Retrofitting The Man – Part 3 | Shirts

Over the last few days, I’ve received pointers on shoes and pants.

Now, in his third installment of Retrofitting the Man, Sam from CrabAppleNYC.com makes some recommendations about shirts.

He also gave me a few suggestions for sweaters and spring coats.

I’m really interested in both of those because A) I have started wearing sweaters and really like it and B) I haven’t bought a new coat in over five years and desparetly need something for the spring.

Overall, I thought his recommendations were pretty spot-on and not that much out of my comfort zone. There are a few items that I may not try, but we’ll get to that.

Background

My shirt selections are pretty basic.

I wear a button down shirt to work most days. Sometimes it’s dressed up with a sweater (v-neck or half-zip) and other days, during the warmer weather months, it’s slightly dressed down with a polo shirt. But, for the most part, I wear a standard button down casual shirt (button collars are my preference) in either solid colors or some kind of subdued pattern.

My ‘craziest’ shirt is orange with a thin white crosshatch pattern. Bright, yet not overbearing (at least I don’t think so).

My sweater selection revolves around a few v-neck sweaters and one or two half-zips. Nothing bold and daring, just plain and simple. Kind of like me.

My jacket selection is a complete different story. I wear a pea coat daily from Novemeber through late March and it is completely done. One of the pockets is shredded on the inside and the coat itself is really starting to show its age. I suppose that it’s served more than its purpose over its probably five to seven year life span. I own a few other jackets – a snowboard jacket which is good for raining or snowing days, a Billabong windbreaker which I love to wear when running errands in the spring/fall and a really nice, authentic Red Sox jacket that, due to my geographic dilema (read the tagline of this blog) doesn’t see the light of day all that often.

None of these compare to the daily use of the pea coat, however. The snowboard jacket is equally old and beat, but that’s due to proper use and a lack of replacement.

The Solid Shirt

How can you argue with Sam’s selections here?

The Land’s End and J.Crew shirts he recommends are very basic and neat. There’s nothing there I wouldn’t wear. I especially like the sizing guid in the J.Crew shirts. I find that, having a more barrelled chest and big shoulders, shirts tend to fit me more like big-top tents than fitted garments. Perhaps these alternate sizes would allow me to show a more fitted look rather than the billowly look that Sam points out in his post.

I’m still unsure of the difference between the oxford that he recommends over the dress shirt. Is it just a more casual shirt? Both look nice to me. Price-wise, the Land’s End Tailored Fit Solid Original Oxford ($29.50) and the Lands’ End Canvas Heritage Oxford Shirt ($39.50) seem to be the best fits.

Sweaters

I only started wearing sweaters over the last few years. I always thougth that they were for dorky engineering professors that ended up getting them covered with chalk.

Well, I am an engineer, but hope that I’m not thought of as geeky. That being said, I have liked wearing a sweater lately. I feel more intellectual when I don one and I also feel that putting myself together that extra little bit gives me a slightly higher respect in the office.

Take that for what it’s worth – I doubt I actually get more respect than I usually do just because of the clothes I wear – but sometimes perception is reality, especially in your own mind.

Sam gives three main suggestions for sweaters – cardigans, v-necks and half-zips.

Cardigans are out right away for me. Mr. Roger wore cardigans (so did many of the aforementioned engineering professors) and, as much as they may be in style, I do not like them. Why wear something you don’t like. So, we’ve thrown the cardigans out.

That leaves v-necks and half-zips, both of which I own.

Sam makes a good point that I’m hiding my shirt with the smaller v-necks I have. I’d love to use the argument that I am such a muscular guy with such a big neck that it only looks that way, but I’d probably be lying. I understand what he means completely and will look to expand my sweater arsenal to a deeper V in the future.

I recently received a half-zip for a holiday present. I am not a fan of the popped-collar craze. I think it looks assinine, especially on guys (like me) who definitely don’t look like your typical Richie-Rich frat boy. But, I wear the half-zip with the collar at ‘half mast’ and have to say that it is one of my favorite pieces in my current wardrobe. I will definitely be outfitting myself with a few more of those.

Outerwear

Now we get to the part of his article that I was really looking forward to.

I already told you about the trials and tribulations of my current outwear. I need a new jacket pronto.

Sam’s three recommendations are shown below. Basically, he recommends a raincoat from Land’s End in addition to two more casual coats – a Harrington jacket and a Military M-65 Field Jacket.

I whole-heartedly agree that I need a new rain jacket and like the option Sam lined up with the Land’s End Stormer Raincoat ($99.50). Definitely something that the sharper dresser should have at his disposal.

For the more casual look, I’m not sure how I feel about the Harrington jacket. My initial reaction was that it looked very much like a Member’s Only jacket. But, upon further inspection, it’s growing on me at a slow rate. I think I would have to really try one one to get a feel for it.

The M-65 Field Jacket immediately spoke to me. It’s very trendy and functional with that rugged look that I’d want in a casual jacket.

The problem I have with it is that it is a military style jacket. I work for a government contractor and work with many active-duty folks. People in my company tend to steer clear of military looking clothing (especially if we didn’t have the honor of serving) for the simple fact that we don’t want to be perceived as a ‘wannabe’ by our customers.

Now, it is true that I would most likely not be wearing this jacket to work, so I may be able to get away with it. I’ll have to think about it a bit longer.

Bottom line is that SOMETHING will be replacing my beat up pea coat in the not too distant future.

Overall Impression

Sam’s initial statement in his post was that picking out shoes and pants is easier than shirts. I couldn’t disagree more. The options Sam lays out are fairly simple and straight-forward. I like all of the shirt options and have some good ideas where I’ll take my choices. Sam’s suggestions about patterns and colors are also taken to heart.

The sweaters were all great – despite my immediate disregard for the cardigans. And the jacket suggestions all hit a homerun. I’m really looking forward to outfitting myself with some more sweaters and a new spring jacket.

Be sure to stop by tomorrow when I discuss Sam’s commentary on suits and what I should look for when buying a new one! Also, please leave us a comment and let us know how you’re liking this series so far.