I need new clothes but every time I go out 95% of what I see on offer is so bog-standard male. Solid earth tones, baggy one-size-fits-all, muted colors, work-wear adjacent, etc.
It’s so hard to find stuff that’s more, I dunno, “playful?” I’d like to have some clothes are that more of an expression of my personality but almost never do I see more unusual, expressive, colorful stuff in the brick-and-mortar stores.
To compound this, I’d also like it to:
- not cost me an arm and a leg
- be interesting but not clownish/overly ironic/jokey
This has mostly led me to buying floral shirts but a man cannot live on floral shirts alone! Does anyone know of retailers that might fit the bill?
Over the past several years I’ve just popped into Ross or TJ Maxx every now and then and selected colorful or interestingly fitted shirts and sweaters. My wardrobe is now a rainbow with splashes of paisley.
I’m here to also suggest that. I have a teen who’s very fashion conscious and he’s good at finding interesting clothes online.
However he also regularly pops into TJ Maxx to see if there’s anything interesting. If you’re not familiar with them, you can’t expect regular inventory. They have discounted clothes for whatever overstock or out of season wear comes in, so it’s always different and sometimes interesting
Another place he likes are comic book or record stores. Sure it’s usually a tshirt and may be expensive but you can get different bands or characters
Oh man, I feel you’re your pain. I saved some money to get some new nice clothes this year, and men’s fashion this year was not up my alley. I checked out some places that often have nice shirts and sweaters (like The Gap), but they were all insipid pastel colors. I really resent the prevalent mainstream colour options of dark blue, gray, or black. I’m a man, not in fucking mourning.
Have you tried “National Standards”? I’m not too familiar with them, but I’ve found some good stuff through them before.
I don’t know what to call the styles currently on offer but the last time I checked out Target, Express, Old Navy I noticed a lot more muted color, dated thrift-shoppy aesthetic that I thought looked pretty wack. I’ll leave that to the younger dudes with their mullets and mustaches (which I also do not understand)
Thrift shops
I wish there were more fun clothes for guys too. Every so often some sub-culture tries to adopt something, but it never works. Like, you could wear a fancy hat, suspenders, a kilt, or a bow tie, but sadly most people are just going to parse that as “here comes that exhausting dude”.
A couple years ago I bought one of these: https://www.overland.com/products/nomad-wool-felt-outback-hat-72619?cl=olmx
It’s not like a cowboy hat that lots of people wear, but something different. It’s really sharp looking, and unique, but somehow not “eccentric”. It treads a nice balance. I get frequent compliments, not in a sarcastic way either. I have a collection of enamel pins I swap out, which let’s in a bit more personality, but muted enough
I’ve been buying a lot of interesting goth/punk/fetishy clothes lately. Even there, lots of repetitiveness.
But there’s some cool stuff out there, same cuts of cloth but interesting patterns. I comment this frequently, wish there was variety for dudes like there is for ladies.