This is a useful video by the website The Art of Manliness. It covers some basic needs and outfit ideas.
Looking After a Suit
The styling on The Art of Manliness blog is classic and conservative but has some great tips.
However, we don’t agree with splitting a suit up and wearing it as separates. They will wear differently and end up looking mismatched. Not a good idea because suits are expensive.
If you need more pants and a jacket, instead of splitting the suit, you will need to buy an extra pair of pants and a suitable jacket, for your needs.
A few items for a capsule wardrobe could look like;
- A suit, worn together not separately
- A jacket or blazer
- 2 pairs of dress pants, in different colours
- 2 pairs of jeans, again look different
- Some T-shirts
- 2-5 shirts, this would depend on your work
Two coats for outerwear, casual clothing plus workout gear would be a well-rounded wardrobe.
Looking After your Minimal Wardrobe
Airing a suit overnight by hanging outside a wardrobe after use will prolong its life. Airing clothing outside for a few hours in fine weather is excellent to kill bacteria and freshen the fabric.
Looking after shoes can be a bit of a challenge, but easy tips are waterproofing your shoes, how to properly care for leather shoes and even using a humble banana skin to keep shoes looking polished and fresh.
Rotate Shoes
Having 2-3 pairs of shoes will last a few years instead of 1 pair lasting 3 months if that 1 pair of shoes is worn every day. This basic list below will help cover a lot of looks plus by rotating, or alternating days they are worn, you will get more wear out of them, saving time and money having to replace shoes regularly.
- Sneakers
- Boots
- Leather shoes
- Something else that suits your taste
The jackets above are available online at Quality Wear and the long jacket at Rakuten.
Know Your Lifestyle
A lot of what you need or like will depend on a few factors. Where you live for instance. Is it cold, hot, rain or snow? This will affect what items you need to stay warm or dry if it rains a lot where you live.
Your personal taste could be urban or classic. Plus what you do for work. Using these 3 questions will help put a great wardrobe together.
- Weather
- Work
- Personal taste