Week Day Prince, Weekend Slob

[Guest]

It is called Self Edge and is on, I believe, 18th and Valencia. The web address is www.selfedge.com .

Matt, thank you!

Andrey

[Guest]

It is called Self Edge and is on, I believe, 18th and Valencia. The web address is www.selfedge.com .

Matt, thank you!

Andrey

No prob. I hope you can avoid looking like "the help" . Nice guy who runs the place, and knowledgeable about his product.

[Guest]

There's even an analog of the LL limited edition series for jeans. Styleforum just received the results of its jeans design collaboration with 5EP. It has very high quality construction (with all the 5EP hallmarks) and uses very high quality rigid denim. The front rise on a 32-inch waist model is about 10.5 inches, and the styling is slightly skinnier than 501s, so it may not be to the tastes of many here.

There are lots of RTW brands that use good construction and good fabric, too, including many with rigid denim. There's quite a scene out there for high-quality jeans.

--Andre

[Guest]

My view is that even a T shirt and jeans can look nice.

But again, as in all clothing, it is a question of fit, proportion, color and one's style.

The real villain is the typicall choice of baggy, scruffy weekend clothing; sneakers and a baseball cap are the nails in the coffin.

Ofcourse, one can always choose the English Country route for weekends but that is often too affected for America and so, it doesn't often work convinclingly.

There is nothing wrong with classic American casual wear including Chinos, polos, Top Siders, jeans, Ts, OCBD, etc. They are classic for a reason but just need to be chosen and worn properly.

[Guest]

Ofcourse, one can always choose the English Country route for weekends but that is often too affected for America and so, it doesn't often work convinclingly.

I don't think anyone has suggested English country in this thread. My own advice is well made trousers and shoes as a place to start. I don't think sportscoats or overcoats are either affected or an English exclusive. Then again, I confess not to know what dressing is like in the US these days.

There is nothing wrong with classic American casual wear including Chinos, polos, Top Siders, jeans, Ts, OCBD, etc. They are classic for a reason but just need to be chosen and worn properly.

You bring up a good point. I wear Top Siders a good deal of the summer, but then again I am often on boats. As much as I like them for their intended use, I somehow think they look funny worn in the city or as a normal part of dress. This is to your point of wearing clothes well or "properly."

Men simply look better in collared shirts. I would ask anyone but a tennis player to stay away from the dreadful polo shirt with advertisements and logos like faux polo players, turtles, or doo dads.. If one feels uncomfortable in a collared shirt, wear a plain T shirt. One recognizes the American in Paris a mile off by his florescent white jogging shoes and polo shirt.

[Guest]

There is nothing wrong with classic American casual wear including Chinos, polos, Top Siders, jeans, Ts, OCBD, etc. They are classic for a reason but just need to be chosen and worn properly.

I agree. There is nothing wrong with chinos and jeans. I prefer polos to t-shirts, but as they other poster noted, I'm a tennis player and so I think they can be really good.

[Guest]

Men simply look better in collared shirts. I would ask anyone but a tennis player to stay away from the dreadful polo shirt with advertisements and logos like faux polo players, turtles, or doo dads.. If one feels uncomfortable in a collared shirt, wear a plain T shirt. One recognizes the American in Paris a mile off by his florescent white jogging shoes and polo shirt.

The polo is ubiquitous in the US and if you did away with it, that would be akin to banishing a classic here.

Indeed, the nifty American can be spotted a mile down the road overseas. But then again each country also has its styling cues, for better or for worse, which signal its people's origins.

Granted, the trainers and baseball caps are horrendous, though I won't concede that the polo should be grouped in the same company.

American casual style at its best is is pleasant, straightforward, functional, comfortable and rewarding.

The many illustrations from Etutee's post I presume are of Americans at leisure and the casual clothing is by and large very direct and uncomplicated. And very successful.

Now if I may take ,with permission , a photo of a very elegant man for illustration, I would suggest that this gentleman is beautifully dressed with all of the right cues and signals which we have come to consider designate a sophisticated dresser.



But I would submit that such dress would not be well received in America; it would be too too. Too beautiful and too put together to play successfully in America. Or for one to wear comfortably and confidently here as casual dress.

No. Americans do best what they know best and what is part of the best of their clothing patrimony: the classical, prepster, Ivy League, Eastern seaboaard style of dress. And I'll add jeans because they dominate the world and are very much American wear.

I think that by sticking close to the knitting of what is classic Americana, the weekend slob can be reformed though most have lost the path and strayed into sportswear, hip hop, technical wear quicksand.

The weekend slob needn't go to the sartorial lengths of our friend in the photo above nor what I'll call Lord of the Manor English Country. Both styles will feel alien in the broad streets of America.

Buy local and wear it like an educated sartorialist.

[Guest]

The polo is ubiquitous in the US and if you did away with it, that would be akin to banishing a classic here. Indeed, the nifty American can be spotted a mile down the road overseas. But then again each country also has its styling cues, for better or for worse, which signal its people's origins.

The polo shirt only became popular in the US in the late 1970s with the arrival of the “preppy” fad and Ralph Lauren. The polo is an invention of polo players in Argentina. The look migrated to Europe and then later to the States. I do not think we are talking about an indigenous American classic either in terms of the origins of the style or the rather recent time frame of its popularity. I seem to remember Americans largely wearing collared, button down shirts in the 60s.

Polo shirts per se can be fine. I suggest one avoid polos with logos or advertising.

And I'll add jeans because they dominate the world and are very much American wear.

Jeans, on the other hand, are an American classic as their origins are with Levis Strauss of California. Did you really want to say “dominate the world?

American casual style at its best is is pleasant, straightforward, functional, comfortable and rewarding. The many illustrations from Etutee's post I presume are of Americans at leisure and the casual clothing is by and large very direct and uncomplicated. And very successful.

I think you’ll find, and the posts by Etutee are helpful, that American style was greatly influenced by English and Continental fashions throughout most of the last century, at least up until the mid 1970s.

Now if I may take ,with permission , a photo of a very elegant man for illustration, I would suggest that this gentleman is beautifully dressed with all of the right cues and signals which we have come to consider designate a sophisticated dresser.

Would you feel better if he removed the Harris tweed coat (America is still the largest market in the world for Harris tweed so someone must be wearing it)? If he removed the coat, cap and scarf and wore a button down shirt or a polo sans logo, I think most of us would agree, he would be considered well dressed anywhere in the world. The trousers are beautifully cut and the suede shoes are handsome. Are you saying that a lounge coat in tweed is too flamboyant? Is wearing a scarf or carrying an umbrella too chic?

The weekend slob needn't go to the sartorial lengths of our friend in the photo above nor what I'll call Lord of the Manor English Country. Both styles will feel alien in the broad streets of America.

Buy local and wear it like an educated sartorialist.

The pictures of our friend do represent works of a sartoria, a bespoke tailor, and therefore can be referred to as “sartorial.” Are you referring to the use of “local” bespoke tailors by the educated sartorialist? If you are referring to the use of locally made RTW garments, then you might want to use another term such as “educated dresser.” The word “sartorial” has a specific meaning, it relates exclusively to products of a sartoria.

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M Alden