If you had to start over tomorrow...

[Gus]

I wouldn't change much at all

Get quality classics and then pick up a few fun fashionable pieces from time to time to add a little zip. Spend money on tailoring to fit your body.

 

[voxsartoria]

Originally Posted by _AMD

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

Hmm. You raise a good point. I guess that I like them all.

- B

 

[scruff]

All ties would be pin-dot. 3.25" wide silks, linens and cottons in the spring-summer. 3.5" wide cashmeres and wools in fall-winter.

 

[voxsartoria]

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.

And the student shall become the master.

What next? WII Fit?

Now that I think about it, though, I think that Aldens are still about a quarter of my shoes...


- B

 

[_AMD]

Originally Posted by voxsartoria

Hmm. You raise a good point. I guess that I like them all.

- B

And now we know how your closet arrived at the state that you described earlier in this thread.

I think, to answer your initial question, I would first need to enlist the services of a highly competent plastic surgeon. That way, I might actually stand a chance of looking good in whatever it is that I might purchase. One of the big problems that I have is seeing the clothes that the regulars post on here. Most of them look so very good. So, I make note of the items that they are wearing since they appear to be of quality in terms of both construction and asthetics. The problem comes when I buy, or try that item for myself. Generally, it looks hideous. It's not because the clothes look bad, but rather the model.

I, like others, feel that quality over quantity is the way to go. I have a problem determining that quality, however. Part due to lack of experience, and part due lack of available products that I can actually touch.

So, I think that the first order of business would be to find a sartorial mentor. Someone with experience and expertise in the field that could come with me when shopping. Their trained eye would be very helpful in making smarter/better purchases.

Aaron

 

[ManofKent]

Facinating thread. I don't feel I've been oing this long enough to say I'd make many changes. I've bought the odd thing that was a mistake, but cheaply so far. "Regrets, I've had a few... I did it my way"

 

[Fuuma]

Let's start over!

 

[mikemas22]

Originally Posted by voxsartoria

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

Vox, I love you

 

[gatordad]

Great posts,

While I have learned a great deal from Sf in regard to what to purchase, in my heart I know an improved workout routine will improve my sartorial style exponentially.
Gatordad

 

[TheFoo]

Originally Posted by Alan Bee

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.

. . .

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.
. . .

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.

I agree that style requires experimentation. But I disagree that commitment to a narrow way of doing things is necessarily less experimental or less risky than variety. After all, if you wear only one kind of shoe, and you are wrong, you are really wrong.

As far as looking staid: I like staid. Most of the stuff I see around here is way too crazy for my preferences. But that's just me.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

I like Mafoo's idea on this one, and I've been doing something very similar, but not to the same extreme.

In prior years i would buy many many different styles, brands, cuts, ect of everything and overall they didnt flow well together and very few looks really worked great.

So i've been narrowing it down to brands, and having everything tailored the same way, and finding a few different shoes that really work, along with a few colors of shirts that really work.

Makes life much easier.

 

[polar-lemon]

Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba

I like Mafoo's idea on this one, and I've been doing something very similar, but not to the same extreme.

In prior years i would buy many many different styles, brands, cuts, ect of everything and overall they didnt flow well together and very few looks really worked great.

So i've been narrowing it down to brands, and having everything tailored the same way, and finding a few different shoes that really work, along with a few colors of shirts that really work.

Makes life much easier.

+1, elegance is simplicity.

 

[voxsartoria]

Originally Posted by polar-lemon

+1, elegance is simplicity.

- B

 

[polar-lemon]

Originally Posted by voxsartoria

- B

Drape at its best, eh?

 

[srivats]

Originally Posted by mafoofan

I agree that style requires experimentation. But I disagree that commitment to a narrow way of doing things is necessarily less experimental or less risky than variety. After all, if you wear only one kind of shoe, and you are wrong, you are really wrong.

As far as looking staid: I like staid. Most of the stuff I see around here is way too crazy for my preferences. But that's just me.

Bingo. Well said.

My learning has been the hard way - when I look back at what I wear today and what I used to wear 4-5 years back, I feel stupid. But the learning process has been kinda enjoyable and I would not give it up. I still have a long way to go in terms of getting that wardrobe I envision, but I have an idea of what I want and how I want to look - reaching there and knowing for sure is a whole another stoty. I think that is 50% of the learning.

I don't know who said it or where I read this, but it is very true: dressing well should not turn heads - if it does, then you haven't dressed well. Many people here dress stylishly, but only few dress well. Vox and Mafoo are amongst the few here who have understood this clearly.

I do understand Mafoo's way of doing things and I respect it a lot. To me, consistency is a key aspect of dressing well - and this where I slightly diverge from Mafoo's philosophy - I believe that consistency can coexist cohesively with variety. As Mafoo just said, even a "staid" approach takes time and effort. Add variety (without being conspicuos) to the equation and you have increased the complexity 100x. It is not impossible to accomplish - as Vox has demonstrated this many times over. But it takes time, effort and resources (until it becomes natural to you). Many people get lost in the process, and their looks end up being stranded - not wrong but definitely not right. A lot of tie/PS or pants/shoe combos on the WARYWRN thread show this. But again, most of us here are still learning and comments from others expedite the process. What I am trying to say is, caution is needed not to get trapped in the name of the game and lose what you want to do, but that is true for everything in life.

No learning can come without mistakes, and I am happy to make mistakes as long my learning continues. I hope that 5 years from now when I look back, I don't feel as stupid as I feel now.