A good outfit, to me, tells a story about the person. It's not just a collection of cool stuff, haphazard items, or about just following rules. Personality, lifestyle, culture, and identity all come into play. Examples from IG:
Marco is a motorcyclist, dancer, and fashion dude who likes to go to warehouse parties in LA. His style is bohemian and expressive; he wears a lot of niche Japanese fashion. What looks haphazard is actually culturally legible if you're into this sort of scene.
IG marco.pants
Mark Maggiori is a French-American painter who specializes in painting paintings of American cowboys, Native Americans, and the American Southwest. So, of course, his dress heavily leans into Westernwear and workwear.
IG markmaggiori
Tom Chen is an interior designer who lives a pretty grand lifestyle full of beautiful rooms, spacious gardens, and picturesque estates. His unusually colorful wardrobe (pants in sage, periwinkle, and lemon) fits the surroundings and his persona.
IG tomstation
I don't like commenting on outfits I dislike and avoid doing so when it involves reg ppl. But sometimes, a contrasting example is useful. Peterson here is wearing the same color pants as Tom above, but his personality is too severe. Tailoring is also too slim; it betrays effort
Jeffery is a brooding art critic and collector of vintage things. He attends parties in global cities around the world. If you talk to him, he also has a certain mysteriousness about him. His style leans heavily into dark colors, 70s style, & moody elements.
IG therapeuticwhale
He obvs doesn't have an IG, but Robert Mueller is one of the best-dressed men in government. His style is genuinely classic, conservative, and true to his WASP roots. No-nonsense white button-down, trady sack suit, dark foulard tie. Backward watch reveals his time in the military
Again, by contrast, Roger Stone's attire comes off as clownish. He claims to like classic menswear, but his actual style is festooned with too many gimmicky elements. Cutaway collar, exploding pocket squares, lapel chain, goofy glasses, etc. Comes off as a costume
~70 yrs ago, the scope of what men could wear was much narrower. Many stylistic choices were governed by time, place, and occasion. But even then, there were style tribes—trads vs. rebels, mods vs. rockers, etc.
Sometimes you see guys put together outfits that are wholly creative and culturally don't mean anything. There are too many weird, contrasting, nonsensical elements. Fun socks with a serious suit; Western-yoked tweed with shiny tie and trendy small collar.
Other times, you see guys wear things according to the rules or trends, but the outfits don't suit their lifestyle. They look like they're wearing someone else's clothes. When creating an outfit, tell a story. Think about the cultural meaning of clothes & how ur clothes suit you.
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Let's start with an experiment. Here are two men wearing tailored jackets with jeans.
Which do you think looks better?
If you choose the outfit on the right, then we have the same taste. But why does he look better?
The answer stems fro a basic rule of classic tailoring: the jacket needs to have a certain relationship with the trousers so as to form a harmonious whole.
On April 30th, Josh Smith of Montana Knife Company said you won't have to worry about tariffs if you buy American.
Last week, he realized his costs are going up bc he imports equipment and steel. And so do his suppliers.
IMO many people aren't aware of how much they import.
Genuinely not posting this to gloat, but hoping that people reevaluate how much of their life is connected to an international supply chain. Many small businesses, including artisans, will see their businesses shutter because of these tariffs, regardless of how they voted
Extremely long, but if you want to hear it, Josh breaks down the challenges he's facing. I hear similar stories in menswear (e.g., 3sixteen needing to import the best denim, which comes from Japan). All this now faces tariffs.
Glad I bought a Sebenza in MagnaCut before all this.
In this thread, I will tell you, definitively, whether Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.
This way, you will be more informed when shopping for your wardrobe . 🧵
I should state two things at the outset.
First, I never comment on womenswear because I don't know anything about it. This thread isn't actually about Sweeney's jeans (sorry, I lied). But in the last few days, I've seen grown men buying American Eagle jeans and I can't abide.
Second, while clothing quality matters, it's more important to develop a sense of taste. Buying clothes isn't like shopping for electronics — you don't "max out" specs. It's more like buying coffee — you sample around and identify what notes you like. Develop taste.
Sometimes I think about the closure of G. Lorenzi, a Milanese gentleman's shop that had been around for almost 100 years until their closure in 2014. The shop was special because it carried so many one-of-a-kind items from artisans — total handmade craft production, not factory.
At the time of their closure, they still carried over 20,000 items of 3,000 models, including speciality knives, picnic sets, and nutcrackers. They had over 100 styles of nail clippers and 300 different hairbrushes alone. Proprietor Aldo Lorenzi scoured the world for artisans.
There's nothing wrong with factory production. But as more of our lives get taken over by machines — including art and writing — this sort of production feels special.
Trailer for "A Knife Life," a documentary about the store by my friend Gianluca Migliarotti, available on Vimeo
I spent 15 yrs on a menswear forum. The longest argument I had was over a tiny detail that can be seen in this photo. For 6 months, I argued with the same five guys non-stop every day. The argument got so heated the forum owner banned one guy for life.
As I've mentioned before, there's a lot of coded language in menswear. Navy suits can be worn with black oxfords because this was the uniform of London businessmen. Brown tweeds go with brogues because these clothes were worn in the country. In this way, we get formal vs. casual.
The same is true for shoes. Tiny details come together to communicate something, much like how words form a sentence. Black is more formal than brown; calfskin more formal than suede or pebble grain; plain design is more formal than broguing. All of this stems from history.
The year is 2024 and you're browsing for a new shirt online. You come across a store selling shirts from Portuguese Flannel. You do your research and find they make quality garments: clean single-needle stitching, flat felled seams, quality fabrics, MOP buttons, classic designs
So you go ahead and purchase one. The shop charges 139 Euros and throws in free shipping. Given the exchange rate in 2024, that means you paid $163.19.