How to improve my outfits?
So some months of consuming fashion content, collecting banger fits from the WAYWT and posting my owns, I would love to ask for some feedback.
I have been loving fits from Wonky, Epistrophy, Soup, Zeometer and more.
It is clear to me (and anyone seeing my fits), that I am not near that level, but how do I start my journey to get there?
As an example of what I think I understand now, in my last fit, the pants are too long, so it just looks sloppy and the effect of the bootcut, doesn't really show.
Reading most of the material in the #fashion-guides, I don't think I really connected with or understood the material.
The process of putting an outfit together for me goes mostly as such: Choose pant for the day, which top look good on, what can I put over the top that looks good and then match the belt to the shoes.
Thanks in advance đ
27 Replies
Good first step is describing why you like the outfits you've seen. If you can put it into words, it's a big step in being able to define/convey your style.
Similarly, what are you discontent with in your own outfits?
thanks đ i agree with aws that identifying what you like about certain fits or dislike about others (pics help here) will go a long way
So these two outfits from epistrophy I like because they have highrise pants. In the first picture, I think the cuffs on the shirts look fantastic. And the shirt looks perfect on him.
In the second photo, I love the way a kinda formal white shirt can be worn in a casual outfit and then the green pants with the brown shoes look great together.
My second photo I have little dissatisfaction with. I think the cropped sweater, which shows of the rise of the pants and a little of the white undershirt give off the vibe I'm trying the convey. I think it would perhaps be better with a smaller shoe and not the boot I have on.
My first outfit I think looks like someone who thought they did something clever with all green, but stumbled at the end. I dont think the white undershirt poking out at the top is doing anything to better. Maybe a green turtleneck would fit better, as it would then be a completely green outfit with brown accessories.
The fourth one I like, but I cant explain it. Maybe the big turtleneck and big jacket works together for some kind of synergy
In this outfit Wonky just looks so well put together and I really love the way the tie doesn't add formality to the outfit. I think the leather jacket is a great way of dressing down the tie and white shirt combined with the west which hides most of the formal components of the outfit.
Its a fashion goal of mine to wear a tie in a way that doesn't look like I'm trying to wear business attire.
It sometimes feels as if I could wear the outfit, but I would not be able to pull it off
IMO, the way you describe this it sounds to me like primarily a confidence thing, and just requires "putting that shit on" and becoming more comfortable wearing the clothes you like but aren't comfortable in yet
i encourage you to keep posting your insights đ a broader thing to consider is how you can dress with (more) intention, and while much of that comes from having a clear idea of what or who you want to look like, some of that comes through the choices and details of your fits
In some way perhaps, though I usually consider my self pretty confident. Perhaps fashion isn't a way I have previously tried to convey it
one thing that stuck out to me, especially once you started describing epistrophy's fits is the pant-shoe interaction.
fit 1 in particular is one where i suspect it would be more impactful with the boots you have in some of the other pics.
2-3-4 i think work because the visual weight of the shoe "works" with your choice of pant and the fit as a whole. it might feel like a small choice but it can do a lot
How do I get that intention? Might be a stupid question, but I have tried (probably not hard enough) to copy looks from my inspiration document
In what sense would the boots help? It might add more weight to the bottom of the outfit, which I guess may or may not be what you are trying do?
Oh, you answered it too quickly đ
your description of your last fit is another example of this, where the boot cut jeans don't work well with the chunkiness of the docs (either because the jeans should be higher on the waist, wider at the opening or shorter)
But I would usually assume that a bootcut jean is worn with a boot. Althoug I do agree that the way the pants fall on the shoes looks unkempt and thoughtlessly put together. Maybe with a few cuffs as in fit 4 it would work?
other things to consider would be how you cuff/roll hems and tuck or untuck shirts - 3 is a good example of both as its a casual fit (works with a messy tuck) and the small roll doesn't create too much emphasis against the top half
5 is the opposite, it seems like a more formal fit, but the messy tuck and the breaks at the hem (and the docs imo) all counter that
Completely agree with 5. The pants should either be cuffed or shorter and if I had a Derby/Loafer in black I would have worn it
there's lot of boots in the world though - bootcut jeans traditionally were worn with cowboy boots (mainly for utility), and the pointed toe and lower vamp vs docs usually yield less breaks
So in fit 3 a full cuff would have looked better because there is two layers to the top of the outfit, which then has more weight than the bottom?
it may help to look at the difference between your fits and your inspiration pictures, because that may speak to either certain details to emulate in the future or certain items to buy/replace
I think the messiness of the tuck is due to my inability to tuck it fully clean
Great idea! Ill do that and try to emulate them closer
to clarify 3 is good; the "visual weight" is moreso what your eyes focus on. in 3 (to me at least) it's the bright overshirt and graphic tee whereas with 5 it's the tuck and then the breaks in the chinos
Ahhh, okay. Well thanks đ
Casual ties usually have a lot more texture than businessy ones. I like square end silk knits, shantungs look great too. Or you could get one with ducks on it. You can also tie it differently, like having the knot loose and way below your collar
Good idea with the knots, currently only know the "This is a formal event"-knot. I am trying to convince a friend to knit me one after I saw a post here about them
i think the first steps are still collecting inspiration and attempting to emulate fits that you like. having the goal at the start will help guide how you put the fit together (whether it's pants, shoes or something else)
if you're noticing consistent differences (the pant hems hit differently, your jacket lengths are different) it may be a sign of things to buy/replace (e.g. different cuts of pants or different jackets or different shoes)
perhaps focus on the ideas of visual weight (what elements of a fit stand out when seeing everything at once) and how the clothes interact (e.g. cuffing a pant leg, tucking a short loosely vs tightly vs not at all) as you build the fit as well. if something looks off, see if changing one element does anything positive, even if it's not identical to the inspo image.
i think academically you understand some of the thoughts going into why the inspiration fits work (again, i encourage posting more observations if you have them, or making a post in #inspiration with your thoughts) but i think there's a need to act, like what NotDisliked said.
at some point, if these are items you like and will come together to resemble a fit you like, you've got to be willing to put that on. even if you're not 100% of how you look or how close it resembles the picture. you do that often enough, you make a connection to those particular fits, and in turn it gets easier to wear stuff like that again.
Thank you very much for the insights Zeo. Its time to go through the inspirations and make notes. Tomorrows WAYWT might be a banger (or a Wonky outfit, but I've been told that is the same đ )
@Birdyboy I think a whole lot of finding your sea legs with fashion is all stuff youâre doing right now. Youâve got an idea of what you like, you know where youâre going wrong or have gone wrong in the past, and youâre actively learning new stuff. Thereâs not really a be all end all solution, and some stuff that looks good to some folks doesnât look good to others. I actually kinda dig the pooling of the jeans youâve got going on with that last pic.
I think changing up photography is a great way to get a good idea of what your fit looks like as well. I typically record a video and then screencap good pics out of the vid. Some folks do the self timer thing, or the remote, and some folks just have really nice cameras. Thereâs something to be said about seeing a fit in new lights and angles.
The biggest thing that all of the folks youâve mentioned have is something that can be the hardest to learn. All of them own the hell out of what they wear, are unapologetic about who they are, and wear their outfits with a significant air of earnestness and ease that very clearly shows. Thereâs a lot to be said regarding how much of an outfit is attitude and comfort in your own skin.
@Bertramlösa I appreciate that you posted this. I've been trying to be more intentional/ thoughtful with my styling and enjoyed reading this thread.