Help me dress myself!

September 17, 2009 12:24 PM

I generally wear the geek jeans and tshirt uniform, and I'm (mostly) happy with that. The ones that I currently wear are begining to die, but I'm really bad at clothes shopping and am having trouble replacing them. Help me replace them before I start looking like a total slob.

T-Shirts: Slightly fitted, interesting (but simple) designs and bright fabric colors are all pluses. I don't like oh-so-pithy sayings, shirts that are some webcomic or video game injoke, or designs that really want to be posters. I've found some good tshirts on threadless in the past, but looking around now I see a lot of shirts that don't use the tshirt medium very well.

Jeans: I used to get cheap crappy jeans and not think about, but I was given some nice jeans as a gift and realized they looked a hell of a lot better, fit better, and lasted a lot longer. I'm willing to spend real money on a good pair of jeans or two, but I'm not finding anything I like. I'm looking for good quality demin in a dark dark indigo wash (so dark they are almost black) so that I can let them fade myself, straight leg, and a fairly plain butt. That shouldn't be too hard right?

Oh and I almost forgot: I have a Dickey's Eisenhower jacket that I've been wearing for, eek, almost a decade. I'd like to replace it with something a little nicer but that I can still throw on over my jeans and a tshirt and it doesn't look out of place.

posted by aspo to clothing, beauty, & fashion (13 comments total)

Thinkgeek has some great tshirts. Also, BustedTees have some good ones.
posted by kthxbi at 12:29 PM on September 17

Jinx for T's as well.
posted by utsutsu at 12:38 PM on September 17

On the off chance you live in NYC, Uniqlo's Japan Denim line are Japanese selvedge denim and retail for $79.50. Probably the best combination of fantastic material/construction/value on the market today. A distant second would be some of J.Crew's or The Gap's selvedge denim. If you want to spend a lot more than that there are dozens of boutique denim makers around.
posted by well_balanced at 12:39 PM on September 17 [2 favorites]

I used to only purchase LUCKY brand jeans, mostly because they used to make a "double-weight" denim style that was killer. (felt heavy/solid and wore for a long long time) ... but I've noticed over the past 5 years or so that their quality has come down, the fabric is a lot thinner and I'm no longer willing to pay $100+ for a pair of jeans that I'm not 100% happy with.

There are lots of previous AskMe threads about denim/jeans.. advice on buying high end brands like 7 for All Mankind or APC..... but I also cant really bring myself to spend $200 or $300 on a pair of jeans... I mean, they can't be THAT much better,.. can they?... Are they going to last me 10years in rugged daily conditions? They better for that much money.

I recently bought a couple pairs of Carhart work jeans. I was resistent at first because I hated their style.. but I noticed that they've expanded a little and have a wider variety of styles and shapes now. I bought a standard pair of normal jean colored.. and 1 pair of slacks style dark brown carpenter type ... both work very well for me... very rugged.. and each pair only cost about $40...
posted by jmnugent at 1:12 PM on September 17

If you know someone who sews, consider getting some custom made. My wife has done this for others through Etsy's alchemy (requests for custom services), and for me (no Web 2.0 intermediary required). I can get shirts that fit my slim frame exactly, and I don't look like a damn billboard.

Jeans are harder, though. We don't have a heavy-duty machine, nor a rivet press or whatever they use for those rivets.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 1:42 PM on September 17

I like ah peele tees, plus they're local (to me) and hand-screened - is the wrap-around type design what you might consider using the tshirt medium well?
posted by clerestory at 1:59 PM on September 17

Fellow geek here. I previously asked about dark jeans here and got some really dark Levi's that fit me well. As for shirts, I moved away from the t-shirts to collared, button shirts and find that I'm taken more seriously at work (could be confirmation bias, but I do work at a law firm). I didn't throw out all my tshirts, but I am getting "nicer" ones that I wear on weekends or when I know I'm going to be spending the day moving heavy equipment. For the collared shirts, I find H&M to be awesome. Well fitted for my build and cheap. I like plain so solids and stripes are what I usually get there.
posted by Brian Puccio at 2:37 PM on September 17

My friend has been talking me into buying a pair of APC jeans. Unlike regular off-the-rack denim, you buy these 2 sizes smaller than usual, wear them for 6 months+ straight without washing (is this not the biggest bonus point of all?) and voila~ a pair of jeans that are perfectly faded and molded to the shape of your body. They're a bit pricier than a normal pair of jeans, but a fair price for selvage denim.

I have no replacement suggestions but please, for the love of fashion, get rid of the Dickies Eisenhower jacket. :shudder:
posted by wiretap at 3:49 PM on September 17

Wrangler is worth a look on the jeans front. Have a couple of pairs and I really like the fit.
posted by mjlondon at 4:48 PM on September 17

If you still have the jeans that you liked so much and fit so great, you might try a jeans cloning service - I had this done with imperfect results on fit but the quality seemed OK. YMMV.
posted by lakeroon at 5:25 PM on September 17

Shopping can be frustrating, especially if you have this ideal t-shirt or pair of jeans in your mind that you just can't find. I've found that if I go shopping with an open mind, I am much more successful than if I head out in search of the perfect whatever.


You really should go shopping. Just dip your toe in; go to the local mall and hit 3 stores, see how it goes. Maybe try the Gap, Old Navy, or a Macy's. I know it might be daunting, but you will not know which t-shirts or jeans fit you best until you try them on. One would think that a t-shirt is a t-shirt is a t-shirt, but that's just not so. A men's L t-shirt in one store might be vastly different than the men's L t-shirt in another store. The cut, sizing, and fabric could all be completely different. Same goes for jeans.

The up-side to this is, when you find a place that sells t-shirts or jeans you like, buy 3 or 4 t-shirts in different colors and 2 pairs of jeans, also in different colors (but the same cut). And, you have a better idea of what sorts of t-shirts and jeans work for you, and the next time you decide to go shopping (hopefully not ten years from now), you'll have a better idea of what you want.
posted by cleverevans at 5:41 PM on September 17

The derbies on shirt.woot - weekly t-shirt contests, winners go up Friday, Saturday, Sunday - can turn up some pretty great stuff.
posted by flawsekno at 8:28 PM on September 17

Nordstrom -- seriously! -- is really really good at helping you shop -- you can get an attendant and just have them hunt things down for you. My best friend convinced me to try that and now I'm a total convert (and much more fashionable).
posted by paultopia at 8:36 PM on September 17