How you put together outfits - Topic of the day 9/26/23
When you get dressed for the day, how do you decide what you wear? Do you start with a specific piece and work out the outfit from there? Do you have an overall idea in mind and change pieces until you're happy? Lead us through your process!
29 Replies
Outfits for me begin with the context of where I'm gonna be, which drives pant choices. From there, I can generally narrow down tops. Top choice then generally drives shoe choice... jackets to blend/match the overall vibe.
Shoes are my anchor, I'm a bottoms up dresser. Similiary to rej, it's context dependent for me and I build up from my choice in shoes > pants > top > outwear > accessories. It can be a bit limiting but it's definitely how I dress.
In action: today I am on a job site and in the office. I dress to communicate that I am a knowledgeable but young professional. I'm wearing khakis, but with a casual button down. It's raining and the shirt is workwear skewed, so I'm wearing boots. The orange jacket over the top adds contrast
Typical process: check weather report -> choose shoes -> choose pants -> choose top -> choose outerwear (if needed)
Lately though I've been picking a specific piece and designing an outfit around that. Like if there's a sweater I want to wear or a specific shirt then I'll choose that first the figure out what other items complement it the best to make a cohesive fit
It used to be a much more involved process of mixing and matching, but after years of absorbing fashion content all the time and really getting to know the stuff in my closet, i find i can usually just start with a picture in my head and put it on. From there itll be like oh this one bit isnt working maybe ill swap to this instead. For something like fit battles ill take more care to put a few fits on in front of the mirror and really analyze
This fit is great. I love the jacket
Thanks I picked it up towards the trail end of winter last year so I'm happy to get to wear it
I’ll regularly just start trying things on from my wardrobe to come up with potential future outfits to roll out. Last night I got fixated on a garment I haven’t worn in years but wanted to play with and just experimented with combinations I had never tried. The results sometimes I’ll enjoy as a fully styled look but will have to decide if it is or isn’t my current vibe.
Similar to GSH, I check the weather first but I perform a vibe check second to see which shoes I want to deal with. I really own GATs or loafers so from there I choose which direction I want to go
I think a vibe check is key to any outfit
I weather check as well, and then I tend to start just by grabbing the first thing I feel a desire to wear that day and then building from there. If that fails to pan out or I'm not feeling strongly about one piece in the first place then I'll typically start with pants.
Typically now I find I'm pulling the next pieces based on texture and color proximity to the original piece. Shoes are almost always the last choice for me unless the weather picks for me.
vibe check is wise
I check the weather and then enter an elevated state of consciousness and black out for anywhere from 10min to an hour and then I'm suddenly dressed
I check the weather, decide on what jacket I’m gonna wear (if too warm then shoes), then go from there. Key part is to walk outside after I get dressed to see if I made a glaring mistake
I usually have one item I wanna wear that day that seems to be randomly decided when waking up, whether it's switching to a specific pair shoes, wanting to wear a snazzy jacket or finally bringing out a particular sweater.
Then I just go through items of clothing in my head and build around the item. "oh it goes with these or these trousers, maybe if I go A i can take out these shoes or the boots, but with B i can wear this" until I'm content
I check the weather the night before, then I start with the shoes. Also a bottom up dresser. Pick my shoes, then a pant I like, then a shirt, sweater, jacket, etc. After that I’ll add accessories if wanted.
I do have a jeans rotation though, so if I’m going to wear jeans that day, it’ll be the next in the order
oh shit, how big is the rotation and how do you keep track
I scroll through my instagram account to make sure I’m not about to repeat any of the 218 outfits that are currently posted there and then get dressed based on that
Banned for self promotion
Right now it’s 9 jeans, they’re arranged in order in my closet from light to dark
i do the same with my jeans. though occasionally i'll go for several days wearing the same pair, or sometimes i'll pick one to be a 'weekend' or 'errands' pair that ends up being the go-to pair for a while
to answer the spotlight question, i usually start with whatever thing i decide i want to wear that day - could be a specific shirt, color, pair of shoes, pants, etc. then i just build from there
Yeah sometimes I’ll wear the same pair a few days in a row, sometimes just one day in a week, depending on the vibe
Some weeks I wear no jeans because I’m not feeling’ it
send pics
Lol I’m bad at math, I got rid of a lot recently and I’m down to 7 jeans.
Left to right: Cottle, Grease Point, Oni, Stevenson, Tender, PBJ, Indigofera
how are you liking those pbj sashikos? those are really cool
The material is wonderful. I’m not a huge fan of the fit though. It’s more tapered and slim than I would like.
what kinda hangers are you using? I fold my pants over a regular hanger, but they get so wrinkly from that
Just some steel S hooks from Amazon
thanks boss 🫡will be ordering some
usually this is my thought process:
1. context - what am i doing and where am i going? what kind of people?
2. what do i feel like wearing? what's the vibe i wanna put out?
3. recent cop bias - i recently got X, is it time for its maiden voyage/test drive?