Reformatted. The footnote was originally about the Donald ducking of an outfit with a hentai print shirt 19th century goggles and a truly awful scarf.
Okay so fuvk identity around ignorance. You don’t have to fashion hard every day. You can do this at various levels of effort, once you set it up.
At easiest; put something together, set it and forget it until something breaks. Straight up design yourself as a character. It doesn’t have to be baroque.
For a little higher effort, but not too much: set up your pre selected outfits on a spectrum of hot/gross and nerd/farmboy. Add a weather dimension.
It sounds like you really value comfort and ability to move. I promise you can do better than you have been in the right clothes. I can’t speak to the climate(s) you find yourself in, so I’ll keep it vague.
Look up what colors compliment your skin tone, maybe hair color. Tend towards those and neutrals fit to your environment. You can find a chart. Spend one day needing out on this and you got it. You’re proud of your arms? Get a few pieces that show them off. Bare or translucent/mesh panels, something with clingy fabric for cold days. Get a coat that fits the fuck out of you. Two and sweaters if you live in a cold climate. Keep it in a narrow enough spectrum you can’t mismatch anything too hard, or have two sets that dont overlap. Then you’re wearing for the weather.
Maybe wear some of it around the shop til it starts to pick up a little wear or a couple stains-keep a nice set or two for more formal events. Generally prints with higher kolmogorov complexity(like a Hawaiian shirt or album cover) to look more casual/silly, block colors to look more crisp/severe/tough. Stripes or the boundaries between lines to draw the eye (if theyre looking at your core, they’re not looking at your arms) Lowish kolmogorov complexity printed patterns (houndstooth, plaid, paisley, checkered) are a little more advanced but generally more of a gambit, I’d skip em in your case.
Want to de-emphasize arms? Shirt with light core gradients out to darker neutral¹/cool² color or t/tank with black long sleeved or stand alone sleeves under, use a similar trick with patterns, moderate temperature throughout day by tossing shit in your car. A thing with a logo, probably a band sports team or your fav Linux distro logo shirt and stand alone sleeves/undershirt is going to work well for this.
Accessories: these dont have to be frivolous. Sure, you could go Iranian style jewelry and a vest/fancier pants for formal events to unchavify yourself explicitly, or you could go for scarves and tools/utility knife. Fuck it, wear a tool belt to the bar or grocery store as a fashion move or ‘in the hopes I get to fix something!’
You want to create a visual flow, controlling where peoples eyes go. To avoid overdoing, think of it a little like Sudoku: separate yourself into a 3x3 grid and put no more than two accessories in each row/column.
Re: off rack suits
Dude people who have muscles need tailored clothes. Sad but true. Get one really good one. Don’t wear that when youre going to work with your hands.
You could see this as more effort, but think about time spent in your day that you feel uncomfortable or want to hide/emphasize a feature. Can consolidate all that in the morning.
I dont know how men and straight people work, but I know I have outfits I wear when i do/dont want to be hit on. It’s not that hard to set up and shop for.
A good tailor will be willing and able to help you with all of this. If you’re feeling spendy, you can do it all in one fitting+block order and some accessory recommends; plus they’ll know men’s fashion better and everything will fit like a fucking dream.
Reformatted. The footnote was originally about the Donald ducking of an outfit with a hentai print shirt 19th century goggles and a truly awful scarf.
Okay so fuvk identity around ignorance. You don’t have to fashion hard every day. You can do this at various levels of effort, once you set it up.
At easiest; put something together, set it and forget it until something breaks. Straight up design yourself as a character. It doesn’t have to be baroque.
For a little higher effort, but not too much: set up your pre selected outfits on a spectrum of hot/gross and nerd/farmboy. Add a weather dimension.
It sounds like you really value comfort and ability to move. I promise you can do better than you have been in the right clothes. I can’t speak to the climate(s) you find yourself in, so I’ll keep it vague.
Look up what colors compliment your skin tone, maybe hair color. Tend towards those and neutrals fit to your environment. You can find a chart. Spend one day needing out on this and you got it. You’re proud of your arms? Get a few pieces that show them off. Bare or translucent/mesh panels, something with clingy fabric for cold days. Get a coat that fits the fuck out of you. Two and sweaters if you live in a cold climate. Keep it in a narrow enough spectrum you can’t mismatch anything too hard, or have two sets that dont overlap. Then you’re wearing for the weather.
Maybe wear some of it around the shop til it starts to pick up a little wear or a couple stains-keep a nice set or two for more formal events. Generally prints with higher kolmogorov complexity(like a Hawaiian shirt or album cover) to look more casual/silly, block colors to look more crisp/severe/tough. Stripes or the boundaries between lines to draw the eye (if theyre looking at your core, they’re not looking at your arms) Lowish kolmogorov complexity printed patterns (houndstooth, plaid, paisley, checkered) are a little more advanced but generally more of a gambit, I’d skip em in your case.
Want to de-emphasize arms? Shirt with light core gradients out to darker neutral¹/cool² color or t/tank with black long sleeved or stand alone sleeves under, use a similar trick with patterns, moderate temperature throughout day by tossing shit in your car. A thing with a logo, probably a band sports team or your fav Linux distro logo shirt and stand alone sleeves/undershirt is going to work well for this.
Accessories: these dont have to be frivolous. Sure, you could go Iranian style jewelry and a vest/fancier pants for formal events to unchavify yourself explicitly, or you could go for scarves and tools/utility knife. Fuck it, wear a tool belt to the bar or grocery store as a fashion move or ‘in the hopes I get to fix something!’
You want to create a visual flow, controlling where peoples eyes go. To avoid overdoing, think of it a little like Sudoku: separate yourself into a 3x3 grid and put no more than two accessories in each row/column.
Re: off rack suits
Dude people who have muscles need tailored clothes. Sad but true. Get one really good one. Don’t wear that when youre going to work with your hands.
You could see this as more effort, but think about time spent in your day that you feel uncomfortable or want to hide/emphasize a feature. Can consolidate all that in the morning.
I dont know how men and straight people work, but I know I have outfits I wear when i do/dont want to be hit on. It’s not that hard to set up and shop for.
A good tailor will be willing and able to help you with all of this. If you’re feeling spendy, you can do it all in one fitting+block order and some accessory recommends; plus they’ll know men’s fashion better and everything will fit like a fucking dream.
¹black gray brown white
²blue green purple