I thought epaulet's original ones were OSB when the first came out, but the newer ones do look a lot like the Rancourts. The epaulet guy posts on styleforum, gonna check to see if he's answered that question

What are EDFs thoughts on Henley shirts?

I like them a lot. Depends a bit on what you're pairing it with, though.

They're my go to shirt when I don't feel like ironing.

+1
and most henley shirts are ugly. but nice ones are great.

Any decent shoes out there similar to these below that I can get for 100-150?

standard advice is troll ebay until your size comes up in good condition. these look like they were worn once or twice and sold for $112

another example at $125

Got a 400 dollar pair of boots for 30 dollars today at Buffalo Exchange. I didn't realize it, bought them because they were nice and size 13 and fit great. Googled the brand when I got home.

http://www.zappos.com/to-boot-new-yo...zap_brand_page


What kind of pants do I wear with these? These boots are out of place in my 6th-member-of-Pavement wardrobe.

A good pair of denim will look good.

Can anyone recommend any required reading (books, blogs, styleforum threads, whatever) for a 20yo college student who is clueless about dressing relatively well?

Search turned up a few 'help me start a wardrobe' threads, so I have a general idea of the basics. I could really use some help with things like fit, matching, etc though.

Thanks.

Check out http://nuji.co/qpoZv7

It's basically a tool to discover good stuff. I'm not particularly into fashion but since I started using I've been able to find my own style - what I'm comfortable wearing, and looking a bit snappier than I used to.

I only started using it because the site was created by a mate of mine, but I've got a lot out of it.

It's great for filtering the stuff you like from the stuff you're not interested in.

In terms of fashion fundamentals I'm not an expert, but I believe a $50 shirt that fits you well is always going to look better than a $300 shirt that doesn't sit right.

There are some great posters in this thread although they can drop off the radar from time to time.

The problem with a lot of the blogs is that they can be "fashion forward" for lack of a better term, and for people with an apparently unlimited budget. So as long as you're patient and know how to use them for basic suggestions you'll be cool. Imo just avoid stuff that's too #menswear, and stick to plain basics (slim oxford shirts, polos, khakis, slim jeans, etc) until you have more of a sense of what you're going for.

Check out valetmag.com for daily stuff, where they link to blogs, etc

also aheadlongdive.com is good, and he lists like 25 recommended sites on the right hand side that sums up the "go to" blogs out there - I think acontinuouslean is one of the best (funny enough the 3rd post down is a very #menswear post about wearing a scarf/ascot, but you'll get the point.)

I need a business wardrobe - basically from scratch. I already spend a ton of money on my casual wardrobe so I'm not looking forward to spending a lot on a business one. I live in Chicago.

Should I be hitting up outlet stores? What brands should I be staying away from or looking for? What major stores are good? Nordstrom's? Zara's? I am totally clueless.

Do a search on Styleforum for the basics of putting together a wardrobe. Just type in "basic" and search the threads that contain that word in the title. From there I'd look at the "What are you wearing today" threads on Styleforum, browse SuperFuture and Lookbook and just conceptualize styles that fit you. I used to look through the WAYWT threads, find things that look like they would work for me and then think "How can I make it my own?" and just went from there.

You're going to get various bits of advice from women, people who don't really pay attention to fashion, etc. and I think it's best to just ignore all that and stick to basic pieces that you're comfortable in yet fit well.

Cliffs for basic wardrobe for a guy your age:
1 pair good fitting raw denim
2 pairs good fitting chinos
whatever number of t-shirts you think you need in various colors try to shy away from graphic tees unless it's a really unique/cool graphic, try to avoid any logos/branding, make sure they fit!
1 white oxford button down
1 blue oxford button down
one pair of good sneakers (all stars, vans, higher end stuff if you can afford it)
one pair casual boot, desert boots, whatever
on pair good wingtips/whatever casual leather soled shoe you like
*do not buy footwear with a square toe
two belts, one brown and one black to match with your shoes
one good hoodie
one peacoat
one bomber type jacket that isn't too thick
if you live somewhere cold you can get additional jackets but that should cover you in most places

as far as what good fit means, it's subjective so do a search on styleforum for that to get ideas. depends on your body type, the aesthetic you're going for, etc.

I'm rebuilding my wardrobe slowly. Rather than give you a list of things to buy, I'll give you some thoughts and tips that I've learned over time:

1. Don't buy excessive amounts of things you wear rarely. If you only wear a suit once a year to weddings, don't go out and spend $3000 on suits.

2. Don't buy things just because they are on sale. Buy quality over quantity. That said, there is a level of diminishing return. IMO, a $30-$40 shirt is often much nicer than a $20 shirt, but a $100 shirt is hardly different than a $50 shirt.

3. Buy simple, unbranded items. If it has a logo on it, you probably shouldn't be buying it with rare exceptions.

4. In general, buy lighter shades of colors for dress shirts. I can't stand the look of a bright red shirt or dark blue / black shirt underneath a jacket. For dress shirts, buy mostly a lot of variations of blue.

5. Buy more solids. Use textures to separate them ( twill vs oxford vs herringbone ). If you buy stripes, keep them simple and subtle. A university or bengal stripe works well.

6. Spend more than you want to on shoes. This will seem outrageous at first, but they last and can be sold later for good resale value if you don't like them. No square toes, as mentioned. Allen edmonds provides the best bang for the buck.

7. Learn to layer with a lot of basics. V-neck sweaters, cardigans, blazers.

8. Don't buy modern trendy stuff. For example, suit jackets that are insanely short.

Here are a few companies that I think make decent bang for the buck stuff that are pretty easily available.

Dress shirts - Nordstrom trim fit, TM Lewin, Charles Tyrhwitt, Modern Tailor
Suits - Hickey Freeman, Benjamin (ehaberdasher.com)
Casual shirts - J Crew, Lands End Canvas (cheap!), Uniqlo
Shoes - Allen Edmonds

Above all else, make sure things fit properly. Just read a few style blogs, and copy exact styles from people you like. Avoid the super trendy weirdos.

Here's a great thread from styleforum under the Men's clothing section with focus on casual wear:
http://www.styleforum.net/t/253842/w...c-casual-style
Ignore the weird trendy **** on the first few pages - there's some good stuff if you dig through there.

This could be incredibly redundant/obvious for this thread, but I always like checking out http://www.thestyleblogger.com/.

Some of the outfits are 100% not for me, but it's great for checking out new combos, fits, cuts and accessories.

A good place for new ideas, plus they seem to post wardrobes for students fairly often as well.

z28, you make some good points, especially this:

It took me awhile, but I've decided that buying the stuff I absolutely love at full retail is better than flipping through 10,000 items of crap during sale season to find the one baller item left that is almost in my size...but maybe I can size down...but it's final sale so I can't return it...but I could always flip it on ebay... Online shopping sucks. I wish I lived in NYC. But yeah, buy stuff you love and nothing else IMO.

But I totally disagree with you here:
There's a discernible difference in the quality of shirts as the prices go up from $50 to $100 to $200 to $300. That's pretty much true for every category of clothing, with the possible exception of belts. There's only so much you can do with a belt and a $50 handmade leather belt will look great and last a really long time. I've got a Kicking Mule Workshop belt that I paid $250 for and it's awesome, but it's hard for me to justify that purchase if I'm honest with myself. But shirts are definitely worth the money if you can afford to step up to the next tier.

Oh, and about this...
Those guys have forgotten more about wearing suits than I will ever know, but that thread is full of LOLs. Not that any WAYWT thread isn't, but those guys are mostly fish out of water when it comes to casual wear. If you go to styleforum for inspiration, go to the mens clothing forum for suits and the streetwear and denim forum for casual. In fact, I would guess that the SW&D posters are better at dressing up than the MC posters are at dressing down. But I also believe that casual wear is a lot tougher to get right, which is counterintuitive, but not really if you think about it.

Good site, if you can read it with caution. He goes really overboard often. But he has good pieces there, and looking at his pics will help you figure out what pieces you like, and how you can match them with others.

Just browsing some shop catalog can help you figure out your style, as you can choose a store that suits you, and then look at how the stylists there combine different patterns, colours and styles.

Sly, recommendations for the best shirt for the money? The most common issue I have with the cheaper shirts is a poor collar. Let's say in 3 ranges: $50, $75, $100. I'd never pay more than that.

Depends on whether we're talking dress shirts or casual shirts.

Dress shirts I'm a huge, huge fan of getting made-to-measure shirts from Cottonwork or Jantzen (are they still around?). I've tried Tailorstore too -- they were okay. Either way, these places offer some great fabrics if you pay a bit more, and I've been pleasantly surprised. They're not good for casual shirts though.

Casual shirts, I don't know why they're so ****ing hard to do well, but I've just ended up using Epaulet (www.epauletshop.com) as my main source. Their button-down collars are done just right. I also like BoO and Shipley & Halmos for more fashion-y fits.

For casual shirts, I would just buy JCrew until you can afford to go over $100 and then step up to Epaulet/Wolf vs. Goat/Band of Outsiders/Engineered Garments/Wings and Horns/Our Legacy/Patrik Ervell...and then for over $300 a shirt at retail and $175+ on sale you can move on to Stephan Schneider/Frank Leder and others. Here's a new shirt from Leder I'm picking up (Thank you poker):


And one from Schneider I wish I had.

I don't know that it's "worth it" to pay that much for a shirt but it is to me. If poker turns south, then I will have to settle for a closet full of J Crew, and that's not such a bad thing honestly. It's way more important to recognize fit and cohesive matching/layering with colors, texture and style than it is to just buy high quality stuff. And like most people, I am still learning.

Edit- And, just to clarify, when I say J Crew I don't mean JCrew, Banana, Xpress, etc. I mean J Crew. No reason someone couldn't fill their entire closet with that stuff and look pretty darn good, with the help of a tailor and someone with a good eye for which pieces to select. If you have access to Uniqlo, then you should be all over that as well. Even might be worth it to have someone proxy their stuff if you aren't in their shipping area.

what do you guys wear for a light jacket? im a year out of college and am slowly transitioning from college poker player attire to normal functioning adult attire. right now my "light jacket" is simply a couple different hoodies.

i want something that i can wear out when its 30-40, but a little nicer and more unique than just a north face which every single one of my friends has. if i could get one that would go with a ton of different outfits (so probably black) thatd be awesome. preferably less than $100, $150 max if i love it.

Wow, that shop is awesome. Will definitely be buying a few dress shirts soon. Love the Carmina calfskin shoes too, but they'd definitely be a splurge.

I can highly recommend their rivet chinos too. Have not tried any dress trousers, but I imagine they'd be great too.

On this note, avoid J Crew factory shirts. I picked up a bunch on a sale for $25/shirt or so, and they are garbage in my opinion. Flimsy material, awful wrinkly undersized collars.

I'm in DC, so NYC trips are do-able a few times a year or so. The uniqlo oxford I picked up for $30 is pretty durable. Surprisingly, the lands end canvas oxfords I bought for $12 are just as good, in my opinion.