Altering an overcoat (men)

I'm sorry that I haven't been able to write anything for a while, I've been very occupied since September when I decided that I was going to effectively create a hedge fund with my savings. I was fortunate enough to have been very successful so far and I'm now invested in some relatively less volatile equities, which should make it easier for me to write more.

Here's what I've been up to recently when it comes to clothing:

- I've been looking for a very long time now for an overcoat with fur lapels, but I always buy vintage fur if I'm going to wear it, because I view that as recycling fur and after having read about the fur industry I find the idea of killing an animal without eating it abhorrent.

- This is the moment where I ought to make apologies to any professional tailors, who will probably cry at my lack of skill, but I won't, because I'm quite pleased with the finished product.

- Any of you who keep up to date with Dolce and Gabbana will know that wool overcoats with fur lapels are all in this winter (look to the right) and I've been trawling the internet for an overcoat in this style with contrast lapels. Sadly, I've been unable to find one and when the going gets tough - the tough get going, so I've decided to make one by merging two existing items together.

What I did:

1. I hopped on to Amazon and bought an overcoat.

- I went for a lower range one, because I know that if I'm going to end up altering it anyway, the overall quality of the build matters slightly less. Also, having four other coats anyway of varying thicknesses, the fabric quality is also less of an issue.

- I went for a slimmer fit overcoat, because I would have to do less tapering around the waist to make it look perfect when unbuttoned.

- In the end I bought this one to the left:

- The quality was higher than I was expecting, but  for some reason it didn't come with a lower button hole (maybe this is a new style trend I've missed out on).












2. I needed some faux fur, so I went to:

http://www.fauxthrow.com/index.php

- I opted for a shawl collar that looks like this:


3. The sewing beings!

- I forgot to take pictures when I was doing it, so I'll give a quick explanation of what I did:

- Basically, I lined up the shawl collar with the existing collar of the coat and sewed it onto both sides of the lapels (not only does this hide my poor sewing skills, but it also meant that if in the future I wanted to remove it I would have the original item in an unaltered state.

- After this, I unpicked some of the lining around the back and took the coat in by about one inch on each seam around the waist.

The (almost) finished product:

- I still need to iron it, but after that it's basically done and dusted.

- Anyway, keep it cool until next time guys (and please forgive the untidiness of my room)!

Cheap Dresses

I regularly get asked by women (in my head of course because I don't actually know any women) where you can buy cheap clothes online, but especially dresses.

Here are my top three Amazon stores:

- You would be amazed at what you can buy on Amazon! You can purchase almost anything as long as you're prepared to look around. Ebay is an option, but I hear about more people having their credit card details nicked off Ebay than Amazon.

Here are some cheap brands you can search for:

- Zehui: They appear to sell anything from men's extra short swimming trunks to gorgeous dresses and sexy lace underwear.

- Swagg Fashions: This company seems to specialise in selling some what odd designs of classic style staples, but under this strange exterior there are some beautiful items of clothing for cheap prices. Their polka dot pencil skirt is particularly nice!

- Divadames: Specialising in tight fitting dresses, you'll need to have a great figure to be able to pull off most of the clothes in this store.

Hoping you're well,

Dress Hot - Be Hot!

How to charity/thrift shop.

Charity shopping is something that tends to be snubbed by most men in the UK, which I find hard to understand, especially when "vintage clothing" is being pushed so much. Where do they think shops get their stock?! 

There's an idea that any man with spare money must buy clothes new and make them truly his own, because what could be a worse than wearing clothes someone's died in? I'll tell you.

Below is a list of the value of some items I've found in charity shops compared to their resale price on Ebay:

1. Zara Man Coat 
- Cost: £20 (had original tags and looked like it had never been worn)
- Ebay £100-200 (used)

2. Chaz H Baker three piece suit
- Cost £10
- Ebay (for a very similar used suit) £140-225

3. Harrods Suit 
- Cost £8
- Ebay £170-600

4. Off white Valentino Jeans
- Cost £7 
- Ebay £50-70


Even if I was buying these items second hand on Ebay I would have saved a minimum of £460 and potentially up to £1095. 


Here are some tips to getting some good deals:

1. Look for brands.

- Normally I don't care about wearing expensive branded clothing, but when I'm charity shopping all prices are brought down to the same level. If you opt for expensive brands you can guarantee that if the clothing was in good condition when you bought it, it will remain as such for years to come. 

2. Take your time.

- I would say that I only ever buy something 20% of the time I go into charity shops. A lot of the time this isn't because I don't see things that I like, but because I'm a bit of an odd size. Nevertheless, don't feel that you have to buy something every time you go into one of these shops, because even though the money goes to charity the establishment has a duty to sell products you want to buy. 

3. Always think about the end product.

- When you're buying a jacket for example, always keep in mind what you're going to be wearing that item with. The last thing you want is to buy an item of clothing that in reality you're never going to wear, or an item that's simply not your colour. 

4. Shop around.

- I'm not hammering giving to just one charity, because where I live we have a few charity shops, but the there is one that has cheaper prices and better stock than all the others but together, so obviously this is my first port of call. However, you want to shop around from town to town, as more affluent areas will inevitably have more expensive brands in their charity shops (hence some of my more expensive items). 

I can think of little more to add, so until next time:

Dress Hot - Be Hot! 

I own none of the images in the above post. 

Outfit of the day.

I went out yesterday to meet a retired investment banker for coffee (who incidentally was a lovely woman). 

Here's what I was wearing:


1. Off-White Valentino Jeans.

- You don't have to be wearing Valentino jeans to look good, but if you can get hold of them they're exceptionally well made and fit the male form perfectly (apparently my bum looks great in them). 


2. A dark grey Harrods jacket.

- As with the jeans, you don't have to go off to Harrods to get a jacket (I certainly didn't), but as with my Valentino Jeans the build quality and cut are brilliant! I went for a woollen jacket, because the coarser texture helps to balance out the lack of texture in my pocket square. My jacket was darker than the one to the right, but a lighter shade would look equally as good.

3. An open collar purple shirt.

- I opted for a slightly heavier cotton than I should have done considering it was quite a hot day, but the summer months are a great time to get out silk and silk blend shirts if you have them. 

4. A purple pocket square.

- I went for a silk pocket square in a slightly darker purple than my shirt, as it added a greater range of depth to the outfit, but any pocket square that features the colour purple as either a primary or secondary colour would do. 

5. Accessories.

- I went for black shoes and a black belt, but because the occasion was somewhat informal I decided to go for my Accurist sports watch. You could wear brown accessories with this outfit and still look very well put together, but as I neither own appropriate brown shoes or a brown belt it wasn't an option for me. 

Until next time:

Dress Hot - Be Hot!

I own none of the above images.

The one coat every man needs.

Although I've hardly lived at all at almost nineteen years of age, I've noticed that anyone who I visually regard as a man almost always have one thing in common in the winter months. Each one of these men has a wool coat.

Wool has been around for so long that its use in men's outerwear has become timeless. Now they come in endless styles and colours, but the staple woollen coat has to be the black or navy double breasted overcoat. I can almost guarantee that everyone from your grandfather to his grandfather would have likely had a coat like this or similar.

Buying tips:

1. Always try them on.

- You can buy coats online, but it's a huge risk, because you can easily end up buying something that's uncomfortable or doesn't fit properly under your winter clothes.

- Amazon will have the larges range of coats to pick from online, but stick to a low budget if you must buy a coat online.

2. Sizing.

- Some people are of the mind set that you should buy a size larger than you normally would, because you're going to be layering clothes underneath you coat. However, almost all coats in our days are designed to take this into account, making this idea some what null and void.

- Make sure that the shoulders of the coat finish with your shoulders and that the sleeves extend half an inch to an inch over that of your suit jacket (stick closer to half an inch). Judging the fit around the chest can be difficult, so if the sleeves and shoulders fit you can almost certainly assume that your chest size is fine.

3. Colours.

- The classic colours are black, grey, navy and camel. Stick to these, because other colours will go in and out of fashion while these standard colours remain timeless masterpieces.

4. Styles.

- I'm being intentionally vague and haven't distinguished between topcoats and overcoats, because if you're shorter you may be better off getting a coat that finishes just above the knee (a topcoat) instead of a coat that finishes below the knee (an overcoat), as it will help to make your legs look longer. If you're really short (even shorter than me) you may be better off with a pea coat.

- You can get single breasted coats and in fact they're quite popular, but they don't have that same timeless quality that the double breasted coats carry with them.

5. Buying on the cheap.

- It's summer, so now is a great time to go out and buy winter clothes from last season in the sales. If you're buying a classic coat it won't matter that you're buying from last season.

- Have a look in charity shops, because the best coat I've ever bought I picked up for £20 in a charity shop (or a thrift store if you're American). The image to the left is me wearing it, although sadly Blogger's webcam upload is rubbish, so you have to look at it from this weird angle. It's a Zara Man coat and I was fortunate to buy it with it's tags still in, so I can only assume it was never worn. Nevertheless, I've been able to give it a good home.

- Have a look at army surplus stores. I have an ex-russian army overcoat which is so warm that I only wear it in the very depths of winter. My brother picked it up for around £25, which is a bargain considering how much I've worn it over the years and it even has simple but effective button and loop design for altering the waist measurement. 


6. My personal favourite.

- If I had the money I would have this camel coloured topcoat by Thom Sweeney (to the right), which is simply stunning! I've never seen a coat that's so perfectly tailored to the male form, but while retaining the classic design staples we know and love. 

Good luck men,

Dress Hot - Be Hot!

I own none of the images in the above post.

Topcoat Tips

- Let's start by clearing up a common misconception: overcoats are not topcoats. Topcoats and overcoats collectively are known as outercoats.

- Topcoats are made of lighter fabrics than overcoats and they always finish at the knee or higher, while an overcoat will extend below the knee. There is sometimes a bit of grey area though, because more modern fashions are manufacturing topcoats made from overcoat material. Many of the rain coats and light coats you see people wearing in spring will be topcoats.

-To help out, the three pictures at the side show David Gandy in an overcoat, the grey area coat and a topcoat in descending order. I'm going to leave out the grey area coats and talk about them in a later and more general post.

Buying tips:

1. Go for a traditional colour.

- Black, grey, navy and various shades of beige and tan are your options here. You can buy them in other colours like brown and dark green, but the traditional colours will ensure you still look stylish in years to come when dark green is being laughed at.


2. Pick a light material.

- Normally we're talking about polyester and polyamide mixes, which will still be breathable, but also waterproof. Anything too different to this is probably a grey area coat.

3. Style.

- Almost all of these will be single breasted and I'd be surprised if you can find double breasted ones, but I recommend that you keep to the single breasted design. If you don't, the coat would start to become closer to a grey area design. 

- Sometimes you will find designs that incorporate quilting into the outer fabric, which can look great. Make sure that the quilting is subtle and doesn't puff out excessively, as this would just add visual weight to your body. 

4. How to wear them.

- One of the best things about topcoats is that they're quite easy to coordinate compared to other types of coat. The simple styling means that you can wear them with a suit or just over a shirt on a colder day with dress trousers (see David Gandy). 

- Try to avoid wearing them with jeans, because there's a danger that the two different textures and styles will clash. The lighter the jeans are, the more dangerous it is to combine the topcoat. 

- Although topcoats are not overly formal, they do still carry with them an prevailing sense of formality and as long as you don't wear anything overly casual with it you'll almost always be able to pull it off. 

See you soon,

Dress Hot - Be Hot!

I own none of the images in this post.

Double Denim?

- I have never met a man wearing double denim before. Some people argue this may be because they're all shot at dawn, but I don't think so. Not only do you have to have balls to wear double denim, but you also have to have an innate sense of style. 

- By the way, we're not talking denim shirts here (which are a travesty), but a denim jacket with jeans. 

Here's how to make it work:


1. Tailored.

- Look at David Gandy to the right here and I'm sure you'll agree that there's no unnecessary fabric at all. By simply wearing clothes that fit properly to your body you can give yourself a leg up here. 

- As per usual, stay away from slim jeans unless you want to have your testicles squeezed every time you walk anywhere and stick to straight fit jeans. 

2. Colour

- Try to avoid navy as this can look like a bit of a hangover from 1990 and instead opt for much darker shades. For help look at David Gandy's outfit to the right. 

- Your jacket and jeans must not match! To be fair, if you found a shop that sold matching tops and bottoms I would be impressed, but I've seen it before and it looks horrendous! Keep them different, but try to avoid stark contrasts by picking similar shades and remember that you'll always look better with comparatively darker jeans, as it will visually slim your legs and thus broaden your shoulders. 

3. What do you wear with it?

- Double denim is quite a rugged look, so you can leave your dress shirts at home and either go for the tank top or a fitted V-neck T-Shirt. Regardless of what you wear, try to keep to black and dark grey as it helps to keep the outfit looking ruggedly masculine. 

- Stay away from any other informal tops with collars (like polo shirts), because the over lap of the two collars can look odd and would just ruin an outfit like this. 

4. Shoes.

- You can go casual here and get out any colour you like, but if you're going to wear a belt (which I don't recommend in this case, because it will separate the layers of denim too much), try to keep it small. This is also a wonderful time to get out your Cuban heels and pretend you're not vertically challenged.

5. Wear with pride.

- Double denim has always been a risk, whether you lived in 1990 or now, so you will only pull this look off if you believe in yourself. If in doubt, pretend you're Chuck Norris!

Until next time:

Dress Hot - Be Hot!

I own none of the images in this post.