Is it a 24/7 concern or do you mostly wear ordinary clothes for work and pay more attention to going out and special occasions ?
Monday to Friday I am usually in a hurry in the morning, so I am not carefully choosing items and wasting time in the process. Plus I would resent wearing things that were 'too good for work'.
I was mostly content with High Street clothes - until I found I could not buy a pair of shoes there any more.
I am gradually getting more interesting stuff over time, but a 'good enough for work' mindset still applies in my case.
Looking at feet in The City (I know, it happens when you start reading clothes forums) most men are wearing rubbish. So even my ordinary shoes are better than most. Any pair of leather shoes in a reasonable style that has been properly looked after will do that. There is even a disturbing trend for men to wear running shoes with a suit like women in Manhattan used to do decades ago. I presume they change into proper shoes once they get to their place of employment.
If you wear a tie you are ahead of the game. Many have a suit - and even cufflinks - but no tie. They look as though they have not finished dressing to me - but I am an old git.
Last edited by Kingstonian (2008-08-27 09:26:46)
To the thought of clothes? Way too much time. Now that I am involved in this community, way, way too much time. Add this to the fact that I almost never discuss clothes with people and you can see some of the tension.
One thing I would like to change about myself with regard to clothes is to enjoy what I have more than spend time thinking about the next acquisition.
It is quite easy to acquire more pairs of shoes (funds permitting) once you see good stuff again. I have not got a vast collection like some, but there are many years life in what I have so far. The trouble is a pair of deck shoes will do for a ten minute trip to the shops unless you make a conscious decision to wear better shoes. I would also prefer not to drive in good shoes as I reckon it would bugger them up in the long run.
Shirts, jackets & coats are likewise easy to acquire. Then you end up hearing about brands of socks !
Suits are more difficult because they take time and - apart from work and weddings - you are not likely to get that much wear from one. Interesting to see the Savile Row stories but essentially irrelevant for me.
I have not bought any books about clothes. There is enough on the net anyway. You do pick up bits and pieces - working cuff buttons I knew about before, canvassing was new to me.
I am not sure what book they appear in, but those 1930s drawings that people post of the two chaps wearing fancy clothes at various social events are definitely some sort of gay thing IMO.
Savile Row suits are serious wonga not impulse buys. I'd be happy with, say, a decent break on a pair of trousers. An alterations tailor could keep me happy much of the time.
Another interesting book is The Abruzzi Tailor's Workshop Yesterday and Today.
I think about my clothes primarily for work, and then sometimes for social occasions (lunch, dinner, show, etc.). Since I work out in the mornings before I go to the office, I usually set out my business attire the night before, and depending upon the schedule for the next day I will make some conscious decisions about what I should wear.
Around the house I pay virtually no attention to my dress unless we have guests over.
I will surreptitiously (I hope) check out tailored clothes when I encounter them at work, or when I see them on TV/in film.
I have a few books on the subject, all purchased before I discovered this message-board and its ilk, and all with an eye to building an appropriate wardrobe for business.
I tend to spend an inordinate amount of time waffling over what shirt and tie to wear. Some mornings I spend as much as 15 minutes choosing just the tie, with several false starts along the way. However, I no longer spend nearly as much time thinking about clothes now that I've assembled a decent wardrobe.
A visit to the tailor can easily become an all-day affair, as I inspect fabric books and obsess about minute details before finalizing the order. Considering that my tailor also operates the hair salon, where beautiful women pamper me to within an inch of my life, a great deal of my life orbits around the tailor's establishment.
Last edited by The_Shooman (2008-08-27 23:32:21)
I think way too much about clothes in general, as evidenced by the amount of time I spend on these fora.
Usually, I have planned out for several days in advance what I shall be wearing, at least during the work week.
I am a little uneasy about how well retirement will jibe with my passion for clothing.
lt doesn't pay for me to get too enthusiastic about clothing. l only want to buy off one maker and are not open to anyone else. At over 8K + for some pants and a jacket, l just can't afford an addiction. The less l think about clothes, the better my hip pocket.
Last edited by The_Shooman (2008-08-27 23:12:08)
I'm actually being able to enjoy what I have in my wardrobe more and more these days, the 'planning the next purchase' thing does sound familiar though. I used to plan whay I was going to wear to work too, before it was decided we had to wear uniforms that is ( I'm obviousy not in a suit and tie job ). The good thing is that I'm responsible as part of my job for putting together said uniform ( we have women too on our department BTW ) and can decide pretty much the lot.
As for days off work I always carefully plan what to wear, depending on the occasion of course and because of that sometimes change several times a day. I make sure everything is always coordinated very precisely colour scheme/combinations, shoes/belt/watch etc
In short : I'm very happy finally being able to choose the perfect outfit for whatever occasion, if I may say so myself