Fashion. OMG SHOES. Shirts that aren't T

I am capable, to a degree, of dressing myself. But unless its full formal, slacker/geek, or athletic, I basically do so in a semi-random fashion.

@gomidog convinced me to order one of those boxes of clothes chosen by people who know what they’re doing to try out. I specifically asked them to look at how I dress and send me things that would look good from an expert’s eye and be things I don’t appear to wear or even fully grasp.

They sent me good stuff, and I’m almost at the point of buying most of my clothes in this way going forward.

I’m actually curious what the stylist picked out for you to start. “Staple” stuff like a white OCBD, grey sweatshirt etc?

I’m at the point in my life where I’m starting to look at classic fashions (not in a “I’m gonna wear a fedora and a T-shirt” way, in a “Modern interpritation of a classic” way).

I think in general, it’s pretty important to not be T-shirt guy as a “larger gentleman” like myself, cus unless you’re very careful, it just looks shlubby.

A form fitting black jersey half-zip pullover
Two super slim fit nice dress casual collared shirts (intended to be untucked)
Maroon twill pants
Stonewash-looking gray plain tshirt

It all looked great, TBH, especially combined with the henley shirts Emily got from a similar thing.

I’ve been using Bombfell for a couple years now for updating my wardrobe. I only end up keeping around 50% of what they send, but I love that 50% and wear them all the time. Mostly pants and button-up shirts.

I’ve considered trying one of these out just to see what it would entail, but my style has been pretty consistent since high school. Skinny jeans with Converse and graphic tee. I’ve branched out here and there but I usually just return to this.

I think the important part with wearing a t-shirt as a larger guy is, as with any other article of clothing, to get a proper fit. The biggest part of that is having an accurate understanding of your body shape.
For example, I have a belly. I know this. It’s not huge, but it’s there. But I also have broad shoulders and if I bring my jeans up to my actual waistline, rather than my hipline, it hides my belly pretty well. I pair this with a simple, XL, crew collar t-shirt (i usually go with muted primaries). I know a lot of guys who wear t-shirts one size larger than they need to because they prioritize total comfort over fit and appearance. That’s where you get the shlubbiness.

If you go with simple color t-shirts, rather than with designs, patterns, or art on them, you also have the option of tucking it in and not looking like a shmuck. If you decide to tuck and you’re still not comfortable about the appearance of your weight, getting a straight cut dress shirt (one that fits) and rolling up the sleeves to about elbow length while leaving it unbuttoned might be a possibility. The vertical lines created by the contrast of the plackets against the t-shirt accentuates height rather than width. This, however, would probably be considered too casual for work attire in most cases. When I’m performing, I’ll often wear a tucked in t-shirt with jeans and a suit jacket or blazer.

But, shit man, wear what you think looks good. Not like any of us are Tim Gunn.

Not surprised, but still disappointed. :neutral_face:

EDIT: Found something similar for Canadian women, which is me! Frock Box offers a couple different subscription options and also sends handmade jewellery from Canadian designers. Jewellery isn’t really my bag, but it’s neat that they do that! Might give it a shot sometime once my income stabilizes.

This is the kind of thing that I would definitely want my Dad to use as he has no understanding of fashion or what makes him look like a clown.

I would try it out if I had the money flowing in but would be cautious about it.
Currently all I do is broken into 3 tiers which can be mixed for best effect -
Tier 1, everyday everything:
Uniqlo or geek t-shirts, Uniqlo or other comfortable shorts, cotton hoodies or jumpers or sweaters, form fitted jeans or chinos.
Amazingly fly sneakers.

Tier 2, working stuff, not really worn much:
Nylon pants, many full length cotton shirts for tucking in and like 1 - 3 cotton ties.

Tier 3, full formal:
4 tailor made suits, high quality french cuff shirts, lots of silk ties, formal leather shoes.

Often a mix works quite well.

I have hit the point where I want to dress smartly but due to a mixture of location, money and just a horrible body size I am stuck looking like a sack of coleslaw.

That said I can at least pull off the plaid shirt/jumper with jeans look reasonably well. But still not happy with it, especially living in a place where everyone my age dresses perfectly and with great style.

[quote=“sK0pe, post:9, topic:360”]
Often a mix works quite well.
[/quote]See, I know what you meant, but it didn’t stop me immediately thinking of you in a tailor made suit, silk tie, quality cotton french cuff shirt with tasteful cufflinks, and comfy uniqlo shorts, newscaster style.

YMMV, but I’ve seen several larger friends do this over the years.

It’s hard to lose substantial weight. Crazy hard. But it’s far less hard to lift enough weights to make one’s bulk look impressive.

Even if you clothes sizes don’t change at all, lifting enough to get some muscle tone, as well as the posture and gait changes that tend to come with bodybuilding, can really help one’s aesthetic. Like, it’s the same shirt as before, and you’re the same shape as before, but it just looks good,

Again, YMMV. I have only observer anecdotes.

Its not the weight, managed to drop a ton of that, but the general size of my body. I have broad shoulders, big rib cage, long arms, narrow waist and gangly long legs. To get clothes to fit on the chest then they are knackered on the waist and finish on my belly button, or it hangs loose and gives me a massive belly. If fits on the waist then it is skin tight on the chest and the sleeves are up by my shoulders. I want to look into getting tailored/better quality stuff but you know, not much money.

[quote=“Churba, post:11, topic:360, full:true”]

I’ve done a video interview with The Reserve Bank of Australia wearing your exact description.

Oooh, that is a good idea. Does anyone know any fashion bloggers who are bald nerdy New York Jews?

My usual strategy is to:

  1. Regularly go through the closet and donate clothes I am not wearing. This is usually because they don’t fit, or have worn out.
  2. If I find myself waking up in the morning and having a hard time finding what to wear due to lack of clothes, and I’ve done laundry recently enough, I need more clothes, so I go to the store.
  3. I usually go to UNIQLO because the clothes do not have branding on them and aren’t ridiculously priced.
  4. Find a mannequin that looks cool and buy whatever it is wearing. Professionals dressed that mannequin. It’s like having a stylist for free!

The only thing that disappoints me is that the fashion I really want to wear doesn’t exist. I want to dress like the cyberpunk dystopia is already here, but nobody sells clothes like that for affordable and practical every day wearing. Can’t cosplay every day. The few times I have actually seen clothes along those lines, they are on the runway, not on the rack. One time I saw an ad on the subway for a line of clothing at H&M that was badass. I went to the store to check it out, and it was only dresses. Can’t find it because I forget the designer’s name.

Also, there are really cool clothes at places like Superdry, but all their clothes say SUPERDRY all over them, completely ruining it.

To be fair, when I was referring to T-shirt guy, I was referring to the people like the ones you mention that wear them too big. As always, anything that fits is going to look nice.

Also, T-shirt and blazer is S-tier fashion on anyone.

I know this was targeted at Scott however I looked at them myself.

These seem to be particularly for the American climate as many of the summer pics seem to include sweaters, 2nd layers of clothes really thick looking socks, basically what I would consider wearing in an Australian winter or autumn. Even then there is going to be personal taste changes (like I can’t see myself dressing like many of the photos as a white hipster with terrible shoes lol).

I looked at all those linked fashion blogs and every single one is blech.

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Most of the fashion I see in Queens/Brooklyn for people my age seems to involve wearing ridiculous heavy clothing regardless of the weather. Heavy knit hat instead of a bike helmet.

Other things that are “in style” that I really do not like:

  • Pants that are too short, or rolled up, so that your intentionally dorky socks (or dorky ankles) can make an appearance.
  • Apparently every kind of shoe that is in style right now. I particularly dislike slip-ons, anything pointy, anything with tassels, and most of all those “chukka” boots. Barf.
  • Juxtaposing sneakers with more formal clothes, or more formal shoes with more casual clothes.
  • Wearing a sport jacket with everything. It’s very expensive to buy enough of them to wear one every day, expensive to dry clean, too warm, and generally uncomfortable.
  • Clothes that look like fancy pajamas, but aren’t pajamas.
  • Garish prints instead of just solid colors or stripes.
  • I could go on.

As for sweat shops, that is a topic for another thread.