Art of Manliness

Advice on outfits (Pictures included)

This is a follow up to my last post. You guys seem like a knowledgeable and helpful bunch so I'm going to put myself out there.

Please read my post from yesterday to understand my situation and what I'm going for with my wardrobe plans.

I took some pictures of myself in various outfits from my wardrobe. After looking at these pictures, I'm actually kind of embarrassed about a few of them. Please don't steal these photos and use them as examples of what not to wear.

Please do give me some constructive criticism on what needs to be changed or thrown out all together. Maybe I'm even doing a thing or to right?

Thank you for your time and honesty.

This is my tailored navy wool suit from a major retailer. I won't say who. Cordovan shoes.

Below: Blazer with navy pants and black shoes. Everything off the rack.

Below: Black blazer, grey slacks, black shoes, light pink checkered shirt. All off the rack.

Below: A "Linen Look" suit off the rack. I am actually embarrassed that I ever wore this out of the house.

Corduroy blazer with khaki pants.

A very inexpensive pair of cotton pants with a sweater vest.

Denim and a casual cotton shirt. I wear this type of outfit a lot.

Now we're getting into my casual summer wear. I wear this type of outfit pretty often in the hot Texas summer.

A little slightly different casual summer outfit.

This is about as casual as I leave the house. This is video-gaming at a friend's house or a late evening run for ice cream in the summer.

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Permalink Reply by Louis House on February 24, 2013 at 4:37am

My internet connection is pretty slow so I can't see all the pictures, so all I'm going to say is that your pants seem to be too long. Ultimately, where the pant breaks (folds in on itself) is up to you, in that to a certain extent it's a personal style choice. For instance, I prefer a relatively short break:

The break on your tailored navy wool suit isn't bad. You'll notice that there's a whole lot of extra material on your other pants though.

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Permalink Reply by Garrett Gatlin on February 24, 2013 at 4:45am

I"ll reduce the size of the other photos in the morning. They're really the ones I need advice on. LOL

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Permalink Reply by The Dutch Dastard on February 24, 2013 at 3:04pm

Absolutely agree on the break in the pants, it was the first thing I noticed, and couldn't stop noticing it. A hefty break like in the 'linen' suit shortens your legs immensely (visually) and messes up your proportions.

Another thing for your blazers and suits: The blue suit sleeves show enough cuff of your shirt. The rest doesn't show that little bit of cuff, which makes it look like the jacket is too large/you're wearing short sleeved shirts.

Furthermore, I'd say that you should lose the brown sweater vest. Sweater vests are hard to pull of, and a brown one really is the worst.

The outfit with the rolled sleeves looks very fine for weekends, but you can make it a bit better by rolling your sleeves a bit further. If you roll them over your elbows, the 'bulge' isn't at your belly, but at your chest. It makes your upper arms look bigger, and slightly induces that 'manly triangular shape' because the focal point is a bit higher up.

Good luck man!

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Permalink Reply by Garrett Gatlin on February 26, 2013 at 11:28am

Great advice. Thank you.

What I understand about the sleeve rolling along with what you've told me is this:

When you're dressed up and want to make it casual, you can roll your sleeves up to the elbows. You only roll the sleeves up past the elbows when you're going to do manual labor. (Such as on the weekends.) The other bit of advice was from a recent AoM article.

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Permalink Reply by Arthur on February 24, 2013 at 9:23am

Rule # 1 Fit, fit and fit (inexpensive clothes that fit trump expensive ill-fitting clothes)

Suits look too big and your pants need to be hemmed (see above post)

Lose the Atari T

http://www.atailoredsuit.com/proper-fit-mens-clothing.html

http://masculine-style.com/

My 2 cents

Arthur

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Permalink Reply by Garrett Gatlin on February 24, 2013 at 1:44pm

Thank you, Arthur!

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Permalink Reply by Tim G. on February 25, 2013 at 3:41pm

That navy suit looks the best.

The most important remark is already made: your pants are generally too long. Proper fit is the key!

Additionally, linen is difficult to pull off. Especially off the rack. To make it work, get it fitted and slimmed down by a tailor. The green combo with the linen does not do it for me. Go with a simple white (button down collar) dress shirt, no tie. That will give you a semi-formal (but still dressed up compared to others) summer outfit.

Apart from that, the blazer + navy pants combination is the only one I personally do not like. The other combinations are not that bad at all and look pretty good. I'm speaking about the more dressier outfits now, not the summer outfits.

For the summer outfits, I would lose the slippers and get some comfortable & lightweight loafers which you can wear instead.

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Permalink Reply by Garrett Gatlin on February 26, 2013 at 11:29am

Thanks! I plan to go with some Navy or tan canvas shoes or some boat shoes that I already own.

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Permalink Reply by Nathanael on February 25, 2013 at 5:02pm

A few comments,

1. The navy suit is nice, but you should button the top two buttons on it, not just the middle one. Some three button jackets have lapels designed to be able to roll over around the top button and button naturally at the middle, but yours is not one of them.

2. Ditto what has already been said about pant length and showing shirt cuff at the sleeve. These will rarely be perfect, due to shifting as you move, but your navy suit looks much better than some of the other examples you've offered.

3. V-neck undershirts look better with an open collar than others, as they don't show an unfortunate triangle of white undershirt below your face.

4. Regarding shirts, those with bottom hems that stay the same length all the way around are meant to be worn untucked, while those that vary (long in front and back, scooped at the sides) are meant to be tucked in.

5. There's nothing wrong with a t-shirt when appropriate (and gaming at a buddy's place would fit that bill).

6. Flip-flops below at the beach and few places else. Get some Birkenstocks if you want to wear sandals, they look and feel better. Or try a pair of Keds slip-ons (or something similar).