Nick’s Transformation

I’ve been talking about transformations for a long time now. I know they’re great but sometimes I wonder if all of my readers can see the same thing. Until now.

Nick, a very enthusiastic reader of this blog agreed to do a serious change with the way he dresses. We have some basic starter photos of his current outfits that I’m going to comment on in as much detail as possible.

After that, Nick will go out, make some purchases and come back with a second set f photos to see his progress. A second feedback will ensue and, if he wants to, he can send even more photos.

So let’s start right now with the first batch of outfits and see what we can improve, shall we? 🙂

OK, the first outfit we’re going to critique is formed of…

• a white shirt
• a black tie
• a thin brown leather belt
• a pair of blue jeans
• and a pair of gray sneakers with yellow laces

Let’s start with the shirt. A white shirt is a classic, you can never go wrong with that. IT works well with the blue jeans, the brown belt and even the black tie, although the combination itself is not that good (we’ll get to that in a moment).

The shirt itself needs to be adjusted to a tailor. This is something I recommend everyone does with all their shirts and pants. These types of adjustments don’t cost much yet they will make a world of difference. With this shirt, just tell the tailor you want it slim fit, to follow your body lines closely yet it should have good freedom of movement. Tell him you’ll be wearing this shirt underneath a sports jacket/blazer, so he knows how much to shorten the sleeves.

Now, unfortunately, we can’t see here if the sleeves need to be shortened as they are rolled up, but they will take care of that detail if you ask them to do so. And since we’re talking about the sleeves being rolled up, you should try rolling them up a little bit more, right above your elbows.

The shirt is a little too big as pointed out by the creases that form on it. I’ve made a version of the second photo where I point out the creases on both the shirt and the jeans:

If you take a look at the picture below, you can see how a great fitting shirt should look like as well as how high the sleeves should be rolled up:

Notice in this second picture not only that the sleeves are more neatly folded (in the initial pic the left cuff was hanging away from the arm) but the creases are almost non-existent. You do see them if you look carefully but if the tailor were to remove any trace of them, you’d have trouble moving in your shirt.

As I pointed out, the jeans need some adjustments as well… but only at the bottom. They seem to sit very well on your waist so no changes there. You just need to narrow them at the bottom. Now, I’m not sure about the length because they’re tucked in your sneakers, but it’s possible that you might need to do that as well. Again, a tailor will take care of it.

As a side note, I wouldn’t wear pants tucked in unless they fit perfectly at the bottom or else they’d just cause even more creases to show.

As far as the sneakers are concerned, they need to go, no doubt about it. They’re too chunky. Now, I could suggest some loafers or lace-ups but I’m guessing you’re geared towards more casual outfit, so I recommend you try on a pair of plimsolls such as the ones below:

photo: asos.com

photo: asos.com

You’ll be very comfortable in them and the fact they’re less chunky is a big plus visually speaking.

OK, let’s focus on accessories, namely the black tie and the brown belt. I think the tie is polyester, a cotton one would work better but this is low priority, don’t worry about it for now as there are other purchases you need to make.

The tie is nice and it works amazing with the white shirt. The length is perfect, the tip of the tie reaches the middle of the belt in the second picture, although it’s a little too short in the first one.

The belt is nice as well, slim belts are the way to go these days. The only problem is wearing the tie and the belt in the same outfit. I advise you never mix up black and brown in the same outfit. In this case, you can go with a dark brown tie or with a black belt.

OK, so let’s try to recap this first outfit. First, get the shirt and the jeans to the tailor. Second, get a nice pair of plimsolls. Now, to make this outfit really stylish, let’s think for a moment about the colors of the tie, belt and shoes.

I can recommend 2 options.

1. You can keep the tie then add a belt and a pair of plimsolls that can be black, gray, blue or a combination of these colors. Heck, you can even add some red but I don’t want to overload you.

2. You can keep the belt, then add a brown belt and brown plimsolls.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention. With plimsolls I recommend you wear canvas belts instead of leather. Keep your leather belts for when you’re wearing leather (or suede) shoes.

photo:

The belt above has black that matches the tie and white that matches the shirt – that’s a double match. 🙂

Batch #2

Ok, these are actually different outfits but they’re pretty similar, so my feedback will apply to all of them.

From a chromatic point of view, the outfit with the orange belt is very interesting. You’ve got blue, brown and orange in the same outfit, a killer combination.

Let’s start with the corduroy pants as they are the weakest link in these outfits. Corduroy is very tricky, especially if the woven fibers (that form that 3d texture) aren’t too thick. Thick is bad in a lot of situations when it comes to style.

I would replace those pants with a pair of chinos such as these:

OK, let’s move on to the shirt. It kind of looks like a denim shirt to me although I’m not sure, although I’m inclined to say it isn’t.

Try a business shirt in either a solid color (like the one you previously wore) or one in stripes, houndstooth pattern or microchecks:

Now, if you’re looking for a denim shirt, make sure it looks something liek this one from Zara:

Now, the boots are ok but there are better looking models for the next time you decide to get a pair, take a look:

Now, about the sports jacket. The pattern is nice but the sleeves need to be shortened. Plus, the two sides where the buttons and the button holes are located are distorted. Try a jacket that as a better build, such as this one:

Ok, one last thing. About the tie – o a darker shade of blue such as that one, you’re better off with a white tie or a white tie with a pattern on it. Just remember that white neck ties are not suitable for formal situations. So if you’re going to get one that’s white but also has a pattern, you can wear it on all occasions.