Yet another wardrobe upgrade advice thread

[vantheman]

This may be beaten to death, but I wanted to reiterate Banana Republic for your size. I have the exact same size and features that you do, and BR makes a lot of clothes for men designed to fit a smaller frame and still look good. I've shopped there on a college budget for a couple of years, especially during sales.

 

[pstoller]

I think I'm gonna go with the gray Canali w/ french cuffs. It should make a great formal shirt, but I did a little reading and it says that french cuffs should not be worn without a tie or suit/jacket, and I would like to know if it's reasonably possible to pull off french cuffs in say, a business casual setting or casual eveningwear ensemble with slacks/khakis.

I would say "no" to business casual, where the key to looking good is to work creatively (or at least selectively) within the relaxed rules, rather than breaking them. For a casual evening out, you can swing French cuffs without jacket or tie, but I'd draw the line at pairing them with khakis, which are neither as slick as upscale trousers nor as devil-may-care funky as jeans. (I wouldn't wear gray w/khaki, anyway...but, remember, these are just things that I would or wouldn't do; maybe you can pull off that look.)

I'm thinking about bidding on something like this shirt on ebay, but don't really have a clue as to how much money it would be worth

Outside of the couture line (of which this shirt is not a part), Burberry's shirts are nothing special, in my opinion, especially if you're not going for the trademarked plaid. (You can probably do at least as well with, say, J. Crew.) That's not to say you wouldn't get your money's worth for the $20 opening bid, but I wouldn't get into a bidding war over it.

 

[LA Guy]

re French Cuffs

I generally wear my tuxedo style shirts open over a t-shirt with jeans and sneakers, but one of the most stylish guys I know generally wears his buttoned up but untucked and with baggy regulation blue Dickies under a fitted vintage blue blazer, and looks great doing so. He's also one of those guys that can pull off a western shirt with a suit (and often does).

I agree with pstoller that French cuffs make a strong statement that demands that they either be dressed up or dressed way down, and that they would protest against their exile to the drab business casual world of beige khakis and three-button polos.

 

[LA Guy]

I then went to the main store and fell in love with several things that were way outside my price range, from some weird leather jeans that I know you'd never be caught dead in to a set of vintage Josef Hoffmann Wiener Werkstatte silverware.

I actually really like theatrical looking pieces such as leather jeans.  I'm a big fan of the rock star look.  When I go to a concert, I want to see something larger than life.  But for the same reasons, I think that this look generally doesn't work particularly well out of context.  Certain elements of that look (cowboy boots, for instance), can make the transfer to street or club wear given the proper consideration and expert taste (i.e. don't try this at home).  I just don't think that leather jeans do.  Having said that, I have seen some terrific Henry Duarte pieces that routinely make me reconsider my career path.