledge of and interest in, so that's where my thoughts head immediately - and may not be right for you.

So when someone's suggesting Allen-Edmonds shoes to you, that isn't necessarily the best choice for whatever style you're going to work toward. I'd never wear some of the shoes I see here, just as a lot of folks wouldn't wear the oxblood Docs I ordered today or my favorite pair of old beat to **** DM Chelsea boots.

If it were me, I'd stick with that one pair of Frye's as my primary shoe to build around, or find something similar in black/brown from Red Wing/Frye/etc.. It might be boring to some, but it's also never going to inspire an "aw, hell, why did I buy that $200 pair of wingtips/oxfords/brogues"? Maybe those AE shoes will be right for you, but that's not something you'll discover until you find out what kind of pants/shirt fit you the best (and by fit I mean personality-wise as well as physically).

Have you looked at the Clark's Desert Boots thread? Stylish, affordable, easy to work with.

 

[kookydooky]

Topic creator I dont say this often but you are one good looking motherfucker and it was a shame that a person like you was wearing such daggy clothes

 

[skunkworks]

Originally Posted by ctrlaltelite

those pants are pretty bad, but if you cuffed them even more and changed your top either to a solid (chambray?) workshirt or even a flannel of some sort you could make it work... but even then you'd look OK for a n00b. besides, at that price and the pre-cuff there's plenty of better things you could buy, i just wanted to give you an idea of how context can change an outfit.

A very good point. Within the context of an outfit, one piece of clothing may look terrible; swap a thing or two out, and suddenly it looks perfect. Keep this in mind anytime you're trying something on, and think about what you might match it with.

Starting out, you might find that you're not able to judge clothes right off the rack, at least not until you actually try it on. As you tune your eye, it'll get easier. Until then, try on everything you can and try keeping up with the WAYWTs (extremely helpful).

And finally, learn about this place's groupthink, join it, then reject it.

 

[mgoose]

Alright there's been a lot of good advice over these pages, and I'll try to keep mine short:

- Just look for a dark wash pair of jeans to start with, don't worry too much about finding raw, selvedge or whatever, just find a nice dark pair that fits well. Don't spend too much to start with, if you look around, especially with the sales this time of year, you shouldn't have to spend too much

-Buy t-shirts with shorter sleeves, like a lot of people have said AA, I suggest buying a 5-pack in basic colors from kgs4 on ebay, instant upgrade

-Khahki's aren't too bad, brown boots and shoes are ok, get a casual brown belt to go with them.

Best of luck my friend

 

[Keon]

I'm in a similar situation and need to buy a new wardrobe basically for spring. I'm considering a pair of raw jeans but should I size up alot for "shrinkage"?

 

[pkjay]

is it bad that I read through all 6 pages of this thread with a small smile on my face?
it made me happies

 

[Listi]

Originally Posted by milosz

Just a thought here, but have you considered what style you're wanting to work toward? Before you go on a shopping spree, maybe spend more time with the WAYWTs to see where you're headed.
Just a personal opinion from someone who was at this guy's point 6-7 months ago... I don't necessarily think you DECIDE on a style you're working towards before you can even figure out how to pick out good basics. If I were to have chosen a style when I was at the same point this guy was at, I would have wasted a lot of money on a crap look. I feel like it is much better to let yourself drift around the styles a little bit at the beginning, you'll notice which pieces of clothing you wear more often than others, and can then work to a style accordingly. To choose a style to work towards within the first week or two of being interested in clothes is dangerous. Especially if you end up disliking it 6 months later... I feel like if you pick incorrectly, you could end up back at square one with an entire wardrobe of clothes you're not comfortable in. I feel like it would be much better to have a solid wardrobe which might not be very focused than to have a very focused wardrobe that you realize you aren't interested in wearing. I can see that having a very focused wardrobe would be wonderful, but it's something I can't see myself having for at least a year or two or more for myself, and I feel like aiming at something too early and you won't learn as much... Sure, you could get lucky and pinpoint the exact style you want to have 3-4 years down the road on your first day, and have a wardrobe which is seriously working towards it within a couple of months. From personal experience, I think it would be far more likely that the look you want right now will be vastly different from the one you wanted the first time you started looking at clothes. And this is a great thread, I know you're technically not supposed to do threads in this fashion I think? But Heisenberg made up this topic exactly how one should and didn't behave badly when his old style was harshly critiqued. I think it's nice.

 

[ctrlaltelite]

Originally Posted by Keon

I'm in a similar situation and need to buy a new wardrobe basically for spring. I'm considering a pair of raw jeans but should I size up alot for "shrinkage"?

no. maybe one or two sizes (hardly "a lot") up or down depending on the jean, but anything other than that and you'd more than likely ruin the fit. your best bet is not to make any purchases until you can try on the product.

 

[heisenberg]

I didn't fall off the face of the earth, but I did take some of this advice to heart.

Here's today's look. Pretty base, but probably 100x better than the initial post:

Attachment 17472

Attachment 17473

32x36 Levis 501 STFs, Kenneth Cole shirt, those Frye boots I mentioned earlier, and a 2xist black undershirt. Still haven't shaved yet, still working on replacing the sunglasses (but they're the next change - find a pair that I like, then eBay all the way).

On a separate note, gotta love clearances at outlets. Picked up this shirt for $25, and 2 Brooks Brothers fitted shirts (slim fit) for $25 as well.

So, am I at least learning?

-Brandon