If you had to start over tomorrow...

[garmentmerchant]

Id keep my
-three button solid black suit
-boat shoes
-couple of sweet polo shirts

 

[garmentmerchant]

oh yeah and my cargo shorts

 

[Film Noir Buff]

Originally Posted by voxsartoria

The common necktie is the most dangerous item of clothing. So seemingly inexpensive. Such a wide variety in sales and in the discount chains. So many colors, fabrics, patterns. And yet, there is near unanimity that one thing learned...to be applied if one started over...is that basic is better, and to trade the number of neckties for the quality of each tie. Does anyone feel differently? - B
One of the problems for me with ties is that i really need one that's about 63-64 inches long. I also like a certain knot size but I only like the FIH knot.

 

[Mr T]

I appreciate this thread. It has given me much to think about as I consider certain changes to my wardrobe.

 

[radicaldog]

A good thread. I'd like to think that I'm halfway in my sartorial evolution (but a newcomer to SF -- been on LL for a while though), and I share many of your thoughts. From the vague consensus that's emerging here it would appear that Mafoofan is the one who's getting it almost right right from the start. I've been trying to do something like that for the past couple of years, but my more limited finances and weaker will keep getting in the way.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

hmm, definetly would have passed on some of the 'screaming deals' i've bought and put tons and tons of money into tailoring only to have it still not look right.

Finally settled on a brand that really fit me well, so i'm happy buy alot of it.

So I've learned not to be so trigger happy with 'deals' and wait for what works.

Paying full retail or near full retail isnt that bad if you will use the clothes alot, compaired to buying a 'deal' and wearing it once in a blue moon.

Not wearing french cuffs on my shirts....

Spend it when it counts alot, spend it!

Buy quality and quantity, but only to the point where you will actually use it. I dont buy super 180's because i wear my favorite clothes often.

When you really like something....buy more then 1!

Odd ball ties....are a waste of money!

Dont over do it. I'm working on exactly how many is enough still, but basically i dont see how someone needs 10+ of the same color/style shirt, Things change, tastes change, keep your sunk costs low.

 

[Alan Bee]

Quite an insightful thread.

The general theme seems to me, a preference for a purist (bespoke) approach to dress. Voxsatoria takes it to the extent of effusively promoting Mafoofan's cautious build-up of an entirely bespoke wardrobe.

Assuming limited resources (and fiscal good-sense), one can add perhaps one or two cornerstone items to thier wardrobe annualy. Typically these would be staple items such as a Navy/Charcoal suit, or a blue blazer.

To my mind, creative learning is a very unstructured (random) process. Permit me to note - and I do not mean to diminish - that Mafoofan's shots often look staid and dull (but not his posts which I think are quite clever). Based on my observation, I could dress him in the dark with my eye's closed. Now, if staid is what one aims for, it is perhaps the right approach. But that to me, defeats the entire prupose of style.

I personally think the whole simplicity thing can be overdone where one entirely looses one's personality/identity. Even the Cary Grant's of the world, while electing a preference for muted/classic tailoring, had a sense of je ne sais qua! Such insticnts, make no mistakes, probably derive from experimentation. I can not imagine that Grant spent his entire life in a dark wardrobe filled with dark bespoke peices and black bespoke Cleverley shoes.

Style is experimentation. It would then seem reasonable that one experiments with "rubber-bullets" as opposed to "live-ammo" (to borrow an analogy). In other words, if I were learning to develop a sense of style, I would do so at the lowest possible cost (as SkiinyGoomba said, minimize sunk cost). But all the same, it would entail using RTW clothing.

Ironically, though I own just one bespoke suit (which I adore), I also own several MTM peices that I prefer much less to some RTW's - in fact I have come to regret some of those purchases despite being tailored by Oxxford and not far off in price from bespoke.

I began this journey 4 years ago and have been quite keen to learn as much as I can. I like to think I have my development has been quite rapid (though I always had an insticnt for dress). I could not have come up the curve as rapidly had I not indulged in RTW clothiong, even when high-priced.

Just my 2 pennies

 

[voxsartoria]

Originally Posted by Alan Bee

Permit me to note - and I do not mean to diminish - that Mafoofan's shots often look staid and dull (but not his posts which I think are quite clever). Based on my observation, I could dress him in the dark with my eye's closed.

Let the news go out throughout the land: I have a crisp $20 for anyone who obtains infrared video of this and posts it on YouTube.

Come on...you know you want that $20.


- B

 

[Fuuma]

Hmm, tastes always change so there's not much point in saying I should have done things differently. If my wardrobe burned and I had to re-start it tomorrow I'm not sure what I'd do as I seek out specific pieces and it's not like most come out more than once. I guess I'd have even less stuff but that's only a function of accumulation over time and I'd probably reach the same point.

A good wardrobe for me right now:


14 white tees (Uniqlo)
14 pair of undies and socks, black or grey (Uniqlo)
3 grey suits (Thom Browne)
2 black suits (Dior Homme or something similar, maybe I'd try bespoke for a change, not much price difference anyway s for me it's a matter of taste)
7 white dress shirts (probably Kent Wang, I like what he made for me, definitely not something too fancy with a lot of handwork and luxe fabric, white poplin and a good fit)
4 ties (black funeral one, marriage one, 1 grey, 1 black by TB)
2 pairs of Corthay Arca (black and a brownish or coloured one for the grey suits)
2 pairs of boots (Vass, black and brown I guess, very forum approved)
1 pair of brown spectators (not sure, I don't own any, I sorta like the EG 202 for those which is a first as I usually dislike EG, maybe a Corthay special order)
1 pair of white Repettos
1 pair of white hi-tops (converse or common project or Balenciaga or whatever)
1 pair of black jeans (Acne max cash or Number(N)ine)
1 pair of blue jeans (APC new standards)
2 dress belts (black and brown, who cares about the maker as long as it's plain)
1 navy or grey overcoat (Haute, Dries, Lanvin, maybe CCP)
1 black trenchcoat (not sure, those I liked the most aren't produced anymore, would have to be cotton and age well)
4 white silk pocket squares (don't care about who makes them)
1 black leather jacket (Rick Owens, Julius, Linea, YSL, Nicolas Andreas Taralis)
5 black double-layered long sleeves (Rick Owens)
1 pair of black gloves (they have to be plain, don't care about maker, maybe Hermès for chicks)
10 sport coats (mix of makers like Lanvin, CCP, Taralis, Junya, CdG, Demeulemeester, Branquinho, etc)
2 v-neck sweaters (grey and blue, slim fit, maybe Margiela but really don't care)
3 black pants, some of them baggy or with "weird" detailing (CCP, LUC, Branquinho, Raf Simons, Ackermann, Individual Sentiments, Margiela, CdG, Bless, Vibskov)
3 scarves (Faliero Sarti, Paul Harnden)
Luggage (Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Guidi)

This actually looks like my wardrobe except I have more stuff and it's better that way. What I just listed would be boring.

Some alternatives: all bespoke stuff, all similar and maybe 6 grey suits, 14 dress shirts, 4 pair of boots and 2 coats 2 scarves etc., or all Margiela/Branquinho/Bruno Pieters/Stephen Schneider quirky Belgian and Eastern Europe stuff. Maybe a full Yohji run

 

[itsstillmatt]

I'd get more blue chambray shirts, and do away with patterned ones. i might go foof and only wear Aldens. I'd get rid of sweaters other than shetland and linen. Otherwise, no real changes.

 

[Fuuma]

Originally Posted by iammatt

I'd get more blue chambray shirts, and do away with patterned ones. i might go foof and only wear Aldens. I'd get rid of sweaters other than shetland and linen. Otherwise, no real changes.

Why Aldens though, why not something less clunky? It's an interesting look but certainly not typical with tappered Italian pants.

 

[ohm]

Originally Posted by Fuuma

Why Aldens though, why not something less clunky? It's an interesting look but certainly not typical with tappered Italian pants.


(NSFW - swearing)

 

[_AMD]

Originally Posted by voxsartoria

Alright, to start things off this morning more in the spirit of A. Harris's original thread in the S&D forum, I am going to post some samples of what is for me best-of-class examples in RTW that I would buy if lighting struck everything that I own now...and also my bespoke tailor.

We will assume full retail, and that when things are too expensive, it just means that you have to get less of it and wait longer to get your pieces together.

1. Dress Shirts: Barba

http://www.krawattenprofi.de/autoimg/BarbaShirt319C.jpg

2. Neckties: Three-way tie among Nicky's and Drake's, and if they have the patterns that you want, Sam Hober.

http://www.drakes-london.com/images/...mpany-home.jpg

3. Odd jackets: Borrelli Linosa/Sorrento.

http://vox.smugmug.com/photos/373146314_N9GK2-L.jpg

4. Odd trousers (wool): Valentini Sartoriale

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8...ipants4vp6.jpg

5. Odd trousers (cotton): Kiton (not a pic, but enjoyable nonetheless...)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3072/...d3a6ddc827.jpg

6. Suits: I can't think of any. No lines wow me. Maybe Crittendon because it is cheap and softly constructed. Does anyone here own one of these new Crittendon suits yet?

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/3479/img0391jq2.jpg

7. Shoes: Vass F and U lasts.

http://www.budapester.de/img_usa/vass.jpg

How about for the rest of you?


- B

This one surprises me a bit coming from you. Given your fantastic (at least imo) Attolini and Marinella ties, I am surprised to see neither on your list. Is there a particular reason for that? Price to vlaue proposition, accessibility, other? Just curious.

Aaron

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by Fuuma

Why Aldens though, why not something less clunky? It's an interesting look but certainly not typical with tappered Italian pants.
No idea. I want to be like the foof? I like Alden shoes, and have pretty small feet in comparison to the rest of me, so they don't look that odd. More than anything, I wish my shoe selection was more simple.

 

[teddieriley]

^^You know what they say about small feet.