how to start building a man's wardrobe?

[Celeste Photini Gregor]

He has LOTS of marvelous tweed jackets - they are so easy to find at thrift stores... no more room in the closet lol! He also has a great pair of thrifted leather dress shoes and I want to get him a pair of leather boots for his birthday. He really wants a good pair of trousers to wear dressed up with jackets or down with shirtsleeves and suspenders. I am so overwhelmed by looking for pants though! He wears basic khaki Dockers right now. Do you guys wear wool gabardine in summer? Or cotton blends for more casual summer wear...? I read some of the pants threads around and just spent waaaayyy too much time on eBay lol. Morello's pants look solid, only no fabric material is listed. I like the idea of adding buttons for suspenders. I could maybe find some appropriately pleated pants at the local thrift store that would do for a tester pair as he tries to figure out his size. I took his measurements but when the rise varies from the 14"/15" rise I measured I get nervous that the waist will need to be different to accommodate a lower rise...

 

[tropicalbob]

Have you approached the wonderful world of hats with him? For starters, I'd suggest Akubra of Australia, who make some wonderful, stylish, and sturdy hats and are very reasonably priced, particularly if you order from Everything Australian (from whom you'll get great service, and you'll benefit from the very favorable exchange rate). For a nice tweed or waxed cotton cap, AmiCharnel on Etsy is having a sale right now that is very enticing. Good luck!

 

[Two Types]

If it's his birthday coming up, might I recommend a vintage styled cap from one of the FL's capmakers (Barry Simmonds, Johnnie Cordova, Keith Lobue and Damien Monsivais). They all do splendid vintage styled caps. And you get something a little bit special.

 

[Celeste Photini Gregor]

Hats are a great idea. He has one felt fedora he got from a vintage shop but I think it is a little small. He has a big head lol. I have the same issue with vintage gloves and shoes. Why were people so tiny!!! But I love the idea of a straw Panama for summer! He would rock that.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Why were people so tiny, for a start they ate about half what we do. The average man weighs 40 pounds more than he did in the seventies! At least I do lol. No, I saw that statistic on the net someplace.

 

[Rodney]

That size difference is a problem for me too. I haven't measured myself yet but I'm 5'10 and about 250 lbs. Ok, I'm fatter than average by today's standards too. I've lost weight before but I'm comfortable and stable at my current weight. The vintage jackets I've found and liked so far are too small for me.
Rodney

 

[JackieMatra]

"Do you guys wear wool gabardine in summer? Or cotton blends for more casual summer wear...?"

Only if they spend all of their time in an air-conditioned or refrigerated indoor environment, or enjoy the aroma and texture of slow-roasted meat.
The clear winner among fabrics to wear to stay cool in hot weather is LINEN.
Light pure cotton places second.
Rayon shows third.

 

[brendanm720]

"Do you guys wear wool gabardine in summer? Or cotton blends for more casual summer wear...?"

Only if they spend all of their time in an air-conditioned or refrigerated indoor environment, or enjoy the aroma and texture of slow-roasted meat.
The clear winner among fabrics to wear to stay cool in hot weather is LINEN.
Light pure cotton places second.
Rayon shows third.

Now, now...

Wool in a Fresco weave is good in high temps, as is silk in a coarser weave (like matka).

But yes, Gabardine on a hot, summer day will turn you into a lovely braised potroast. (Or at least, it would turn me into one.)

 

[JackieMatra]

"Wool in a Fresco weave is good in high temps, as is silk in a coarser weave"

Both wool and silk are known to be particularly good insulators.
May be tolerable for sitting in the shade, but not for anything approaching strenuous physical activity in the sun.

 

[GHT]

Click on this link, it will show you lots of wonderful photos, both original and modern, of various fashions, all very stylish, from the early to mid 20th century. View them with your hubby, see what he likes best.

 

[LuvMyMan]

Hats are a great idea. He has one felt fedora he got from a vintage shop but I think it is a little small. He has a big head lol. I have the same issue with vintage gloves and shoes. Why were people so tiny!!! But I love the idea of a straw Panama for summer! He would rock that.

Make a few more posts here so you can have us all send you Private Messages. And please do post here more of your Husband's sizes. Shoes and shirt sizes, you can use a measuring tape around his head about one inch above the ears for a proper hat size, too. I may be able to "gift you" some things that would fit your husband, if I know what I may have here would fit him. My Husband may be close to your Husband's size, and we do have a very decent collection of vintage clothing that is in near new condition. You will also find that you can toss in some non vintage attire to complete any attire he may desire to dress in. Decent vintage dress shirts are not easy at times to find, but you can find some places that will make a super nice vintage style shirt. And then you can see about cufflinks, buttons for shirt closures, things like that. You will have some of us more than willing to help you come up with nice vintage items. Also what are your sizes? I have some vintage clothing and shoes.

Just for you to know, both my Husband and I are super "picky" about anything vintage. We have no items that are in need to repair, or that would have moth holes, stains, rips or prior repair work done. Some vintage is considered to be wearable if it has some flaws to it, but for us, we do not find it attractive if something is not looking new. That also makes it harder for us to find vintage items, but I do spend a lot of time looking online for super nice items. It is fun!

 

[brendanm720]

Both wool and silk are known to be particularly good insulators.
May be tolerable for sitting in the shade, but not for anything approaching strenuous physical activity in the sun.

Sorry. I missed when we switched to discussing workwear. I was still thinking we were talking about casual and dressy casual clothing.

There are a lot of factors in suitability for warm-weather wear, and only one is the fiber content. Two others are weight of the cloth and weave of the cloth. If there is room for airflow in between the yarns and the yarns are less substantial, then the insulating properties of any fiber are mitigated.

For instance, my 15 oz cotton blue jeans are also very good at insulating, and I have a Super 120's wool suit which is almost completely worthless as an insulator.

That having been said, when you're out doing strenuous activity, twill weaves are probably not a good plan.

 

[Celeste Photini Gregor]

I totally missed this post LuvMyMan - what a lovely thing to read on a Saturday morning! We went to thrift shops last week and got 2 awesome silk Hawaiian shirts and a couple very mid-century geometric print ones for him and he looooooves them. He gets so excited about picking out his outfits everyday, it's really nice to see him discovering his own style. In modern lower rise pants he wears a 34x34 and we haven't had opportunity to try many vintage ones but if they hit around or above the navel they seem to need to be a 37 or 38 waist and at least 36" long; I found one wool pair that was 36" and sits just under his navel at the waist and I still need to let down the cuffs an inch or so. 38" is probably the length he really needs.

I will need to measure him for his hat, but shoes he wears a 10.5/11. Medium in more casual shirts like the Hawaiian ones seems about right and most of his button downs are a large.

I have lots of trouble finding true vintage clothing that fits. I wear a women's 11 in shoes, and my measurements are 42-33-46. So my hips size me out of a lot of vintage dresses, although something with a full skirt or tops and sweaters are often a better chance.

Let me know if you find anything in your online browsing that might be a good match! I spent a lot of time looking for mens pants the other week but just got overwhelmed big time! I will make sure to start posting more so I can receive PMs

 

[JackieMatra]

Here's some nice linen trousers which are fairly high-waisted (certainly considerably higher than most trousers that you'll find off-the-rack, these days) and fairly loose-fitting.
Eminently reasonably priced today at 4 pairs for $125. (Which I really hate, as I paid $125 for only three pairs, three or four years ago.)
http://www.josbank.com/menswear/shop/Product_11001_10050_367328
I've been happily wearing these for a few years now while hiking and doing other things in 80 to 106 degree weather.
Here's what they look like with me in them.
(I'm the fellow in the straw hat and red tank top who is holding the banner in the second photograph.


N.B. These trousers are sized exactly as marked, unlike most off-the-rack trousers whose waists are typically one or two inches larger than their stated size and whose inseams can go over an inch in either direction. I'm quite certain of Jos. A. Bank's sizing of these trousers, as I own a half-dozen of them.
P.S. To give you a better idea of how loosely these trousers fit, my "hourglass" figure is very similar to yours, Celeste, 44-33-44, and, as you can see, these trousers are quite loose around my hips and legs.