Basics of Buying a Suit
Stumbled on this funny introduction on suits, and how to select one.
And that is exactly what it will do, if you treat it right. Unfortunately the majority of suits you see look awful. This isn’t necessary. Even if you work ten hours with your jacket on, being mindful of your clothing will keep you ready for cocktails after work. Too many men either don’t care or don’t know how to wear a suit, and, suitably, look like shit. This is worth avoiding.
I'd also like to call out one piece of information in particular: "Trends have six-to-eighteen-month shelf lives. If you plan to retire your suit in this window, feel free to splurge. Otherwise, shop considerately." Words to live by.
The Morning News Men’s Fashion: Suits
Labels: men's fashion, suits
-- Chris, Friday, July 27, 2007
This sounds too good to be true. Ford is apparently moving back into fashion (perhaps the Hollywood thing isn't working out) and even though he'll be starting initially with women's cosmetics, 
Also 
All other things being equal (material, design, pattern, etc.,) a skinny tie will look worse than a full-width tie almost every time. Skinny neckties work most often for but two categories of people: musicians and runway models. Unless you fall into one of those categories, tread carefully. Note that both these types trend toward the seriously thin.
Stick to regimental ties (you know ... diagonally striped.) Avoid anything too plain (especially solids -- nothing says "I play keytar in an 80s cover band" like a skinny, solid silver tie. It's one step below a piano key tie.)
I don't spend a lot of time talking about T-shirts here, but I've been a fan of 
A note from Stylezilla friend Joe prompted me to direct you all to Jermyn Street shirtmakers 
Just for you, dear readers, I took several hours out of my busy schedule last night to browse through the menswear department in Bloomingdale's midtown New York headquarters. I'm looking for things you can buy without breaking the bank, that you can wear to work or, alternatively, out for a classy night on the town, and not be ashamed to own two seasons for now. A tall order, as it turns out.
Hilfiger: With (ahem) the H Hilfiger line, we've still got that strange, awesome "rock and roll meets prep school" vibe going on. Think bright, in-your-face colors on suits and button-down dress shirts.
According to both Ward and Jim Moore, creative director of GQ, the main theme ws "preppy," but with a twist. "Miuccia did polo shirts for Miu Miu—she's never done that before," says Moore. "Marc Jacobs did an ode to Brideshead Revisited for Louis Vuitton. A lot of what we saw were designers taking classes and turning up the volume: They stretched out polo shirts in shocking colors. There were plaids which called to mind Lily Pulitzer and Brooks Brothers, but then they played it in neon."
At issue is the use and abuse of one of the classic fashion patterns: the Burberry house check, the novacheck plaid. Here's the network TV pitch: A tasteful idea is driven to madness by rampant consumerism, misguided adventurism and sheer folly.
By the late 60s, Burberry's of London began expanding use of the house check slightly, to also include accessories such as umbrellas, luggage, and scarves.
The theatrically named Rose Marie Bravo and designer Christopher Bailey (ex-Gucci) are credited with restoring Burberry's fortunes in the late 90s -- principally by expanding use of the house check to hitherto unprecedented levels.
Bravo and Bailey extended the novacheck to every conceivable item of clothing. Suddenly, you could buy novacheck hats, novacheck shirts, novacheck trousers, novacheck socks, novacheck sandals, novacheck sunglasses, novacheck watchbands, novacheck formalwear, novacheck swimwear, novacheck underwear. (Women, as it happens, had even more choices. Novacheck bikinis, anyone?) And believing the novacheck signified both status and, now, hipness, the average consumer invested in it heavily. Too heavily.
Seemingly overnight, the novacheck -- which began as a lining, remember? -- had gone from sophisticated to banal. No one seemed to recognize that the pattern, in excess, looked positively garish, visually assaulting. The more we saw it become overexposed, the check lost its cachet as a reliable, respectable, classy and adventurous British brand. Aiming for hip, Bravo pushed the novacheck into triteness.
Today, after excess in the early 2000s and the introductions of variations on the pattern (in pastels and greys, and in a stripe) the classic Burberry pattern itself no longer feels stylish. It's no longer classily subtle. It's not even stylishly flamboyant. It merely comes across as hackneyed.
