I have a different body but a similar relationship to it as the author. My wife is very stylish and often wears striking jewellery. She gets a lot of compliments and doesn't have to work hard to be at ease socially, whereas for the most part I'd be happy to pass through the world unseen. We've had some modest financial success of late, and I'm resolved to being kinder to myself but also taking myself a little more seriously. I think it's easy to write off fashion as something laboured and fake and innately suspect, especially when you're an introvert and a bit of a nerd living the life of the mind. But I've come to accept that my body has value, a voice of its own, and is part of me that I can't and don't want to be rid of. I'm not really ready for tailored clothing (and I flatter myself it'd be wasteful when I lose all the weight) but I've started dressing better, sports jackets instead of hoodies, shirts instead of t-shirts. For the first time in my life I own more than two pairs of shoes. I am sure I would still look shambolic to anyone with an eye for the details (I can pull off dishevelled academic better than Ivy Style) but I feel so much more confident and relaxed. I no longer feel like I've written off half of myself, and I like the whole a lot more because of that. It was wonderful to read Gary's journey in a similar direction.
I stopped wearing shirts except for semi-formal dinner occasions once or twice a year. I don't want fancy dress pants, I don't want pants with belts at all. I want something soft, slightly elastic around the waist that I can lounge around in, that doesn't feel like it's restrictive of movement.
I dress for comfort, but I do like variety and some colors, not just gym clothes.
This is a horrible problem because the modern approach to clothes production is retarded.
Formal isn't comfortable. Everyday fast fashion isn't comfortable and it's either pointlessly frilly over designed garbage that tries too hard to make a statement or it's generic in the extreme for faceless drones made only for utility values. The third category is a more interesting cut but unsatisfactory quality
Well made formal clothes are the most comfortable you'll wear. There is some mental discomfort for a while depending on your mindset because, at least for me, I was stuck thinking fancier clothes required fancier demeanor and attitude? Not sure I'm bailing the feeling here but it does go away eventually. I ultimately did drop the everyday formal wear though because well made stuff was expensive and Im pretty active and found myself with a lot of rips and stains on expensive clothing items.
I touched a clump of Australian wool, and noted how superior my South American sheep was to its antipodean cousin.
He touched a clump of hard wearing medium or strong merino wool; ultrafine and superfine merino come in softer and finer than his 21 micron South American sheep.
And a not insignificant fraction of it comes from one region, Hamilton in Victoria:
“ Sheep grazing and agriculture are the primary industries in the surrounding shire, the area producing as much as 15% of Australia's total wool clip.”
Suits like carpets have to be a compromise between fineness and longevity. 21 is probably as fine as weaves strong twill suitable for a modern suit. It's a fucktonne finer than the Harris Tweed in my ten euro jacket I got in cliqnancourt.
I’m also obligated to laugh at that 21. However New Zealand’s wool industry is a showdown of what it once was, and unfortunately that’s come at the expense of our lakes and rivers. Thanks dairy.
Not to mention the other Antipodean (New Zealand) marino which goes down to 11 microns. 18.5 microns is considered the premium suiting quality and there is not much point in going finer.
It's a real shame that bespoke tailoring has all but died out. These days you have to live in (or near) the largest cities in the world, or financial hubs if you want bespoke service that is local.
Most tailoring houses do travel around, offering trunk shows and such.
I was lucky enough that I had a close relative that worked as a tailor back in the 50s and 60s, so from the first suit I wore was actually a bespoke piece.
When I moved away, and entered the professional workforce, I soon discovered that bespoke suits started at $4k-$5k. I settled with a reputable shop that did made-to-measure for a third, and was happy with the results.
I don't really wear suits (and tailored clothing) too much these days. The world has moved much more into casual and comfy clothes, and the sartorial world is mostly reserved for the hobbyists or wealthy people in conservative (work) fields.
But, still, wearing a full set of perfectly tailored suit, shirt, and shoes feels nothing short but incredible. There should be nothing uncomfortable about it - which is the general critique for people not wanting to wear a suit.
"These days you have to live in (or near) the largest cities in the world"
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by bespoke tailoring. I've found small shops that will do custom work. They are somewhat rare in the US, just like custom shoe makers, but they do exist outside of the largest cities.
Also you can get a 3 piece suit custom made in SE asia for $1-500, custom shoes for $50-$100. If your goal is to have a custom wardrobe a plane ticket would save you thousands.
I imagine myself driving across the country, and arriving at a small town to get gas and lunch. As I eat at the local diner, I become aware that everyone in the town is dressed exceptionally well, better than I am in fact, including the two homeless people outside, sitting in the street.
Turns out this small down of 400 people has such a tailor, and no Walmart, and so even the poorest are dressed quite well, with perfectly fitted suites and clothes.
Or (and I hate how cynical I've become) "How can I justify buying an outrageously expensive custom-made suit?" Oh yeah, I'll write an article about it, ha ha.
On a less derisive note, a friend and I were riding the JR line in Tokyo when my friend pointed to the hand stitching on the suit of the salaryman (or not? ChatGPT tells me "yakuin" refers to the moire powerful decision-making company employees) standing next to us.
That was a cool thing about public transportation where even the high-flyers travel with gaijin tourists.
I think that we are at a "generational inflection point".
I did the whole "it's cool to wear t-shirts to work" startup thing, and now that I'm a little older and the stakes are a bit higher in the office, It does feel a bit disrespectful to look "unserious".
So it's probably a perennial moment: ppl getting older. Maybe I'm boring now.
(Also, died at loss in your footer, and the MD timeline of discovery is cool -- submit it here!)
I was all about t-shirts until I had kids. When we went out on restaurant-night (Friday) I started to see myself in how my kids would perceive me — or how they might compare their father to others.
> Gotta say I wanted to keep reading. How good is Atlantic? Maybe I should sub
The Atlantic is fantastic and you should subscribe. You might be put off by the tone of some of their political pieces, which tends towards old-fashioned centre right. But as a leftie, I think that a lot of them are insightful even though I regularly disagree with the authors and in any case their long-form articles are excellent. The writing is good and the research is thorough.
The writing held me to the end. I think their long form apolitical stuff is amazing.
People disagree about the political/editorial, I think it's classic American centrist but right wing see it as leftist, and left wing see it as establishment.
I totally would wear $20,000 of well made wool 6ply, leather and cotton. Like the author, I'd do it on somebody else's dime. My forays into Japan align strongly to the sense there are many obsessive mercantilist specialists there. The guy with a 2 meter wide stall selling exclusively high end pentode valves in the old akehabera market comes to mind.
I spent a brief time in Beijing with a co worker watching them being fitted for a high end suit. The fabric was just amazing. They keep the salvage showing out on the roll so you can see where it's woven be it Milan or Scotland. I think that experience is why this article resonates: that and getting a charity store "demob" suit recut to fit me in London in the eighties. 1946 vintage double breasted with a slubby thick stripe, £20 to buy and £120 to have fitted (it was destroyed by moths in Brisbane 20 years later)
My highlight of that Beijing trip was buying a beautiful "pleather" designer jacket for my son from the cheaper, fraudulent end of the market. Very nicely made, he wore it into the ground. If you walk away from the stall without bargaining the market trader women pinch you to teach you a lesson. Painful.
It's Gary Shteyngart, you don't have to sub to the Atlantic to read him. I've zero interest in his late mid-life hobbies of watches and suits but the dude can write. His fiction is fun, for those who are into that sort of thing.
This was a wonderful read and matched some of my own experiences with becoming more familiar with mens fashion allowing me to create an outward reflection of myself that helped me to build up a respect for my own body and a more general sense of aesthetic I had previously lacked.
While I don't have so fine a suit as the author, a few years back I had the pleasure of having a bespoke suit made and a set of shirts to accompany it. In many ways it was a life-altering experience for the better.
Readit News
I dress for comfort, but I do like variety and some colors, not just gym clothes.
This is a horrible problem because the modern approach to clothes production is retarded.
Formal isn't comfortable. Everyday fast fashion isn't comfortable and it's either pointlessly frilly over designed garbage that tries too hard to make a statement or it's generic in the extreme for faceless drones made only for utility values. The third category is a more interesting cut but unsatisfactory quality
https://www.isobaa.com/en-au/blogs/tales-from-the-eweniverse...
And a not insignificant fraction of it comes from one region, Hamilton in Victoria:
“ Sheep grazing and agriculture are the primary industries in the surrounding shire, the area producing as much as 15% of Australia's total wool clip.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton,_Victoria
Where you’ll find very well cared for sheep wearing protective coats over their fleece.
Most tailoring houses do travel around, offering trunk shows and such.
I was lucky enough that I had a close relative that worked as a tailor back in the 50s and 60s, so from the first suit I wore was actually a bespoke piece.
When I moved away, and entered the professional workforce, I soon discovered that bespoke suits started at $4k-$5k. I settled with a reputable shop that did made-to-measure for a third, and was happy with the results.
I don't really wear suits (and tailored clothing) too much these days. The world has moved much more into casual and comfy clothes, and the sartorial world is mostly reserved for the hobbyists or wealthy people in conservative (work) fields.
But, still, wearing a full set of perfectly tailored suit, shirt, and shoes feels nothing short but incredible. There should be nothing uncomfortable about it - which is the general critique for people not wanting to wear a suit.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by bespoke tailoring. I've found small shops that will do custom work. They are somewhat rare in the US, just like custom shoe makers, but they do exist outside of the largest cities.
I imagine myself driving across the country, and arriving at a small town to get gas and lunch. As I eat at the local diner, I become aware that everyone in the town is dressed exceptionally well, better than I am in fact, including the two homeless people outside, sitting in the street.
Turns out this small down of 400 people has such a tailor, and no Walmart, and so even the poorest are dressed quite well, with perfectly fitted suites and clothes.
For those that don't follow already, Derek Guy (https://x.com/dieworkwear) covers men's clothes in a wonderful way (and is also very funny).
He also regularly gives tips on where to shop and what to look for. I really like the fact that it's not totally focused on bespoke tailoring.
He's also on bluesky for those who do not have a Twitter account: https://bsky.app/profile/dieworkwear.bsky.social
Deleted Comment
https://paulgraham.com/submarine.html
On a less derisive note, a friend and I were riding the JR line in Tokyo when my friend pointed to the hand stitching on the suit of the salaryman (or not? ChatGPT tells me "yakuin" refers to the moire powerful decision-making company employees) standing next to us.
That was a cool thing about public transportation where even the high-flyers travel with gaijin tourists.
I did the whole "it's cool to wear t-shirts to work" startup thing, and now that I'm a little older and the stakes are a bit higher in the office, It does feel a bit disrespectful to look "unserious".
So it's probably a perennial moment: ppl getting older. Maybe I'm boring now.
(Also, died at loss in your footer, and the MD timeline of discovery is cool -- submit it here!)
So I started dressing a little less informally.
The Atlantic is fantastic and you should subscribe. You might be put off by the tone of some of their political pieces, which tends towards old-fashioned centre right. But as a leftie, I think that a lot of them are insightful even though I regularly disagree with the authors and in any case their long-form articles are excellent. The writing is good and the research is thorough.
People disagree about the political/editorial, I think it's classic American centrist but right wing see it as leftist, and left wing see it as establishment.
I totally would wear $20,000 of well made wool 6ply, leather and cotton. Like the author, I'd do it on somebody else's dime. My forays into Japan align strongly to the sense there are many obsessive mercantilist specialists there. The guy with a 2 meter wide stall selling exclusively high end pentode valves in the old akehabera market comes to mind.
I spent a brief time in Beijing with a co worker watching them being fitted for a high end suit. The fabric was just amazing. They keep the salvage showing out on the roll so you can see where it's woven be it Milan or Scotland. I think that experience is why this article resonates: that and getting a charity store "demob" suit recut to fit me in London in the eighties. 1946 vintage double breasted with a slubby thick stripe, £20 to buy and £120 to have fitted (it was destroyed by moths in Brisbane 20 years later)
My highlight of that Beijing trip was buying a beautiful "pleather" designer jacket for my son from the cheaper, fraudulent end of the market. Very nicely made, he wore it into the ground. If you walk away from the stall without bargaining the market trader women pinch you to teach you a lesson. Painful.
I think many of us would. It’s the paying that’s the issue.
A tidbit that might help to connect the dots between the political & the apolitical. Or not.
While I don't have so fine a suit as the author, a few years back I had the pleasure of having a bespoke suit made and a set of shirts to accompany it. In many ways it was a life-altering experience for the better.