There are many wayt to determine apparel quality. My favorite rule is easy – polycotton is garbage. Polyester is not necessarily garbage, but you can’t make a good yarn from a blend. Period. After that, it depends on what we’re talking about. Suits are complicated. A great suit makes someone look like they are wearing a great suit. There are a lot of suit snobs that look awful in expensive sutis. So what was the point there? Same with shirts. Especially office shirts and to a lesser extent golf shirts. Ya that’s right. Think about it. In NYC, you can look great in an office shirt that has obviously been pressed at a cleaner and looks a mess. But that is forgiven in context. Tennis shirts always look messy because what chance do you have looking proper running around for 2 hours? Golf shirts are where the statement is made. And not on the course. It’s in the clubhouse.

OK Back to the look. I have noticed two looks over the years. The first one is for beginners who dress to the magazines. Coat too tight? That was what they saw in the magazine. Pants too absurd? That’s the fashion. Twenty years later they’ll gasp at their own pics.

Fashion is a taste. I personally prefer to look above the fray. To do that, I try to look beyond the fray. I imagine what would I not gasp at a picture of me wearing 20 years from now. That’s it. And then, how do I get just to the edge of stupid fashion without diving completely in.

That’s what it’s about man.

Haberdashmen