STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

NCshopper · Hermes

Men's Style

Suasoria · Chanel

1. As involved as he'll let me be. He consults me on dress clothes but not so much on sportswear/casual things - almost every time we get ready to go out, he asks my opinion. I used to work for a "better menswear retailer" and eventually became a furnishings buyer so I feel I know menswear better than most women and probably better than most men. (Furnishings are anything that isn't a suit, sportcoat, formalwear or outerwear, so that leaves dress shirts, ties, belts, and random accessories.)

2. Ya know, he used to be much more into clothes, and used to dress up for work, but that was a few jobs ago. When I first met him, he was much more "metro," but he's moved away from that over the last ten years or so.

3. I buy him things occasionally that *I* like and there's a 50/50 chance that he'll wear it. But I speak my mind and give unsolicited advice in as positive a manner as I can, like, your XYZ shirt would be nicer for the restaurant we're going to, or, are your gray khakis clean, or wouldn't you be more comfortable in shorts...he gets hints fairly well.

4. He has a sufficient wardrobe of business/dress clothes so he hasn't needed anything new lately. In the old days we'd shop at Barney's, Bloomingdales, Macy's or Nordstrom for his work clothes, plus whatever I'd bring him to try from my work. Now he buys 99% of his casual clothes at Gap or Old Navy. It's disappointing. Most weekdays he wears bad jeans and an ON polo. I submitted him to WNTW, but apparently, nobody wants to see man makeovers anymore. The ratings aren't as good.

greendiamond · Marc Jacobs

When I first met DH, he looked like he was always ready for a pick-up game. He has always worked at places that had a casual dress code. Now he wears jeans (well fitting ones that I help him buy) and a polo. He is very choosy about how a shirt fits, so his polos fit him well.

When it is time to go out, he has a few dress clothes, but needs more. If I could find a place that had a big selection of athletic fit dress shirts that didn't require a tie (say, a nice striped or printed one) I'd fill his closet with them. When it's dress-dress time, he looks great and doesn't need my help, however I was with him when he bought all those dress clothes, so they fit just fine, and he pairs things together well.

Occasionally I have to instruct him that he needs to formal up his footwear from his casual black shoes to his dressier ones, but he's getting the hang of that too.

One thing I'd like to know, is if a man's sock should match his pants or his shoes. We disagree on this one some of the time.

HeatherLynn · Gucci

I am fairly involved in helping my FI buy clothes. However, he does a really good job on his own. He tends to want a second opinion.

He is pretty interested in style, and like greendiamond, very picky about how his shirts fit. In fact, I refuse to pick out/buy without him any shirts. When we first met he had some nice clothes and they definitely fit him well which is important. He is very tall and thin. I just helped him find more places/designers that would fit him and showed him how much a good tailor can help. It was pretty natural though because when he was younger he hated how his clothes never fit just right bc of his body type and took an interest/was excited when he found stuff that did fit.

We just went shopping together a lot. When we were out I would just have him try on clothes. When we were in college, I took him to a local boutique to try on nice jeans. Ever since then thats all he will wear. Trying things on and seeing the difference in quality helped him. He is someone that doesn't mind paying a little more if it is good quality and will last forever. If he wasn't that way it would make it harder to sway him.

His favorite stores are probably Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, TJ Maxx, and a local boutique. He likes Rack and TJ Maxx bc he is able to find some good stuff for a great price. I will say that he still doesn't get super excited to go clothes shopping. He will go, and go willingly, but he would prefer to be other things. =)

NCshopper · Hermes

greendiamond wrote:

One thing I'd like to know, is if a man's sock should match his pants or his shoes. We disagree on this one some of the time.

According to the Esquire book that I'm reading, the socks should match the pants, not the shoes.

Hermes

well, hubby is pretty conservative. when I met him, he was wearing a plaid short sleeve button down, lee jeans, and docksiders... obviously, it was his personality I was attracted to smile

we have gone from the extremes of the aforementioned ensemble to the other end of the spectrum where he bought a purple ombre gucci sweater in italy.

I've mostly been able to steer him toward quality. He's also very frugal, so I guess I started overhauling his look by taking him on TJ shopping trips with me and looking at the clearance racks. when a nice pair of pants, a shirt, or sweater is like $10-$15, it was easy to get him to inject some new pieces in his wardrobe.

he still gets stuck in ruts and doesn't touch his newer stuff until he's worn the living crap out of what he's currently wearing (mostly with shirts and ties - he seems to more readily wear new sweaters and casual shirts.) I have been unable to get him to wear low-rise jeans, but have found some nicer designer jeans with a higher waist At least I can get him to wear his shirts untucked now so it covers it up.

for the most part, he get complimented and asked if I dressed him... He has some good quality classic pieces that he can't go wrong with mixing and matching for business casual and casual. we pretty much know the color palette he likes, so we stick to that. I have also bought him fancy, expensive designer items when I stumble on a good deal.

bottom line, he's a a point where he is not embarrassing to be seen with, and generally looks pretty sharp and distinguished (he's also 9 years older than me, so I can only get him to be so stylish...) it's a lot better than the 80's rut he was stuck in when I met him smile

Kelly · Hermes

1. I'm not super involved. He knows what he likes and wants for the most part. Sometimes if we're together when he's shopping online (or if we're both online), he'll show me something and ask for my opinion, but usually that's just if he's trying to decide between a couple things. He did recently say that he wants me to go shopping with him, but we haven't done that yet.

2. I'd say he's fairly interested. He likes to look good. There's no prodding from me, and no need. He looks pretty damn good all the time :) He usually wears jeans, t-shirts, and hoodies. But it works for him, he looks good in it. I think the difference is that he pays attention to fit, and he's not lazy about it. His jeans aren't baggy. They're a good-looking wash. His shirts and hoodies are usually slim fit, not boxy. He wears sneakers, but they're not big white marshmallow shoes. They're sleek 70s sort of trainers. He wears brimmed hats, but they aren't baseball caps. They're like this:

3. I can't say I've done much. I like how he dresses so it hasn't really come up. But I did read a blog post about this lately, written from a man's perspective, which may help you:

http://www.alreadypretty.com/2009/02/manfashion-interlude-effective-wardrobe.html

4. I don't really know - neither of us are into spending a lot of money, so it's ON and stuff like that. He shops online a lot too.

Sandy · Kate Spade

1. How involved to you get in helping your SO buy clothes? I'm very involved. I usually just go out and buy his clothes or pick stuff out when he decides to come along.

2. How interested is your SO in style--is it something he takes an interest in naturally or do you have to prod him along? He's not interested in style, but be doesn't want to look bad, you know? He knows what he doesn't like though, that's for sure. He can put an outfit together pretty well, but that's only because his wardrobe is very mix and match. We stick to one color palette.

3. What have you done to help turn your man's style around? Any tips for doing this successfully? I shop for him. When I met him, he wore khaki shorts with rips in the bum, polos with holes in the arm pits, and the most awful faded baseball hat you've ever seen. I'm not so sure that he wouldn't be wearing these clothes today if I hadn't intervened aww

. Honestly, his fashion sense has matured with age, and I've only pushed things along a little bit.

4. What are your SO's favorite stores He's very specific about the way things fit off the rack and will not go to tailor. We've discovered that Banana Republic jeans, Gap pants and tees, AE shorts, Express shirts, and Lacoste polos fit best. We generally don't deviate from that.

Please don't think that I'm doing this against BF's will... he appreciates what I do for his closet and wants to look good. He just doesn't care to learn himself smile