My Sartorial Introduction (or something less pretentious)

As you will find in subsequent blog posts, I have recently developed a bit of a sartorial passion, if you will. I got a new job at the end of last summer and took it upon myself to incorporate a whole-life upgrade to go along with the career move. A big part of that was trying to dress better, more like a grown up. Not knowing where to start, I began reading GQ and the whole thing kind of developed from there. Since then it’s become a great hobby that, while not gentle on my wallet, should hopefully benefit me for years to come.

Throughout my quest to better my wardrobe, I have come across the incessant issue that I have more expensive taste than I can afford. This probably comes from the fact the I research the bloody hell out of anything I get interested in. Once you know what makes a $150 custom made dress shirt better than the $20 one I snagged at H&M, it’s hard to forget, and it’s hard to settle. Therefore, I have spent a good amount of time trying to reconcile this fact by finding ways to get great clothes without ending up under a mountain of debt.

That in mind, I plan on dedicating a significant chunk of this blog to chronicling my ‘sartorial journey’ if you’ll allow me to sound like a pretentious buffoon for just a moment (I’d also like to throw in the words ‘vestiary’ and ‘sprezzatura’ while I have your permission). Keep in mind that just 6 months ago most of my clothing came from Plato’s closet, and that while I have come a long way, I am in no way an expert. I’m not going to be giving design and fashion tips, or predicting the next big things in menswear. However, I have gotten a pretty strong grasp of the ‘rules,’ and am gaining more and more confidence in finding stylish ways to break those rules. At this point I’m eager to start throwing my ideas out there, to help other people like me ‘find the way’ (pretentious buffoon again, I know), to share useful tidbits, and to get some feedback if anyone wants to give it.

So now I’ll stop rambling and leave this too-long post with a quick short tip:

Buy shoes on eBay! More on this later…[edit: I had some good tips written out here, but tumblr took it upon itself to delete them, so this will come as its own post in the not-too-distant-future. I promise.]