Outfit Analysis 7.24.8

Today’s analysis is short and sweet, a lead in to a general idea for a post in a few days.

Goal(s):

To utilize a piece of clothing I’ve never worn before.

Pieces:

Shoes: Black Rockport XCS (seen these before?)

Socks: Standard ankle-cut black socks.

Pants: Black Rocco jeans from Express (also familiar)

Belt: Black belt with rectangular silver buckle from Express.

Undershirt: Heather gray 2004 Premier Driving School T-Shirt (I’ve never ever worn this, it’s too small and, it’s a driving school T-shirt, from four years ago).

Shirt: Dark pink and black striped polo from Old Navy (this is a new piece, so I also haven’t worn it before, but that doesn’t count).

Pictures:



Victories:

First of all, just getting this wonderful polo from Old Navy is a victory. I went before getting my hair cut on Monday, just to browse. I saw they had new polos in, but wasn’t particularly interested in any of the designs. Then I saw this pink and black one on a poster on the wall. Naturally, I couldn’t find it anywhere in the store. Nearly defeated, I asked a cashier if they still had it. She didn’t know, but asked the manager. Out of nowhere, the manager just pulls one from beneath another register! I couldn’t believe my eyes. What size? Large! Perfect. Oh yeah, it’s on clearance as well! What a score, 60% off on my favorite shirt in the store.

Alrighty, now that I’ve got that out, let’s get back to the goal at hand. Much of the outfit is pretty standard for me (from the waist down in fact). The black jeans from Express are particularly useful to me, since I wear a fair amount of black and black compatible colors. The pink/black striped polo brings a nice amount of color and contrast to the party, with fairly bold, thick striping.

However, how was I supposed to extract value from that random gray tee shirt? There are a few points to consider:

Because I’m wearing a polo, I’m going to be wearing an undershirt regardless, and this one fits the bill (utility wise) as good as any. Especially with the higher buttons on this particular polo, any fancy designs or luxurious fabrics aren’t going to be showcased. All anyone is going to see is a small triangle right below the neckline.

Fortunately, this shirt makes good use of that space. The design is fully below this area, so we don’t end up with partially visible text (this can detract from intentionality due to the in-between-ness of the result). Further, the heather gray provides the outfit’s only region of low value, low saturation color, making a fairly prominent contrast, allowing the bright pinks and strong blacks to have a source of comparison. This makes them all the more brighter and stronger, respectively. Finally, the heather texture gives a nice consistency of fabric texture. A subtle detail, but it certainly can’t hurt.

The punchline to this goal, and my above justification, is that certain garments and uses do not require high-cost, high-fashion purchases. I’m going to detail where not to waste spend your money in an upcoming post.

Failures:

While you can’t see that my undershirt is too small, I can certainly feel it. I’ve noticed, especially when shirts are too small in the shoulder and chest, that the fabric loses breathability and induces sweating, even when I don’t feel hot. Sweating, of course, is uncomfortable, and if you feel uncomfortable, you’re more likely to look uncomfortable. That’s no fun.

Visually, however, I’m very happy with the outfit. To improve it even further, we could increase the level of contrast. A bright, white undershirt may be a more distinct change, and we could add more small regions of this accent color to create a coherent contrast throughout. Options include prominent white detailing on a belt, white shoelaces or shoe detailing, even modifying the buttons to be white (this can be accomplished easily with paint or even a Sharpie). These modifications would be especially nice because of the individuality they bring to the pieces (you can’t buy this polo shirt with white buttons, for example).

Comments: The photographer said that the outfit "was nice." Thanks.

Credit: The photographer remains anonymous.

Outfit Analysis: 7.21.8

Goal(s):

To utilize a piece of clothing which no longer fits properly, so that I can continue to extract fashion value from it.

Pieces:

Shoes: Brown Nike Air Series 6D. (I can't currently find them in brown on the Nike website)

Socks: Standard white socks (don’t worry, someday something unusual will crop up here, I promise)

Pants: Dark Blue Rocco Jeans from Express. Moderately prominent yellow-brown stitch detailing which matches the lighter tone on the shoe.

Shirt: Pink Paramore concert t-shirt. This is the piece which does not fit properly. When I saw Paramore on Warped Tour in 2007, this was my favorite design for sale, but they only sold it in women’s sizes. I figured a 2X would be big enough, but I was clearly wrong.

Topcoat: Blue Merona sport blazer. A very casual cotton navy blazer with three buttons.

Pictures:

First, you can see how ill fitting the Paramore shirt is. Notice the bunching in the shoulder area, and the absurd shortness of the sleeve.



Now, the full outfit…



…post-haircut!

Victories:

The first step to success here is to hide the fact that the Paramore shirt really doesn’t fit. This is most obvious in the arms and shoulders (to a lesser extent the length of the shirt). We take care of this by covering those areas with a longer-sleeved garment, in this case a casual navy blazer.

Even more, covering these areas doesn’t take away any of the impact of such a bold shirt. The unusual font detailing is largely uncovered, and there was nothing on the sleeves that we’ll now miss. The interior edges of the blazer, left unbuttoned, actually serve to frame the graphic on the shirt.

From a color standpoint, we introduce three distinct blue colors, the darkest navy on the blazer, a lighter blue denim wash, and the brighter turquoise detailing on the shirt. While this does seem to violate a monochromatic principle; to house the darkest colors on the bottom pieces of the outfit, we’re OK because the darkest piece is that with the most weight, the blazer (it is the largest in size, and drapes over the body, indicating weight).

The main contrast comes from the two pinks on the shirt contrasting with the blues. Inside the shirt itself, we have significant hue, saturation, and value contrasts (which is why the shirt appears “loud”), while between the shirt and other garments we remove the stronger saturation contrasts. Corralling the heavy contrasts portions to a single garment is a good way to ensure the outfit doesn’t become too straining on the eye. We retain definite borders, but avoid any unpleasant contrasting.

Finally, we have a contrast in fit. The jeans and Paramore shirt are both tighter than average fits. Consequently, the loose fit of the blazer serves to dampen the tightness of the overall look, allowing us to avoid thoughts that our clothes are simply too small/too tight. This juxtaposition simultaneously accentuates and moderates the relative fits (which in both cases are slightly extreme).

Failures:

While the outfit does certainly achieve its main goal, it is not without room for improvement.

First of all, I’m wearing a blazer in summer. Now, I’ll be the first to say that there is nothing wrong (fashion-wise) with that, at all. However, its really hot when I’m outside. Inside it’s no problem, but if you’re going to be walking around outside or something, I do not recommend you follow suit. You’ll find it to be quite the sadmaker.

Further, I find that the blazer sleeves are a bit too short, which is especially noticeable while I’m typing. It’s nothing drastic, but an inch more would be great. I frequently run into this problem, given my tall frames.

Finishing off the blazer, I hate the little pills/fuzzes that accumulate on this type of clothing. Academically I’m aware it really can’t be seen, and that it’s quite normal, but it drives me nuts. This is a significant point, as if you’re uncomfortable in your clothing, you’ll look uncomfortable in your clothing, and this can make visual difference (perhaps not in a photograph, but in actual life).

Comments:

Not related to my clothing at all, but while I was at Starbucks, someone ordered a 7-pump caramel latte. SEVEN pumps. That’s more than a little frightening. Also heard a 5-shot skinny caramel machiatto. I’m pretty sure 5-shot and skinny are mutually exclusive. Apparently not.

A few people also asked if I was hot wearing that jacket. The answer, of course, was yes.

Credit:

Thanks to Tracy, the person who cut my hair today, for taking the picture!

Outfit Analysis 7.15.8

Back again with another outfit analysis. My time in Starbucks today was particularly amusing since I could hear a new barista being trained. All the indoctrination is downright hilarious. I hope the managers don't actually believe all the crap they tell their employees.

I love how the core values of Starbucks are like my own personal values, not, like, money or efficiency, or bad stuff like that.

Wow. Anyway, here we go. I forgot my camera, so I took the picture(s) myself at home. The corresponding sections are, therefore, removed.

Goal(s):

To utilize a piece of clothing in an unexpected or unusual fashion, obviously without creating a negative overall effect.

Pieces:

Shoes: Black Rockport Dunstable (again). I continue to get significant mileage out of these shoes. This may be because I wear a lot of black.

Socks: Black socks, unknown brand.

Pants: Black Rocco jeans from Express. These have a wonderful fit, and are quite comfortable. Some (very slight) red stitch detailing.

Undershirt: Purple basic undershirt from Target, worn as the main shirt.

Shirt: Yellow Izod sport polo, worn as the undershirt.

Pictures:



Victories:

Clearly we’ve used a piece (two, really) in an unexpected way. I’m wearing a polo shirt as an undershirt, and an undershirt as the outer layer. This is something I described as an option in a previous Breaking the Norm post. Of course, there are details to consider.

First, one of the main ideas behind the concept is to recreate the idea of a polo collar contrasting with a sweater in a summer-friendly way. This is achieved here because of the sharp contrast between purple and yellow (they are complementary colors).

Another facet is recasting the undershirt as a slightly more dressy piece. We’re helped by the collar and sleeve detailing, and the overall dark color of the shirt. This makes the fabric appear to have more weight (which it does), than an undershirt. A thinner or lighter shirt may show too much of the underlying piece or be so thin that it looks like pajamas.

The rest of the outfit is fairly standard, a nice fitting pair of jeans, with matching shoes. Black is a safe choice as a background color, though we could have matched the purple and yellow with olive, brown, or beige trousers as well (changing shoes as necessary). Further, black jeans are generally regarded as more formal, giving more credence to the “dressy undershirt.”

Failures:

The biggest problem with this outfit is actually one you can’t see. Undershirts are made to be comfortable. Polo shirts are made to be worn over undershirts. The result here is that my polo is a bit itchy, despite being washed just last night. I could wear an additional undershirt underneath the polo (for a total of three layers), but I suspect this would make me look like a puffball. (UPDATE: Confirmation on the puffball.)

Visually, the hardest thing to manage is the different sleeve lengths. The undershirt sleeves are about two inches shorter than the polo shirt sleeves, leading to an awkward differential. Pulling the polo sleeves out completely looks oddly unbalanced, and it’s difficult to keep them reigned in (one must pull in at the shoulders, then pull down, though the sleeves eventually work their way out again). Ideally, the polo sleeves should be shorter than the undershirt sleeves, or no more than half an inch longer (the extra contrast is nice, like a twofer tee shirt).

You can see the bad version of this here:

Outfit Analysis: 7.11.8

We begin our Outfit Analysis series on this auspicious day, 7.11.8. (I’m not quite sure why I write the date that way, though I think it’s the most efficient (yet still intelligible) way to write it). For an introduction to what the Outfit Analysis series is, click the links in any of the "Outfit Analysis"'s in this paragraph.

Goal(s):

To create a casual clean-cut outfit which expresses some edginess.

Although it is difficult, let me try to make these terms a little more rigorous. We’ll consider a clean cut outfit to fall within the general “preppy” paradigm, and consisting of simple, clean pieces. Edginess we’ll think of as strong symbols or colors, which may be indicative of “tough” people and interest groups. I’ll stop here, before I delve into completely ridiculous definition territory.

Pieces:

Shoes: Black Rockport Dunstable. I’m unsure as to their exact origin because they were a Christmas present. They are a low, long, black casual shoe (almost a “boat shoe”) with prominent white stitching.

Socks: Black Ankle Socks. (Not sure of the brand).

Shorts: Pastel yellow cloth shorts from Club Room.

Undershirt: Pink basic undershirt from Target.

Shirt: Black Old Navy polo with gray skull pattern detailing. I was unable to find it in the online store today, so it may no longer be available.

Pictures:

The outfit of consideration:

Here is a close-up of the skull detailing on the polo:

And a clear look at the shoes:

Victories:

Let’s begin with the first goal; achieving a clean-cut outfit. The cuts/shapes of the garments chosen work well for us here. We have a non-sport shoe, without obvious logos or patterning. The shorts are clean, solid-color and are cut above the knee, as is considered standard. The shirt is a simple polo cut with undershirt beneath. All of thses cuts are common for a “preppy” look during summertime. Use of pastel colors in the shorts and undershirt, against black for the remainder creates distinct, simple color regions, keeping the look uncluttered (and thus, more clean.).

How about the edge? Well, the skulls are the obvious part. Come on, I’ve got fifty skulls on my shirt, I’ve got to be an edgy character. There’s a bit more subtlety to it though. The color black does dominate the outfit, taking up the entire shirt, as well as the shoes. We also leave the polo shirt fully unbuttoned to expose a significant portion of the undershirt. This increases the overall contrast level of the outfit, something which can be difficult when working with weaker (pastel) colors.

Failures:

It’s not terribly obvious from the photograph, but the shorts are fairly wrinkled. This is intentional, because it’s often overlooked, or deemed unimportant. Certain garments do not require wrinkle-free wearing, such as jeans, undershirts, and sportswear. However, the whole goal of the cloth shorts is to appear clean-cut, and wrinkling obviously detracts from this. This also endangers the intentionality of our construction, making it more likely for someone to think the edge/clean cut combination was chance, rather than thought out fashion.

I also think that the outfit would have worked better with a stronger red undershirt, to increase the edginess, without sacrificing the clean, uninterrupted blocks of color in the outfit.

Finally, and this is nitpicking, a shorter sock (or perhaps no sock at all) may be better here, because of the very slight difference in color between sock and shoe. This does cause a slight decrease in the contrast intensity between skin and footwear.

Comments: Two kids mentioned that my shirt looked "pirate-y," and that this was "sweet."

Credit: I'd like to thank Susan for taking the main outfit photo. The detail photos were done by myself.

Outfit Analysis Portal

In an effort to bring some regularity to this fashion blog, I’m embarking on a series of fashion posts called Outfit Analysis. The basic idea is that multiple times a week, I’ll get dressed in the morning, drive over to a public place, and have a real person (read: not myself) take a picture of the outfit I’m wearing, possibly comment on it, and then include it in the blog. I’ll then provide an analysis of the outfit, outlining the goals it intends to achieve, how well it achieves those goals, and why this is the case. The why, of course, is the most important part, and unfortunately the part I find most often lacking in other fashion writing.

Often, I’ll intentionally make mistakes with the outfits, so that they do not optimally realize their goals. This seems silly, especially since I’m publishing these outfits for the world to see! However, I’ve found that a lot of learning comes out of experiencing something that you think is correct, but then learn to be wrong (I believe the technical term is cognitive dissonance). The mistakes will not always be glaring or obvious; this will hopefully add some depth to all our understanding of fashion.

Let’s outline how this process is going to work.

Goal(s): We’ll begin with the overarching fashion goal which the outfit intends to achieve.

Pieces: Here I’ll list the pieces of the outfit, and purchase information (if I know it)

Pictures: Pictures of the outfit will go here, preceding the discussion.

.

Victories: We’ll then discuss how the pieces work individually, and together, to achieve the goal.

Failures: Next, we consider what parts of the outfit detract from the overall effect, and why. Some (but certainly not all) of these will be intentional.

Comments: If anyone, including the photographer, makes comments about the outfit, they’ll be recorded here (anonymously if I only overhear them).

Credit: If the photographer wishes to be named, I’ll think him/her here.

As is my standard, this page will also become a linking portal for all things Outfit Analysis.

Outfit Analysis: 7.11.8

Color Theory Chapter 5: Monochromatic Combinations and Coherence

Alrighty, let’s take on some actual fashion goals. Today we’ll look at how monochromatic color combinations can be utilized to achieve a common fashion goal:

Coherence

We say that an outfit if coherent if all of its pieces follow some theme, combining to form a singular visual image. Basing an outfit around a single hue seems a pretty reasonable way to accomplish this. But why should we desire a coherent look? Well, it stems from the most nebulous fashion advice each of us has ever been given: things should match. Of course, this seems like we’re just passing off the question; why should things match? This is the real heart of the goal of coherence.

Coherence tends to imply that thought was placed into the construction of the outfit. It’s a simple application of the concept of entropy; things with order are much less likely to occur by chance. This means that what people see your outfit, they will tend to infer (subconsciously in all likelihood) that you spent some time “designing” the outfit. A reasonable conclusion (though not necessarily true) is that you care about your appearance, and this reflects well upon you. Further, in general it is easier to create an attractive outfit with like colors than with high contrast colors. The rewards are not as high (in that most people expect your clothes to match), but nor are the risks. Especially for beginners, this is a great fashion goal to begin with, as it will ensure at the very least a presentable style and build confidence in mixing colors and articles of clothing.

Now, we’re only looking at monochromatic combinations, which makes our job a bit easier, but certainly not every such combination will be effective. First, let’s recall what a monochromatic combination can consist of. Monochromatic colors are those with a very close relationship, with no restrictions on value or saturation. This means we have a base color, from light to dark, gray to vibrant, including white, black and most grays (as in general, it’s difficult to discern the true hue of a gray). We’ll also allow (but not rely on) browns, especially dark ones, since they are seemingly hue neutral, (this is, of course, not technically true, with most browns leaning towards orange or red).

Before we embark on construction, we should probably consider a few things that just won’t work, right off the bat. Rarely does an outfit composed of exactly the same color work. The pieces of clothing tend to run together as one entity, often obscuring the human form beneath. We also lose a bit of the “implied thought,” given the complete lack of complexity. Similarly, try to avoid using two colors which are very nearly identical, especially if they appear adjacent to each other in the visual field. When colors are almost the same, but not quite the same, it seems like a mistake, that the intent was to use the same color, decreasing the overall coherence. The name of the game is intentionality. The effect can occur when the near colors appear in different parts of the outfit as well, but it is not nearly as drastic. Finally, when creating a monochromatic outfit (for that matter, any outfit), there should not be an overabundance (really, even a dominance) of very powerful, bright colors. For example, an orange-monochromatic outfit, using consistently high value or saturation, would be a bad call. The problem is overloading the visual system. Strong colors are best taken in reasonable doses, otherwise they either lose their effect or create an unpleasant viewing experience.

Excellent. Let’s put together two monochromatic outfits, one casual, the other a bit more dressy. We’ll start with a color most people have an abundance of clothing in: blue.

Casual: We begin with a staple piece of clothing, the denim jean. I’m using a relatively dark wash jean, which will closely match a pair of blue, white, and gray sneakers, but contrast with a shirt with very high value. The shirt has a dominant color which is nearly white (a very, very light blue), with thin vertical blue stripes, also with high value. Note how we’ve placed the weight of the outfit, the darker colors, at the bottom, forming a base of sorts. Now, the undershirt is a more standard blue, not quite as dark as the jean. This provides another layer of complexity. Buttoning the shirt about halfway, we safely separate the two darker colors, creating some nice contrast. If we were feeling a bit more adventurous, the undershirt would be a good choice to stray from the monochromatic scheme (perhaps with a light pink, matching in value but contrasting in hue).

We can add a nice Duke football hat as well, since the colors remain analogous.

A closer look at the shirt and undershirt.




Finally, a closer look at the denim and the shoe.

Dress: Now begin with a pair of navy blue slacks. In more formal situations like this, we need a belt and “nice” shoes. Brown is the way to go here (recall the problems we had pairing navy and black), so we use a simple brown belt with matching shoes. The socks will also be navy, as a light color would create unwanted jarring visual attention at foot level. Let’s pair the navy slacks with a distinguished looking gray dress shirt, tucked in, and buttoned nearly to the top. Underneath is the flair, a light (in value), bright blue undershirt which brings energy to the overall look, without being overbearing, or detracting from the formality of the rest of the clothing. Pictures here are forthcoming (I need a new pair of navy slacks, having torn a hole in the knee last semester!).

So there we have it, our first real foray into outfit construction, and look what we can do with just a single color! Try some of these techniques out on your own, using some other colors. Good places to start are green and red, both of which work well with blacks or browns. Good luck!