I feel silly for even asking NPF...

[Odjn]

Does anyone know fashion?

Men's fashion, in particular? See, I have a strong desire to wear color now. I've been wearing the usual men's black, white, gray, and blue collared shirts for ages now, so I went to look for say forest green or crimson or other dark reds/blues/greens/even a little orange.

I have spent nearly an entire day in various clothing stores. They offer nothing BUT the dreaded blue/black/gray/white/patterns of the above in collared shirts, and then offer polos which for some reason I just don't dig in only bright colors. Has anyone ever seen anything else?

[Fenris]

Express (http://www.express.com/home.jsp) or The Gap (http://www.gap.com/). I own a wide variety of collared shirts in many colors from those two stores.

EDIT: Van Heusen (http://www.pvh.com/find_a_store_vh.aspx#ss_results_wrap) also.

[Tev]

http://schools.bvsd.org/whittier/artsite/graphics/colorwheel1.jpg

This is your friend. Either pick a similar color arc and stick with it or mix and match opposing (contrasting) colors for a more visual "pop."

[Fifthfiend]

This is the sort of thing that makes me wish we still had a Crodevillian around the place.

[Odjn]

Fenris-

Express has polos, but I hate polos. I have enough polos. The fitted military shirts are something more my alley but they again don't have the colors I want. Gap again has nothing like that.

Solid colors are preferable.

Edit: when I say collared I meant button down. Woo for fashion nonsense.

[Fenris]

They have more than just polos. They have several button-up dress shirts in colors. I personally have a forest green and burgundy dress shirt that are pretty nice.

And from The Gap I only have a salmon button-up dress shirt (and also a rather nice light blue one) but then again I only recently discovered that I like their style.

Express does have polos though, I'll give you that.

Can you give me a link to the type of shirt you're looking for?

[Odjn]

They have more than just polos. They have several button-up dress shirts in colors. I personally have a forest green and burgundy dress shirt that are pretty nice.

And from The Gap I only have a salmon button-up dress shirt (and also a rather nice light blue one) but then again I only recently discovered that I like their style.

Express does have polos though, I'll give you that.

Can you give me a link to the type of shirt you're looking for?

http://www.topman.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=17551&storeId=12555&categoryId=119467&parent_category_rn=118974&productId=1030447&langId=-1

Like that, except I'm also looking for forest green. I just did a search on Express for XXL shirts and they gave me entirely the dreaded BLBWG.

[Fenris]

Every single online shopping website sucks. I am convinced of this.

If there is an Express retailer near you I really do reccomend checking them out. I know the one near me actually has a wide variety of colors to pick from, including Forest Green.

[Seil]

What are you going for? Formal, semi-formal, College douche, casual, Slumming it, what?

There's a bit to choose from. However, if you're like me, you'll wear a white button shirt, a fairly nice vest and a pair of nice jeans. Speaking of which, never go for jeans with more than four pockets, or keychain loops on them.

[Odjn]

What are you going for? Formal, semi-formal, College douche, casual, Slumming it, what?

There's a bit to choose from. However, if you're like me, you'll wear a white button shirt, a fairly nice vest and a pair of nice jeans. Speaking of which, never go for jeans with more than four pockets, or keychain loops on them.

Dude I am going for dark colors in my shirts it is not a 'look' it is just a shirt.

[Aanaren]

Have you tried Old Navy? They have some crap but their shirts are generally nice.

[Wyndon]

H&M. It's a great store to realllly build up your repetoire of clothes.

The key to successful fashion is:

a) some sort of color scheme/motif throughout your outfit. It can be as simple as matching the stripes on your shorts to the band around your fedora, but a recurring color theme really reinforces a sense of fashion.

b) Layers. Less so for summer (but can still be applied), Layering up is the key to success. For instance - a plain white t-shirt looks boring. But throw over it a grey pinstripe vest (even better - white pinstripes! Color reinforcement!), some black square glasses (to sort of accent the grey), and plain black pants (color reinforcement with your glasses) and your ace! Throw on a grey beret and you suddenly look intelligent, artsy, and creative.

c) Variety. At least for me, I don't like to just have ONE look. I have my fedora look, my beanie look, my casual look, my "i'm fucking sexy" look, my desert-esque look...just so many of them.

d) Buy clothes with purpose. Don't just buy a shirt cuz it looks cool. Think of how you can work it into an outfit. What would you wear with it?

e) Don't be afraid to be different. Often, you can create your own cool little style (as long as there's some fashion sense in it, of course), that can really turn some heads. Requires a little more creativity, but for example, knowing how to really accessorize can realllly make you stand out. Wearing a shitload of cool bracelets, rings, and a cool necklace can make you look good (if you don't over do it) if you know how to match it - boots, leather jacket, tight jeans.

So yeah. Those are my tips.

[Osterbaum]

Forget fashion. Remember this: naked.

[Fifthfiend]

In my sorrow that we no longer have a Crodevillian I totally forgot that we had a Wyndon.:)

[BitVyper]

And in his vanity, he foolishly accepted the challenge of Death. That is why Fifthfiend now stalks the night wearing the visage of death, hunting creatures of darkness until the last one falls, and his torment can end.

[Fifthfiend]

I...

what?

[Premmy]

Just walk away man, just walk away and don't make eye contact.

[BitVyper]

I...

what?

Yeah, I guess if I was doomed too live forever, experiencing horrible tortures each night and knowing no rest until my task was complete, I would probably have memory problems too.

[Fifthfiend]

So.... the basket, right? That was where you wanted the lotion put?

[Azisien]

I...

what?

The above encounter is made even more hilarious because of your veliociraptor in a schoolgirl outfit for this one post in particular.

[BitVyper]

So.... the basket, right? That was where you wanted the lotion put?

Did it rub it on its skin yet?

[Fifthfiend]

I'm gonna do one of my occasional hypocritical modding-things things and say that's enough threadjacking an on-topic thread, further me-related skeeviness can go in that other thread we 've got running for that sort of thing.

[Seil]

Dude I am going for dark colors in my shirts it is not a 'look' it is just a shirt.

A shirt is not the same as every other shirt. Just ask your dryer.

[bluestarultor]

I generally shop Van Heusen for my stuff, but I'm a tweedy-looking guy. However, you should be able to find things in burgundy, navy blue, and other colors, generally with an unobtrusive square pattern in single-thread, large plaids that are professional, but also a bit casual. Most ultra-professional collared shirts are going to be in pastels, but you may find some dignified burgundy, or maybe even forest green if you're lucky. I dunno, it's been a while since I went clothes shopping.

[Mondt]

I match my shirts to my shoes.

Black shirts go with my black shoes.

All my other shirts go with my brown shoes because I pretty much only ever wear earth colors or some variation.

Throw some jeans in the mix and the occasional plaid shorts (or as my little cousins so lovingly call them, gay shorts. =D) and I'm a winner without any thought! Woohoo!

Then there's that one white and grey shirt.

We don't talk about it.

[McTahr]

I'd recommend:
"Cheap" brands:
Eighty-Eight.
Level Ten.
Rue 21.

The above two are typically found in Goody's, J.C. Penny's, or Sears, and are generally on sale in the warmer seasons and post-christmas. They're not top quality on fabric or design, but you can usually find some keepers. I've got whites, blues, browns, etc., from them. Rue 21, while not especially formal, does fit the bill for colored button-ups, and usually isn't bad on price or design. They carry...I guess you would say the higher end of Eighty-Eight I believe. Stuff you won't see in Sears or the rest, basically.

I'd highly recommend:
Material London. (<3)
INC (International Concepts).
As Fenris said, the button-up section of Express (For men).

These three can be somewhat harder to find, depending on where you live. It's an hour drive to INC carriers or Express for me, but usually worth the trip. Express has a lot of solid/stripes/patterns in a wide variety of tasteful colors, while INC is a bit more experimental, but usually interesting and somewhat easier to mesh with formal/casual mixes. Material London I love beyond reason, but cannot find anywhere near by. Sad day. INC is carried by most Macy's.

Last resorts:
Creative use of just about any department store's mid/top shelf can see some good results, honestly. The clothes do make the man, but the man can make the clothes as best he can before he wears them. Sewing knowledge can help, but don't dive in without help if you're nubbly.

And yeah, Wyndon makes some really good points. Don't just buy nice shirts, seriously. It makes you look like an ass half the time. Either specifically build around what you have, and then go "Man, this would go smashingly with X shirt." and then get said shirt, or plan the full outfit in your head, and cross-shop to build it, or just build as you go in store, though that sometimes has limited results.

[Seil]

I don't normally shop brands. I just go "That looks neat!" and see if I have enough in my wallet to cover the enormous costs that clothes go for nowadays. (Seriously, it's what, $5 of denim for $50?)

But I usually go formal - save for ties. I don't, and have never liked ties. So I go to Le Chateau.

[Bells]

It's almost too hard not to plug my own store to this thread. But truth be told, aside from the occasional Otaku stuff or "Gag Gear",i would be surprised if you could find 10 things in there that you would actually want to own...

Other than that...

One look i like to do often is to just throw on a Basic one color T-shirt, and just put a open shirt of matching color over it. It's usable regardless of Season (light threads on summer wont make you sweat in this setup) and you can range from casual to formal and semi-formal very easily.

Just to note, today i'm going to a very formal International Offshore convention, job hunting. I'm just using Dark jeans, a Dark Brown T-shirt and a Open black shirt over it. It's both social and formal enough for the occasion, but i would use the same setup for a night out with friends.

[Seil]

I thought people wore suits to job hunts?

[Bells]

I thought people wore suits to job hunts?

Welcome to Brazil! Where you only put on a suit if it's a wedding, a strictly formal high-end business affair or if you're a prick.

Also, it's Hot as fuck and i have to walk around for 7 hours in a convention center packed with about 40k people

[Odjn]

And yeah, Wyndon makes some really good points. Don't just buy nice shirts, seriously. It makes you look like an ass half the time. Either specifically build around what you have, and then go "Man, this would go smashingly with X shirt." and then get said shirt, or plan the full outfit in your head, and cross-shop to build it, or just build as you go in store, though that sometimes has limited results.

I have like three jeans and 2 black work slacks and 1 suit pants. So I guess I could wear a black undershirt with a button down with my work slacks? Would wearing my usual black sneakers mess with that? Also I have an edward merill titanium pendant and chain which is grayish black, but I dunno how that works.

Also, apparently I need to pick up a relaxed fit wide leg cut pair of jeans, iirc. I will double check to make sure that's the right sort of jean for my build but if I were looking for such a specific monstrosity how would I do this?

[Aanaren]

Also, apparently I need to pick up a relaxed fit wide leg cut pair of jeans, iirc. I will double check to make sure that's the right sort of jean for my build but if I were looking for such a specific monstrosity how would I do this?

If you are near a Levi's outlet you could start there. The thing about jeans with varying cuts is to make sure you try them on. Even if they're supposedly "good" for your build, everyone is slightly different and what looks good on one person doesn't on another. So jeans you definitely always want to try on before you buy.

[Fifthfiend]

Honestly I would say the most to-the-point advice so far has been whoever mentioned Van Heusen, they offer a pretty wide range of colors and are decently affordable.

Past that I dunno, go to a Macy's or a Kohls or somewhere and look around. It's never failed for me.

[Odjn]

Express in my area no longer offers XXL shirts wtf.