I was pleasantly amazed when I got the first email from a reader asking me a question about style...I was blown away that people I didn't know were actually reading my website! Here's some collected correspondence...

Also what about what goes underneathyou have a good essay on undershirtswhat is best, from a classic point of view, for under shorts? I am not talking about what is stylishI am asking about what is practical and comfortable? For example, should boxers, however comfortable they are, be worn with short pants? And do the new boxer briefs have a useand if so with what types of clothing? Suits? Casual trousers? In sum: I am looking for simplicity, and practicality, and not having to think too hard about what I put on for the day. And what about white vs. colored underwear?
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Can't say I have any strong advice about underwear, except to say that it's best left up to one's imagination. In other words, I wouldn't wear pant/underwear combinations that expose what kind of underwear you're wearing, type or color. I think that's all I have to say about that :)

Hello, sir: I have enjoyed looking at your website. Here is a question for you.

What do you think about wearing crew neck tee shirts under polo shirts? I usually wear a tee under everything. The old "rule" was a tee under dress shirts and no tee under sport shirts. Now the rule seems to be a tee under everything that has a collar, whether knit or button down. Where I live people do about half and half. What think ye?
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Crew necks under polo shirts: like most things in this world, it depends. I usually do wear a tee simply because I don't want sweat on my polos. It can be tacky though—big white triangle right under your face. You can eliviate the latter problem by picking up a complementary colored tee.

I don't know if there's a specific rule about tees and sport shirts, but here is a good rule: go with whatever looks the best/functions to your liking. :) I can see a tee looking good under a sports shirt and I can see an outfit looking best without a tee. Keep in mind: it also depends on what kind of chest you have... :)

Dry Cleaning Location in Palo Alto...

I randomly found your website last night when I was Googling for advice on how to fold a pocket square. Really fun critique you've got going. So I might as well ask you, "Where around here do you take your shirts?" I've been going to Town and Country, but have not been too impressed with them. I typically ask for my really nice shirts to be hand-pressed. Do you do this? I've just heard those industrial presses really aren't good for fabrics.
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Well, I don't have any particularly nice shirts right now so I take mine to the place that was formally Delia's Cleaners on El Camino—they have since changed ownership and I don't know the name. It's not great but good enough.

If you want top notch dry cleaning (with corresponding price) take your shirts to Peninou French Laundry & Cleaners Inc. I believe there's one in Menlo Park and Los Gatos. I've never used them but the word on the street says they're great.

As for your concern with industrial presses, I've never actually heard they're bad for clothes, but I wouldn't be surprised.

The Best Way to Store Shirts...

Is the best way to store shirts on hangars or in drawers? The former causes them to get creased and the collars to get damaged, while the latter causes deep folds. What do you recommend?
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Hmm, a tough question and one to which I have heard many answers. If the question was, "Which is better for shirts," I would have to answer, folding. However, you asked, "Which is better for me?"

In the best of all worlds, a man would have an enormous closet: it would have a plethora of drawers, or better yet, a wall of "slots" for single shirts so the bottom shirts don't get stacked upon. Also in this world a man would employ a valet to press the shirt of choice after removing it from the wall (this would of course occur while the man is eating his omlette, prepared earlier by the valet).

Most men, of course, have a horribly small set of drawers and do not have a valet to press the wrinkles made by folding. Therefore, my advice is to hang; so, let's deal with your complaints about hanging...

I'm not sure what you mean by creased; do you mean in the shoulders? If so, you can remedy this by purchasing better hangers, ones who's shoulders are thick and round. As for the collars, I would recommend buttoning the top button when you put it on the hanger and also to avoid bunching up the shirts as they hang. Of course, leaving ample spacing between shirts might be rather difficult if you have a small closet or many shirts. I can't help you with the former but perhaps I can with the latter: if you have seasonal shirts, fold and store those which are out of season. If that doesn't work, fold up the shirts you like or wear the least :)

Loafers without Socks?

Just caught a glance at your style comments on the web. I loved your break down of what shoes should be worn at what times and circumstances. As a fellow Stanford graduate who lived in the South for a while, do you think that it is appropriate to wear loafers without socks? I must say that I love to do so, but I am curious about your comments on this fashion statement. What is your opinion of the increasing number of young men wearing flip flops on the West Coast, with no particular regard to the occasion, and no longer exclusively with shorts or swimming apparel!
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I think it's all about occasion and the look you're trying to pull off. If you're lounging on the porch on a hot Summer's day, sure, you can wear loafers without socks. But, if you're going to work or going to class, I would probably avoid it. It's up to you—if you're going for the Ivy League boathouse look, more power to you.

About my opinion of people who wear flip-flops ubiquitously, see my rant about modern style. Basically, people are free to wear whatever they want—if they don't want to look nice, that's their perogative. I think they hurt themselves if they have to make a first impression or whatever, but again, it's their choice.

Cream socks?

Question -- you talk about Fred Astaire wearing complementary socks/shirt/tie, but comaplin about white gym socks. Today I wore a white shirt and silver tie, white pocket square, and cream socks. Am I right in guessing that I can get away with this, or is that as bad as gym socks?
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You can certainly get away with cream socks although you didn't tell me what color pants you were wearing. I would question cream socks with black pants although with navy pants they would be fine. That's not a prohibition on cream socks with black pants; I'd just have to see what color cream, etc.

Black socks all the time?

I am very worried. You have a long explanation of socks on your site.

I wear black socks. Plain and black as midnight. With everything. The are golf socks made from this great wool/rayon combo and they stay up.

What is wrong with always wearing black socks? It's darker than my navy and gray suits. I have a splash of black in most of the ties I wear with odd jackets, which are usually combined with trousers in olive or an offshoot of brown, so I haven't seen a problem in wearing black socks there.

But now you have me worried. Am I a cad? What color socks do I wear with a camel colored odd jacket, olive trousers and corodovan shoes? My sense tells me black. What say you?
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This was a tough email to respond to: I must say that an all-black policy is undesirable but you could certainly do worse. With the exception of accompanying brown pants, I think you're probably "OK," but read on...

With navy and gray suits, black socks are fine. However, when you move to lighter colors, like olive and especially brown, you'll really attract attention to your feet if your socks are black. You should see it like this: you miss a great opportunity to complement your wardrobe with your socks if you wear all black.

As to your specific example of the camel hair jacket and olive trousers, olive socks would be great. Even better would be olive socks with khaki accents.

Dimple with Windsor Knot?

I have a question that you might be able to answer. Some literature states that a dimple should never be worn in a windsor or half-windsor, and other sources state that all ties should be worn with a dimple! Which is true or for what particular situation.
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I have never heard this but it may make sense: when you tie a windsor/half-windsor you get a large triangular knot. If you dimple the tie, then you'll typically make the width of the tie very thin at the bottom of the knot—this may look strange, especially if the tie is thin to begin with.

So, you have to remember that there are only a few absolute rules; everything else you just go w/ what looks best.

Thats not much of an answer for you...

French Cuffs without a Jacket?

I read through your webpage and found it quite informative, thank you for all of the information. I had one question to ask you, if I may. My question is if it is improper or silly to wear a shirt with french cuffs without a jacket of some sort. Your advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.
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Hmm, never thought about it. I would say it doesn't matter: french cuffs are generally more formal so you would often wear them with a jacket, but they can be a good way to jazz up a causal outfit too.

Thanks for the comments! Sounds like a great idea for your fraternity! (names changed to protect the innocent :)

Thanks for the update on men's shoes. I enjoy your website and fashion advice very much. Your insights into men's wear has been a very helpful, very practical guide for me as I have just graduated from college and am entered the workforce.

I borrowed by sister's napkin/serviette (or whatever you call the bits of paper you receive with a meal) folding guide, which gave me a number of ideas on pocket square folds; I imagine more could be gleaned from Origami.
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Wow, that's a good idea! I'll have to go to the library and see what I can find. It would be nice to have some fluffier and more 3-D pocket square folds. BTW, it's napkin in the US :)

Appreciated your fashion site. Thought you might want to link somewhere to http://www.fashionmall.com/flusser_book/doc/index_current.html

Just for the record, I'm also a Unix sysadmin, like music from 1400-1990 or so, am a member of the Reformed Presbyterian church, and am trying to learn about what you might call "Classic Fashion" while in Australia.
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Yeah, this is a classic book—I read it a few years back; I need to put it in a "References" section. Flusser has a new book, "Style and the Man," which is somewhat better than "Clothes and the Man." It has more about choosing colors and more pictures of classic "style" versus just classic "clothes." Brooks Brothers is actually selling his new book in their stores (its too bad there are no BB in Aus).

Keep me posted on your progress; maybe I'll include it in a "Reader Correspondence" section of the site! Also, what would you like to see more of on the site?
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> Brooks Brothers

There's a shop in Geelong called Eddy Elias which is what you're classing as a specialty shop, and the guy there referred me to some places in Melbourne. The guy there knows his stuff, generally. The place in Melbourne he recommended was Henry Buck's.

I've heard that David Jones is also supposed to be alright. Keep in mind, though, that I haven't checked them out myself, and possibly still don't know enough about clothes to make the most informed decision -- I've read a fair bit, but haven't internalised it all yet :). David Jones' main webpage makes them look like a department store, but from the following quote, I assume that they have people who know what they're doing in at least this one store:

"On Bourke Street Mall in the heart of downtown Melbourne, David Jones occupies three buildings; one dedicated to women's fashion, cosmetics, shoes and accessories; one to menswear, children's wear and a magnificent Foodhall; and the Home store dedicated to homewares and bedding."

Also, just so you know -- I go for the classic look at least partly to be eccentric. I also sometimes wear a hat, even though they've been out since JFK :). But we can't all have hair :). But I do it with dual purpose. Eccentricity is for now, but it also means I can learn to do things properly while everyone thinks "Oh, it's just Tim being eccentric again" :). And I must be having some kind of an effect. I'm 27, and a man just under 40 asked me to teach him to fold a pocket square. I tend to go for the 4-point or winged puff, since all my handkerchieves are cotton.

> Also, what would you like to see more of on the site?

Top of the list would be a references section, if you have any good ones :). Especially online.

Next most of all, I'd like to see the sections which aren't done yet :). The reason for choosing them is a) they're interesting, and b) they obviously fit within the theme of the site.

Although I'm not sure they fit the theme of the site, I personally am interested in some of the more esoteric items of apparel such as alternative neckwear (the ascot [I don't have enough information on these to wear one], the bow tie, and the like), waistcoats, gloves, hats, and the like.

Another thing -- your ties page doesn't mention plain, single colour ties anywhere. I wear these almost exclusively -- blue-green, red, black, and white being my main choices, depending on the shirt and pocket square.

Btw, the colour tips for the socks were useful -- I'm now looking at some non-black socks :).

Dear sir,

I really liked your website, especially the section on men's fashion. It was refreshing to discover that somebody else shared my view on clothing. The section "Modern Style: an Oxymoron" was interesting to read. I agree with you that modern style is the destruction of style. It is a bad thing that the modern idvidualistic "me me me" attitude drives people to wear horrible outfits in order to look cool. The ignorance and loss of good habits have on their own right resulted in the fact that people might show up in a graduation ceremony or somebodys birthday in something like jogging wear. They seem to have forgotten that one function of clothes is to express respect. I'm looking forward to seeing updates on your site.