Begin here and read up to part 5 inclusive. On the margin, getting a basic day-in, day-out wardrobe of nice well-fitting jeans/chinos (maybe chino or cargo shorts if you live in a hot place) and t-shirts is far more valuable when you start approaching fashion than hats. Hats are a flair that come after everything else in the outfit you’re wearing them with. Maybe you want to just spend a few hours one-off choosing a hat and don’t want to think about all the precursors. But that can actually make you backslide. If you look at their advice about hats, you’ll see that pork pies and fedoras are recommended, but it’s well-known how badly a fedora can backfire if you aren’t very careful.
(For example, I’m still in the ‘trying new t-shirts/shirts/jeans/chinos/shoes with an occasional jumper purchase’ phase after about a year, 18 months. Still haven’t even got to shorts. You might progress faster if you do shops more often or have a higher shopping budget. But suffice to say hats are a long way in.)
There is a known phenomenon of guys walking around with a fedora or brimmed hat or whatever with a poorly coordinated outfit, dirty clothes, odour, bad fit, etc. basically not having the basics down before going intermediate. In these cases you will lose points with a lot of people because they will cringe or think you’re trying to compensate. You may or may not have been engaging in similar thinking when making this thread, but watch out for that failure mode.
Supplementary reading and good to get a yay or nay before buying something, or to get recommendations within a type of garment: /r/malefashionadvice/
Fashionability and going for safety helmets/caps might be divergent strategies though. If you were purely optimizing the former, what I say above might be relevant. If the latter, just getting some Crasches and calling it a day might be enough.
Now that looks like a good reference to start in on, given my current (lack of) knowledge of all things clothesy, and was worth starting this thread. Not all of it’s going to be useful—my budget for nonessentials is roughly $100 per month, and I recently had to replace a fried laptop—but with luck, I’ll at least start getting a sense of the general patterns of what’s involved with fashionableness.
a hot place
The summer temperatures regularly go above 30 C, so I’ve usually been wearing cargo shorts. In winter, usually simple black or tan slacks—they’re buried in a closet, so I’m not sure if they’re cotton, but they could be chinos. (My usual trouble with long pants is finding a pair with short enough legs; IIRC, I have a 28“ inseam, the shortest slacks I can find are usually 30”, so I generally end up informally hemming them by folding the bottoms up inside.)
a fedora can backfire
I’m leaning towards avoiding a fedora unless and until I get to the point of having at least a business-casual suit.
/r/malefashionadvice/
Another link that looks potentially highly useful; thank you kindly.
Fashionability and going for safety helmets/caps might be divergent strategies though.
Are you familiar with the “Everyday Carry” subculture, as can be seen in the /r/EDC/ subreddit? My take on the approach is that the ideal is to be as prepared as possible for life’s little emergencies, without looking like you’re a survivalist nut. Eg, paracord bracelets can be decorative accents—that can conceal a whole survival kit within their loops. I’m hoping to end up with a hat that just might reduce a head injury while I’m hiking, but which won’t look out-of-place while I’m at a mall.
Begin here and read up to part 5 inclusive. On the margin, getting a basic day-in, day-out wardrobe of nice well-fitting jeans/chinos (maybe chino or cargo shorts if you live in a hot place) and t-shirts is far more valuable when you start approaching fashion than hats. Hats are a flair that come after everything else in the outfit you’re wearing them with. Maybe you want to just spend a few hours one-off choosing a hat and don’t want to think about all the precursors. But that can actually make you backslide. If you look at their advice about hats, you’ll see that pork pies and fedoras are recommended, but it’s well-known how badly a fedora can backfire if you aren’t very careful.
(For example, I’m still in the ‘trying new t-shirts/shirts/jeans/chinos/shoes with an occasional jumper purchase’ phase after about a year, 18 months. Still haven’t even got to shorts. You might progress faster if you do shops more often or have a higher shopping budget. But suffice to say hats are a long way in.)
There is a known phenomenon of guys walking around with a fedora or brimmed hat or whatever with a poorly coordinated outfit, dirty clothes, odour, bad fit, etc. basically not having the basics down before going intermediate. In these cases you will lose points with a lot of people because they will cringe or think you’re trying to compensate. You may or may not have been engaging in similar thinking when making this thread, but watch out for that failure mode.
Supplementary reading and good to get a yay or nay before buying something, or to get recommendations within a type of garment: /r/malefashionadvice/
Fashionability and going for safety helmets/caps might be divergent strategies though. If you were purely optimizing the former, what I say above might be relevant. If the latter, just getting some Crasches and calling it a day might be enough.
Now that looks like a good reference to start in on, given my current (lack of) knowledge of all things clothesy, and was worth starting this thread. Not all of it’s going to be useful—my budget for nonessentials is roughly $100 per month, and I recently had to replace a fried laptop—but with luck, I’ll at least start getting a sense of the general patterns of what’s involved with fashionableness.
The summer temperatures regularly go above 30 C, so I’ve usually been wearing cargo shorts. In winter, usually simple black or tan slacks—they’re buried in a closet, so I’m not sure if they’re cotton, but they could be chinos. (My usual trouble with long pants is finding a pair with short enough legs; IIRC, I have a 28“ inseam, the shortest slacks I can find are usually 30”, so I generally end up informally hemming them by folding the bottoms up inside.)
I’m leaning towards avoiding a fedora unless and until I get to the point of having at least a business-casual suit.
Another link that looks potentially highly useful; thank you kindly.
Are you familiar with the “Everyday Carry” subculture, as can be seen in the /r/EDC/ subreddit? My take on the approach is that the ideal is to be as prepared as possible for life’s little emergencies, without looking like you’re a survivalist nut. Eg, paracord bracelets can be decorative accents—that can conceal a whole survival kit within their loops. I’m hoping to end up with a hat that just might reduce a head injury while I’m hiking, but which won’t look out-of-place while I’m at a mall.