Soon-to-be College grad needs advice!

[COS]

I will be graduating from college this upcoming May, and have a teaching job lined up to start the following August.

As a college student, my wardrobe consists primarily of t-shirts and jeans, with athletic shoes and flip-flops.

I own one dark grey suit that my parents bought for me when I was in high school, and it still fits.

I also own a button-down shirt and tie and a pair of dress shoes that I wear with the suit when I wear it – to funerals, weddings, and those rare occasions when I might go to Church.

However, I’m starting to think quite a bit about the future. I’m going to be a real adult now, and have an actual profession. I need to start dressing the part.

I’ve gotten some money, gift cards, etc. for Christmas that I’d like to put towards building my adult wardrobe. My birthday is coming up soon, and then right after that will be graduation, so I’d like to make those events work towards my adult wardrobe’s advantage as well.

So, here are the factors that will effect what I get:

I really don’t have alot of money, and when I do start my job, I won’t be making much money (everyone knows how underpaid teachers are), and what I will be making does have to cover all of my expenses.

I’m ready & willing to completely reinvent myself, and establish a new personal sense of style & taste that I can maintain for the rest of my life.

I will be a high school teacher. The dress-code for teachers at the school that I will be working at is pretty basic, and states that men are to wear collared shirts tucked into trousers/pants (not jeans) with a belt and close-toed shoes with socks.

As I’m young and will be teaching students that are – in some cases – only about 5 years younger than me, I need for my new wardrobe to help me create that boundary between us, that distinguishes me as a mature, responsible, respectable adult authority figure.

I also need it to help me get my colleagues who are old enough to be my parents or even grandparents to take me seriously as an equal.

My job will require me to be fairly physically active while still adhering to the dress code, so I’ll need pretty durable clothes.
I’ll also be spending quite a bit of time outside or in un-air-conditioned buildings, and where I live (in the Southeastern United States) it is usually extremely hot, and rains somewhat frequently as well.

I’d like for my new wardrobe to be extremely versatile – I want my new clothes to be clothes that I can wear to work, out to eat (with friends or with a date), out to the movies or shopping, out to bars and clubs at night, and even to Church (I think that I’m going to start going regularly now).

I’m still young, and don’t want to dress like an old man. I know that I should be avoiding trends, fads, etc., but I can’t help but want to look “cool” according to the standards of other people around my age.

I’m single and heterosexual and I want to attract girls my age and maybe even a little bit younger (girls that are still in college will be fine with me).

I’m a pretty casual, laid-back, fun-loving, easy-going person, and I want my wardrobe to reflect that. I want to be approachable, not intimidating.

I’m also extremely thin (about average height, though), and – I think – oddly proportioned. It’s not always easy for me to find clothes that I think fit right.

I need stuff that is easy to take care of. As much machine-washable stuff as possible would be great.

I try to look around at stores and even online, but I’m just so confused and overwhelmed by everything that is available.

On top of that, what I see and like that makes me think “I want to look like that guy” completely goes against my goals – guys in tweed jackets with elbow patches and cable-knit cardigans. Sort of like the professor look or maybe an English country gentleman. But, like I said, that doesn’t really seem to fit in with my goals! Maybe part of it is that I’ve always preferred browns, tans, and beiges to blacks and greys.

So, here’s the part where I ask for help from everyone and anyone that can help and is willing to do so.

What are the main things that I should be concentrating on getting?

Where do I need to be looking to make sure that I get what I need but stay within my price range?

If you could even just make a shopping list for me, that would be great!

I know that there are tons of other questions that I should be asking, and I have an idea about some of them but just can’t seem to put them into words. I’m sure that there’s probably also more information that I should be giving you.

Any and all advice and guidance is greatly appreciated, and if I need to give more information to help you help me, please ask.

Thank you very much!

 

[hangthree]

In addition to browsing this forum, you might want to check out Will's blog 'A suitable wardrobe".

Here are some of good posts on the topic of building a wardrobe:

http://asuitablewardrobe.dynend.com/...be-basics.html

http://asuitablewardrobe.dynend.com/...raduation.html

Good luck!

 

[yo!]

I would start by learning how to format your writings.

How about paragraphs with actual spaces between thoughts not just hitting enter.

I (and many others) won't even read a post if it is as confusing as yours is laid out.

 

[jta1188]

First off I'd find out my measurements if I were you, as you'll need them to get the best bargains--which are almost always online.

As far as collared shirts, I'd recommend going to a local Polo Ralph Lauren factory outlet and picking up some polos and button downs, as they often have them at decent prices and sometimes have good sales. TJ Maxx and Marshall's sometimes have brand name polos as well.

I like Bill's khakis as far as versatile khakis are concerned. I prefer Zanellas for dressier trousers.

Just make sure you have a few basic suits (navy, charcoal, navy stripe and charcoal stripe) and a few interchangeable belt/shoe combinations.

 

[Michael Ay329]

Merino wool vests from Men's Wearhouse are an important item of clothing
http://search.menswearhouse.com/?bmF...710c68a6044208

All my suits are 3 piece vested bespoke jobs so I can wear to court...but I bought a pair of merino wool vests the other day I love their versatility

For example, on a newer blue pin stripped suit, I can leave its matching vest at home and put on a royal blue vest (when I'm not doing a criminal jury trial)

That vest is something which can easily add some age "distance" between you and your students and would not look out of place

Add 3-4 corduroy trousers matched with button shirts and the vest and you have a nice look for a male teacher.

LLBean and Eddie Bauer online should have a plethora of cotton chamois or flannel shirts to go with the trousers

Add another 2 corduroy jackets to mix and match with your odd trousers and vests and you have a the look of a teacher which your students can appreciate and your colleagues will respect as appropriate.

 

[sloane3]

Originally Posted by COS

I will be graduating from college this upcoming May, and have a teaching job lined up to start the following August.
As a college student, my wardrobe consists primarily of t-shirts and jeans, with athletic shoes and flip-flops.
I own one dark grey suit that my parents bought for me when I was in high school, and it still fits.
I also own a button-down shirt and tie and a pair of dress shoes that I wear with the suit when I wear it - to funerals, weddings, and those rare occasions when I might go to Church.
However, I'm starting to think quite a bit about the future. I'm going to be a real adult now, and have an actual profession. I need to start dressing the part.
I've gotten some money, gift cards, etc. for Christmas that I'd like to put towards building my adult wardrobe. My birthday is coming up soon, and then right after that will be graduation, so I'd like to make those events work towards my adult wardrobe's advantage as well.
So, here are the factors that will effect what I get:
I really don't have alot of money, and when I do start my job, I won't be making much money (everyone knows how underpaid teachers are), and what I will be making does have to cover all of my expenses.
I'm ready & willing to completely reinvent myself, and establish a new personal sense of style & taste that I can maintain for the rest of my life.
I will be a high school teacher. The dress-code for teachers at the school that I will be working at is pretty basic, and states that men are to wear collared shirts tucked into trousers/pants (not jeans) with a belt and close-toed shoes with socks.
As I'm young and will be teaching students that are - in some cases - only about 5 years younger than me, I need for my new wardrobe to help me create that boundary between us, that distinguishes me as a mature, responsible, respectable adult authority figure.
I also need it to help me get my colleagues who are old enough to be my parents or even grandparents to take me seriously as an equal.
My job will require me to be fairly physically active while still adhering to the dress code, so I'll need pretty durable clothes.
I'll also be spending quite a bit of time outside or in un-air-conditioned buildings, and where I live (in the Southeastern United States) it is usually extremely hot, and rains somewhat frequently as well.
I'd like for my new wardrobe to be extremely versatile - I want my new clothes to be clothes that I can wear to work, out to eat (with friends or with a date), out to the movies or shopping, out to bars and clubs at night, and even to Church (I think that I'm going to start going regularly now).
I'm still young, and don't want to dress like an old man. I know that I should be avoiding trends, fads, etc., but I can't help but want to look "cool" according to the standards of other people around my age.
I'm single and heterosexual and I want to attract girls my age and maybe even a little bit younger (girls that are still in college will be fine with me).
I'm a pretty casual, laid-back, fun-loving, easy-going person, and I want my wardrobe to reflect that. I want to be approachable, not intimidating.
I'm also extremely thin (about average height, though), and - I think - oddly proportioned. It's not always easy for me to find clothes that I think fit right.
I need stuff that is easy to take care of. As much machine-washable stuff as possible would be great.
I try to look around at stores and even online, but I'm just so confused and overwhelmed by everything that is available.
On top of that, what I see and like that makes me think "I want to look like that guy" completely goes against my goals - guys in tweed jackets with elbow patches and cable-knit cardigans. Sort of like the professor look or maybe an English country gentleman. But, like I said, that doesn't really seem to fit in with my goals! Maybe part of it is that I've always preferred browns, tans, and beiges to blacks and greys.
So, here's the part where I ask for help from everyone and anyone that can help and is willing to do so.
What are the main things that I should be concentrating on getting?
Where do I need to be looking to make sure that I get what I need but stay within my price range?
If you could even just make a shopping list for me, that would be great!
I know that there are tons of other questions that I should be asking, and I have an idea about some of them but just can't seem to put them into words. I'm sure that there's probably also more information that I should be giving you.
Any and all advice and guidance is greatly appreciated, and if I need to give more information to help you help me, please ask.
Thank you very much!

I purchased several years ago, from a gallery/collectibles type shop in an arts district, a quirky sterling screwball key ring with the little house screwed on one end and the skeleton key loop on the other. These features are exactly those of the Tiffany Sterling Screwball House and Key Key Ring. In fact, when I lost the little house the first time, I ordered a replacement from Tiffany's in NY and it fit perfectly. My key ring has a faint "TIFFANY & CO" and the ".925" visible on the shaft, as it should. However, it's a funky design, with the shaft for the keys to be strung on basically a twisted "S" design, rather than the standard and classic horseshoe shape, as Tiffany's House and Key Key Ring shown on their website and replicated in fakes currently is.
When I had acquired this key ring - and the shop owner had said she had a cousin who worked for Tiffany's in NY who frequently brought her things to sell (she had a few others and some Tiffany boxes) - I thought I had seen other house and key key rings of this design on eBay and elsewhere on the web, but now I'm not so sure. I went in Tiffany's in London last July and saw their house and key key rings; I don't recall if theirs was the horseshoe shape but it doesn't stand out in my memory it wasn't shaped like mine. Noticing the one currently on Tiffany's website, for $100, is the standard horseshoe shape got me to thinking - are there others like mine or was mine melted and twisted in this odd way for some reason? Since this has begun to tax my mind I've contacted several at Tiffany's in NY and they haven't found a record of their producing and selling the key ring in my "S" version, though true research would be a large fee and not worth it to me. Meanwhile, I can't now find any "S" shaped ones on eBay or through other sellers on the web. Even all the fakes I've seen on the web are horseshoe shaped.
Does anyone ever recall seeing a Tiffany Sterling Screwball House and Key Key Ring with the shaft a twisted "S?" I can't easily post a photo but surely you can imagine an "S" rather than a horshoe shape. The standard Tiffany design is shown in the following link, which I hope appears here:
http://www.tiffany.ca/shopping/item....menu=4&page=36
Mine certainly does seem to be real sterling (surely; I even polish it occasionally) and from Tiffany. Just want to know if others were made like it - if Tiffany intended some to be this design. It not, how on earth was mine made into this shape?
The gist of this is: I've been very happy to know my key ring is a true Tiffany design and I like it even more because it's the quirky, twisted "S" shape, but now I really wonder....:confused
Just acquired almost on the spur of the moment a pair of men's black Gucci loafers from a vintage clothing shop. Is there someone out there really sufficiently familiar with Gucci loafers to answer a few questions?
These are absolutely authentic, I'm sure. They still have leather soles with the Gucci logo on them and they have it inside, etc. I'm wondering about the metal decoration. It's not the standard decoration I see on recent Gucci loafers or another one I'm finding on some recent more casual Gucci shoes (nor the one with the red and green either, though the lady had one of those too from the same man), but a chain type of thing with the loops on both ends.
This metal is a bright gold color (assumably brass), even though the shoes are obviously well worn (that is evident from the soles and heels; the leather, a very simple, classic design, looks quite excellent) but is still very bright and new looking.
Questions: I can keep looking on websites, etc., of course, but right now does anyone know if Gucci made these loafers over the years with the metal decoration of various designs, such as sort of "rope?" I assumed so when I purchased these yesterday (and who knows - they could be as old as the '60s or '70s), but now looking on the web I'm not so far finding anything other than the usual few designs. So I'm wondering if something happened to the original metal decoration and these are recent replacements. Second, could Gucci loafers have a bright metal such as this? If it's brass, and I hope it is, it would have to have been laquered, I'd assume. Can't quite picture someone trying to keep polishing the decoration. A nuisance to use black shoe polish with, too, but that's how all of these loafers are. Somehow I picture a more antiqued-type brass for a Gucci loafer. Or perhaps just a brass that acquires a patina which no one wants to remove.
Ideas, please, and sorry - I don't have a good means of taking a digital photo but surely you can picture a simple rope chain sort of thing with the two C-shaped loops....

 

[COS]

Originally Posted by yo!

I would start by learning how to format your writings. How about paragraphs with actual spaces between thoughts not just hitting enter. I (and many others) won't even read a post if it is as confusing as yours is laid out.
As I might would say to my (future) students, "Ok, is there a nicer way that we could say that? Maybe something less abrasive and provocative?" I'm very sorry that you (and many others, apparently) find this format so off-putting. As an English major, I can tell you that it is completely acceptable (according to most style guides) to neither indent the first line of a paragraph, nor double-space between paragraphs, particularly in informal writings. I believe I recall that one of the style guides even cited internet posts and e-mails as examples of acceptable contexts for this. I have been posting regularly on many other forums for quite a few years, including some of a more literary nature, and you are the first person to voice such a complaint. In fact, on some forums, my posts are read by quite a few people. However, in deference to your seniority as a forum member, and in recognition of the fact that you are clearly quite upset by this (or perhaps something else), I will go back and edit my post so as to make it more palatable to you and the others to whom you made reference. Now as far as your suggestion that I "start by learning how to format (my) writings," I'll decline to correct your grammar; sentence structure; poor choices as far as tense, conjugation, and punctuation; etc.; and just ask you how learning to format my writing (a task which has been a considerable part of the past couple of years of my life) serve as a good start to building an appropriate wardrobe for myself in the future? That was what I was asking in my post, but I understand that you may not have read most of it, as it was not formatted to your liking, and as such you seem to have found reading it intolerable. I apologize for any stress that I may have caused you. I assure you that it was not intentional. Please forgive me. I am also extremely grateful to all the forum members who were able to read my post and respond to it in a helpful manner, despite my atrocious formatting. PS As I was finishing typing this post, I pulled a few classic books by well-known authors (put out by prominent publishers) off of my bookshelf. I discovered that none of them were formatted to your liking. If you want, I can make a list so that you can avoid purchasing them or making any attempt to read them. I also found this to be the case with all of my textbooks.

 

[HomerJ]

 

[jta1188]

Originally Posted by COS

As I might would say to my (future) students, "Ok, is there a nicer way that we could say that? Maybe something less abrasive and provocative?"

I'm very sorry that you (and many others, apparently) find this format so off-putting.

As an English major, I can tell you that it is completely acceptable (according to most style guides) to neither indent the first line of a paragraph, nor double-space between paragraphs, particularly in informal writings. I believe I recall that one of the style guides even cited internet posts and e-mails as examples of acceptable contexts for this.

I have been posting regularly on many other forums for quite a few years, including some of a more literary nature, and you are the first person to voice such a complaint. In fact, on some forums, my posts are read by quite a few people.

However, in deference to your seniority as a forum member, and in recognition of the fact that you are clearly quite upset by this (or perhaps something else), I will go back and edit my post so as to make it more palatable to you and the others to whom you made reference.

Now as far as your suggestion that I "start by learning how to format (my) writings," I'll decline to correct your grammar; sentence structure; poor choices as far as tense, conjugation, and punctuation; etc.; and just ask you how learning to format my writing (a task which has been a considerable part of the past couple of years of my life) serve as a good start to building an appropriate wardrobe for myself in the future?

That was what I was asking in my post, but I understand that you may not have read most of it, as it was not formatted to your liking, and as such you seem to have found reading it intolerable.


I apologize for any stress that I may have caused you. I assure you that it was not intentional. Please forgive me.

I am also extremely grateful to all the forum members who were able to read my post and respond to it in a helpful manner, despite my atrocious formatting.

PS As I was finishing typing this post, I pulled a few classic books by well-known authors (put out by prominent publishers) off of my bookshelf. I discovered that none of them were formatted to your liking. If you want, I can make a list so that you can avoid purchasing them or making any attempt to read them.

I also found this to be the case with all of my textbooks.


If you post here with any regularity, you'll find some very helpful advice coupled with some very ill-mannered replies. Sometimes you just have to take the good with the bad: glance over them and move on--don't waste your time trying to make others see things your way, because they likely never will. That being said, it probably is easier to read and respond to your posts if you space between the thoughts. Other than that, welcome to the forum and I hope you find what you're looking for!

 

[Reborn]

Originally Posted by COS

As I might would say to my (future) students, "Ok, is there a nicer way that we could say that? Maybe something less abrasive and provocative?"

I'm very sorry that you (and many others, apparently) find this format so off-putting.

As an English major, I can tell you that it is completely acceptable (according to most style guides) to neither indent the first line of a paragraph, nor double-space between paragraphs, particularly in informal writings. I believe I recall that one of the style guides even cited internet posts and e-mails as examples of acceptable contexts for this.

I have been posting regularly on many other forums for quite a few years, including some of a more literary nature, and you are the first person to voice such a complaint. In fact, on some forums, my posts are read by quite a few people.

However, in deference to your seniority as a forum member, and in recognition of the fact that you are clearly quite upset by this (or perhaps something else), I will go back and edit my post so as to make it more palatable to you and the others to whom you made reference.

Now as far as your suggestion that I "start by learning how to format (my) writings," I'll decline to correct your grammar; sentence structure; poor choices as far as tense, conjugation, and punctuation; etc.; and just ask you how learning to format my writing (a task which has been a considerable part of the past couple of years of my life) serve as a good start to building an appropriate wardrobe for myself in the future?

That was what I was asking in my post, but I understand that you may not have read most of it, as it was not formatted to your liking, and as such you seem to have found reading it intolerable.


I apologize for any stress that I may have caused you. I assure you that it was not intentional. Please forgive me.

I am also extremely grateful to all the forum members who were able to read my post and respond to it in a helpful manner, despite my atrocious formatting.

PS As I was finishing typing this post, I pulled a few classic books by well-known authors (put out by prominent publishers) off of my bookshelf. I discovered that none of them were formatted to your liking. If you want, I can make a list so that you can avoid purchasing them or making any attempt to read them.

I also found this to be the case with all of my textbooks.

Internet etiquette. You needs some y0!

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

you mentioned tweed jackets.

that will definetly seperate you from the high school level kids, you'll most likely appear to be in your later 20's in a well fitting tweed jacket.

I'm 24, i'm not shy on wearing tweed, its preppy, but definelty works when done right.

Infact for a high school teacher, i think you're best look would be button down dress shirts, cotton pants and possibly some cords, and tweed jackets.

 

[js4design]

not style advice per say, but my advice to a soon-to-be college grad is to stay for another semester or two. you really don't want to be looking for a new job right now...

 

[modagg]

Originally Posted by COS

I'm single and heterosexual and I want to attract girls my age and maybe even a little bit younger

Teaching HS is just the place to find impressionable young girls. Hey Yo

 

[rdawson808]

I first taught at the age of 22 to college students (TA-ing obviously). Even less of an age difference. Then I had my own classes at 27. So I feel this need to set yourself apart.

You'd be amazed at how much a tie will do it. Nothing else, just a tie.

b

 

[Millerp]

Originally Posted by rdawson808

You'd be amazed at how much a tie will do it. Nothing else, just a tie. b
+1