Affordable stylish stuff you can find on eBay and elsewhere 🧵
Note that not everything on this list is going to fit your criteria for affordability because I didn't write this list specifically for you (as I don't know you). It's for a general audience. Take what's helpful; leave what's not.
Carhartt Double Knees (~$60)
Tough, durable, and handsome. Also a little fuller through the leg, which looks better than skinny chinos. Wear with denim trucker jackets, chore coats, and bombers. Black and brown are good colors.
Shetland Sweaters (~$50)
Type "(scotland, scottish) shetland sweater" into eBay's search field and click the box for "include description." Shetlands are a bit itchy (wear them over a collared shirt) but they have more texture than the smooth merinos at the mall.
Ralph Lauren Outerwear (~$100)
Ralph Lauren has been making clothes for over 50 years, almost always with the same aesthetic but in diff proportions. Go to your local thrift store. Find a Ralph Lauren coat, like this one below. Try it on. I bet you will look great.
Lee 101J (~$100)
Sizing is all over the place, so try to shop at a thrift store. These run super cropped, so not great for tall people. But IMO cooler than the Levis Type 3 bc it has dropped shoulder seams and neat silhouette. Storm Rider has corduroy collar & blanket lining
Vintage Sweats ($30)
You know the cropped hoodie with dropped shoulder seams that designers sell? Those are modeled after vintage sweats by companies like Russell Athletic and Champion. You can find those on eBay for super cheap. Camber is pretty great too, but runs big
LL Bean Totes (~$30)
If you see someone with this bag at a flea market, they're rich. The good news is that you can get their bag for like $30 on eBay. Find the most beat-up version possible and just put it through a wet wash. The patina is charming.
Vintage T-shirts
Find a vintage t-shirt you like. Prices can range anywhere from $5 to a bajillion nowadays bc of collectors. But if you're not hung up on status, there are tons of cool looking ones for cheap. Wear with chore coats or even tailoring.
Ralph Lauren Preston Cords (~$30)
Search eBay for Ralph Lauren Preston corduroy pants. It's a slightly fuller leg, higher rise cut. If you find it too baggy, you can have a tailor taper them from the knee down. Wear with Western shirts and loafers. Or oxford button-downs.
Vintage Fatigues and Cargo Pants ($50)
Available on eBay and at military surplus stores. I like German Army pants (they are post-war). Made from moleskin, but not the plush English kind (kind of rough like canvas). Size up. If you normally wear a 30, take a 32.
Crescent Down Works (~$125)
Made in Washington, super well-built, and comes with leather backed buttons. Rocky Mountain Featherbed is also good (more Westernwear flavor). Wear with chunky Arans during the fall season. Both are plentiful on eBay.
French Chore Coat ($75)
Just an easy layering piece. Buy ones that fit slightly loose (very fitted chore coats look bad). Wear with jeans, fatigues, or workwear-styled chinos. Lots of designer versions nowadays, but vintage is super affordable and easy to find on eBay and Etsy.
Suede Totes (~$100)
You can find vintage LL Bean ones on eBay, but they're kinda expensive. However, lots of good no-name vintage stuff for cheap. Vanson also sells new ones for like $170 on their site. Suede takes a patina quickly, so best with rugged workwear.
Wrangler Western Shirt ($30)
A little more rugged than your basic oxford cloth button-downs. Nice with jeans, fatigues, and workwear-styled chinos. Can even be worn underneath tweed sport coats in the fall. Like $30 on eBay and $50 new. Get the "Lake Wash" if you buy new.
Vintage Fishing Jackets ($150)
For people who are into quirky, offbeat workwear and OK with experimenting. Vintage fishing jackets run super short and wide. Cool with LVC 1947 501s, grey sweatshirts, and black Blundstone boots. I like the ones from the now defunct brand Ideal
Remember that if you buy on eBay, there's going to be a lot of hits and misses. You might get stuck with stuff that you don't like or doesn't fit. Double check measurements and return policies. Be cool about the process. What you save in money, you'll spend in time.
If you find this sort of thing useful, I do two eBay roundups every week for Put This On. The list is mostly focused on classic menswear, tailoring, workwear, Americana, offbeat Japanese brands, and the like.
It's true that progressives valorize "ugliness." But I think this person doesn't interrogate this position enough and thus lands at the wrong conclusion.
Let me give you a new perspective on ugliness. 🧵
In popular discourse, the world was once good, people were virtuous, and all things were beautiful. Then modernity came along and destroyed everything. In this view, beauty is an objective standard that has been corrupted by liberalism.
I contend that beauty in personal appearance is subjective, not objective. In fact, its standards rest on the shifting tectonic plates of politics, economics, and technology. Let me give you examples.
Today, we think of these photos as the standard for male beauty and dress:
Earlier this week, I asked which tie knot you think looks better. Of course, you can wear whichever you like. But here's the social history behind both knots and why some people consider one better than the other. 🧵
In the mid-19th century, as ready-to-wear tailoring started to take form, people got around in horse-drawn carriages. After all, the car had not yet been invented. During this time, some formed driving clubs, where they rode drags.
Check out the text in this lithograph:
The term "drag" refers to the carriage you see above, which was a sporting vehicle that was lighter than the more robust stagecoach. Men in driving clubs raced drags. Hence the term "drag race" first appearing in an 1863 issue of Racing Times.
People keep asking me to do a thread breaking down why these suits don't look great. I gather that these are famous, very well accomplished F1 drivers (I don't know these people). Since I only talk about famous people, I will do a thread. 🧵
Please note nothing in this thread is meant to diminish the men in these clothes. If anything, it's the people who dressed them that failed them. I am only talking about the clothes. Hopefully, by pointing out these issues, you will learn something for when you're shopping.
A pinstripe suit with a white business shirt cries out for tie. If you don't want to wear a tie, then you need a more casual shirt or a more casual suit. Additionally, the shoes are too chunky for this outfit.
The US Army celebrated its 250th year today with a massive parade in Washington, DC. It appears @ComfortablySmug believes that this is an appropriate tie for the occasion.
It's once again worth reminding that men's dress used to be governed by time, place, and occasion (TPO). If you were of a certain social station and had to do a certain thing, you were expected to wear a certain outfit.
This tradition can be seen in men's neckwear.
In Britain, where we derive most of our traditions for classic men's dress, the term "regimental stripe" refers to neckwear with diagonal lines, like you see below. These were not purely about decoration. Each design symbolized belonging to some organization.
This is the suit in question. It's a bespoke suit by Anderson & Sheppard in London. The cloth is a 60/40 mohair-wool blend from Standeven's "Carnival" book. The stylist was George Cortina.
To understand why this suit is interesting, you have to know a bit about tailoring history
In the early 20th century, Dutch-English tailor Frederick Scholte noticed that a man could be made to look more athletic if he belted up his guard's coat, puffing out the chest and nipping the waist. So he built this idea into his patterns. Thus the "drape cut" war born.
In 1881, Hans Wilsdorf was born in Bavaria, then part of Germany, to parents who died not long after he was born. At a young age, Wilsdorf set off into the world. He landed in England in 1903, which at the time had virtually no formal immigration controls.
Lucky for him. Two years later, fear of poor Eastern European Jews flooding the UK led to 1905 Aliens Act, which moved the country from an open-door policy to one of stricter control. This was the first British law that labeled certain migrants as "undesirable."