Fashion - Going Out (Without Coming Out!)

[guids]

Im probably in teh minority, but I when I dress, I do so with a specific purpose in mind, if i have to go somewhere, I want to be the best dressed person wherever I need to go. I like to take a look at the latest trends or whatever and adapt them, I get inspiration from a lot of places, movies, GQ, bananarepublic websites, etc. This also leads me to wear a lot of sweats and stuff for when Im bumming around, because rather than buy some cargo shorts and an old nave collared shirt, Id rather buy some 15$ warmup pants, and spend more money on a nice pair of slacks. Im hoping since this isnt OOT, the being gay comments are kept to a minumum, becaue frankly I dont give a [censored], clothes inspire confidence, confidence inspires poonanny.


If Im meeting a chick for coffe:



drinks and dinner

[kidcolin]

I've pretty much ditched jackets altogether. I just layer up. When and if I move back to Boston I'll probably buy a coat, but not a mega heavy one. I can't put my arms down!

Glad you mentioned running shoes though. I think they generally look dorky always.

[ahnuld]

seriously, if you want to dress well on a budget, a good rule of thumb would be to never shop at urban outfitters. Everything from there can be found at least 50% cheaper and then you can spend money on the nicer side of your wardrobe.

[Borodog]

I'm sure that I will get nailed for this, but my upper body wardrobe is almost exclusively panel shirts, (nice) Hawaiians, guayaberas, etc. I get all high quality stuff. I can wear any of them out to a nice dinner, dancing, teaching, showing houses, you name it. I wear them with dress slacks or darker boot-cut blue jeans, and always a dress shoe. I think you have to have a certain kind of attitude to rock this look.

The real thing though is that it passes the wife test, and she has impeccable taste. She wouldn't let me out of the house if it didn't look sharp. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[kidcolin]

Boro,

My uncle does this and looks good. It takes a special something to pull it off, though. Almost like a mindset.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

Wookie,

Since I became a single guy, I think I've improved greatly in this regard. I'm still far from a fashionista, but I think I'm now dressing better than the average guy at the bar. Some random thoughts:

Blazers: on dates, or out to any nicer dinner/bar, I try to wear one. It's a little extra step that most dudes (at least in Boston) don't seem to take, so it sets you apart a bit. Plus they look nice! I wear them with both T shirts and collared shirts, more on that later.

Here is a black velvet one I got ($100):



This next one is the same as the black one (just Taupe), and I own a really similar one I got at Banana Republic (but I can't find the picture). Paid $100 on sale.


And this is a chocolate corduroy blazer from DKNY I got at Amazon ($50)


I also have this charcoal pinstripe blazer I got from Zara ($55), which is really cool and sharp but I can't get a picture of it.

Jeans:

I went years w/o wearing jeans, now they are my uniform with any of the above.

These are 2 pairs I wear a lot from Paper Denim. I bought both on Amazon. I spent $50 on one pair, $100 on another.





Shoes: I have some cool shoes I got at Zara. 1 very simple pair of brown loafers, 1 simple pair of black loafers, which I'll wear depending on the blazer. I also have 2 few pairs of brown "athleisure" shoes I got there (each cost like $35), which are nicer looking sneakers. I won't wear this out normally at night, but they are cool looking anyways.

T Shirts:

I will wear T shirts with my black velvet blazer or with my cordory blazer, but not with my taupe or charcoal blazer. I like T Shirts from Oddica a lot (recommended in OOT); they are cool looking and conversation starters w/o being cheesy or dumb.

A couple ones I have:





Shirts: I'm kind of plain here and don't have a lot of advice to give. If I am wearing a nicer blazer sometimes I'll just wear a plain white shirt, or a nice pinstripe from polo or something.

This is all stuff I bought in the last 7 months, and as you can see I didn't spend a lot of money. But, I look a lot better than standard guy I think. that's what I've been told [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[El Diablo]

All,

Here are my standard uniforms.

Pants: Jeans most of the time, black/grey nice lightweight pants when dressing a little nicer.

Shirts: Athletic/race or event t-shirts/etc when just hanging out. Lots of solid crewneck shirts/sweaters, ranging from very nice light merino wool ones to super casual long-sleeve t-shirts. Lots of nicer short-sleeve t-shirts w/ various graphics and some solid, but usually w/ some sort of design/texture on them, not just plain t-shirts. A ton of button-down shirts for some work stuff and business casual attire events.

Mixing and matching between those two gets me from super casual (jeans + race t-shirt) to stylish casual (jeans + cool design t-shirt) to go out to casual nice place (jeans or pants + crewneck shirt/sweater) to go out to dressy place (pants + nice button-down shirt or nice sweater).

I used to be almost exclusively solid, the last couple of years I've tried hard to extend a lot to add a little more color and a lot more designs and graphics. I've gotten that stuff from the two stores noted above (Nordstrom and Revolve) plus a lot of random little boutiques in SF and NYC.

[El Diablo]

KBZ,

That's exactly what I'm talking about when I mention design/graphic t-shirts.

I think I'm actually the one who introduced OOT to Oddica in the definitive OOT t-shirt thread by shant (anyone looking for cool t-shirts MUST read that thread).

Searching for Oddica in OOT will find you a couple more t-shirt threads as well.

[kb09pkt]

For shoes, I highly reccomend the Bruno Magli "Raisi" Slip On's. They usually run about $350 a pair and are the most comfortable dress/going out shoe I have ever worn. I have a pair of brown and black and wear one of the two almost everyday. They go perfect with a suit but are also casual enough to wear with a nice pair of "going out" jeans. I would seriously compare the comfort level of these shoes to running shoes. Before anyone asks, yes these are the "infamous" OJ shoes that were used as evidence in his trial.

On sale at Nordstrom now...

http://shop.nordstrom.com/c/2375436/...375435~2375436

[4_2_it]

Boro,

For guys like us, the wife test is the only one that matters. My wife likes it when I wear a Hawaiian shirt or untuck a dress shirt when we go out. I think I look ridiculous, but she thinks I look good. My usual rule is not to argue with the pretty lady. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

4_2