Now I have to dress nice - Help

[glenlivet]

I browsed several posts and didn't see anything relevant so please excuse me if this has been posted before. I recently switched jobs and will be working downtown. At my old job, people would show up on Fridays in tee-shirts and one senior technical person would wear velcro sandals (company in the top 10 globally). I was fine in jeans and golf polos for the last 6 years out of school.

Well at the new (smaller) company, they put much more emphasis on dress and although they say business casual, on my first day today around 90% of people were wearing button ups and slacks. I will be honest, I have no idea about fashion or what I am even looking for. I spent the last week looking at online tailors and options as well as reading articles on clothing and fit.

I do have 3 nice dress shirts that were tailor made when visiting a friend in Malaysia. I stopped wearing kakis some time ago but thought I had a pretty good fit from Dockers D1 (slim fit) 34x34. I bought some kirkland 32x32 pants to get me through this week as their 34x34 seemed a bit big for me.

I am 6'3" and around 180 lbs - most clothing is too wide for my height. I work in engineering (some nerdy and some fashion conscious) and my budget is flexible but I assume something like $500-1,000 for 5-10 shirts?

I don't know if I should get custom pants if I am getting nice shirts (feel like a 33" length would fit better)? I suspect I will go back for some dockers. I don't know about all the fashion choices and details (collar style, etc.) - I am starting to panic because anything custom made takes at least 2-3 weeks! How important is it that your clothes match your body type, how do I know what style is appropriate for me (I am would not trust my judgement)? Should I be looking for a local tailor for advice or try the online route (place like modern tailor)? I got overwhelmed by choices last time I was browsing and gave up.

I do know I like french cuff, no pleats, no cuffed pants. Likely wear dress shirt with collar unbuttoned 99% of the time.

Please help!

 

[mensimageconsultant]

Do not try online tailoring. Initial fits often are bad, and an unstylish customer might not even realize that.

$500-$1000 for 5-10 shirts is plenty*. That might as well include a polo shirt (not the golf kind) and some long-sleeve sportshirts. Probably at least one solid navy or gray v-neck cotton or wool sweater, too, if it is not the tropics. The dress shirts should include white, light blue, and checked and horizontally-striped patterns. French cuff is not for business casual. To recommend specific brands, at the minimum upper-body measurements are needed.

Custom pants should not be needed, given that off-the-rack has fit well.

Everything should be examined by a tailor after purchase.

*Frankly, you might as well spend a little of that money on some in-depth help.

 

[ScooberJake]

I am an engineer as well, so I understand the dilemma of how to dress as a style-conscious engineer, swimming in a sea of light-wash jeans and polos, black slacks and white sneakers.

If you want inspiration, I suggest you check out the WAYWRN Casual thread and look at some of the most recent posts.

Online made-to-measure will not happen quickly, and it is not to be taken lightly, as it can require some trial and error. However, Luxire seems to do an excellent job of copying garments that are mailed to them. So if you really want MTM and you have a well-fitting shirt that you can do without for a number of weeks, you can open up a lot of possibilities for yourself. (See Luxire therad.)

In the mean time, it seems to make the most sense to try to find a well-fitting shirt off the rack. If you really want to go MTM, then it seems ok to buy cheap shirts now, although perhaps more economical in the long run to just buy good shirts now. I like to have a rotation of at least two weeks worth of shirts, but you can get away with less.