

Mens’ Wardrobe Essentials - karjaluoto
http://www.deliberatism.com/blog/mens-wardrobe-essentials/

======
gregjor
This should be called "How To Dress Like Mark Zuckerberg." This is the
standard college student/wannabe entrepreneur uniform, but you will find a lot
of contexts where a t-shirt, hoodie (!) and hemp Vans aren't going to cut it.
Unless you are Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs.

Jeans and t-shirts are OK in a lot more places than they used to be but on the
East Coast or in many other countries dressing so far down is disrespectful.
If you are under 25 a hoodie is not out of place but for anyone older a hoodie
looks juvenile. So do Vans. And try getting into some of the nicer restaurants
in New York or San Francisco wearing a t-shirt and hoodie. Unless you're Mark
Zuckerberg.

If you are going to wear jeans in a professional context you should dress them
up with nice shoes, a dress shirt or button-down, and a blazer or sport
jacket. And not gray. Gray jackets are for car salesmen and floor managers at
Car Toys. If you only have one jacket it should be navy. Think Richard
Branson, but if you're not Richard Branson don't expect to be taken seriously
dressed like you don't give a shit.

Clothes don't make a lot of difference if you look dirty or poorly-groomed.
The dirty hipster look is fine for watching an indie band at a faux working
man bar swilling a PBR, but not at many other places. And go easy on the
tattoos and piercings and big rings in your ears. Err on the side of caution
when you only get one chance to make a good impression. Your business plan and
elevator pitch count for nothing if you immediately offend your audience or
distract them with your affectations.

You might think it doesn't really matter, but you won't know when you're not
being taken seriously or laughed at because people who have manners won't say
anything.

~~~
pg
_you will find a lot of contexts where a t-shirt, hoodie (!) and hemp Vans
aren't going to cut it_

Those however may be disproportionately contexts to avoid.

~~~
timsally
You get at an importent point. However, it is important to add Richard
Hamming's orthogonal idea: "I wasn't dressing properly. I had to make the
decision - was I going to assert my ego and dress the way I wanted to and have
it steadily drain my effort from my professional life, or was I going to
appear to conform better? I decided I would make an effort to appear to
conform properly. The moment I did, I got much better service."

Contexts in which dress matters may disproportionally be contexts to avoid,
but there _are_ contexts that are worthwhile in which dress is very important.

~~~
karjaluoto
It can go the other way, though, too.

I'm a partner in a digital agency and used to think that if I dressed better,
we'd sell more work.

The inverse turned out to be the case. We actually lost one potential job for
looking "too corporate" (their words). Recently, our largest client noted
something similar: that they sort of expected to see me in a hoodie, and would
feel weird if I showed up in a suit.

The point isn't to look sloppy. Instead, it's to make the clothing something
that they don't even think about.

~~~
timsally
Your comment is subsumed by Hamming's point. Dressing properly does not always
mean dressing "up".

------
karjaluoto
When I posted the precursor to this post on HN, yesterday, some asked whether
it belonged here. That's a fair question, but I think they do.

When we started our company, I spent a lot of time thinking about clothing and
worrying about whether we were dressed right for meetings with (seemingly)
important folks. With time, I realized that it really didn't matter much, so
long as we didn't look sloppy.

The suggestions in this post can save you a great deal of time/money, without
having any negative impact on the growth of your business. It certainly won't
be everyone's cup of tea, but I wish I would have read something like this
when our company was starting out.

------
joezydeco
_"Unless you work in a really dirty setting, I suggest only washing [jeans]
once every three to four months, in cold water, hanging to dry. Doing so will
leave them looking new for years."_

If that's the schedule for jeans, I'd hate to hear what the schedule is for
shirts and underwear. Seriously, you need to have a _little_ bit better
hygiene than that. And yes, clean clothes are part of your personal hygiene.

~~~
karjaluoto
For me, t-shirts are every three days. Underwear and socks are daily.

As for your comment, I responded the same way as you, initially. Someone
challenged me on my thinking, though, and I've come to the conclusion that
they were right.

First off, how often do you have a leather jacket cleaned? Right. It just
doesn't warrant this, given the nature of the material and the use.

Socks and underwear smell by the end of the day. Try wearing a pair of jeans
for a few weeks and see what they smell like. You might be surprised that
they're generally fine (barring any spills, etc.)

Raw denim manufacturers often suggest a 6 month wash schedule, as it helps the
denim wear in naturally. Meanwhile, research states that there aren't any
health risks for doing so: [http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/01/19/not-
washing-jeans-fo...](http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/01/19/not-washing-
jeans-for-15-months-ok-healthwise-at-least-study/)

