Skip to main content

Critical Mass, Part II: Dressing Well Made Easy. . .

Today's ensemble: navy wool flannel blazer, gray wool flannel pants, cotton oxford cloth button-down collar shirt, silk necktie, and silk pocket square.  Black leather belt and tasseled loafers not shown.

Forget for a moment how exciting it is to rediscover forgotten items twice each year when you switch from warmer weather clothing to cooler weather gear each fall and vice versa in the spring.  Let's return to one of last week's posts about reaching critical mass with your attire.  Here's the magic formula according to my way of thinking.  If you've got three or four sports jackets and a blazer, four or five pairs of dress pants, and four or five pairs of dress shoes -- all of which can, more or less, be mixed and matched easily -- along with two dozen dress shirts, maybe 6-10 neckties, and two dozen pairs of dress socks, you've reached the critical mass.  

You've got enough items in your wardrobe that you won't be wearing the same thing every seven days, yet you can assemble an infinitely varied and presentable adult combination of classic male attire quickly and easily.  Your clothing will remain visually interesting to you, and people won't notice that you wore the same item two days previously because you're able to change things up a bit.  Moreover, each individual item will last much longer because 1) you won't wear it to death on your body, 2) it won't be beaten to death with weekly laundering in the case of shirts and socks, 3) fall apart from too many trips to the dry cleaner's.  Simple, right?  As I asked rhetorically last week, who says dressing better than average has to take lots of time?  Guys who voice such a complaint just don't know what they are talking about.

Building a versatile classic wardrobe like this takes a little time, of course, but it needn't break the bank as I've said before here at The Average Guy's Guide to Classic Style.  Just watch for retail sales online and in physical stores, or shop consignment, thrift, or charity shops routinely.  It simply takes a bit of time (not much) and effort (not much).  If you've done your research and learned about classic male attire in the meantime, you'll know what to look for and recognize it when you spot it.  And if you live somewhere where the thrift pickings are better than they are in my small Midwestern city, you might even be able assemble a functional classic wardrobe in a year or two.  

Buy what you need, have it altered to fit your frame in the best way possible, and wear it with aplomb.  It's no good to anyone if those newly acquired clothes are left hanging in your closet.  Grow a backbone, become immune to those "Why are you so dressed up?" questions, and  put 'em on.  You look great.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

Comments

  1. Only 6-10 ties? Where did I go wrong as I have about 40 (it was 60 at one point) built up over many years but necessary when I was working in the City of London. I have found a lot of really good name silk ties on Ebay for about the equivalent of $3. Agree with you sentiments on thrift shops - very difficult to find one with high quality names here in UK.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've actually got around 90-100 ties left in the 'collection' after weeding out 30+ this summer.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

All opinions are welcome here. Even those that differ from mine. But let's keep it clean and civil, please.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

Popular Posts

The Pleasaures of a Well-trained Dog. . .

  A few final photographs from my visit to my sister in Washington, D.C. last week.  These include  one of 'Mr. Beau,' my sister's meticulously trained and truly wonderful Doberman, another of my sister, second cousin, step-father, and yours truly on the steps of the church outside Lexington, North Carolina just after our late mother's interment service, two of me solo at the National Cathedral, and a final one of my sister and me hamming it up during a long evening walk the day before I returned to Michigan. My sister routinely walks to the cathedral, about three blocks from her place, to enjoy the grounds and gardens.  The Bishop's Garden, in particular, is a place she likes to sit for quiet contemplation and internal dialogues with our late maternal grandparents and mother, very much in keeping with the Episcopal side of things.  Our grandfather, who was raised Methodist, became an Episcopalian when he married our grandmother.   Before you ask, I am not sure tha

It's All about That Bass: Goodnight Tonight - Paul McCartney & Wings - 1979

Almost Mid-June Sunday Style. . .

  A fter two months, Blogger has decided to allow me in the door once again, so I can add a long overdue post documenting my take on classic male style.  Since we are almost in the throes of summer, let's go with a warm weather theme this morning. Now, the items above will not be to everyone's taste:  Deck shoes without socks, shorts, pleats, skinny pale legs, etc.  All invite tisk-tisking and debate in certain online fora, but that's ok.   I wouldn't wear attire this to campus Monday through Friday, or to church.  But for relaxed, comfortable warm weather-wear around the house during the weekends, with maybe a quick trip down the road for a gallon of milk at the super market, this will do nicely, thank you very much.   It's certainly preferable to the wrinkled, torn, stained sloppy alternative we see everywhere in 2022.  Neither is it at all far removed from how the various men and boys across three generations of my extended family presented themselves during even