TOPIC: Style with Sweatervest

NoStringsAttached wrote: For example, I bought some $150 jeans from GUESS and out of all of my pairs of jeans, those were the only ones that ripped from the crotch area.

LOL I was about to post the exact same thing! I bought this pair of jeans from Guess a couple years ago for around $120, a few months later the crotch ripped, so I bought them again, rinse and repeat. I think I'm on my fourth pair of those jeans now. Meanwhile those moto jeans cost like $30 or so, and they fit and look way better IMO (the Guess jeans are more dressy, they go well with sport coats). We'll see how long they last (not dissing Guess totally, their plain white v-neck is one of my staples and it's lasted for years).

Buying clothes on Amazon (which I was convinced to do solely by GLL's style guides) only makes sense because I have Prime and I can return stuff for a full refund. I buy it, try it on, and if it doesn't look and feel good, I send it back. I send back probably half (if not more) of what I buy there. I've been burned by ordering clothes online that I can't send back. See the suit I wore above for a great example. I now realize how retarded it was to buy a fucking suit without even trying it on first. Clothes on Amazon are hugely hit-or-miss, I've ordered plenty of stuff that looked awful when it arrived, so I sent it back.

This is what I think of when I hear "looks cheap": cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0910/8718/prod...nde.jpg?v=1522709655

Most because of the fit. The sleeves are way too big and long, and there's no taper in the waist. The collar is also badly sized (the part with the buttons is too wide IMO). This is related to "cheap" because these kinds of clothes are mass-manufactured to fit anybody, so they're baggy and boxy and never form-fitting. I would also think of "knockoff", like something that's obviously imitating a more expensive brand's style. Is there something else I'm missing?

I have a hard time finding form-fitting slim clothes in stores. Amazon has certain brands, mostly (but not always) Asian brands, that make actually slim-fit clothes in sizes small enough for me. It looks so much better IMO to have shirts and jackets that hug my waist. Like NSA said, this is primarily about looking sexy and not socially retarded (i.e. keeping with trends), although I also just the enjoy the art of looking sharp and put together nicely at the office. I want to accentuate my body, so I like stretchy and slim clothes. I haven't actually tried shopping in stores lately that much (because I haven't felt a need to), but what tends to happen is they don't carry the size I need, assuming they even make them. I spent most of my life wearing baggy, boxy clothes that didn't fit me, like most other guys do. I'm so obsessed with that, I'm now in the habit of getting almost everything tailored, which costs more money.

I don't consider myself an expert in any of this so I'm very open to having all of the above ripped apart (why I started this thread).

Where do you go to stay on top of style trends? This is really important to me and I feel like I don't have a solid source. For example I didn't realize dog tags were out (I tossed all mine except one) until people here told me. I started following some guys on Instagram like @magic_fox and @marianodivaio, do you guys have any other places you go to for this kind of information? Those guys seem pretty minimalist, which might be the point. Maybe these days looking sexy is about toning it down and just having some good form-fitting clothes.

Just did a search and found what look like some good guys to follow:

@nick__bateman
@michaelbjordan
@kortajarenajon
@tiniegram
@brendanfallis
@iamgalla
@johanneshuebel
@rowanrow

An Insta I follow for style is @menwithstreetstyle

A good action plan is to pay more attention to these guys and try to recreate some of their outfits.

Jeans are hard as fuck to find in your perfect size. Right now I buy paige federal (slim fit) after trying them on in person. Now that I know my size I stalk ebay with email alerts and get $180 jeans for $50-$80.

You gotta try shit on. I've been trying to steer clear of the budget clothing and get more quality over quantity. Express is the lowest I will go now that my physique is dialed in. I've tried on $100+ armani hugo boss v necks and still prefer express deep v's that cost $15. The FIT

Honestly the best thing is to get gainz and have clothes that show them without PERCEIVED EFFORT. Don't need clothes exactly spray on tight, just enough to not hide what you've been doing in the gym

Exactly how I feel Wood. I've become obsessed with fit. I actually think I got way too over-complicated. I'd rather have a handful of solid well-fitting pieces than a whole lot of different clothes. I've been going through my wardrobe and throwing out anything that doesn't fit well.

I want your guys' advice on this though. Basically, I'm super insecure about not being more jacked, and this may be driving me to go for "try hard" fits that are too tight. I had a very hard time finding a v-neck that I was happy with, and now I've gone down to "X-small" sizes for most stuff, which sometimes I feel is still too big. And I feel an urge to get almost everything tailored (that's starting to really rack up money on its own). I still haven't found a short-sleeve white dress shirt with a fit I like (every one I've tried has been too big).

Here's some pics. Tell me what you think about these tops. Good fit, or too try hard? The dress shirt, I feel like it shows off physique well, but when I sit down it pulls apart at the buttons (you can see this in the video I posted here ).

Im digging the jacket. Where did you buy it?

Outfit #1 is solid.
Outfit #2 looks like something a mail man would wear (sorry, but I really don't like this look)

IMO outfit#2 would look better if you replaced the shorts with the pants from outfit#1

1. That aggressive cut had a detrimental effect on your gains. In the side picture it looks like you don't lift.

2. the clothes look trendy, not timeless, like stuff you might regret purchasing in a few months.

3. You should focus on gaining a little more mass, at least in your upper body, before worrying about wardrobe.

4. Try jawsersize, your jaw is looking kinda narrow. I'm considering purchasing one myself.

5. Your hairstyle looks weird in the pics. Like the hairstyle of a guy in his forties from 90's film. IDK why. It just does to me.

LOL that second outfit sucked. I didn't trust my instincts and thought it might grow on me. As soon as I put it on I didn't think "mail man", I thought "dad in his mid 40s". It was hot outside and I was heading to the beach, so I didn't want to wear pants, but that was too dressed up for the beach. I don't really like shorts either, but I try them sometimes when weather calls for it. It would have been better to pair with a t shirt.

What about the fit of the shirt though? Is it too small and "try hard" tight?

You should focus on gaining a little more mass, at least in your upper body, before worrying about wardrobe.

Sorry, but I'm gonna yell about this for a while.

I don't know why people here say this kind of thing (and it's been said many times before). Are you saying I should dress like shit (or make no effort to dress better) for 6+ months until I finish another bulk? Why do guys think making improvements to style is only "worth it" if you're in really good shape? If anything not being in good shape makes style even more important. Style is something that can be improved basically immediately. It's probably the best short-term upgrade of sexual attractiveness available (along with grooming/haircut). Ignoring it until the long-term, and yes more significant, stuff is maxed out is the worst thing a guy could do.

It would make sense to say, "put on more upper body mass before worrying about cutting further". I've gone back and forth on that in my head a lot. There are specific reasons why I don't want to start another bulk yet, even though I'm at 10% body fat (I want to get down to at least 8% first, if not 6%).

1: Leanness makes a bigger impact on shirtless aesthetics, which I can exploit online, and it improves facial aesthetics.
2: I genuinely want to see what I look like shredded.
3: Most importantly, I need a bigger buffer for fat gain so I can bulk for a longer time and put on more muscle before having to cut again.

I definitely don't ever want to go above 13%, and I'd really prefer to not go over 12%, both because I don't look as good, and because it makes the following cut longer and more grueling (and also more likely to suffer muscle loss). I have roughly 130 lb of lean mass right now. At my current 10%, I have 14.4 lb of fat. At the same lean mass, at 13%, I would have 19.4 lb of fat. That's only a 5 lb buffer. If I gain muscle and fat at roughly equal rates during a bulk (this is what I've usually attained, although my previous bulks I was eating way too much food and not lifting with enough volume so maybe next time I can improve this), I could only put on 5 lb of muscle before having to cut again. If I get down to 8%, that's 11.3 lb of fat, which gives me an 8 lb buffer, and if I get to 6%, that's 8.3 lb of fat, which is an 11 lb buffer.*

Of course either way, I have to figure out why my cuts have gone so poorly. I lose too much lean mass, and I lose fat at ridiculously slow rates (~0.5 lb/week) for most of it. Before I thought I wasn't lifting with enough volume, but from more researching I don't think that was the problem. I actually think I don't eat enough protein. I started believing the "you never need more than 0.82 g/lb" mantra, and ignored the advice of Lyle McDonald (who I otherwise follow exactly) to eat 1.5, or for high deficits, even up to 2, g/lb of protein. If I can cut properly, maintaining lean mass and seeing 1.5-2 lb/week of true fat loss, even if I went up to 15%, I could cut back to 6% in less than 12 weeks. These 5+ month cuts are killing me. And, well, the only way to figure that out is to try. So in a few weeks when I finish PCT, I'm doing the cut to 6% and will eat 300 g of protein per day. It's gonna be some time before I even start bulking again, so... no, I'm definitely not ignoring style for that whole time.

*I am aware of the issue that for most guys, below 10% body fat, their muscle to fat gain ratio tends to be way worse , and it's probably more optimal to bulk in the 10-15% range. I want to see how my body handles this, especially if I bulk properly with sufficient lifting volume, sufficient protein and an appropriately small surplus.

I don't think that shirt is too tight. The outfit just looks nerdy with the shirt tucked into shorts and wearing high socks. Also, if you're looking to really get muscular and shredded any time in the next few years you might want to consider trying a legit steroid cycle.

Going too tight like an x-small just makes you look small tbh. I know you're keen for cutting, at some point you have to decide. Having well defined abs had 0 effect for me. I still looked like most skinny guys. The bigger I get the more attention Im getting though. Anecdotal I know. Feels like size > bf% so long as it stays under 15%