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Bespoke Overload?

alphaO888

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Originally Posted by Butler
Realizing that just a hand full of members are in a position to offer valid inputs to this thread, I still would like to hear if you recognize this dilemma:

With a wardrobe consisting of 50+ or probably say 100+ bespoke garments (not talking about shirts), from any of the top 10-15 tailors in the world (and no, I'm not going into that discussion:), how do you handle the question of rotation?

Even if we change twice a day, or 3 times if one change for dinner, each item will only be worn a few times a year.

If you have a Butler or Valet, it will be his responsibility to seek rotation when laying out the clothes for his employer (much easier with shoes, of course).

Even under those circumstances, the employer (or his better half!) will often request some of his favourite outfits to be prepared.

And this is just the point; in my experience you will often reach a point when commissioning bespoke clothes, where a lot of it will never or very rarely be worn, because you tend to favour some items more than others!

As Vox has stated: "It is not a question whether one needs it, but that you want it" - but nevertheless, do we have a case of:

Bespoke overload?


Besides the fact that it sounds like you're starting this thread to just blow yourself - your dilemma has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you have too many bespoke items.

If I goto Walmart and buy 100+ different colored Hanes T-shirts along with 50+ matching pairs of $10 jeans I would have the exact same problem as what you have. In fact, I'd say every single member on this board has the same issue where they favor certain pieces of clothing over others.

The whole point of having a lot of suits, slacks, ties, shoes in a rotation is so that they all last longer. If you truly favor some suits over others then you should just "commission" the same 3 suits you like to wear and have them copied into 100.
 

TTO

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Butler, you are a man of style and taste, If you are having trouble coming up with excuses to commission yet more beautiful garments, please feel free to have them made for me! Failing this wonderful plan, I would quite happily accept the donation of anything you feel goes unworn to often, therefore clearing space in your creaking wardrobe(s)!
-TTO
(In envy your problem0
 

miketoc

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You don't throw your bespokes out after a single wear? gross
sarcasm.gif
 

Patek

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Originally Posted by miketoc
You don't throw your bespokes out after a single wear? gross
sarcasm.gif


I only throw out the shoes after a single wear. I hate when the bottoms get scratched.
 

RSS

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(see below)
 

TheFoo

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You guys laugh, but the OP's situation is not unlike the norm on SF: too much collecting, not enough refinement and focus. That his clothes are bespoke is really neither here nor there.
 

RSS

Stylish Dinosaur
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Originally Posted by Butler
And this is just the point; in my experience you will often reach a point when commissioning bespoke clothes, where a lot of it will never or very rarely be worn, because you tend to favour some items more than others!
Some have surely reached that point. In my wardrobe there are indeed suits and odd coats that have never been -- and perhaps never will be -- worn. Bespoke or off-the-rack it matters not.

Originally Posted by Butler
As Vox has stated: "It is not a question whether one needs it, but that you want it" - but nevertheless, do we have a case of:

Bespoke overload?

The fun -- for me at least -- is commissioning the garment and seeing it progress though the various fittings. At that point, wearing it can be rather anticlimactic.
 

Eustace Tilley

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Originally Posted by mafoofan
You guys laugh, but the OP's situation is not unlike the norm on SF: too much collecting, not enough refinement and focus. That his clothes are bespoke is really neither here nor there.

+1
 

Ianiceman

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This reminds me of an anecdote in the excellent biography of Yul Brynner who at the height of his fame had a mobile wardrobe of eighty six pairs of black trousers which travelled with him wherever he went.
 

TC (Houston)

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Originally Posted by mafoofan
You guys laugh, but the OP's situation is not unlike the norm on SF: too much collecting, not enough refinement and focus. That his clothes are bespoke is really neither here nor there.

^ This. In my first year here I amassed a pretty sizeable wardrobe, as the SF mantra is that you need to have a ****-ton of clothing. I would typically go one month without repeating a jacket or suit. But I would greatly anticipate those days when something I was wild about came into rotation. That's ridiculous. Variety is overrated, why not wear the heck out of things you enjoy the most. In the last 18 months I haven't bought a single jacket or suit, and actually reduced my wardrobe by about 50-60% (Houston folks, there are some good finds at Goodwill LOL). Here's what I'm left with, and honestly I still wear the same 6-7 jackets/suits (my favorites) about 80% of the time. Doesn't make for the best WAYWRN fodder, but makes for much better enjoyment of my wardrobe.

5590828267_20aa206514.jpg
 

edmorel

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Originally Posted by mafoofan
You guys laugh, but the OP's situation is not unlike the norm on SF: too much collecting, not enough refinement and focus. That his clothes are bespoke is really neither here nor there.

I think the issue people are having is not that he has too much clothes (as you mention, a sin of many here on SF) but rather that he is making it about bespoke clothes ("from the best artisans"). Whether the clothing is bespoke or Wal Mart, refinement and focus is more important than accumulation, as you mention. I just think that the OP came off as a bit of a braggard, willfully or not, by dismissing the same situation of the items are not bespoke.
 

RSS

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Originally Posted by mafoofan
You guys laugh, but the OP's situation is not unlike the norm on SF: too much collecting, not enough refinement and focus.
Agreed.

Originally Posted by alphaO888
If I goto Walmart and buy 100+ different colored Hanes T-shirts along with 50+ matching pairs of $10 jeans I would have the exact same problem as what you have.
Absolutely. Moreover, you'd have enough cash left over to buy a small vacation house.
 

james_timothy

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There was a good thread a while back about whether one is better dressed with a minimalist wardrobe than with a collectionist wardrobe.

What I took from that was the idea of a critical mass wardrobe, above which one can improve by culling.
 

Ianiceman

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Originally Posted by TC (Houston)
^ This. In my first year here I amassed a pretty sizeable wardrobe, as the SF mantra is that you need to have a ****-ton of clothing. I would typically go one month without repeating a jacket or suit. But I would greatly anticipate those days when something I was wild about came into rotation. That's ridiculous. Variety is overrated, why not wear the heck out of things you enjoy the most. In the last 18 months I haven't bought a single jacket or suit, and actually reduced my wardrobe by about 50-60% (Houston folks, there are some good finds at Goodwill LOL). Here's what I'm left with, and honestly I still wear the same 6-7 jackets/suits (my favorites) about 80% of the time. Doesn't make for the best WAYWRN fodder, but makes for much better enjoyment of my wardrobe.

5590828267_20aa206514.jpg


TC I hereby demand that before you send a single item more to goodwill that you PM me first. I can collect in person!

p.s. Which goodwill do you use? I'm always on the lookout for a bargain plus I have some stuff I'd like to sell too!
 

Mr. Moo

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Originally Posted by TC (Houston)
^ This. In my first year here I amassed a pretty sizeable wardrobe, as the SF mantra is that you need to have a ****-ton of clothing. I would typically go one month without repeating a jacket or suit. But I would greatly anticipate those days when something I was wild about came into rotation. That's ridiculous. Variety is overrated, why not wear the heck out of things you enjoy the most. In the last 18 months I haven't bought a single jacket or suit, and actually reduced my wardrobe by about 50-60% (Houston folks, there are some good finds at Goodwill LOL). Here's what I'm left with, and honestly I still wear the same 6-7 jackets/suits (my favorites) about 80% of the time. Doesn't make for the best WAYWRN fodder, but makes for much better enjoyment of my wardrobe.
I was going to post pretty much the same thing. Clothing should look worn, and lived in no matter the price... something that you actually wore and moved in, and pulled your pants down while deucing, and accidentally sprayed champagne on, and had cleaned because of some lipstick friendly fire on the collar.
 

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