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Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Shopping and looks for men?

MsMary

Veteran

My hubby has been inspired to step up his longtime style of Costco jeans, long-sleeved plaid shirts, and bright white sneakers. Yay!

But although he has a men's store he really likes for dress clothes, neither of us has a good idea of where he should be shopping for casual clothing. He's in reasonably good shape and a young 59 years old. Any ideas of where he could shop both for ideas and for actual clothing? Thanks, ladies!

Shopping

30 replies

Latest reply was from Deb

Dana

(website)

Veteran

Hi MaryK,
I kind of like Banana Republic for men's things. They're classically hip without being over the top trendy. The Rack is a great place to get men's jeans on sale. Otherwise, Nordstrom's men's dept is either really young or old manish and expensive!

Queen Mum

Veteran

My latest finds for hubster have been at the Rack and Macy's. We also just found a nice fitting pair of jeans for him at Pac Sun. My son who works there often comes home with some really nice shirts . I would have never thought to look there before.
mary-- don't pitch the long sleeve plaid shirts yet... they seem to be really popular with the kids right now.

catgirl

Veteran

Oh, lucky you! We've found some nice stuff at Eddie Bauer. My husband finds BR too narrowly cut - he's not fat, but he's a big tall guy. He also gets a lot of stuff from the Jos. A. Bank catalog - they have lots of dressy clothes but "smart casual" as well.

Patty

Veteran

Great timing for me on this Mary K!!!
My husband lives in track pants and t-shirts--or Hawaiian shirts and shorts in summer--it's the animator's uniform (check out John Lassiter in any of your Pixar/Disney DVDs). He says he has no interest in anything else..until... he looses weight and the world of clothes becomes his oyster hahaha!!! It's amazing to watch him change from the grumpy little (48) yr old boy forced to try on clothes to fashion guru when he finds smaller than anticipated sizes in different styles for himself- while at Walmart anyway. I want to find a nice men's store to take him to to have these revelations in since he has once again lost alot of weight recently and is ready to get new clothes --so I am all ears. Thanks ladies! (special points if anyone knows of an artsier store for men) ;O)

catgirl

Veteran

Patty, you're married to John Lassiter? If so, I'd let him dress how he wants - that man has kept my son a happy boy! If not, get that man some new clothes!

Dana

(website)

Veteran

Oh, MaryK, Dillards sometimes has nice men's things too, although a touch on the dressier side.

Patty

Veteran

Whoops Alaska girl--no not John Lassiter!!!
But john Lassiter is the poster boy for how 90% of all male animators dress--not including the hard core metal guys of course! I like my man's dress but I love seeing him excited about how he can have what ever style on the rack now that he has 'down sized' himself, even more!!
But my man did work for Disney for a while and many Saturday morning cartoons--is an animation professor now so he 'foisted in the pu-blic's eye' as Stomboli says to Pinnochio LOL.

Marley

Veteran

I am reading this post with interest, as my husband is always looking for new and interesting looks. He is artsy, a poet and doesn't want to look like everyone else - unfortunately that sometimes takes him waaaaay over the edge in his style (at least in those instances that his wife (me!) are not around to rein him in a bit!)

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

I found a nice vest for my hubby at Penny's recently, jeans and shoes at Kohl's, and a shirt and belt at Marshall's. I like some of the graphic tees at Target (music ones mostly), when paired with a cardi (Gap, J Crew or BR). My friend's hubby dresses like that, and I keep trying to steer mine to emulate the look LOL

Patty

Veteran

^^^^ I know a guy who couldn't get his tie to lay straight so he pined a stuffed animal to it to counter balance it.

I looked forever for a Batman tee with the logo scaled up to men's size and not just a kid's size logo on a man's shirt--found one at Old Navy--some nice super hero shirts there last fall!

BTW it was a crocheted neck tie !!! hahahaha

judy

Veteran

I would also add Zara. We don't have one in Seattle, but we visited one in SFO and found a great summer suit jacket. Don't think it's just for the young. I saw several white haired well dressed fellows there. I think there is are several in L.A., that's where you are, isn't it?

MsMary

Veteran

Yes, we're in The Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area. I'll have to see if we have a Zara nearby!

April

Veteran

MaryK -- if you can browse a copy of the book Stacy and Clinton did together (Dress Your Best) they show looks for a bunch of male and female body types. SO and I found a look for him that we both liked -- classic enough for his taste, modern enough for mine -- and we've been making that his winter "uniform." Long-sleeved tee under a v-neck cashmere sweater, dark wash jeans, black loafers.

Have a look -- maybe there's something in the book to appeal to DH. When nudging men of a certain age out of their style habits, you may find that it helps to start with a uniform.

MsMary

Veteran

Oh, I have that book! Great idea, April! Thanks!

Michelle

(website)

Veteran

Thanks for starting this thread, mary! I wish I could get Corey to agree to having a picture posted here. He has strong views about his clothes, and while I'm sure he always looks appropriate, I suspect he could use an update to his hip factor. I'm watching these suggestions with interest -- he has a birthday coming up!
For what it's worth, he's had some luck with the Gap for more casual outfits, though he's in his early 30's and he and your husband may have different goals. He buys his suits at a second-hand store that only carries really high-end brand -- my picky boy is quite selective about quality now.

Bianca

Veteran

I love this post MK! Loved the description, can just see it now! Tell you the truth, my husband has great luck at Banana Republic. Don't know if he has a short inseam like my guy does but they have a nice selection. Over all nice quality and nice styles that aren't over the top!

Bianca

Veteran

p.s. Glad to hear he is stepping up his look!

Jonesy

Veteran

This may sound weird, but my SO shops a lot at Urban Outfitters for casual stuff. He bypasses the super-trendy looks (e.g., '80s sweaters) but is able to find lots of cute cardigans, button-downs, etc. Gap sometimes comes through too. For snazzier stuff like dress pants, he has to order tall and/or narrow-cut sizes, usually through BR (he's one of those freaks of nature who has the same exact bod he had in high school and college--he's about 6'3" and 175 lbs.). When we lived in Chicago, he would sometimes find stuff at H & M, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdales.

MsMary

Veteran

Okay, we've talked about this more and he wants some "dressier pants" to wear to work that are (a) not chinos, (b) not wool, and (c) not over $100 like the ones at BR.

Any ideas?

Jonesy

Veteran

Hmmm...if he doesn't want wool or cotton, what exactly does he have in mind? Some sort of space-age polymer :)? Maybe he's fine with cotton, just not chinos style? BTW, I forgot to mention J. Crew before as another possibility. Since you live in a shopping mecca, I think you both should go to some stores and he can try stuff on, see what cuts/fits he likes, etc. Maybe he will end up with some fancy designer denim, or some microcheck pants or something like that. Not stuffy at all, but modern and appropriate for his lifestyle, etc. BR and J. Crew can be pricey at full price, but they always have lots of sale stuff, so it pays to go to the store and dig around.

Good luck!

MsMary

Veteran

I think he's fine with cotton but he has a "thing" about chinos. LOL Because he doesn't like what he calls "plastic pants," either.

He's a little, uh, difficult.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Great news!

If possible I really think that older boys should buy better. Try Boss.

MsMary

Veteran

OMG, Angie! The Hugo Boss pants look like just what the doctor ordered. Now to get him over the price...

MsMary

Veteran

Well, after no little amount of angst, he has realized that chinos are basically what there, you know, ARE. He's procured several pair of flat-front Dockers in various colors including a nice gray-on-gray stripe, plus some nice non-bright-white-sneaker shoes (one pair brown, one pair black) like these: http://www.zappos.com/rockport.....-leather~2 . I think it's a good start. And he's kind of excited about trading in his very-definitely-NON-premium jeans for a smarter casual look.

Aida

Veteran

I think my husband is trying (just) a little harder too, but he's still very anti-shopping. He has occasional luck at GAP and JCrew, and usually wears Lucky jeans (and sometimes Levis). He's awfully picking about cut, and fabric/drape though, I'm always amused (and don't really get what he likes, I refuse to buy him anything). Hope it goes well!

Aida

Veteran

Mary, also... if he's not a standard boxy shape, tell him about alterations if he doesn't already know!! My husband finally (unwillingly) accepted that he has a slim build and needs back darts put into his dress shirts and that to his dismay he likes lower rise jeans (since he wears them slouchy).

He just ordered himself a custom suit, slim fit, and it actually fits (magic) and looks great. I know you're looking at casual wear, but I think this realization helped my husband realize WHY he doesn't like a lot of his stuff. In fact, he tossed nearly every shirt he owns heh. We'll see what he comes up with to replace the handful he kept

RandomThoughts (Andrea)

Veteran

Marley, now my curiosity is piqued. Please post a photo of one of your DH's over the top looks!!!

I wish I had advice but my DH is boooooring. I occasionally "lose" certain items whilst doing laundry. My boy is very VERY frugal and not interested in fashion at all. His uniform is jeans/work pants (Carharts, etc - he's a carpenter), tee's and polar fleece or flannel. I did buy him some sweet Docs and a leather jacket so I can dress it up occasionally with a nice tee and J Crew flannel.

Deb

@RandomThoughts: My husband is also not interested in fashion, and frugal (well, he has to be - one of us needs to rein it in...).

I buy most of his clothes - and this routine dates back to our courtship. He arrived at my home one evening when we were dating, dressed in some bizarro bell bottom jeans which basicly were comprised of a myriad of rectangles ... a walking "quilt" of a pair of pants if ever I saw one ... and completing the look with some black leather WTFs on his feet. :-O

Honest and truly, I vowed never to go out with him again. I *cringed* being seen with him in that get-up and yes - call me shallow. You won't hurt my feelings.

Finally decided that I shouldn't let mortification stand in the way of marital bliss, and married him. I purchased several new outfits for him and brought them along on the honeymoon. When we returned home, I added two swoon-worthy suits to his wardrobe. So what does he do? Coming home after some function one night, he chose to walk the dog (ah yes - those good ole one-dog days ...) without first changing into something else. Dog sees another dog, yanks DH off balance. DH takes a nose-dive into the gutter and limps home with both knees of the trousers blood-stained and tattered.

:-/

Next day he headed off to work, spring in step, wearing one of his beloved oldies-but-goodies - and I tossed in the towel.

RandomThoughts (Andrea)

Veteran

LOL, Oh, Deb, I do not have nearly as funny stories as you. But I will say this. When DH's grandfather passed away we moved into his former home for a little while, where DH happened upon a lot of George's old clothes. George was much wider and shorter than DH so you can imagine my horror to find him wearing them! Hideous, old, bedraggled tshirts and inexpertly patched button downs... Yikes!

Many have mysteriously disappeared though one particular shirt - an olive plaid rugby style thing - was quite a struggle to be rid of. He kept digging it out of the trash!

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