Great topic.

I choose based on 'charm'. But what might be charming for me may not be charming for others...

'Charm' is beyond practicality & usefulness. It's just stuff that takes your fancy.

I find those Keydge jackets charming  - But I can't claim them to be practical or a sound wardrobe investment.... They just have a certain charm, but only if you feel that way about them.

'Dressing Well' was an interest of my youth.  Just enjoying myself soon took over.

I think I have to say I prefer sincerity to charm.

I don't buy all this "i just throw it on" its cobblers.

I  usually select what i am going to wear the night before
and will lay my clothes out in preparation in the spare room.

What i am going to actually wear will depend on the occasion and the weather is a big factor.

I get washed and dressed in a specific ritualistic order and i know what you are thinking
and i agree, i am definitely OCD.

nice flannels Richie Boy.


(url=)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNZglEtDBmc(url/)

There's certain rules of course, but I'm essentially driven towards a mixture of silhouette, texture and colour. I have a wide spectrum I will operate in from subdued Autumnal hues when throwing a curve ball at a meeting I know everyone will be in grey OTP Italian suits, to my horn-rimmed bebop jazz look all intellectual and creative, finally bold preppy 1978-80s colour schemes when the mood takes me in a Michael Portillo railway journeys way. Sometimes a mixture of all of them!

Throwing it together is fine when you know the ingredients work. It's a lot like cooking from what I can figure out. But what happens if you get bored of the same old thing? There's a reason those tried and tested things work. Because they are working to some fundamental principles of balance, the problem is to learn the ingredients is not always going to teach you those factors that go to create. So when you have basil, oregano, garlic and olive oil and someone gives you vanilla pods its not going to work. You're left scratching your head thinking what do I do with this? Simple answer I guess is to return the vanilla pods, but you've got them now, so what do you do?

Food and clothes serve practical purposes..yes clearly, but through the very nature of our senses we can reward ourselves in incredibly moving ways, I would say when science meets art you have magic..or alchemy in the sense I recognise it.

No one ever seems to break it down into its simplest forms. Because it's very difficult to become neutral and sensitive to the things you are trying to balance and things are relative and incorporating a new element can throw out what was previously balanced, you must work with that to understand why principles are more important than rules.

Again think of it like neutralising the pallet, anything lingering like a delusion or aspiration or a ill thought out rule that your trying to impose will taint what you see. You must learn to see clearly.

With clothes, thanks to Billax ive found tone and texture to be the most important thing in terms of balancing an outfit, that's taking for granted the clothes fit.

The goal is to not let the eye become bored. But also not to jar it to heavily, this is achieved by the journey of subtle contrasts. Good work to look at for this is in order of subtly Monet, Van Gogh, Matisse and Picasso. All are trying to maintain interest through their art work with increasing levels of drama through contrast.

With the two tones black and white you have the strongest contrast available and the simplest ingredients to work with.

They restrict you to no other variables except texture and pattern. Arguably texture is a pattern because the relief it gives to a surface is a lot like how a pattern works. It breaks up a plain with something of interest.

This means be aware of the texture first. Would you wear a corduroy shirt under a corduroy jacket? Maybe, but arguably no because of the fact that the contrast given they are the same colour is nil, and you can liken it then to being a flavour that is overpowering the outfit. In this case to much cord is like putting in too much salt.

A nice contrast to cord is a shaggy dog. Why? Because think about the attributes of cord, linear, fat, heavy looking. Shaggy shetland messy, light and airy, visuallly lighter on the eye than a heavy jumbo cord. So the contrasts there bring about excitment to the eye. Even if the tones are the same. The handle of the two fabric are contrasting, and there is a logic, but here lies the trick, you have to keep going, you need a shirt. That opposes the qualities of the jacket and the jumper. It cant have such an imposing texture to it, it can't appear heavy like cord or messy like shetland wool. So the answer really is a plain cotton maybe as heavy as an oxford, oxford is heavy compared to poplin, but relative to the jumbo cord it is light, and good un the practial terms of not letting the jumper itch .

What you are trying to achieve is communication between all elements which is why keeping it simple is the most important thing. Because if the contrast is correct then not many elements are needed, but as you consistently repeat the process you can add more and more and still everything holds together.

The communication shouldnt be over bearing or so subtle its hardly heard at all unless of course that's what you want. They're two extremes that are arguably very easy to do.

This brings us to the idea of simplicity being the key. And by simplicity I mean the logical sensitive approach.

I leave it there for now but will try to write about pattern next woth some diagrams, and then colour and tone at a later point, and what principles to keep in the mind when dealing with such an array of variables.

Last edited by Bop (2014-12-02 01:24:00)

I think the "just throw it on" thing can work if you've been at it a long time and you've got your wardrobe just so. But, the alchemy idea is a neat analogy - there's something that happens with combinations of clothes, cut, fit colour, etc. that when it works - it works. Base metal into gold! You can have separate pieces that you love, and in your mind's eye you see them with other things you love - e.g. a shirt, jacket, trousers combo. but when you try to work them, you can't. I've got better and better at knowing what's going to work and what's not without trying things on. Occassionally though, you do just throw something on and you hit gold as a combo - and that becomes a staple in your wordrobe.

I start with shoes.

Dunno - grey herringbone, white shirt, dark navy knitted tie? It's a classic.

Last edited by Bop (2014-12-02 08:54:59)

If I had to dress smart every day, I'd spend more time but I don't so there isn't much of a thought process tbh.

I've never had to be smart for any job and probably why I'm nearly always in jeans.. pretty much anything goes with jeans, eh?

I did actually enjoy having to give it some thought on the days when I made an effort and wore shirt/ties/jacket... guess that's where my inner alchemist got busy...

Dont taper them