Reasonably expensive clothes

whambamboo

it would definitely be cheaper to fly to Bangkok (about £450) and get it done there if you are going to spend £1000. Maybe not cheaper when you've paid for food and stuff (though that's still cheap: £30/night for a decent hotel, £2-£20/day for food), but still if you fancy a holiday.... Tailored stuff will be cheap cheap cheap there.

Debt_Free_Chick

mr1974 wrote:

What places do you suggest? I went to Thomas Pink for the shirts but it was too expensive (shirts in the 75/125 range).

Charles Tyrwhitt for the shirts. Quality as good as Pinks, but price not as high. I think they have an offer on at the moment too - price reduced to that sold at in 1996

Bargain_Rzl

TM Lewin is another high-quality shirtmaker chain and they always seem to have special offers on, 3 shirts for £90 or similar.

I'd second the recommendation for Austin Reed, too - although they are expensive, their January and July sale periods usually bring things down by 50% instantly, making it the upper end of affordable.

marcais

Alleycat wrote:

decided to try a local tailor who has been open in Bradford for nearly 100 years.

How old is he?

Poppy9

What sort of job do you do? I'm office based and find my skirts and trousers develop creases that are almost impossible to get rid of after a few weeks. Notice with men too that their trousers seat and if on leather chair can go shiny.

blackcateddie

IvanOpinion wrote:

The only shirt to wear for proper dress is white (colours are fine in less formal situations, which I would include work as, but I prefer white shirts). All white shirts go cream/grey after a few washes therefore the solution is do not wash them .

It is not necessarily the cut of the suit that is the problem, it is how the person wears it is most important

Ivan

Next thing you know you'll be wearing a blue suit and red tie and people will say you work for Big Blue!!!!

White is best for interviews since you probably don't know the age of the person interviewing you so you need to not offend, however nowadays coloured shirts are acceptable anywhere.

I've picked up some nice suits at various outlet villages where you can pick up a designer suit for under £200. Would recommend Bicester in particular.

Sometimes it's worth spending that bit extra because they last longer, some of the cheap suits from the high street go shiny very easy or don't clean very well.

mr1974

Well, I got many ideas from this thread, but I have a few more questions related to dressing for the office.

- TIES seem to have fallen out of fashion in my office - not even managers wear them. This may look like a good thing (one less item to worry about), but in fact it causes a couple of issues in relation to the shirts. I don´t like showing off my chest hair like some of the guys are doing (not that I have much, but they keep a couple of buttons open), but at the same time I´d be ridiculous wearing shirts closed at the collar button (and/or with button down collars) - again, no-one seems to be wearing them like that! Hence I need shirts with a button at the right place i.e. not too high, not too low. I´ve realised I cannot wear some of the shirts I have because of this: there is no button at the _right_ place, and there is no tie to place on top to cover up everything. I have now increased the amount of money I want to spend on shirts, as they are what people see the most during the day: has anyone got suggestions on specific models I can go and ask at the shops mentioned in this thread, which would be a nice wear WITHOUT A TIE?

- Considering I bring my (kind of cheap) shirts to the DRY CLEANERS for washing / ironing, can I do the same for my expensive ones? I´ve heard I risk having good quality fabrics / buttons damaged if I bring the shirt to the dry cleaners. Any suggestion in this respect? It won´t be a good feeling to spend 90 pounds for a shirt just to see it last a couple of months...

- What about BELTS and SHOES? I´ve noticed they are quite important as well, and were wondering if someone has suggestions for shopping in this area. I would prefer to avoid leather products, but I´ve noticed this may be nearly impossible as everything seems to be made out of leather (I did get a nice pair of shoes from a veg shop in brighton over the Internet though).

- In regard to having the SUIT / SHIRT tailor made, has anyone got suggestions on what MATERIALS and COLOURS to use to make the suits/shirts, as I am no expert. Surely I´ll ask the tailor, but I´d like to have an idea on what types of fabric are available , what´s the difference in quality/cost, and what´s out of fashion.

- Any other suggestin in relation to MAINTENANCE of the shirts / suits is extremely welcome.

The post is long but I´m finding dressing properly a science on its own!
Thanks for any inputs.

mr

IvanOpinion

blackcateddie wrote:

I've picked up some nice suits at various outlet villages where you can pick up a designer suit for under £200. Would recommend Bicester in particular.

What is a 'designer suit'?

ivan

Plasticman

IvanOpinion wrote:

What is a 'designer suit'?

ivan

The same as a normal one, but with a bigger price tag :rolleyes:

Plasticman

I find it really hard to justify spending £50 or £60 for a shirt when I will probably throw coffee over it within the first few weeks. Maybe if I was paying £60 a shirt then they would last a bit longer, but I doubt it. If it doesn't cost less than £5 then I don't bother. I like a nice suit though. You can generally tell the difference between a cheap one and an average prices one.