How To: Dress to Impress

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non-pleated front; the only way to go

Over the weekend I had the amazing chance to stop by Brooks Brothers in La Jolla and pick out a few items that were to my liking. Immediately at the beginning of my journey to find a simple balance of work/leisure attire, I was faced with a critical decision; do I spend my entire budget on one suit? Or do I purchase a couple pairs of pants and a couple of shirts for more versatility? Most blokes would say the first. I personally went with the second. Any young gent needs multiple options. Blowing your load on the first Versace you see is pointless. From the time you walk into BB there are people waiting on you foot and hand for whatever you need. It was pretty spectacular, like a little bubble of nice wardrobes and rich oak. However, the best part of the shopping process was being fitted by and talking with Maria, one of the personal shoppers at BB. I have several suits from this very store, and thought I was pretty confident about my Gentleman's attire knowledge. She proved me wrong very quickly. If you are ever in La Jolla stop by, very friendly and never too in your face. She is more of a therapist than a personal shopper.The worst thing you can do is walk into a store and feel like you are walking down skid row being hounded for change. Not the case here. They let you figure out what you want, then work to make it work with you style. I went with two pairs of the Brooks Brothers' Black Fleece pants. One pair was gray the other black. The two most practical colors, they pretty much match with everything Then cruising on over to the shirt section, I was able to get three shirts for $200, all very key. The great thing about BB is that they have two different styles and fit of shirt. One for portly gentleman and one for thin gentleman, such as yours truly. These shirts required no tailor adjustment at a standard 15 1/2 x 32 size. The pants required an  inseam pull as well as a small amount on the waist taken in, but I've never purchased a pair of pants that didn't require something done and at $8 per pair of pants how can you complain? I was able to spend my budget mostly on items that I could both work/go out it, all very different styles and colors that will be easy to match with whatever is back recently from the cleaners. No need to bring in dress shoes with you for pant altering, they provide any size shoe, clean and out of the box. Last night was the first broadcast of the Gentlemans Lodge Talk Show. It was a live show being streamed through this site. If you notice on the right column there is a link to Gentlemans Lodge Online Radio. Most of the time we are playing music on the channel, but Sunday nights from 10-11pm we will be doing a radio talk show. Look for more on this soon.

Stay tailored gents.

J.E. Albert