I started working at J.Crew, after college. We had to wear clothes that either were from, or looked like they were from J.Crew. Considering that I was a recent college grad, I couldn’t afford to spend money on buying clothes in the store. Yes, we got a store discount, but considering how much I made, a large percentage of my check was going to go towards buying clothes. I remember one day sitting doing my budget, and I realized if I bought a shirt at full price, that was the equivalent of me working 4-5 hours!! I thought to myself, “so I’m working to pay for clothes that I have to wear to work?!?” If I recall, we got a free allotment, two pants and three shirts. Along with some of the items I already had in my wardrobe, I was able to switch clothes out and stretch things throughout the week. One of my co-workers said that he was in the same predicament when he first started, and he started to go to thrift stores.
I decided to take a gander…
On my first trip, I noticed that there were a lot of classic pieces, that were very similar to items I found at J.Crew. So I picked up few items, and if pants were a little too big in the waist, I’d get them taken in. And that would normally be the extent of my alterations.
I’ve always been a reader of men’s “fashion” magazines, and I started to pay more attention to the cut of clothes. And I realized my clothes never fit like that. I always wore my clothes to size, but size doesn’t always give a proper fit. A suit might fit well in the shoulders, but be larger in the waist and same with a dress shirt and vice versa. Then GQ told me I could get my ties slimmed, and sleeves on my suit narrowed. So more recently, I’ve begun to take most of my items for a little nip and tuck.
One must understand that clothes are made for the mass market, so the size and fit has to be for the average person. In the old days, you got your clothes made for you. I decided to get a little more extensive work done at the tailor in more recent years. I did notice though after getting my first dress shirt done, I couldn’t wear any of my other shirts until I took them to the tailor. I’m officially hooked.
It has taken a lot of trial and error to be able to articulate to my seamstress and tailor what I need to get done. They now both know what I’m looking for. I try to find what’s right for me and my own personal style and body type. It’s about personal style and expression.
Why nerdyCOOL? Well, that’s because the URL was available, and I had been sitting on it for a while. Over the past few years, I’ve found a lot of men’s lifestyle blogs online that I follow frequently. I didn’t feel the need to just be a curator of images that I found, or reposting and aggregating images, but I wanted to provide something that I wasn’t able to find.
So, I hope you enjoy, and I hope you can share what you’ve learned a long the way. And I will do the same.
Welcome to nerdyCOOL.
Thx
-Shidi
5′10″ – 170lbs.
Waist – 31″
Inseam – 32″ (gives a break) 30″ (very little, to no break) 29″ (thom browne‘esque)
Jacket Size – 38Regular
Shirt Size – 15 1/2 – 33 or 34 depending on the brand