Lookin' spiffy at work

The above statement is grossly inaccurate. To explain further would result in an outing.

 

It's a British wool, navy-blue pinstripe. It has working sleeve buttons and a floating canvas inside the jacket (floating canvases tend to give with the body and make for a more-natural fit. Most suit jackets have fused canvases, which means the material is stuck to the innards with a glue-like substance. Those jackets have less give -- if you've ever had a suitcoat that fits like a suit of armor, you know what I mean -- and tend to bubble after a few dry cleanings.)

I ordered my inital stuff a few years ago, when I was in Hong Kong for vacation. Most of the more-reputable HK tailors come to the U.S. at least a couple of times a year. New York, LA and Chicago always are stops, and they do other large cities, too. You also can order over the Internet, but if you haven't been measured by that tailor in advance, this usually works well only for shirts. Once they have your measurements on file, however, you can order anything that way.

If you want a better idea of what's on offer and the prices, check out the Web sites for mytailor.com, W.W. Chan, Sam's Tailor, David's Shirts and Jantzen Tailor. There's a tailor in Bangkok (Rajawongse) that's as good as these but significantly cheaper. I'm not sure they travel to the U.S., however.

If you're ever in Hong Kong, avoid the touts who stop you on the street and try to sell you a complete wardrobe for $250. The quality stinks.

 

The question is, what do you do if you don't live near one of those big cities? I'd love great clothes at a fraction of the cost. But my capabilities, both financially and where I'm located, are limited.

(Damn, that sounded like an infomercial)

 

Some of these places will deal with you over the Internet. It's usually better with shirts than with suits. Although once you establish a relationship with the tailor, they might be able to do suits that way, too.

If you check out those Web sites (particularly mytailor.com), it might answer your question better than I can.

 

Totally agree with this point.

And the one that recommended Allen-Edmonds shoes.

And the one that said dress for the job you want, not the one you have.

 

My computer just barely survived getting sprayed with coffee.

I do like the "dress for the job you want" advice, but I tend to forget it. Also, being a poor clothes fiend, when I do get to shop and buy new stuff (like yesterday's Old Navy sale...see, I said I was poor), I tend to want to wear it all as soon as possible. I'm like a little kid with money burning a hole in my pocket.

That said, I'm slowly phasing in nicer work-y clothes and phasing out my much more relaxed look of t-shirts and jeans/well-loved khakis. I've almost got my t-shirt allotment down to just ones for the gym.

In my paper's sports department, we've got the whole range though - from one of the desk guys who wears shorts (everyday) and a sports jersey (75 percent of the time) to our SE, who does the suit and tie thing, minus some weekends.

 

Boy, am I overmatched wardrobe wise. My bartenders can probably afford to dress better, though.

I wear the same scuffed brown Rockports with everything I wear -- jeans, Dockers, whatever -- with the rare exception of some black shoes I got when I have to wear blue dress pants and a blue sport jacket.

 

I would suggest getting at least one more pair of scuffed brown Rockports so you can rotate them daily. As I mentioned earlier, feet produce a lot of perspiration, and leather needs no less than 24 hours to dry or it will rot on your feet and fall apart faster than it should. Cedar shoe trees, which can be had on sale for $10-$12, not only absorb your foot sweat, but the cedar scent will help with any odor problems. But if you don't want to spend the money, at least stuff them with newsprint overnight to absorb the moisture. But I love the cedar and have a pair for each pair of shoes. When the cedar begins to lose that cedar smell, just stroke it a few times with sandpaper and the scent returns.

About those scuffs, now. I understand the reluctance to polish. Personally I do not like exceptionally shiny shoes anyway. Fine calfskin, in fact, will have a duller shine than the plastic-looking corrected-grain leather of cheap shoes, in which inferior leather is sanded and then sprayed with that plastic, glossy shit (which can be removed, BTW, with some rubbing alcohol and a rag). If you use shoe cream instead of shoe polish, you will accomplish several things. First, shoe cream will nurture the leather while polish (which has wax) will seal it and will make it crack, eventually. Second, shoe cream can restore color to minor scuffs. Third, it is a less glossy shine, if that's what you like. In fact, I bought a pair of new Bass burgundy loafers a few months ago for $19 to use in crappy weather. I removed the glossy shit with alcohol and then used some high-quality Allen-Edmonds merlot (darker than burgundy) shoe cream on them. The leather is still inferior but no longer looks that way -- it has a duller, darker finish. Applying some mink oil will waterproof them and darken them even more.

 

Esquire is by far my favorite magazine, but I usually just skim over the fashion stuff because I know I'm not spending $900 on a blazer or $400 for shoes anytime soon.

I dress well when I need to, but I'm not wearing $1,000 worth of clothes to cover a high school football game.

 

we're all slobs on my beat

 

nice.

 

this thread inspired me to polish my shoes today, and then I come back and read Frank's latest.

pass the shoe cream...I didn't know there was such a thing.