Grown Man Essentials
Last night, I got off the phone with my best friend and he was telling me about how another friend was looking to upgrade his wardrobe. He mentioned starting with the basics and most versatile pieces i.e. those that can go from the office to the lounge. The following are a list of items that any man can add to his wardrobe that can make that transition from the boardroom to V.I.P. Warning: This is a really long post after the jump.
Suit
The first thing you need is a well fitting dark wool suit. There are really only 2 colors you should be thinking about: navy and charcoal. Both are versatile enough to wear with either black or brown shoes and accessories and both are dark enough to look professional without sending the stern message of a black suit. Unless you are a VP of some sort, notch lapel is really your only option. There is much debate over narrow vs. wide lapels and here is my take: if you want to wear slim ties go with a narrow lapel, if you prefer wide ties go with a wider lapel. Narrow lapels, in my opinion, look much better without a tie than wide lapels so if you are looking for something versatile, I say go with the narrow lapels. Pinstripes or not, the key here is really the fit because without something well fitted no matter how much you paid, the suit just looks cheap. There should be no more than 3 buttons on the jacket and 2 buttons is really the way to go. It’s cleaner, more modern, shows more of the shirt and tie, and most guys look better in them vs. 3 buttons. Jacket should fit close to the body such that when it is buttoned, you definitely can’t fit more than your fit between the button and your body. The sleeves should be well fitting. The sleeve should also hit no further down than where your wrist ends and hand begins. A lot of retailers will tell you you should be able to cup the bottom of your jacket with your hands relaxed at your side. This is WRONG! The best jackets fall no more than an inch or so below the crotch. Why? This makes the proportions of the suit look a little more true to the form of your body. The other method usually leaves the jacket too long, making your legs look short.
The pants are probably the lynch pin of the outfit because if the jacket sucks, you can always take it off at work… you can’t do that with pants (and keep your job anyway). The pants should rest at your waist without the assistance of a belt. If you can sag your suit pants, they are too big. Buying suit separates can help with this because it allows you to buy the pants separate from the jacket. Most suits that come with jackets (nested suits) have a 6” drop from the jacket size to the waist size (so a 40R jacket comes with a 34 waist pant) and if you don’t fit those proportions, you are out of luck. Pleats should only be attempted by trained fashion professionals. Contrary to belief, please just make most guys look fat… period. Flat front pants are the way to go. Legs should be tapered and follow the line of you legs without being too tight and they should have little to no break. Break is how much extra fabric is at the bottom of your pant. Don’t let people in a store tell you the pants should hit the sole of your shoe. Pants should barely hit the top of your shoes in front with a gentle downward slant back. Something like this:
Absolutely not this:
When you walk, people should see a little bit of your socks. I know a lot of guys guys try to avoid this when buying pants, especially dress pants, and that is why they end up looking like teenagers. Look to brands like J. Crew and Banana Republic to provide suits off the rack that generally will need minimal altering, but for the prices they charge you could head over to Indochino and get a custom one.
This is me in a suit I bought from Menswear House (I didn’t know better at the time). In order to make it work for me, I had to pay $100 in extra alterations. Keep figures like that in mind when you try to get an off the rack suit for a low price. Sid Mashburn, owner of the men’s store of the same name down in Atlanta, says a man can take 15 to 20 lbs off his look just by slimming his wardrobe down. Don’t believe me? Check this before:
And here is the after:
Keep in mind, more modern designers create suits with more modern applications and situations in mind. So a suit from J. Crew is always going to look better with a t-shirt or polo than a more full cut traditional suit from Brooks Brothers. Also as a general rule, stay away from Jos. A. Bank. You will hate the way they make you look, I guarantee it.
Shirts
You gotta have shirts. Just make sure, like with the suit, they are well fitted. You don’t want extra fabric around your midsection and arms, this will just make you look fat. A shirt that accentuates your chest and arms can make you look buffer and when you take off your jacket you will still look good. The sleeves, for most guys, should touch that joint on your thumb right next to your wrist. Oxford cloth button down collar shirts should be a staple in any man’s wardrobe. White, blue, pink, yellow, you really can’t go wrong with one. For non-button down collar shirts (point and spread collars), you want to make sure you have some quality collar stays. Wurkin Stiffs are great because they are metal magnetic collar stays with small magnets you place under your shirt to help your collar stay put throughout the day and night, tie or no tie.
Don’t buy a shirt that you know the following things are wrong with it:
-The neck is too big (even if you don’t plan in buttoning the top button).
-The sleeves are too short (even if you don’t plan on unrolling the sleeves).
-The sleeves are too long (even if you don’t plan on unrolling the sleeves).
If you can’t wear a shirt in all of the ways it was intended to be worn, you are wasting your money. Brooks Brothers is probably the best place to get a shirt off the rack because they have a wide range of neck and sleeve lengths that other stores just don’t. Their extra slim fit shirt is also one of the best slim fitting shirts on the market (very few designers have true slim fit shirts). Blank Label, Proper Cloth, and Biased Cut are great places to get custom shirts online. I am a strong proponent of going custom when it comes to shirts because there really is no reason not to get shirts made just for you. The labels above shirts start anywhere from $45 to $90 for a fully customized shirt (you pick the fabric, buttons, pockets, etc.). They make both work and dress shirts (and some that fall somewhere in between). GQ has a great primer on dress shirts here that will get you started.
For casual shirts, there are three major types of casual shirts: t-shirts, polo shirts, and casual button downs. Let’s start with casual button downs. Basically, everything about dress shirts and fit applies to casual button downs. The key differences between casual button downs and dress shirts are material, pattern, and length. Casual shirts generally have a more casual feel to the fabric (usually a wash of some sort), the patterns can be a bit more extravagant, and lot of times they aren’t as long as dress shirts so you can wear them untucked. In general, all casual shirts, button down or not, should come just a few inches below your belt. Casual shirts should be about this length:
As for fit, let the seams be your guide. The shoulder seam connecting the sleeve should create a line the runs straight down the edge of your pectoral. Short sleeve casual shirts should not come much further than the end of your shoulder muscle. Short sleeves that come to the mid bicep or longer look silly. For polos, I like button down collars on them. The Style Blogger Dan Trepanier, 2009 Esquire Best Dressed Real Man, recently wrote a great post about them but to each his own. T-shirts should fit pretty close to the body and there are a few options in terms of the shirt itself. Tom and Andrew over at T & A just wrote a great post on t-shirts. Look to brands like Land’s End Canvas, Brooks Brothers (extra slim), J. Crew, Gap, and L.L. Bean Signature for classic casual shirts at a reasonable price range. The custom brands above all also do casual shirts so you know they will fit you perfect. For more edgy urban shirts Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, and Kenneth Cole are good picks. When it comes to t-shirts, the aforementioned brands are OK, but Hanes still gets the job done. Look for the Hanes premium cotton shirts at places like Target and Khol’s. The moral of this story is if you get the right kind of casual shirt, you can wear it under your suit. Or you can wear them with some…
Casual Pants
Jeans and chinos: that’s all you really need. Dark raw denim can be worn with a blazer and oxford shirt. Jeans should be well fitted, but not too skinny. When it comes to the tightness of jean, it really is based on body type and comfort. As a general rule, most guys don’t look good in jeans cut fuller than Levi’s 501s. I personally think that Gap skinny fit is the best true slim fit on the market right now under $100.
The fit is very similar to the Levi’s 514 slim fit but with a more narrow (read: better) leg opening. Of course the usual suspects are good when it comes to raw denim: A.P.C., Naked and Famous, Tellason, and Baldwin. As for chinos, keep them slim and follow a similar guide line to dress pants: they should fit without a belt, leave the pleats to professionals, and have little to no break on your shoes. J. Crew has some great slim fitting chinos in their classic fit and urban slim fit as does Epaulet and Rugby by Ralph Lauren (L.A.S. over at Sartorially Inclined has been singing the praises of Rugby chinos for some time now). If you aren’t too tall, you can also check out the Dockers D-1 slim fit chino. I haven’t tried them out because they don’t come in my inseam, but for the price even if they aren’t slim enough for you, you will have plenty of extra cash to take them to the tailors.
Shoes
If you can, don’t skimp on dress shoes. High quality, leather sole, hard bottom shoes are the way to go. You can wear them with dress pants, chinos, or even jeans. Brown is the best color for that. Allen-Edmonds and Alden are the staples in this category. You can get them full retail from places like Nordstrom or you have hop on eBay and get some deals on pre-owned and even new shoes. Why used? Because these shoes are so durable that they literally can be passed on to your grandchildren if you take care of them. Don’t believe me?
These are both Aldens. The shoe on the left is new and the shoe on the right is my age (20+ years old). These shoes retail for well over $300 new but you could probably get the shoe on the right for well less than $100 on eBay (probably in better condition too!). For non-dress shoes, classic sneakers and boat shoes are all you need. Converse, Vans, and some Nikes will get the job done for you. Think classic silhouettes like this:
Either canvas or leather will work with shoes like this. For boat shoes: Sperrys. ‘Nuff said. You can’t go wrong with brown Sperry’s Topsiders. The beauty of all these shoes is that you can wear them with pretty much everything I have talked about in this post.
Conclussion
This is by no means a complete list. There are some that may have brands and styles to add (please do it in the comments section!), but when it comes to pieces if you have these you can basically go about anywhere save a formal (but I got you covered on what to rock at a formal!). This is just meant to be a starting point for those just beginning their quest to get fresh (with a limited budget). There have been books written on this subject (the Esquire Handbook of Style is probably the best, I have it and it’s a great resource and well worth the money), but this is just part of my take on the matter. You can find out more by staying tuned to Dd (or LATOCB) or you can ask us anything. I’ve got some meat and potatoes advice and “L” can give you feedback from a woman’s perspective.
