Completely rebuilding my wardrobe
INTRO
In less than a month I will graduate from my countries equivalent of high school and move on to college, to mark the occasion I want to level up my style. Throughout school I've always worn cargos/jeans and a sport brand t-shirt, but pretty recently I stumbled upon the fashion side of Insta and decided I wanted to dress better.
TLDR; I'm going to college and want to dress better
Current wardrobe
For the last couple of months I've been slowly acquiring clothes, heres the state if the wardrobe.
Shirts and T-shirts
2x White Cotton T-Shirts
1x Navy Blue Cotton T-Shirt
1x Dark Blue Dress Shirt
1x White Dress Shirt
1x Light Blue Shirt
2x Rougher Dark Blue Shirts
2x Linen shirts
Sweaters and Sweatshirts
1x Light Tan Sweater
1x Light Gray Sweater
1x Dark Blue Quarter-Zip
1x Light Blue Quarter-Zip
Pants
1x Indigo Jeans
1x Blue Jeans
1x Dark Blue Chinos
1x Caramel Chinos
Jackets and top layers
1x Black Leather Jacket
1x Dark Blue Quilted Jacket
1x Black Parka
Shoes
1x Blueblack Leather Sneakers
1x Winter Boots
So, is there anything you guys would add to this? Looking to maybe add a couple OCBDs to wear under the sweaters instead of the dress shirts which I feel are a little bit too fancy.
15 Replies
Might want to add most of the shirts are little used shirts that my dad doesn't use any longer, and might fit better in a professional setting
There are a number of recent posts tagged “wardrobe overhaul” if you want to glance at those! This link is also a good jumping off point. https://malefashionadvice.substack.com/p/how-the-basic-wardrobe-has-changed-de0
You seem to have a good base. What are you looking to add? What kind of clothes do you want to wear/style do you aspire to? Gather inspiration from Instagram, TikTok, #waywt , etc and slowly acquire pieces you feel you would like to integrate into your wardrobe.
How the basic wardrobe has changed: a 2023 supplement to a 2016 MFA...
There are a lot of newcomers to MFA who don't know where to start, or, folks who used to read MFA back in 2013-2017 then get confused when the pieces that were touted as "timeless and classic" aren't seen as very fashionable today. The Building a Basic Wardrobe
In addition to the above, it’s hard to give better advice without an idea of the climate, functionality and fit of your existing pieces, and your budget.
Quarter zips are generally not seen as “on trend” these days and it seems like you could benefit from one or two pairs of versatile footwear.
What is the difference between “blue” and “indigo” jeans? What style and length is the leather jacket? Etc
The climate differs, cold and dark winter with 2-3 months of nonstop sunlight (Iceland). The blue jeans are classic uncoloured denim, the indigo are more gray-ish. The jacket cuts off at my belt and is very plain, zipper, 2 breast pockets and a collar that folds slightly down. I've got some money saved up so budget isn't a huge issue.
Also maybe a light outer layer (chore coat, coach jacket, shirt jacket/overshirt, etc etc)
I’m struggling with the colors of the jeans, to me “indigo” is a deep blue-purple. Denim that is uncolored is beige. It gets its blue color from indigo dye.
I do not think text descriptions are going to be particularly useful here, I recommend you read some of the other threads, #fashion-guides , and gather inspo to model your aspirational wardrobe against 🙂
Maybe I'm confusing indigo with another color 😅 Will def go read some other threads
Jeans are Levis 502 Medium Wash Indigo and a Dark-ish gray I can't seem to find on their website
If you wanna add some pics of outfits on you that you currently like, or outfits/pieces on other people that you're interested in trying you can also drop those in here! It's a much more effective way for us to gauge what your goals are and where your tastes sit.
Would absolutely send some if I had them, gimme a sec to google 😁
Sorry, are these examples of what you've got currently, or where your looking to go?
You wardrobe is a bit too formal for a college student. Definitely need some casual shirts to wear under sweaters, dress shirts don't work for casual settings, OCBDs and chambray shirts are nice. Chamois shirts are great casual shirt too, you can also wear them as a overshirt. For mid-layer, I would get something more casual like a grey sweatshirt or ll bean norwegian sweater.
This is what I'm looking to go to
Yeah thats what I'm thinking, where do you recommend shopping for more casual shirts?
LL bean chamois shirt
Uniqlo OCBD
Unless you think you'll have an issue buying where you'll be, you may want to hold off replacing/buying too much and just get a few items and see what you really want to wear while you're there. A new setting can affect you in so many different ways, including your style. Just a little patience could help you have fewer regrets
Great advice thanks