A Working Wardrobe

A working wardrobe doesn’t "magically" come together. It revolves around a core set of highly versatile items that you wear every day. To begin, this article is in no way a fast track to a permanent wardrobe, but more truly an abstract into what makes a "working wardrobe" tick. Your current closet reflects your lifestyle. Whether it be a shut-in's pajamas and joggers, or businessman's suits and blazers.

Is it cohesive? Do you feel most mornings that you have nothing to wear? Can you mix and match about anything and look presentable?

I feel some days that I struggle with this idea. A perfect "working wardrobe" is skewed in my own case, for the sake of furthering my own hobby. Which is clothing, as I'm sure you've gathered.

When I open my closet and look around, I have the colors and items I'm looking for—more often than not. I do feel that my style is still in a "basics+" phase where I have my essentials covered, but I’m still looking for the exact pieces that will define me, but this is another topic.

For the purposes of this article, not my own grandeur, I have a working wardrobe. I can grab any pant and always have two or more shirts to match. I can plan to wear any jacket and fall back on a plain shirt and chino to pair it with. Or a knit polo and jeans. Even a trouser and mock neck with colors in the same family— which is a very popular trend at the moment. Basically, there are options in my closet. I can dress for any occasion, with about any piece, and ramp up or coast down the formality into what I feel appropriate for an event.

This is not common. If you're invited to a party and think "I need a new shirt for this," you're not there. If you've been invited to a wedding, and make plans to pick up a suit rental, you're not there. This isn't a problem, but a starting point.

What do you need to get to that point? How long will it take? Can you fix this overnight? If you can, SHOULD you?

"Working wardrobes" have much to do with the root particle—work. Do you work in these clothes? or are you in a uniform at work? What events do you typically go to outside of work? If you're a mountain climber on weekends then you'll need a very different set of extra-curricular clothing than a hunter/gun range regular.

Both of these men can be extremely stylish in their own right; finding the best way to blend together their hobbies with work and social setting is key to finding this elusive *thing*. This may also imply that you have to dress to fit your surroundings, but I would argue against that.

I'm in the military, for example, and every day I walk into work described as a "history teacher" or other over-dressed stereotypes. Just to change into a uniform. I've even been brushed off by security because I appeared so different from my peers. Granted, I do not wear a suit and tie to work. I wear button-up shirts, fine jackets (never blazers), selvage denim/chinos, and loafers or boots every day. Smart casual is my casual, and not every day is the same. I can wear a hoodie but the next day I’m in a turtleneck, and I'll float between the two because I can.

At the end of the day, it's just clothes.

Back on topic—my closet allows this. Having interchangeable pieces that have generally the same colors, with similar tones, from my Summer to my Winter wardrobe allows for easy transitions. I've eluded to this, but now will clearly state, that your wardrobe is most likely not a "working" one because your things are all “one of a kind” pieces.

This is not a negative statement, but a kind of harsh truth. Most men buy their clothing one piece at a time. Whatever looks good on the rack. Whatever was on sale in their size. I've been there as well. Everyone will.

This is where that ends, though.

Finding the things that fit you properly, that you enjoy wearing, is the first step to making an interchangeable, working wardrobe. Fit guides can be found all throughout the internet, and while everyone has their own fit preference and body, Ashley Weston at Mens Fashioner YouTube channel has an inclusive fit guide series I’ve linked here.

Next is where men are at a specific disadvantage. In a time where black is its own style, finding and using color is hard for men of today, as well as those coming into adulthood.

Find a few colors that match your interest. The "house style" here at Style in Sync are classics: Blue, Brown, and Green or Maroon (of course black/grey/white, can't do much without some of them).

Secondary colors, when you’re there, for Green are yellow/mustard/tan. For Maroon, cream and teal.

Utilizing these menswear classic colors allows you to shop easily, widely across brands, and ultimately build a wardrobe that relieves the burden of getting dressed in the morning.

My recommendation: Start with blue.

We all have jeans. Every man should have a blue OCBD, and a navy blazer/suit is a must-have. All blues.

Venture out from there with browns (tan-chocolate), blue’s natural companion. It will all come together slowly, but as I've said, this is meant to be a slow process. The faster you go, the more likely you are to fall into trends. Trends tend to "trend." When they inevitably fade, you'll be left with piles of last season’s looks, with the ongoing "I have nothing to wear" problem. Not only that, it’s a horrible disservice to the consumption problem we have as a society. Save some landfill space. Buy timeless.

On a similar note, there are no great wardrobes without a pair of "beater" shoes; regardless of them being converse, as is my case, or a pair of utility boots with a rubber sole. A man needs to be able to live and work in his clothes. I recommend that you have/keep these pairs in your wardrobe. You bought them for a reason, and throwing out your old look entirely is a very wasteful, very western approach. Let those items sink or swim, but don’t let the concept of a beater die.

Building slowly also allows you to make mistakes. If you bought one pair of skin-tight jeans, you lost about $50-$100 now that that trend has waned off. If you decided to buy a blue, distressed, grey, black, and white pair... that is $500+ depending on the brand, and 5 pairs in a landfill. If you had bought one pair of Selvage denim, with solid construction and well-fitted—casual, but not baggy or tight—for $200 you would still be wearing them today. Moreover, they would have a beautiful look that only selvage can attain after years of wear.

This idea is not unattainable, just rarely thought about. Buying “something fun” is always much more appealing than a navy chino or black oxford, but the latter are in every way more edifying.

Your closet has plenty to say about you, so think of it as a form of language. Word by word, shirt by shirt, tell the world what you want to say.