Fashion Checkpoint (8 months ish)
Hello time for fit check-up.
Honestly first off, just writing out that title, I gotta show myself kindness that I have come damn far in 8 months. Going from mostly t-shirts and slim-leaning jeans with the occasional button down and chinos, to a style that I feel really confident in. Gotta acknowledge that part of what’s driving me to make this thread is me getting good enough at the basics of a thing that doing things at that level is starting to feel pretty uninteresting. What I’m feeling particularly good about is my shirts this summer, a lot of really punchy and cool patterns and colors that feel the most “me” I’ve ever felt.
That being said, day to day I feel like I’m generally dressing pretty safely and I’m feeling in a bit of a rut because of it. I feel very locked in on making “nice” fits but punching above that is tough and infrequent. I’m struggling to figure out what kinda aspects to start messing with and in what way to get to where I want to go.
One thing that I feel particularly on autopilot with is how I’m wearing and styling my clothes, the most creative I get is a rolled up cuff or an extra couple buttons undone. I’d really like to get to a place where I feel like I can consistently punch above “shirt and pant worn mostly normally”. I’ve got a pretty nice stock of accessories, some scarves and bandanas, that I feel like I’m underutilizing. Every time I go to try and integrate some I can never seem to wear them in a way that feels right. And I’d really like to find ways to integrate additional layers even during the summer months in ways that are more interesting than just “wearing a base layer with the shirt open”. My feedback to myself after writing all that out is to “just put that shit on” but it’s top of mind anyway so I figured I should include it.
Outside of styling, my biggest issue is just that I really tend to gravitate towards the easier to wear stuff when I’m shopping. Always hard for me to distinguish between “I don’t like this” and “I’m not used to this”. Some loose ideas of directions I’d like to explore are a bit more slutty (mesh or loose knit tops especially tanks), more slouchy and drapey pants in softer fabrics, play with shirt and pants crop more, and in particular pull some bolder colors into my wardrobe to try and make some more interesting palettes as that’s easily the type of play that feels the most me and I really want to honor that.
That’s the end of my thought dump, I’d love to hear anyone’s suggestions on how to execute on the loose ideas I have or maybe ways to narrow in on them even further, or just general “you should wear wide pant” type things. Any thought is gonna get me to think critically about my style in a way that is gonna help me I think. Attaching my favorite fits from my last checkpoint, where I feel most “myself”, and also in the replies some inso that really speaks to me. Inspo collection is easily one of my weakest skills, I am definitely the type to just let it wash over me and then never write it down or even sometimes think about it again, so apologies if it’s mostly just highlights and fit battle entries.
103 Replies
some inspo
can working on digging up more
pinging so i can remind myself to revisit
quick and maybe obvious thing i can say about accessories, this fit of urs has been one of my fav pieces of inspo ive saved from here in recent memory, and it has a lot to do w how you’re wearing the tie.
the colours of the tie work really nice with the patches on the pants to give some harmony between the top and bottom blocks, combined with the unbuttoned top button of the shirt playing well with the slouchier silhouette of the pants and jacket. takes a great nice shirt nice pant nice jacket fit and really ties (ahaaaa sorry) it all together, which ive been using to scheme and approach accessories for some of my existing pieces
so yea tldr i rlly like how the accessory in this piece plays into multiple aspects of the fit and complements them, lifts the rest of the fit in a supportive role more than just slapping an accessory on top
yeah it's funny because that tie in that fit both represents what I think I'm good at and bad at in conceptualizing fits. that kind of color harmony and combinations is where I feel my strengths lie, the palette in general in that fit is one of my favorites I've done, and it was very intentionally picked. on the other hand, wearing it looser is like a decision I made kinda arbitrarily, like "casual fit so loose tie", but your description I think retroactively justifies it in a way I can learn from, how it interacts with the rest of the outfit and the slouchier pants in a cool way.
I think maybe you might benefit from more variety in pants cuts
I have some opinions but first I need you to admit you were wrong and you should’ve bought that tie with the funny little skiers on it
wrong kind of whimsy I'm SORRY
skiers would have been good but I'm pretty sure it was clowns
:yapaholic: :t_twigsballfast:
I think something for you to maybe think about and mess with would be trying to have more variety in silhouettes. In all of your fits you attached, they all kinda resolve to the same silhouette of straight or slightly tapered pants with your shirt or jacket hitting at about the same point below your belt. Everything seems to fit 'properly' which isn't bad but might be holding you back a bit
In a lot of your inspo there are dropped shoulders on big shirts and big jackets so that could be a start
I think a pair of big pleated pants would also do numbers for you
yeah pant silhouettes that are notably missing from my wardrobe but I would like to check out is wider, flowey, drapey pants (with pleat probably) and slouchy stuff like the gray trouser product shot pic (and actually not unlike the sashiko chinos in the tie pic so that's a good start good job me)
i think you completely have the blueprint down to turn out fine-good, wear-to-work level fits, but i think that when it's time to inject more interest into your fits you sometimes hit a wall
I'd even say frequently lmao
i think this ends up being pretty noticeable in like your fit duel vs smiles where you ended up playing it very straight in a context where people are kinda invited to level up/do something interesting
fwiw i thought you did a good job of finding something cool and eyecatching to do in your other battle so we kinda get to see that you can do it
the easy way to do stuff that's more interesting is cooler pieces of course but people have achieved stuff via pure styling before- these outfits come to mind for me as fits composed of clothes that are pretty normal and not eyecatching but the fit is still insanely good
well i mean charlies bag was pretty crazy but outside of that
i think fall will be a good moment for you- having the ability to layer more will hopefully unlock more of your creativity
for one thing i notice that you're a pretty religious shirt tucker and i think that's something that can limit some of the slouchier fits you attempt
I am 100% a reforming shirt tucker myself and would just say it's good to challenge yourself to just resist every once in awhile for the sake of the experiment alone
It opens up a different possible dimension on a fit
Something I'm still working on too which is a bit silly to be working on at all
I will go back to observing now 👀
Even though we have fairly different styles I can relate to a lot of your notes @joan
With shirt tucking in particular I’m aiming to be more intentional with it across the board. Like not just untucked but I notice also that a lot of the patterned shirt fits I gravitate to are tucked but very loosely and slouchy, which is also something I also don’t do very frequently.
i also think that if you're playing a fit pretty straight and trying to add more interest i encourage you to go a little crazy (both in magnitude and direction) with accessories- you tend to do pretty minimal stuff (thin necklace+ tote is fine if there's something else going on but can't really hold up as the center of attention)
your explorations with the bandana have been kinda fun to watch because i think it's the most deliberate i've seen you be with your accessories but you need to wild out more with it
tie it to your bag and do something else to support it!
this is think is a good example of where the simple stuff works- it's supporting a cool piece (the shirt) pretty nicely
even if i think the bottom block of this outfit is a little disjointed
this is like my ultimate goal. hunting down more interesting statement pieces is something I'm like loosely interested in (and probably will be) doing, but what appeals to me more is accessorizing and layering and styling a bunch of good but tamer stuff into a combo that really sings, I'm really envious of everyone who pulls this off frequently.
items that i think would slot into your wardrobe nicely: more bags (could just be more totes, but i also see small crossbodies pop up in your inspo a lot), big pleated pants (everyone has already said this), and a footwear option that's capable of holding up more as the center of attention (you have imo some fine options but nothing that brings excitement to a fit- there's a bunch of different directions that you could go with this but listen to your heart)
it kinda relates to this too actually because even though I was happy with that bandana fit because the banana is great, I didn't particularly feel that confident in the rest of the fit around it and I'd rather have a good outfit than a good piece (and then maybe once I have the former I can also integrate the latter)
I think ur stuck on this notion of "understated" a bit but idk if I can really put it into words so ill say I think you're overthinking and underselling ur ability to slot in more interesting items
obviously some big statement whatever would be cool as well but really i think you need stuff that lets you do more different styles of composing a fit- only having bags that bring one type of thing to a fit or shoes that only really exist in a fit in one type of way can be a huge creative detriment
i do think he should wear the 4s shirt more because that shit is the bomb
that and the needles shirt are like the pinnacle of like "so good that it feels easy and I'm bored of it now" which is another reason why I'm kinda looking for styling stuff because I want to find ways to recontextualize even those awesome pieces into different ideas than I've already executed on it
like I'm too stuck into "loud pattern shirt worn open over tank with those two necklaces and some green or black or maybe white flowey pants and loafers"
i don't think you get there by just doing that the whole way if that makes sense- sometimes having something that's really good is a really helpful way to enter a new style of fit and then once you're into that space you can eventually arrive at this endgame
why have i never seen you put em on with shorts and some sandals in a resorty kinda way
just off the top of my head
I think I did once but I should do more
im probably too stupid and hot but styling to me is less "buttoning this differently" or "adding a bandana" and more "i bought new pants that fuck up my silhouette"
That's how I recontextualize items ive got bored with, anyway. just combining them with smth entirely new
button shirt with jeans? OK great easy did it a bunch in spring loved it bored of it. button shirt w muay thai shorts woag totally different and fucked up and exciting
i also want to see you incorporate more and more interesting patterns in places other than your camp collar shortsleeves (which is the obvious place to have them
maybe on some shorts maybe on a jacket idk
yeah I think about this with the colors too, I did a full whiplash over cute shorts this summer I want punchy colors and fun patterns
decided that's a next summer ambition
yeah honestly this does kinda get to the root of it that I have a tendency to lock in on a few broad outfit tropes and really not punch outside of that very frequently
buy some fuckin BALENCI
honestly almost entirely driven by that malti fit (and the rest of A Place in the Sun) it literally rewired my brain
respectfully this tuck was criminal
yeah not my finest
bad shoes too
i have nothing to add other than u should be pretty proud of yourself you're like 8 months in dressing great alr
i think they were fine tbh
yeah that's less time than most babies take and they dress like shit
I am way smarter than most babies
well
I SAID MOST
HEY
You should integrate some louder jewelry imo
anyway my takeways thus far:
- pants still not varied enough, get me some big pleat get me some slouchy trousers
- I want to fuck around with combos outside of the default outfit tropes I've slotted into, and pull out some pieces that I sit on most of the time because they're out of my comfort zone and make them in my comfort zone
- play a lot more with accessories to elevate my more basic fits
- put that shit on etc etc
yeah more fun jewelry and also bags like adapt mentioned above have been top of mind, I mostly have a bunch of totes in that off white color but I'd like to have more interesting bags in bolder colors that can integrate into my palletes in more interesting ways
Going on your comments at the top it sounds like inspo has been kinda hard to follow
I’d love for you to challenge yourself to make some outfits directly inspired by others
I think could be a fun exercise
I don't think my kinda "just let it wash over me" method of inspo is too much of an issue most of the time but it does very much get in the way of making these posts because I'm always scrambling to find pics that represent the abstract ideas I have in my head lmao
another idea I have had but forgot about that might be fun also is just to make sure I'm looking at inspo like critically and thoughtfully, that's for sure not something I do too often. and would probably be a good exercise to do that with my own fits too while I'm thinking of it
I think it might help you a lot to make a moodboard or something. It helped me a lot to identify inspo themes and figure out what direction I actually want to take
you might realize a lot about what you actually like by trying to find images that match your vision
very true
also a great excuse to design some kind of workflow or pipeline and organize things into lists or maybe grids...
I'm also bad at inspo and this method never worked for me cause I'd see cool stuff I like and then a few weeks later completely forget about it in favor of the new cool inspo currently washing over me
I 100% dress better during times where I'm collecting inspo and referring back to it often
i think both you and many others have touched upon my thoughts in various ways, especially the fact that this is still a relatively short journey that you haven't tried to force via endlessly copping
i noticed a lot of your stated goals/areas of opportunity lead towards an optimized process of dressing rather than an aesthetic or feeling to convey visually. obviously nothing is wrong with that, but it might yield the inhibition of which you're speaking.
are you too young to remember narwhals fits
because i think he was one of the best at this
yes unfortunately
yeah that's extremely up my alley
etc you can look the rest up
but i spent a lot of time studying his fits trying to figure out 'what's his secret' and it made me a lot better at styling
like i made a powerpoint for my friends
i do not know your process of dressing but i get a lot of benefit out of just trying out combos for my own sake; my "brainstorming" folder is approaching the size of my "inspo" folder even though half of them are partially baked ideas
@joan this may be a random question but: what drew you to the sashiko pants? looking again at the fits/your intention i think i can see some connections but those were an outlier imo
I can see how it might be a genre kinda outlier but I like them in particular because of the literal visual appearance of them, I love the colors/patterns/textures on the patches, and the fit is slouchy in a way that I don't have a lot of. I see it in parallel to the colorful and embroidered pattern shirts I love so much.
honestly that kind of stuff might be worth exploring more directly, partly because you have a strong connection to them and partly because it's a more declarative article of clothing
wall of words incoming-
from some of your fits and inspo it seems there's two components, one that's resort-inspired, with the flowing camp collar shirts and looser pants and bandanas, and the other that's a variation of the basic bastard (not meant as a negative - you know what you're doing, it's just the fits are in that utilitarian style).
within your fits there's also a lot of genre mixing - camp collar shirts and fatigues, looser pants and boots, etc. i think your inspo fits in this mode ground the juxtaposition through shared visual cues (bchan's stuff is all visually heavy, digs' all feels light, etc) despite individual items not or else just goes full steam ahead towards one aesthetic (mika, steed)
Am reading and withholding responses until you’re done typing but can clarify anything if needed
nah you're good
i was attempting a thesis on how to insert in the pants or things of that nature but got nothing; i do agree with carrion on getting more distinct pieces and trusting in the combination that arises
LOL that’s fine, honestly I appreciate the kinda categorization of the themes. If there is one thing that I feel very sure of it’s that I like to be able to feel versatile and kinda shift between genres and ideally combine genres.
i was halfway to making a cartesian plane as a visual aid lol
i think it's worth finding more definite resort-pilled stuff - sandals, braided belt, drapey blazer (perhaps suit), big/pleated shorts. would help sell the full malti fantasy if that's your vibe, or it makes for a more interesting juxtaposition if not
Sandals have been like top of list for me to grab for summer for sure
Also thank you all who contributed any amount, feeling more locked in than I was before
Alright this was good, I think more pants will be huge (also get some good jeans hello).
On the accessories side look at how art uses bandanas to add visual interest to basic fits. Like that will help you break away from jacket shirt pants fits a little too. Digs in your inspo too
There has been a not insignificant number of times where I try and integrate bandanas and literally reference art fits but just can’t get happy with it and fall back, very much a ptso issue at this point there
Have resolved to pull shit out of my wardrobe that I trend away from cuz they don’t feel easy and make them easy
I think if your looking for loosey goosey resortwear w big pants inspo the sfc insta could be good inspo as well.
Big pants will change you permanently
That being said your style has for sure grown a lot in the past 8 months!
might want to consider larger square scarves instead of the a standard 21" bandana if not already; they can still play the role of a bandana but have more slouch and utility imo
Have some but would like more and the same thing applies of where I figured out how to tie it kinda like a tie and then stopped learning new tricks
it might be a case of making the attempt - as a headcover, as a pocket accouterment, etc. - and seeing if it might be a hard line aesthetically for you
100%
I mean already yesterday I tried the bandana through the ring thing and loved how that looked, and have been thinking about pocket or hanging from a belt loop
Just ptso at this point
i really have nothing to add but this is a cool thread 🔥
I agree with zeo that there’s room to explore what you want from the feeling/aesthetic/character of the outfits to be, but I get the sense that your items with expressive visual interest are just coincidentally resortwear-ready, is that correct? Like how you’re saying the colorful embroidered shirts and sashiko pants are so visually appealing—it seems like you appreciate these items because they are exciting on their own (rather than it achieving a resortwear aesthetic). I think its worth making a concerted effort to find some inspo that taps into what you like about those pieces that is less concerned with finding examples of outfits to emulate or that you would wear. It seems like youre into expressive use of material, like the fringey embroidery and inky floral dye motifs. Go down a rabbit hole on art museum collection websites that feature textiles, craft, and fiber art. I feel like you’d like ikat: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/85500
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Coat | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
you're 100% correct yeah, "genre" tends to be a secondary consideration for me, the visual interest leads me to these genres and styles rather than the other way around most of the time. and to be fair, once I arrive at a genre from the visual interest I like to play within it, definitely the embroidered camp collar shirts has sprouted an interested in dressing more resort-ey and I've been having a lot of fun with that. and my ultimate goal would be to be able to pull these disparate elements together. definitely very much drawn to texture, materials, colors, and combinations therein. great idea about looking for art collections in that direction.
Hey he's before your time but it occurred to me
Have you ever seen how GSH (GloriousStonerHoes) dressed?
I think he would be a big inspiration for your style
I am unfamiliar
Lemme see if I can dig him up, it's annoying you can't search from users who have left the discord
On the development of personal style
—finding the self through embracing self-expression and cultivating personal style—
his acc is private :nooooo: , I think I can dig back through some history and find some, it does look like my shit for sure
you can back search someone whether they're in the discord or not if you can get their user ID and just plug it into the from: thing
from:320300779439259648 has:image
Username was bigelow_
Prob can find his id from that
https://www.instagram.com/benwearsclothes/ inactive but i think has all his waywt posts on discord
Ben (@benwearsclothes) • Instagram profile
65 Followers, 97 Following, 131 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Ben (@benwearsclothes)
Smiles alr posted but it’s private so I think he deleted
you might enjoy some of his brand shoutouts - sassafras, story mfg, wythe, kartik research, vintage heritage brands (moreso broken in oxfords or giant cords)
Yeah it’s so convenient for my rec that narwhal just stopped reading the cord instead of properly leaving
Id on the green jacket and the pants in 2nd pic? Fit seems fire to me!
assuming you're talking about the green jacket in pics 4 and 7, that's this blouson from Utility Specifications, I think a sub brand of 1st pat-rn. Those sashiko chinos are from Kiriko Made
i like the way you dress
i feel like a lot of the other people have had more thoughtful things to say
i relate to some of your struggles in that i like a bunch of shit that doesn’t always work together because of conflicts in what i want to say vs what they read as
i also don’t really do graphics and colors and patterns the way you do and sometimes you really kill it in a way i wouldn’t bother even trying
bchanx is a good analogue for this as is gsh
you can find their fits using user id 320300779439259648
some stuff from my albums you might vibe w, less about the shapes than composition
and of course gsh
really appreciate the inspo dump this is very much my shit
these GSH fits too yeah no wonder smiles brought him up
really appreciate the kind words too (from everyone else as well)
love this group sm
i think bishop would also hit for you
bishop easily hits for me I need to go back through the backlog at some point
user id 231816432428646401
other posters in my inspo incl charlie eli lud weeg and coltar
yeah def
I think about bishop and charlie fits a lot in that they are able to pull off a level of variety and like play within that that I really look up to
yep it’s impressive!
He still parses I think because he didn’t delete account
You can just from:bishopcorrigan
If there is one thing I am very good at it is back searching xd
King of discord search over here
thank god someone can use it