• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Sartorial slumps.

Bergdorf Goodwill

Distinguished Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2004
Messages
1,223
Reaction score
6
I've been in a pretty bad way of late. Lots of doubts and problems in general. I'm dissatisfied and unhappy and generally downtrodden. It's definitely become obvious in the clothes I've been wearing.

Do you show outward signs of problems through your dress? It's not an intentional thing, I just find myself returning to several items, none of which are look "bad," mind you, just considerably less put-together than I tend to be.

To make a long story short: it's not often I wear a hooded sweatshirt in public. And yet it's been hoodies and T-shirts for a good month or so, with some variation and occasional finer dress as is situationally necessary.

Perhaps I should take the Hamlet/eurotrash route and wrap myself in blackness rather than old band T-shirts.
 

Andrew V.

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2004
Messages
402
Reaction score
1
Hey orbitingio. I'm sorry to hear about your slump, but it is good to see you back online. I'm trying to email you (I think I have your new address) but Gmail is not behaving at the moment.
 

HitMan009

Senior Member
Joined
May 23, 2003
Messages
700
Reaction score
5
orbitingio,

Brighter days will come, you just hang in there. But onto the topic at hand. I do see my manner of dress affected by my mood. On days when it feels deary, I don't really care. I put on shirts that I brought before the advent of Styleforum. Ill fitting, etc.. because I don't feel like "wasting" my more favored clothes for that day. On weekends, if I am out and about doing nothing special or really care about, I just put on some beaten up clothes. I think everything that a person does is all relative and a reflection of the person he/she is at the moment.
 

Bergdorf Goodwill

Distinguished Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2004
Messages
1,223
Reaction score
6
Hey orbitingio.  I'm sorry to hear about your slump, but it is good to see you back online.  I'm trying to email you (I think I have your new address) but Gmail is not behaving at the moment.
Good to hear from you Andrew. If the e-mail thing doesn't work out or you've got the wrong address or something, hit the messenger on this forum and I'll get you the correct address.
 

shoreman1782

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2004
Messages
8,728
Reaction score
6,883
Hey Orbit,

I definitely hear ya. When I was bartending/freelancing last year, it was for awhile either dress code or sweats. Seriously.

Between jobs, I made a point to get up and get dressed (at least ironed shirt/pants) weekdays. It helped me stay on task. It's cheesy, and I'm not trying to give you unsolicited advice, but it worked.

Oh, and ditch the trappings and the suits of woe.

May I ask you how old you are? I'm 24, and I had serious doubts about my professional future when I got out of college a few years ago...
 

uppercase

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2004
Messages
119
Reaction score
0
Dressing well can provide solace and act as armor in a hostile world. It can act as an anchor and point of stability in your life in unstable times. Dressing is something you alone control, when other matters are out of your control.

My advice: keep up your dress and grooming standards, or indeed, enhance them, and face the world tall and well dressed.
 

Luc-Emmanuel

Distinguished Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2005
Messages
1,580
Reaction score
17
orbitingio,
it's good to read you back, I was missing your witty comments in this sometime all too serious forum.

Back on topic, my dress will show my mood of the day, especially when going to work. So it's either suit and tie, or dress pants & knits, depending on my mood and commitment to what I am doing.

Luc
 

Bergdorf Goodwill

Distinguished Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2004
Messages
1,223
Reaction score
6
I'm 20.  I go to a school I hate.  It's a community college, which is essentially my penance for having royally screwed up my first attempt at legitimate higher education a couple of years ago.  I hope to use it as a stepping stone to state school, and move on to a private university from there.  Sounds simple enough, but the matter of actually getting it done will be arduous.

Having experienced it for a couple of days, I think it may be in my best interest to avoid dressing in particularly nice clothes. I can definitely see how it might constitute "putting on airs" in this environment, and the sore thumb factor is already pretty high. It's the sort of place where you feel dressed up because you're wearing a zip cardigan you pulled off the floor in the morning. The ratio of people wearing some form of Looney Toons-related apparel to people who are not is considerably higher than you would find in an average sample of people.
 

uppercase

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2004
Messages
119
Reaction score
0
Wear your good clothes, my friend, and keep up the standard.

Soon your situation will change, but you have to maintain standards until then.
 

familyman

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2005
Messages
218
Reaction score
1
Just coming out of a several year slump where I had lost my way. The transition from college to real work upset my rythm. I had a distinct unique style in college, it worked well and I felt well dressed and appropriate every day. However that style wasn't appropriate for a work environment so I swapped to a polo and chinos when in the office and always felt like I was wearing someone else's clothes. 18 months of work and then a new career as a stay at home dad, again, disaster. It was only after 2 children and 2.5 years of this job that I really looked around and decided I needed to fix myself. Now getting up, showering, shaving and picking out clothes that fit, that are clean, and that look good on me is my routine ever morning. I'm setting a better example for my kids, my wife is impressed, and I do my job better. That is I keep myself to higher standards when I'm better dressed. I keep the house cleaner, I cook more elaborate meals, I wash the car more. It seems for me that my clothes lead me. When I'm better dressed society expects more out of me and I deliver. When I'm a slob I just don't try as hard.
Dress as the man you want to be, then hold yourself to the standards of that dress for the day. It can do wonders for pulling you out of a slump.
 

Etruscan

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2004
Messages
135
Reaction score
0
Words to live by: "Good clothes open all doors." Mind you, not new clothes or fashionable clothes, necessarily, but good clothes. Any questions?
wink.gif
 

johnapril

Distinguished Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2004
Messages
5,600
Reaction score
11
Remodeling requires wearing crappy clothing. And so does soldering. Tiling. Et cetera. Oh, and ranching. And shooting rattlesnakes.
 

j

(stands for Jerk)
Admin
Spamminator Moderator
Joined
Feb 17, 2002
Messages
14,663
Reaction score
105
Remodeling requires wearing crappy clothing.
Tell me about it. One of the only things I dislike about my job is that I have to wear scruffy clothes I don't care about too much, because inevitably if I were to wear something nice I would have to run out to a muddy jobsite or help out with some kneeling-type task. Then when I get off work, I'm still wearing the same stuff, I get home and I get too comfortable. And thus lazy.

When I wear better clothes, I am just as comfortable but my posture is better, my energy level is higher, I care more about.. well... everything. I get more done.

If you have the opportunity to dress better, do it. If it requires mustering up a large amount of energy all at once to clean, iron, hang up and pick out your whole week's wardrobe ahead of time, do that. I know when I have to think about it in an already rushed morning, I default to some stuff that's just not my best and I feel the effects the rest of the day.
 

Carlo

Distinguished Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2003
Messages
1,021
Reaction score
5
FWIW...

Been there, done that, wore the same tee shirt for a few days straight.

If I might suggest... Get to the gym and get your diet healthy, knock off the booze, wear your nicer clothes...

Somewhat superficial but getting in shape and forcing yourself to put on your best face gives you a quick/easy confidence boost.

Oh - and the real cure is coming. It's March, you are likely sick to death of winter and lack of sunlight. Whatever the chemical thing is with sunlight and winter blahs runs in my family so I am sure to get some sun and fresh air during the winter... in a couple weeks it will be warm and sunny and time to break out the linen (already out here) and there is no way you can be down wearing a crisp Irish linen shirt on a balmy spring day....

....and if that doesn't do the trick, miniskirts and shorts will return on the ladies in a few weeks. A Short skirt above shapely legs will make you smile, a halter top and bicycle shorts on a 250 pound woman will make you laugh - ya can't lose.

Sorry, I'm one of those obnoxiously optimistic 'glass is 1% full' types.
 

Manton

RINO
Joined
Apr 20, 2002
Messages
41,314
Reaction score
2,879
The key to deriving happiness through clothing is to always have at least one suit in the works. That way, you always have something to look forward to. Plus, you have to work so hard to pay your tailor's bills that you won't have time to be depressed.
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 35.5%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 60 38.7%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 17 11.0%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 27 17.4%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 28 18.1%

Forum statistics

Threads
505,162
Messages
10,579,065
Members
223,883
Latest member
Darru
Top