misterellington
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2014
- Messages
- 194
- Reaction score
- 117
You know, I joined this site/resource not terribly long ago as I've been in “Wardrobe Revamp” mode thanks to a doctor-dictated weight loss of more than sixty pounds earlier this year (He went totally “Dr. House” on me—blood pressure was a bit high for the first time ever and I was over 260 pounds. He cursed me out. Seriously.). I'd always considered myself a somewhat fashionable guy. My father was in show business and taught us four boys all about how to spot quality clothes...what to look for...what worked and what didn't, etc.
The funny thing I discovered after living a good chunk of adult life was how not just my but my brothers saw our clothing styles—what we wore/where we got it—evolved. Every seven to ten years or so, we'd kind of move to a new plateau in terms of clothing quality. Coming up in the Disco era, we followed a bit of what Daddy taught us, but admittedly got caught up in some of the trendiness and with that, some of the inattention to lasting high quality. Even so, I'd note the plateauing every so often and that was a good thing. I haunted discount stores like the late, lamented Daffy's here on the east coast where I gorged on mostly mid-tier items—suits, blazers and shirts with the occasional awesome semi-expensive (for my dutifully-paying-child-support-for-two-awesome-kids-and-a-student-loan budget) find that'd blow the mid-tiered stuff out of the water—the occasional Polo RL, Ferré, Les Copians or Jil Sander piece. But alas, I couldn't afford that level of gear every time I shopped.
And then I got fat. Went up three sizes. Neck went to 18 inches. XXL on sportswear. Even my shoes got bigger as gravity squashed my feet outward, Yecch. When you get that big, even if you WANT to dress nicely, you can't find decent gear in those sizes. So, the doc goes off on me, I set my mind to getting better and I do,
Now I can only fit the slimmer-sized good stuff I kept, always hoping someday I'd get healthy enough to get back into it. Everything else was grossly oversized now. My wife held up a tremendous XXL sport shirt I was chucking and waved it around like the flag in “Les Miserables” to show how big it was. Now, I had to restock my wardrobe.
And it seemed that with the dearth of brick and mortar sources these days to go look for nice things in, with my online searches for info on all things nice about mens clothing, most of the links pointed to articles here at Styleforum. Oh yes, there were other places that came up with some frequency, but THIS place seemed to have the widest range of opinions, the best opinions and the most varied knowledge about how and where and what to pay for great men's clothing. It got so that I would add “styleforum” as a suffix to searches I'd make. It was HERE where I learned more about the differences between a name designer/manufacturer and a great designer/manufacturer, who makes what for who, and where and how to get these upper-mid-tier to top tier items.
In the last three months, I've spent perhaps $2500, but managed to get multiple, amazing, gently used signature pieces by Canali, Belvest, Gieves & Hawkes, Cantarelli, Bijan, Polo RL, Zegna (Standalone and for Dunhill), Ferré, Brooks Brothers and Charles Tyrwhitt, just to name a few. This grade of clothing feels amazing. They're a joy to put on and I've learned that while I'm NOT spending the full price on these amazing items I've learned about reading this site in absorptive stealth mode, their retail cost actually does mean something. Again, that difference between “name designers/manufacturers and great designers/manufacturers” and why some of these things cost what they cost at retailI is the lesson I've taken from this place. As well as creative ways to nab these pieces I never thought I'd be able to afford.
It's an awesome NEW plateau and its a great feeling to have gotten there relatively painlessly thanks to the wisdom, humor, banter and passion shared here. My longtime tailor actually took the time to tell me yesterday that it was a pleasure to work on such nice items and that I'd have them for many, many years thanks to their quality. he noted the dramatic uptick in what I've been bringing him of late. He complimented me on the trajectory of my taste.
Most importantly, IT FEELS GOOD wearing top of the line clothes—especially when one isn't rupturing plastic to pay for it, but the main thing is how nice REALLY NICE clothing feels on a body. I've already thanked my doctor for getting me in the headspace to get well and get a better body, and I THANK YOU STYLE FORUM and all of you here—the legion of passionate and knowledgeable members for helping teach me more about and how to inexpensively get gorgeous, opulent clothes for this new, better body of mine.
I'm still soaking it all up, but I will begin to contribute regularly now. I feel THAT good about what the site is and what it means to me.
Best,
Misterellington
The funny thing I discovered after living a good chunk of adult life was how not just my but my brothers saw our clothing styles—what we wore/where we got it—evolved. Every seven to ten years or so, we'd kind of move to a new plateau in terms of clothing quality. Coming up in the Disco era, we followed a bit of what Daddy taught us, but admittedly got caught up in some of the trendiness and with that, some of the inattention to lasting high quality. Even so, I'd note the plateauing every so often and that was a good thing. I haunted discount stores like the late, lamented Daffy's here on the east coast where I gorged on mostly mid-tier items—suits, blazers and shirts with the occasional awesome semi-expensive (for my dutifully-paying-child-support-for-two-awesome-kids-and-a-student-loan budget) find that'd blow the mid-tiered stuff out of the water—the occasional Polo RL, Ferré, Les Copians or Jil Sander piece. But alas, I couldn't afford that level of gear every time I shopped.
And then I got fat. Went up three sizes. Neck went to 18 inches. XXL on sportswear. Even my shoes got bigger as gravity squashed my feet outward, Yecch. When you get that big, even if you WANT to dress nicely, you can't find decent gear in those sizes. So, the doc goes off on me, I set my mind to getting better and I do,
Now I can only fit the slimmer-sized good stuff I kept, always hoping someday I'd get healthy enough to get back into it. Everything else was grossly oversized now. My wife held up a tremendous XXL sport shirt I was chucking and waved it around like the flag in “Les Miserables” to show how big it was. Now, I had to restock my wardrobe. And it seemed that with the dearth of brick and mortar sources these days to go look for nice things in, with my online searches for info on all things nice about mens clothing, most of the links pointed to articles here at Styleforum. Oh yes, there were other places that came up with some frequency, but THIS place seemed to have the widest range of opinions, the best opinions and the most varied knowledge about how and where and what to pay for great men's clothing. It got so that I would add “styleforum” as a suffix to searches I'd make. It was HERE where I learned more about the differences between a name designer/manufacturer and a great designer/manufacturer, who makes what for who, and where and how to get these upper-mid-tier to top tier items.
In the last three months, I've spent perhaps $2500, but managed to get multiple, amazing, gently used signature pieces by Canali, Belvest, Gieves & Hawkes, Cantarelli, Bijan, Polo RL, Zegna (Standalone and for Dunhill), Ferré, Brooks Brothers and Charles Tyrwhitt, just to name a few. This grade of clothing feels amazing. They're a joy to put on and I've learned that while I'm NOT spending the full price on these amazing items I've learned about reading this site in absorptive stealth mode, their retail cost actually does mean something. Again, that difference between “name designers/manufacturers and great designers/manufacturers” and why some of these things cost what they cost at retailI is the lesson I've taken from this place. As well as creative ways to nab these pieces I never thought I'd be able to afford.
It's an awesome NEW plateau and its a great feeling to have gotten there relatively painlessly thanks to the wisdom, humor, banter and passion shared here. My longtime tailor actually took the time to tell me yesterday that it was a pleasure to work on such nice items and that I'd have them for many, many years thanks to their quality. he noted the dramatic uptick in what I've been bringing him of late. He complimented me on the trajectory of my taste.
Most importantly, IT FEELS GOOD wearing top of the line clothes—especially when one isn't rupturing plastic to pay for it, but the main thing is how nice REALLY NICE clothing feels on a body. I've already thanked my doctor for getting me in the headspace to get well and get a better body, and I THANK YOU STYLE FORUM and all of you here—the legion of passionate and knowledgeable members for helping teach me more about and how to inexpensively get gorgeous, opulent clothes for this new, better body of mine.
I'm still soaking it all up, but I will begin to contribute regularly now. I feel THAT good about what the site is and what it means to me.
Best,
Misterellington
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