Very basic middle-aged man fashion help needed with kinda nice pants
I'm a 50-something man in the US; 5'11 and ~225 lbs. 38 waist is often too loose, 36 is often too tight. I work from home, so over the past few years my already-limited wardrobe has whittled down to mostly nothing but jeans and t-shirts, plus a suit I wear on rare occasions. I play in a band, and we have a show this weekend where we've been asked to "dress up" (collared shirt, not jeans, but not suit/tie). I have zero pants that fit into this category, and I'd honestly like to put together some more fashionable outfits to wear on date nights with my wife and so on. But I have zero understanding of fashion, so I don't even know what kinds of pants to look for other than "khakis". Would like to get a few pairs I could wear with brown loafer-type shoes and a collared shirt, but just utterly clueless where to start. Budget is . . . ugh, I don't even know. Would rather spend under $100 a pair? I don't even know what's reasonable. I don't WANT to spend $100/pair haha. (Second hand is fine.) But I definitely need at least one pair by this Saturday, so there is at least some urgency to finding SOMETHING.
Any suggestions for where to start? I'm in the suburbs of a large city and have easy access to outlets, department stores, malls, and stuff like that. Thank you!
5 Replies
I would suggest Banana Republic, Uniqlo and J Crew, look for chinos. Go in person if you can to find what fits best. Uniqlo will also hem (shorten length) of trousers in store which can help.
Grey, khakis and browns, olive are good colours.
Awesome, thanks very much @mattw282! Is there anything in particular I should be looking for in terms of fit? I really don't know much about how to know if something fits well other than "can I buckle them" and usually wanting the pant leg to cover the tops of my shoes. I don't even know if that's still true.
to some degree it's based on "vibes"; i definitely agree you should be able to buckle them or walk in them without tripping at a minimum
the trend lately is a straight or wider leg and a higher rise, as compared to the 2010s, though again, it's somewhat based on your gut feeling
it might help to start at the opposite end - check for people's fits that you like in #waywt or #inspiration or elsewhere online and ask about what kind of pants or clothes they got
if the criteria is just "middle aged man" then posts from Shrimp My Ride or Talbot or Elvander fit the bill (no shade) but just browsing may be helpful
if you're willing to go secondhand, the brands mentioned by pancake are good to look for, as well as old polo ralph lauren philip (nonpleated) or andrew (pleated) chinos - those are usually $20ish a pair
Thank you very much @zeometer !
(I confess, my knowledge of how to shop second-hand is pretty much nil. But I'm not opposed to the idea.)
no worries. the vast majority of my clothes are secondhand, and it's an even split between ebay, goodwill, and local flea markets (i'm just outside of dc so we're in a similar boat)