Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Printable Version

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016

There are some great threads on this forum about suit game. Some of these threads feature a great selection of images from around the web that demonstrate suit game at its best.

This guide serves a different purpose. Back in 2010, following some successful field testing of a few second hand jackets that I picked up from the Salvation Army Store, I decided that I wanted integrate jackets and full suits into my regular daily wardrobe.

Now, five years later, I'm glad I made that decision. While suit game isn't ideal for every environment, making an effort to look my best every day has given me a huge boost in confidence and was part of a process that turned me into a better and happier man.

Suit game isn't going to be everyone's thing, but I offer this guide for two reasons.

• For the guys who don't care for suits, I recommend that you strongly consider introducing at least the Classic Four suits into your wardrobe. While suits are downright unnecessary in most environments for many guys, there are some situations that call for them (SEE: Wedding Game 1 and 2) and when such an opportunity emerges to plunder bridesmaid pussy, you don't want to be the one guy at the wedding who looks like he just put on his father's old suit.
• For the guys who are interested in getting into suit game, but are unsure where to start, this guide is the perfect starting point. I have about 20 suits in my collection, which offers me excellent variety, but if I could go back in time, I would started out with different choices. The primary purpose of this guide is not to tell you what to wear, but to advise you on which suits you need to acquire first to give you the maximum range to experiment and find out how YOU look best, early on.
  
  

Buying a couple suits that you only feel comfortable wearing once a month (or less) isn't going to give you a very good introduction to suit game. That's why this guide begins with the Classic Four, the four suits that you'll want to acquire first. By beginning with these, you'll have the ability to experiment with a wide variety of outfits that incorporate a suit jacket and you'll be prepared to decide whether serious suit game is for you, and if so, which direction you want to head in.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016

Don't Be A One Trick Pony

Even if you had an unlimited budget, if a man were to start out with twenty expensive tailored suits, he would end up disappointed. After a period of regularly wearing suits, he would realize that he has preferences and needs that he was not aware of when the original order was made.

However, as few of us have an unlimited budget for clothes, we are forced to build our wardrobe gradually and carefully.

As such, it is all men's interests to view regular use of suits as something that is best eased into.

To go from being a guy who has one or two suits in his closet for special occasions (weddings, funerals, graduation, etc) to the guy who could wear a suit every day without appearing like he wears that same suit every other day does not require a huge expenditure.

You don't want to be the One Trick Pony who clearly just wears the same 2 or 3 suits all the time. You want to be the GQ, fashion-forward, trendy guy who always wears blazers or suits, not the weird guy who only owns a few outfits.

However, you don't need to be the weird guy if your first few suit purchases are made tactically.


Hold your horses.

The four suits pictured above look pretty pimp, right? When I look at those photographs, I say to myself, "hell ya, I'd like to dress like that."

While there's nothing wrong with liking the look of those suits, for any man interested in wearing suits regularly and looking pimp, every single one of these suits is a terrible place to start. Allow me to explain.

• Exhibit A: The first suit on the left requires very little explanation. It's a tuxedo and there aren't many occasions wear you can get away with wearing a tux. Worse yet, the occasions that call for them are events where every single man present may well be suited up and simply showing up in a standard issue tux isn't going to help you stand out in the way you want to. You'll just be one more dude in a penguin suit.
  

• Exhibit B: The second suit on the left also wouldn't be a smart purchase for a guy getting into the suiting game. There are a number or reasons why.
  
  First, being white, it'll only be a good look for about 3-5 months out of the year, depending on the local climate of where you live. Ideal, for your first couple suit purchases, you want suits that will be useful year round.
  
  Second, being white and a full suit, it simply can't be incorporated into other outfits. The jacket is too long to go comfortably as a blazer with jeans or other non-dress pants and while many full jackets will go very well with white pants, the inverse isn't always true.
  
  A blazer is a smart early purchase for summer weather (SEE:Summer Suits), but it only works because it is cut short enough to go with more every day casual clothing.
  
  In conclusion, this suit would not be a smart early purchase either (although, it's definitely an idea to keep in the back of your head for later on).
  

• Exhibit C: The third suit from the left is the only solid contender in the line up. Although brown is not the most versatile colour (grey), it's it still plenty flexible. I have a brown suit and it goes great with jeans, blue pants and black pants. For the adventurous, it could probably be paired with another couple other colours, as well.
  
  However, if you were to begin with the four suits shown above, you wouldn't get much wear out of the brown suit, because it would be the only suit you could use regularly.
  
  As a general rule, to avoid being a One Trick Pony when it comes to suit wearing, you'll need 3-4 suits to be able to have suits and jackets in regular rotation. If this brown suit was one of only two suits that you wear regularly, people will begin to recognize it as that brown suit (or jacket) that you wear all the time. You don't want that to happen.
  

• Exhibit D: The jacket in the fourth suit from the left looks awesome as many patterned jackets do. Where something like this outfit to any venue where it's not hopelessly incongruent and you'll be turning some heads (in a good way). Unfortunately, the downside of this is that not only is this jacket going to turn some heads, but people are going to remember it to.
  
  Meet a girl at a upscale wine tasting event wearing an outfit like this one and you'll likely be able to get her number. Show up for your first date wearing the same outfit and it's going to look like you wear the same thing all the time. In fact, let her see you in the same outfit any time in the next three months and you'll be undermining the allusion you have built.
  
  A woman sees a man in a tasteful and unique outfit and she'll expect a tasteful and unique man, someone full of surprises. If that same outfit makes a repeat appearance before she's seen you in plenty of other unique and tasteful outfits and she'll wonder if she gave you too much credit.
  
  As a comparative example, you meet a woman while you are dressed like this:
  
  
  
  You get her number, meet her for a date in a different, blue blazer. You're still a guy, who while not as unique and tasteful as the guy with the red patterned jacket, can pull off nice clothes with style. The third time you see her, you're wearing the grew jacket pictured above again, but with different shoes, pants and shirt and she never even notices that it's the same jacket as before.
  
  You're still a well dressed guy, but you've only had to shell out money for two jackets rather than three. Now, if you keep running into her, you'll need more than just two jackets to maintain the impression as the well-dressed guy who never leaves his house without at least a blazer. But what is the minimum number of jackets required to maintain this impression over a longer period of time?
  

The answer is four. Based on my study of this area of fashion, it is entirely possible to wear suits or a blazer every day without most anyone noticing that you only own four suits.

Own fewer than four suits or the wrong four suits and it'll be difficult to remain congruent as "the suit guy," but with the correct four suits, you'll have no trouble.

I proffer three examples of this. First, was one of my university professors. He was practically the best dressed professor on campus. He wore French cuffs and always seemed meticulously dressed. I paid close attention for several weeks and concluded that he only wore three suits. In fact, one was a lighter coloured suit he wore less often. He usually just wore one of two suits.

But I had to pay close attention to notice this. This was because his two mainstay suits were dark coloured and hard to tell apart from many other suits. He couldn't express much personal taste and independence that way, but he also wasn't making it that obvious that he wore the same suits over and over again.

As a second example, can you really tell one typical black suit apart from another typical black suit? If you saw a guy at ten formal events in the space of two weeks, would you really be able to tell if he owned one tux or ten? Absolutely not. Unless some of his black suits have special details that made them stand out, you wouldn't know.

Our third example is character Barney Stinson from the ultra-beta TV show How I Met Your Slut Mother. Although several scenes in the show display Barney's immense suit collection, which fills an entire room in his apartment, his wardrobe for the show could have easily consisted of about two suits -- a blue one and a dark grey suit -- and you would have never noticed.

The secret to not being a One Trick Pony is to start off your suit collection with suits that don't significantly stand out in any way in pattern or fabric. Let the variety come from your shirts, shoes and pant separates that you pair with the jackets from your suits when you wear them as blazers. If you start with the right three or four suits, no one will ever notice.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016

Weaves, Patterns and Solids

To this end, you can't start with any patterns. Patterns are on fabrics where there is a design that uses multiple colours. Patterned suits have a purpose, but your first three suits should not be patterned.

Since you can't have a shirt in one pattern and a suit jacket or pants with another pattern (because 97% of the time they are going to clash) they can usually only go with solid coloured pants and solid coloured shirts, so their versatility is very limited.


Windowpane patterns. Note that with both outfits, the other clothing (shirt, pants, sweater) are all solid colours.

You'll probably only be able to wear each in combination with a couple eye catching outfits, so you don't want to spend money on patterned jackets early on. Go with textured solid colours or weaved fabrics for your first four to six suits.

Solids should generally be avoided altogether, unless the fabric has some very eye-pleasing texture to it.

I define Texture as any characteristic in the material that doesn't require multiple colours, doesn't fit a set pattern like a weave or a pattern does, but adds uniqueness to the fabric. It may be two dimensional or three dimensional.

Patterns, and for the purposes of this guide, weaves generally fall into one of only a handful of categories.


Glen plaid.


Glen plaid, close up.

Quote:Quote:

Glen plaid is made of wool fabric designed with different sizes of checks. The pattern mixes muted colors such as black, grey and white to create an elegant and instantly familiar design. The textile gets its name from the Glenurquhart valley in Scotland, where it’s been produced since the 19th century. You may also know this pattern as the “Prince of Wales” check, after the nattily-dressed Prince of Wales, Sir Edward VIII, who often chose the fabric for his bespoke suits. While the pattern has been worn by men for many centuries, there’s nothing old-fashioned about it.

Source


Windowpane.


Windowpane close up.

Quote:Quote:

This type of plaid is a little bolder than you may be used to. The pattern consists of intersecting lines and looks like…yep, windowpanes. It’s bigger and it is very apparent that you are wearing plaid. This isn’t a bad thing though- try pairing this pattern with a thin striped shirt for a modern, professional look.

Source


Pinstripe.


Pinstripe, close up.

Quote:Quote:

You probably are the most familiar with this suit pattern, favored in corporate America and cartoonists’ vision of Wall Street. Suggesting elegance and good breeding, pinstripes are very narrow stripes and are still one of the most commonly used textiles for men’s suits. Go for a darker color like black or navy with a gray stripe to be timeless and elegant. Or strip away any “fat cat” connotations with a colorful pinstripe for a modern twist.

Source


Herringbone.


Herringbone, close up.

Quote:Quote:

A herringbone suit is made up of a subtle pattern of woven v’s arranged geometrically. This particular suit is usually made out of woolen fabric. From far away this fabric can look plain, but get closer and you will see the unique texture it brings. While it may feel overwhelming as a full suit, it makes for a great sportcoat.

Source

We'll discuss one important implication of a herringbone weave jacket/suit in the section on The Classic Four, below.


These tweed suits all offer three dimension complexity and detail.

Where textured or patterned fabrics offer uniqueness and often sophistication, un-textured solid colours are dull and uninteresting. They look plain and cheap.

They are the visual definition of a cheap suit and what you will see at lower end suit retailers.

Worse yet, and any lint you pick up will show up most obviously on a solid coloured suit.

A happy medium is a weave fabrics. While the term patterns is often used to refer to both patterns and weaves, for clarity, in this guide, I refer to weaves as fabrics that use only one colour of thread, but are weaved in a special way to create a defined and repeated pattern.

They are subtle enough that it won't be obvious when you wear that suit jacket the second time in one week, but it will offer a subtle texture that will set you apart from those who lack fashion sense.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016

Options

When buying or having a suit custom made, there are a few options to consider.

• Single Breasted or Double Breasted
• Ticket Pocket
• 2 Button or 3 Button
• More Than 2 Buttons
• Vests
  

Single Breasted or Double Breasted

Single breasted is standard. Double breasted should generally be reserved to add variety when you get that 2nd or 3rd navy blue suit.


You should be able to figure out which is which.

Ticket Pocket

I recommend this feature and ask for it for most of my custom suits. It is something rarely seen on store bought suits, so it sets you apparent without being glaringly obvious. Traditional ticket pockets are smaller than the standard jacket pockets, but I always request a second standard sized right-side pocket.


The ticket pocket.

Two or Three Buttons

Two buttons is standard, but requesting a three button suit once in a while adds some fun variety not as commonly seen in off-the-rack suits. Start with 2 button suits, but consider trying a 2 button suit once you've got at least 5 suits in your closet.


A Three Button Suit

More Than Three Buttons

Don't ask for more than 3 buttons on a single breasted suit. Just don't do it.

Vests

I'm not qualified to write on this subject, because I'm younger than 50 years of age.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016

Shoes

There are other threads that discuss shoes in more detail, so I won't elaborate here. Simply put, you only need two pairs of shoes to experiment with or even to commit to suit game. I have a small collection of about six pairs of shoes and would like more, but I usually wear just one of two pairs.

First, you need a pair of black dress shoes. Your main pair should be a fashion forward pair with a bit of a classy point to them, like the example above, but they shouldn't be distinct enough that it'll be obvious that you wear the same black shoes all the time a la one trick pony.


Too obvious.


Too dull and boring. Don't ever buy a pair of shoes that look like this, unless you work as a security guard.


Perfect.

These black shoes can go with anything except (generally speaking) some outfits with blue in them. For outfits were blue is the standout colour, you'll need....


Classic brown shoe

Since you'll wear outfits that mandate brown shoes less often than those that go fine with black shoes, your primary pair can be a little more stand-out-ish than your primary black pair.

If you've already got a pair of black and brown shoes and are looking for a third pair that you can put to good use, I recommend a nice pair of tan coloured shoes.


I always have a pair in this colour.

While you'll generally have to stick to wearing them after March and before October, because this is definitely not a winter colour for shoes, they add a distinguished personal touch in the summer. Works best if you have fairer features, such as blue eyes, but a lot of guys can pull these off.

On a quick shoes related note, generally, if you need to ask if it's ok to wear tennis/running shoes with a suit, you shouldn't. It's incredibly hard to pull it off. However, for those inclined, it's also a fun challenge.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016

Coats

If you're serious about wearing suits on a regular basis, you're going to need coats to match. Active wear isn't going to work. Your best bet will be sticking to dress coats, such as pea coats, in the winter and a trench coat or two for spring and fall.

Also, just as you don't want to be a One Trick Pony when it comes to suits, you don't want to undermine your wardrobe by sticking to one coat for winter.

Ideally, you should have one subtle and one more stand out colour for winter. Black, grey and very dark blue coats are suitable for your main coat. A lighter blue, brown or green coat can be worn from time to time to add variety.

No man should need more than two winter coats if follows this advice, but there is no downside to having more than two.


Not for everyone.


A good choice for everyday wear over a suit.


This coat looks nice, but may be too short to wear over a suit.

Be sure to wear a suit jacket when you go coat shopping. It'll be disappointing to discover that your suit jacket is longer than the coat and is visible below the coat itself.


Navy blue is a good subtle choice for men who don't want to stick with gray and black everyday.


Best avoided, unless you like being mistaken for a doorman.


Something for spring-fall.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016

If you can't afford two or three suits, you aren't ready to be a guy who wears suits regularly. I'm sorry. With just one suit or the wrong two suits, you'll just be shooting yourself in the foot and will be a very obvious one trick pony.

There are four basic suits that every man should procure first. They are, in order of necessity:

• The Dark Grey Suit
• The Charcoal Grey Suit
• The Navy Blue Suit
• The Black Herringbone Suit
  

All these suits are mandatory for starting your collection. You'll be severely limiting your wardrobe options by not putting your money towards investing in these classics first.

As such, you want these suits to be wearable for as much of the year as possible. Get them in a lighter wool or wool blend fabric. It'll do just fine in the winter, you can always wear clothes underneath or a coat over top.

However, if the material is too warm, these suits will be absolutely useless in the summer. Don't go with tropical weight wool, though, because then they won't be very useful in the winter.

Just play it safe and go with a reasonably light wool.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016

The Dark Grey Suit

The first suit you want to get is a dark grey suit. This is because it will go with virtually anything. It's the most versatile suit you can have.


Bland and formal with a tie and plain white dress shirt, but the jacket is effortlessly paired with just about any shirt/pants combination.


The Grey Jacket-Blue Pants combination.


This jacket is a bit more textured than you'd want to buy as one of your first four suits, but this look would still work with a plainer grey jacket.


Faggy probably isn't the look you are going for, but this picture serves to demonstrate the versatility of the dark grey blazer.


If it's good enough for Bruce Willis, it's good enough for you.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016

The Charcoal Grey Suit

The charcoal grey suit works with practically the same outfits as the dark grey suit, but by having a charcoal suit that is a noticeably different shade than your grey suit, you get all that functionality twice.


Just a darker grey.


I want this exact shade.

Once you have these two suits, the dark grey suit and the charcoal grey suit, you'll already regularly be able to wear suits or just the jackets without giving the appearance that you wear the same clothes all the time. With just these two suits, don't wear a jacket every day, because that'll be grey every day, but you'll be able to do it 2-3 days per week if you wish.

With these suits in your closet, you're ready for a very important mainstay of the suit wearing man's wardrobe: The Navy Blue Suit.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016

The Navy Blue Suit

The navy blue suit is a mainstay in any man's suit wardrobe. If it is dark enough, it can be worn regularly without drawing attention to the fact that it has made numerous recent appearances, provided you mix up the pants, shoes and shirt that you wear with it. It's not quite as anonymous as grey suits and blazers, so you'll want to limit yourself to wearing the jacket and the pants to no more than once a week (either together or separately) if the colour is lighter and therefore more distinct or twice a week if it is darker and less attention grabbing.

My favourite thing about a navy blue suit is how effortlessly perfect it goes with a light brown pair of shoes and belt.


Hell, ya!

Of course, the options don't stop there.


Winning Dressy-Casual


You might be able to get away with this at the right frat party.


Artsy, casual.

A navy blue jacket will go with a lot of shirts and shoes, but black shoes are generally a no-no, unless you are a rebel and can pull it off.

With two grey suits and one navy blue suit, you'll be able to comfortably wear suits (or blazers) just about every day of the week without overplaying a particular garment, but if you want to be able to begin being that guy who is always dressed in a jacket at the minimum, you'll need to hang one more important suit in closet.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016

The Black Herringbone Suit

Herringbone is a weave, not a colour or type of suit. While the colour black is a reliable, "less is more" standby that belongs in every man's(and every woman's) wardrobe, if you have a suit in solid black, it isn't just a suit. It's a tuxedo and it is to be saved for very formal black tie types of occasions.

To get around this, I highly recommend that every man have a black, perfectly fitted herringbone suit. I've had one since summer 2010 and I wear the jacket more than anything else I own. It goes with everything, except aggressive blue garments.

This is a herringbone weave in grey:



Here it is in tan:



This is what your black herringbone suit should look like:



If you pair the pants and the jacket of a black herringbone suit together, you will have a very formal look, the same as you would achieve with a solid black fabric.

However, the subtle herringbone weave in the fabric of such a jacket means that it is textured enough to be worn as a blazer with jeans or dress pants of a different colour.

A solid black or pinstriped jacket would seem out of place if you were to do this, but the herringbone jacket works where other black jackets are not.


The California Suit (jeans and jacket) is a controversial fashion statement. I like it, but many do not, so proceed with caution.


Throwing sweaters into the mix.

Depending on how obvious and eye-catching the herringbone weave is, you can wear a jacket from this suit once a week or twice if you wear it with radically different outfits.

Once you've got these four classic suits, properly fitted of course, you will be ready for phase two: summer suits.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016

If you get the wool right, your four classic suits will be somewhat useful in the summer, but if you've worn suits at all in hot weather, you'll already be well aware of their limitations in the summer. If you wanna be that guy who wears suits all the time (or is dressed up as much as possible), phase two will be to get at least two summer only suits.

If you buy the right suits, they will be useless for regular wear in the winter, so depending on your climate, don't buy too many right away, but your long term goal would be to acquire more.

In an intermediately-sized (10-19 suits) or a large (20+ suits) collection, you should shoot for about 1 in 3 suits being specially designed for the summer. It's always sad to put these suits in the back of the closet when the cold autumn weather returns, but the exciting of putting these old friends back into the rotation when spring arrives will make up for the temporary sadness.

However, if you still have fewer than ten suits, try to limit yourself to 2 summer suits if you live in a colder climate (Michigan or colder). If you are in a tropic climate (Florida or warmer), your next four suits after you acquire the classic four should all be summer suits.

Although wearing suits in hot weather will always be an added challenge, there are a number of approaches to minimizing discomfort.

• Materials: Linen, Cotton & Tropic Weight Wool
• Seersucker Weave
• The Unstructured Suit & Half Lined Suit
• Light Colours
  

Quote:Quote:

It takes a little bit of swagger to properly pull off a linen suit (see Johnny Depp in The Rum Diaries), but no other fabric can keep you as cool when you’re having some outdoor after-work drinks. The downside to linen is that you are going to get a few wrinkles, even if you’re wearing the suit correctly, so you will need to learn to just roll with it. When you look really good nobody will pay attention to the wrinkles anyway. Going with a darker color, such as a navy, will help conceal some of the wrinkles can easily transition from the office to the night club- just ditch the tie and you’re set.

Source

Quote:Quote:

Cotton is what most of your clothes are likely made from; t-shirts, socks and everything in-between. This is because the fabric is light-weight, breathable and machine-washable which makes it a great choice. The downside, however, is that it wrinkles relatively easy so keep a bottle of spray-on wrinkle releaser in your desk drawer and you’ll go toe-to-toe with the best wool suits in the office without passing out midday from the heat.

Source

Quote:Quote:

Wool can easily absorb up to 30% of its weight in moisture without feeling damp or clammy. It wicks moisture away from the body, keeping the person "warm without wet". Wool functions as a "temperature regulator" so it can protect the body in both cold and warm conditions. That is why wool clothing is worn throughout the desert regions of the world where it's hot during the day and cool at night. "Tropical weight wool" is often used for high-end summer suits for men.

Source

Quote:Quote:

Seersucker is a thin, puckered, all-cotton fabric, commonly striped or chequered, used to make clothing for spring and summer wear.

Seersucker is woven in such a way that some threads bunch together, giving the fabric a wrinkled appearance in places. This feature causes the fabric to be mostly held away from the skin when worn, facilitating heat dissipation and air circulation. It also means that pressing is not necessary.

Source

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Unstructured jackets are, unsurprisingly, lacking in internal structure. On structured jackets it is the structure underneath the external fabric, the skeleton if you will, which provides the shape to the garment; shoulder padding, canvass and lining. An unstructured jacket has no such structure and is very often unlined; the external material simply lays upon the wearers points and bumps without any affectation of shape created by padding or canvass. For many, this item is too casual and too lacking in, well, structure to be appealing; it’s flimsy, they say, and lacking in cut and character.

Source

More information regarding unstructured suits:Link

The following four suits are my recommended choices for summer wear in order of usefulness and functionality.

• The Light Grey Suit
• The Medium Blue Suit
• The Sky Blue Suit
• The White Linen Blazer or Suit
  

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016



The Light Grey Suit is just a revisitation of The Dark Grey and Charcoal Grey Suits, but for summer temperatures.


Note the blue pocket square/pants pairing.


With black pants.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016



You should already have a darker navy blue suit by the time you start investing in summer specific suits, so you'll want to go a few noticeably lighter shades for your first summer blue suit.

Once you have one, you can do this:


"Come here and sit on my dick, ladies."


Nice.


Attention grabbing.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016


Note the brown buttons. Nice touch.


Fully anticipate IOIs.

Wearing the sky blue suit is pretty balsy, but it's still a wise investment, even for the playa who doesn't plan on wearing it as a complete suit. Both the pants and the jacket can be very effectively paired with a whole range of other garments, for some winning outfits.


Red and blue, bitches.


Dark jeans, paired with sky blue jacket.


Of course, white pants work just fine, too.


Remember that darker blue suit I told you to get? Here are the pants.


Would bang.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016


Linen offers great texture.

The White Linen Blazer is most function if technically "off-white." The closer you get to pure white, the less you'll be able to wear your jacket between trips to the drycleaners. The colour displayed in the image above is perfect. It won't show every speck of dirt, but it gives you that light, casual summer look.

The investment of a full white linen suit is pretty large for something you probably won't be able to wear consistently. Therefore, I recommend that until your suit wardrobe is larger that you just buy a White Linen Blazer and pair it with pants that can be machine washed at home.


White linen blazer with jeans.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016

Building your suit collection gets really fun once your collection expands to ten or more, but to get there, you need at least three or four intermediate suits.

Intermediate suits are garments that are distinct enough that you wouldn't wear them more than once every two or three weeks. Because you've got your basic four classic suits, you can afford to put some time between when you wear these more eye catching suits.

You could get away with wearing them more often, but you won't want to, because wearing them less often will allow for maximum impact when you do incorporate them into an outfit.

Unlike the classic suits, which form the backbone of your suit wardrobe, intermediate suits are allowed to pop and get people's attention. While the compliments you'll get regarding your classic suits will be all about how nice the cut looks on you, with intermediate suits, you can expect that people will also compliment that fabric weaves, colours and detailing.

While with your classic suits, you need to stay the hell away from patterns, with intermediate suits, about one in two or one in three can comfortably be a patterned suit.

• The Prince of Wales Suit
• A Second Black Suit
• The Classic Brown Suit
• The Khaki Suit
  

The Prince of Wales Suit

The Prince of Wales Suit is such a classic that it's highly recommendable that you consider buying it as your first patterned suit.


As classic as it gets.


Lots of different ways to wear the jacket.

Second Black Suit

While, you'll get a lot of mileage out of the black herringbone suit, as it'll serve your purposes perfectly on those rare occasions when you need an all black suit, if you are one of those people who needs a black suit more than two or three times a year, you may wish to invest in backup black suit.

For your first black suit, you absolutely need to stay way from any pinstripes, as this makes it pretty much impossible to pair the jacket with any other pants or the pants with any other jacket (although pinstripes will go great with a dress shirt and tie if you ditch the jacket).

However, if you've already got one black suit in the closet, you can feel safe getting a black suit with pinstripes as a second. In fact, pinstripes have a great look that is nice to throw into the mix once in the while, so you should strongly consider it if you decide to pull the trigger on a second black suit.

Pinstriped suits vary significantly.


Flashy.


Subtle.

Although, two or three black suits are as many as any man should ever really need, if you have budget to spare, pinstripes give you the option to invest in a variety of black suits without feeling like you are just buying the same suit over and over again.

Of course, you can also go the chalkline direction as well. Chalklines are thicker, textured lines that use the same colour thread as the rest of the suit and form distinct, but reasonably subtle vertical lines.



Intermediate black suits have multiple purposes. They'll do fine for black tie events, business and sometimes casual wear. For discussion on single purpose tuxedos, see the Speciality Suits section below.

The Classic Brown Suit

Brown suits don't work well for many men's skin tones, but it's something to try if you think it might. If you have one brown suit done and get lots of compliments, consider getting a few more, because few men will be pulling this look off and you'll stand out in a good way if you can.

The nice thing about brown is that it comes in many different shades.


It works for stupid vampires.

The Khaki Suit

Similar to brown, this is a look this is either going to work for you or it won't.


Consider this for spring and summer.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016

Once you've built a collection of about ten to twelve suits, including the Classic Four, 3-4 Summer Suits and 3-4 Intermediate Suits, you are ready to start your Back-Of-The-Closet collection.

These suits are defined by the fact that, no matter how much you love them, you won't be able to wear them nearly as often as the suits already in your collection.

These suits are characterized by their ability to make a powerful impression, but that powerful impression will be significantly undermined if you don't rotate them properly.

For an example of suits done to their ultimate extent, look no further than Jeremy Piven's character on the show Entourage: Ari Gold. While he typically rocks the LA power suit around the office, he also seems to have a hundred different casual combinations as well.

Imagine how less impressive Piven's Gold would be if he only had two power suits and two casual outfits.

Most of Gold's outfits stand out in a big way (not a member of the classic four club), but since he apparently has dozens of different outfits, he can get away with it. You never notice him wearing the same outfit twice on different, so whenever he comes on screen wearing anything other than a dark pinstriped business suit, he makes a powerful impression....every time.

Now, you can't wear an impressive, attention getting suit on one occasion, and then retreat into non-suit wear for the next three months, without being nothing more than "the guy who wore a nice suit one time." But, that's kinda like getting a nice rental tux for prom. Sure, it'll generate some conversation among your classmates, but everyone knows that you're still Dan who pissed his pants in the fourth grade,

However, if you've got the Classic Four, some Summer Suits and a few more Intermediate Suits already in your wardrobe, you've given yourself permission to occasionally appear in public in a knockout suit combination, without setting the bar too high.

• All White Suit
• Tuxedos
• Pinstripe Suits
• Unusual Colours
  

All White Suit


Yes, yes, yes.

There are few looks as fly as an all white suit. You can get some mind-blowing combinations with one of these bad boys in your closet. White jacket, black pants is one of my favourites.


About as dressed up as a man can be.

Unfortunately, there are few suits that will (and can) get less wear than a white suit. They need constant dry cleaning. You need to be extremely careful wear you sit when wearing one. And as much as I like the white jacket, black pants combination, I'd be the first to admit that there are extremely few situations were wearing it is congruent. You can't even wear it to weddings, because you'll be mistaken for a member of the wedding party. The only real opportunity where you'll get use out of a white suit is black tie events that are not weddings and environments where every other man is going to be suited up and you really want to stand out.

It's lack of regular usefulness lands the white suit squarely in the "speciality suit" category, but if you already have 15 or more suits in your closet, it is a really fun addition to have.

I made the mistake of getting a white suit among the first eight tailored suits that I requisitioned, and while I can now think of a half dozen mainstays that would have been a smarter purchase that early on, I can't deny that having a white suit has been fun for those odd times, I pull it out of the back of my closet. New Years Eve 2012 comes to mind.

While for a white suit in wool or silk, there are limited application, a white linen suit combines casual with "hey! notice me" in a very special way. Something consider for your summer wardrobe. If you go with a slight off-white, you'll be able to get away with wearing it to more formal events, like your nephew's 12th grade graduation, without looking like a weirdo in a stupid suit.


Pimp.

If you can't imagine yourself dressing like this, it's not for you. There are plenty of other options for your wardrobe. But if you look at the picture above and like it, keep this idea in the back of your head for when you've got a full collection and are looking for something truly boss.

Tuxedos


PPK optional.

A tuxedo is something you only need to acquire if you really want one. It's very easy to use a black suit as a tux by adding a bowtie or even a solid black tie, so portion of your wardrobe is exceedingly optional and will for most men, rarely be useful. Personally, I'd prefer another blue suit in a slightly different shade.

Pinstripe Suits

This was mentioned early as an option for a second black suit and it is. However, if the only reason to own a good number of these is if you are a lawyer or in a similar profession where regular pinstripe suit wear is the norm.

Unusual Colours

Put a lot of thought into the decision to choose any unusual colours and only do so after you've got the basics covered and already have 10+ suits.


Interesting.


Weird.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Fortis - 03-22-2016

Never thought I'd say this: I think I need to get my suit game up.

The one problem I've been having with modern fashion is that it all looks homosexual as hell, but suits are classic and masculine.

Thanks brah

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Tokyo Joe - 03-22-2016

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Phoenix - 03-22-2016

Oh, so this is why you're called Suits.

Very helpful, I've been thinking about getting some more suits. I'll be downloading this in case any of the images go dead. Do you have any advice for men who are either losing or gaining weight? Some guys might not want to buy a collection due to this, I assume they're not very adjustable right?

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Suits - 03-22-2016

Quote: (03-22-2016 01:30 AM)Phoenix Wrote:  

Oh, so this is why you're called Suits.

Yes. I'm actually not a huge fan of the show.

Quote:Quote:

Very helpful, I've been thinking about getting some more suits. I'll be downloading this in case any of the images go dead.

I uploaded all of the images to imgur, so they shouldn't go dead unless that website goes down.

Quote:Quote:

Do you have any advice for men who are either losing or gaining weight? Some guys might not want to buy a collection due to this, I assume they're not very adjustable right?

Fit is extremely important for suits. Wait until you are at your ideal weight.

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Jnx - 03-22-2016

How do you personally go about finding a good tailor? I don't want to take my suit to a tailor that doesn't know current trends

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - Aquiles_Baesta_Parada - 03-22-2016

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Building Your Suit Wardrobe (Guide) - churros - 03-22-2016

Amazing, repped.

Do you have advice on spotting good materials when getting one custom made? I've had shirts custom made in India, but liked some materials better than others. I would have no idea what to look out for when getting a suit made. Would be my first.

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