HOF: What Are You Wearing Right Now - Part IV (starting May 2014)

[Alan Bee]

Sure

Been awhile!

View attachment 976427

Surely, this is a hoax. Is that you Foo? Or someone hacked into your account and photoshopped a caricature?

 

[Purplelabel]

Very nice, but I'll add that I believe that wonderful jacket needs to be paired with trousers of the non-skinny variety...

I must say I agree. I’m going to be having a look for more fuller cut trousers soon. Only downside I have is that I am a true 32” waist, but with skateboarder thighs so they don’t usually fit into a standard 32” trouser. Though, on the the rare occasion that I find a pair that fit they’re either too tight or just too baggy in the cuff. Yes tailoring helps that, but sometimes it just doesn’t help enough.

 

[TheForeigner]

Another go today. Please feel free to critique away at will

 

[An Acute Style]

Trying the navy and cream houndstooth pants again with a navy jacket and long sleeve BD knit.

 

[beneven]

#classicmenswear pose!

 

[IEG]

Headed to a lawn wedding today, in the rain! I’m afraid to show you what’s on my feet!

 

[Alan Bee]

I am a big fan of data analysis (can't believe I saying that!) and was able to watch the first 10 minutes or so of your video the other day. Did you go on to assign the items to each other? When I was watching I couldn't help but think a pivot table to associate the items to each other would be cool.

Columns would be

Weather
Jacket
Pants
Shirt
Shoes
Accessories

Assign the appropriate weather for each jacket, pants, shirt and shoes. Each set of pants that can be paired with each jacket and so on.

I know none of this is necessary, I just enjoy spending some spare time with organisation and given the analysis you'd already spent in building the wardrobe the next logical step seemed to be analysis of deploying the wardrobe

@steveabdn

Sounds like a worthwhile project Steve. Happy to work on this with you offline. Pls PM me if you’re keen and/or have the database skills to implement. Already have a base template.

Alan Bee

 

[Alan Bee]

I'm also identifying the requirements of a bespoke wardrobe. As I live in the North of Scotland and work in the North of England my belief is that my structure requires only to plan for 2 effective seasons. I believe what works in the Spring here will be perfectly usable during the autumn and winter. During the colder months the same suits will be in play but the with the addition of a coat, gloves etc as required. The summer weather here is fleeting and will represent the least investment in the wardrobe. Summer options will be limited to possibly 2 "suits" which will be able to be orphaned to provide flexibility.

At present my wardrobe summary looks like this -

Spring, Autumn, Winter -

Grey Glen plaid suit
Tweed suit
Plain navy suit
Navy or grey houndstooth suit

Summer
Unlined navy (patterned in some way, undecided as yet) suit
Unlined plain light grey suit

There will be additions of single jacket items in both seasons for sure.

My budget for this is limited and so not all items will be ordered at once but a build up to this completed wardrobe will take place over a year or so. As my wardrobe build begins in 3 months and the process takes around 8 weeks to complete the focus will be on the Spring - Winter wardrobe with the summer wardrobe coming next year.

Can anyone give any advice on any obvious omissions?

Thanks,
Steve

@steveabdn

I think you’re on the right path but as you already know from my videos, it is critical that you map out a plan before you begin.

What often happens (and I speak from experience) during the bespoke build-up phase is folks shoot from the hip. They see a fabric and fall in love with it and send it to the tailor to be cut.

The end result is, you end up with a heavily tilted and no so functional wardrobe. You might love the individual pieces but they won’t meet the “balanced portfolio” test.

I suggest you set up a spreadsheet or list, broken down into seasons (including a column for fabric weight) and casual vs business wear. Of course your climate will dictate how you allocate garments.

Once you’ve set up the chessboard, you can then go about researching and sourcing the fabrics that fit right into each column (or row).

You can even set up a column for pricing/budgeting that way you can track the accretive cost of your entire wardrobe or project. You can really go nuts on how many variables you wish to include or you can just keep it simple.

Again depending on your starting budget, you can prioritize which rows or columns need to be tackled first.

The point being: you now have a master plan, your North Star is fixed. You will then execute that blueprint without the distraction of the odd impulse purchase here and there.

If any prevarication occurs, it should be limited to what mills or brands you prefer for each segment.

Alan Bee

 

[clee1982]

Sounds like a way more sensible way than what I could have done

 

[guarrellam]

First days of linen,here.

 

[steveabdn]

@steveabdn

Sounds like a worthwhile project Steve. Happy to work on this with you offline. Pls PM me if you’re keen and/or have the database skills to implement. Already have a base template.

Alan Bee

Hi Alan,

I agree that planning is the key to making sure your purchases have a point and contribute to the overall of the wardrobe.

I'm going to combine both activities we are taking about here and produce a model for my proposed wardrobe and how each of the items can be worn.

I'll touch base with you once I have something operable.

Completely separately, I've dropped 6lbs this week so I'm off to a good start!!

Thanks again,
Steve

 

[beneven]

#classicmenswear pose!
View attachment 976749

Feedback welcome, FYI--on the internet no one can see me cry...
To me this isn't the most exciting fit, but I thought the balance was right, generally speaking, and the patterns/colors congruent.

 

[Alan Bee]

Hi Alan,

I agree that planning is the key to making sure your purchases have a point and contribute to the overall of the wardrobe.

I'm going to combine both activities we are taking about here and produce a model for my proposed wardrobe and how each of the items can be worn.

I'll touch base with you once I have something operable.

Completely separately, I've dropped 6lbs this week so I'm off to a good start!!

Thanks again,
Steve

@steveabdn

One more thing Steve. When you set up your spreadsheet (building block), begin with solids in all categories (both suits and sport coats). If you seek novelty, find it in shades of staple colors and texture.

With solids as your base, you can call it a wrap and still have a very versatile, functional wardrobe with odd pieces that complement one another.

You can address patterns in phase 2 of your build out. That’s largely what I’ve done. I’m mostly done with solids so any further projects will be pattern driven.

Alan Bee

 

[IEG]

View attachment 976772
Headed to a lawn wedding today, in the rain! I’m afraid to show you what’s on my feet!

So I’m at a wedding, in a grass field and we have had a lot of rain. #thursdayboots Diplomat is getting hammered!

 

[IEG]

View attachment 976881
So I’m at a wedding, in a grass field and we have had a lot of rain. #thursdayboots Diplomat is getting hammered!