Did your father influence your interest in men's dress?

[Fwiffo]

I fully expect some cheeky responses like I was raised without a father or by a group of chimpanzees. However, the question is posed to the sane forum members.

As far back as I can recall, my father always wore a suit and tie every day to work. Of course his choice of suiting style is from the 1980s. He never succumbed to the casual, turtleneck and Dockers phase that started becoming trendy about the time he retired.

He never had any really good quality garments. You'll find Tip Top or something in his wardrobe. Before he immigrated to North America, though, he was spoiled by his parents: custom (mtm?) suits, shirts, etc. I didn't know that side of him except through old black and white photographs from the 1960s. He looked quite smart. When I caught on to the skinny lapel and narrow tie trend, my mother dug some 2.5" ties from my father's pre North America days. The same goes for tie clips and pocket squares. I started wearing them and I'd get a bunch tucked away in a closet somewhere.

That said - my father never taught me anything about men's dress. He tried to teach me how to tie a tie. He only knows how to tie a half Windsor. But I want to say my mother bought most of my clothing and took me to buy my first suit (for a funeral). He never remarked how shabby I looked, how my trousers weren't hemmed enough, how my shirt cuffs were portruding on to my palm. I didn't even know how to button a jacket - although looking at him now, he does.

 

[LKP]

where is your father from?

regarding your question:

my father used to wear suit + tie every day from monday - friday. always tab collars.
recently started to wear odd jacket combinations too.

shoes always polished and in a top condition.
used to send employees home for having dirty shoes.
once gave a guy some money and told him to have his shoes resoled asap.

so yes, there has been some influence from his side.

 

[Mcdonald]

 

[doghouse]

Neither my dad or step dad really dress particularly well. Die hard boomers.

Did teach me to tie a tie though, which is good, because I had to wear one to high school every day.

 

[Thruth]

My father wore an odd jacket, tie & trousers. Very shabby, very loud; would be posted in Disagreeable for sure. Taught me how to tie a tie: full Windsor. Wore gunboats. Did always talk about buying "good"'shoes and full leather insole. Although the lesson would be finished off with "don't let the Jews rip you off with their schmata"

So really my learning was to later in life picture what he wore and do the opposite.

 

[ElioDA]

As far back as I can remember, my dad would go to work every day dressed in a sharply cut charcoal or navy three piece, a crisp white shirt and properly shined elegant black shoes. Even the abominations of the 70s and 80s seemingly left him untouched. Curiously though, the last few years of his career, he switched to boring checked sportscoats and clunky penny loafers. Immediately after his retirement, that last vestige of style went out the door and in came ugly Paul Shark sweaters and Sperry boat shoes.
Not he, but my grandpa taught me the most important rule of menswear: never fiddle with your tie, the way your knot turns out first in the morning is how it will be for the day. Some days neat and tidy, other days unruly or rebellious. Adjust your mood....

 

[Chorn]

My dad's a solar physicist and sort of dresses like one. Generally a Land's End or Brooks Brothers (Land's End as I was growing up, Brooks Brothers now) shirt tucked into dark jeans or crisp chinos (he finds ironing relaxing. Depending on the whether, SAS loafers or Birkenstocks with dark gold toe socks. If he was ever part of a press release, he'd wear a charcoal suit. I think every shirt he's owned has been OCBD. If he was ever doing a press conference or something, a charcoal suit. SAS loafers. In the winter, he'd wear a blue or tan corduroy blazer, or sometimes just fleece jacket. I doubt he's ever owned more than three ties at any given time.

He switched from Land's End to Brooks Brothers five or six years ago; he liked their shirts more. I've gotten him to do a Brooks Brothers MTM; I think he just wanted to share in my hobby a bit. He also has a few of my old jackets. They don't fit him around the middle (at 67, he's developed a slight gut), so he wears them open. They fit elsewhere.

So the short answer to your question is no. Ironically the opposite, to some degree.

 

[LKP]

Journeyman FriendCustomer ConchitaWurst
tell us tell us

 

[Arnathor]

Father took me shopping for my graduation clothes, bought things that look lousy now, but back then I didn't give a damn.
He also ties a full windsor better than I can. Now I give him shoes/clothes for the occasional time he has to dress up.

He did influence me to start thinking about dressing more maturely, but I took it and ran with the idea. So I'd say No.

 

[Fwiffo]

where is your father from?

My father was born a British overseas territories citizen.

Astonishing how many people learnt windsors. From my time on the "other" forum I thought four in hand was the only knot people ever tied.

 

[Algernon Crisp]

Yes, he was always in a suit, always very smart, with a pocket handkerchief (tasteful, not parrot).

Gave me my first cuff-links, showed me how black tie was supposed to look. Took me to Budd when I was about 14 to buy a proper low-cut waistcoat.

A tailor contacted him after making suits for a friend, to ask if he would be interested in a bespoke suit. He said no, but my son would. I was 13 at the time, and so have had the same tailor for over 20 years now. Less fun now that I have to settle the tailor's bills myself. Excellent tailor, due to skill, experience, quality of tissue carried, and proper suspicion of anything that happened in men's clothing after about 1936.

He died when I was still a teenager. Best person I have ever known or am ever likely to know, I still miss him every day.

 

[Algernon Crisp]

Oh, and I use a half-windsor. I don't know how to tie any other knots, as that's the only one he taught me.

 

[Leitmotif]

My father wore an odd jacket, tie & trousers. Very shabby, very loud; would be posted in Disagreeable for sure. Taught me how to tie a tie: full Windsor. Wore gunboats. Did always talk about buying "good"'shoes and full leather insole. Although the lesson would be finished off with "don't let the Jews rip you off with their schmata"

So really my learning was to later in life picture what he wore and do the opposite.

A jew hater, good dad just like you.

 

[LKP]

My father was born a British overseas territories citizen.

Astonishing how many people learnt windsors. From my time on the "other" forum I thought four in hand was the only knot people ever tied.

less vague please
country, city, district

my dad showed me the FIH
the only knot i know

 

[ConchitaWurst]

to work he always wore double breasted custom suits. vast tie collection like me. fih knot if course. took (takes) extreme care of his shoes. business shoes generally eg 202s. a sportscoat during the weekend many times, generally a blazer or tweed with bd shirt. in the winter he wears those cluncky emereken horsehide brogues.

 

[doghouse]

My father was born a British overseas territories citizen.

Astonishing how many people learnt windsors. From my time on the "other" forum I thought four in hand was the only knot people ever tied.

Four in hand was only knot I knew until my 20s

 

[Jan Libourel]

I fully expect some cheeky responses like I was raised without a father or by a group of chimpanzees. However, the question is posed to the sane forum members.

So am I to be deemed "insane" because my father was killed in the line of duty in WWII before I was born?

I was raised with my mother's father and later her brother when he came back from the war. I don't think either had much of an influence on the way I dressed, however. I did go off to prep school with a couple of hand-me-down sport coats from my uncle. In general, my uncle, like many WWII vets, was a horrible dresser, favoring all sorts of garish, tasteless apparel. From photos I saw of him before the war, he seemed like quite a good dresser, like many men in the 1930s. My grandfather dressed well, always in a suit when he went to work as an art director at the studios. He regarded the sport coat and slacks as the mark of a gay man (or, as he would have put it, a "filthy pansy").

 

[The Shooman]

.........

 

[Journeyman]

He died when I was still a teenager. Best person I have ever known or am ever likely to know, I still miss him every day.

Same here. Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of my dad's death. It seems incredible that it was that long ago. I didn't sleep well last night as I was thinking about it a lot, particularly as my mother died quite unexpectedly last year.

My father was quite old when I was born - he was in his fifties - and I am an only child as he didn't want to have any more children as he was worried that he'd be too old, particularly as he had some lingering health issues from WWII.

My father was born in London in the 1920s. He left school when he was 12 years of age and originally trained as a "fitter and turner" - a metalworker. He'd won a place at a grammar school but his parents, who were lower-working-class with four other children, couldn't afford to buy him a school uniform and so he had to go out to work.

When WWII broke out, my father enlisted although he was underage and was part of the British Expeditionary Force fiasco in France. He was evacuated off the beaches at Dunkirk. After convalescing from injuries, he was then sent back to "civvie street" to work in a protected occupation which utilised his technical skills, building aircraft engines. Interestingly, whilst he was apparently a fine metalworker, essentially capable of building an engine from scratch if he wanted to do so, my father really preferred to work with wood and so we had several bookcases, small side tables, serving trays and so on that he made in his spare time.

After emigrating to Australia in the 1950s, my father went to night school and trained as an engineer and, after working for both private companies and government, he ended up at a university for the last quarter-century of his working life.

Before leaving London, my father had a few suits made up by an "off the Row" tailor and he also brought out a couple of pairs of bench-made shoes. To the end of his life, my father was able to wear the same suits that he'd had made for himself more than 40 years earlier, as the result of a modest diet and an early-morning workout every day - he'd do a routine of leg-lifts, push-ups and a few other exercises every single morning.

My father never wore shorts when he left the house - he always wore long trousers. Shorts were fine in the house, but if you were going somewhere, you always wore long trousers and a button-up shirt. The same went for sneakers - my father had one pair, but if he was going out somewhere, he'd always wear either a pair of cap-toe oxfords or a pair of pebble-grain, long-wing bluchers.

He wore long trousers, a button-up shirt and a jacket when he went off to work every day, although he quite often didn't wear a tie. Even when he knew that he was going to get his hands dirty, he'd still wear trousers, button-up shirt and jacket to work with dress shoes and then he'd change into overalls and steel-capped shoes while working, then get changed again to come home.

My dad taught me about decent, good quality clothes and how to tie a four-in-hand knot and I still wear some of his cufflinks and use his tie-bar. I also have a tie-pin from him, but I must admit that I've never used it as I don't like the idea of sticking a pin through my tie!

I still have a shawl-collar sweater made of heavy wool that my dad had, in a sort of Donegal-fleck weave, and I wear it every winter.

 

[Fwiffo]

So am I to be deemed "insane" because my father was killed in the line of duty in WWII before I was born?

As I was typing that I knew I would be misunderstood. I was referring to instances where men were born to lesbians or transgenders - the pansies.

 

[The Shooman]

Thanks for sharing your story Journeyman, l read it yesterday.

 

[LKP]

less vague please
country, city, district

my dad showed me the FIH
the only knot i know

As I was typing that I knew I would be misunderstood. I was referring to instances where men were born to lesbians or transgenders - the pansies.

answer!!!

 

[robertito]

My father was born a British overseas territories citizen.

Astonishing how many people learnt windsors. From my time on the "other" forum I thought four in hand was the only knot people ever tied.

+1
I had to join a forum to learn how to do the FIH. My father only taught had to do the half windsor.

 

[seamless]

My dad's a trucker. I had to buy him his first suit for my wedding last year. My dad became decently wealthy when I was in my late teens and started making the move to jeans and collared shirts. My mother dresses like a hooker and is very embarrassing to be out with.

Majority of how I dress actually came from spending a summer at a friends house. His father is a very powerful corporate lawyer for a major firm. Every time I saw him he looked like the most powerful man in the room. I wanted to be that, I was a young 19 year old boy who had no identify. I followed him around running errands for him and just observed what made him so monumental in his presence.

 

[Peak]

My mother was a tailor. She sewed my new blue jeans. My father was a gamblin' man down in New Orleans. So basically I wore new blue jeans and shot craps a lot.

 

[QuandoDio]

Nope. I was self-taught. I mean he contributed in the cleanliness and presentibility aspect: always having footwear spit-shined of always having his clothes fitted, often made by a tailor and always pressed and ironed. He loathed the rumpled look.

Hence now, my small-timer self spends a chunk of my sat mornings polishing my hooves and ironing my wares.

Heck, i remember being taught a FIH when i was in high school from a classmate - who AFAIK has turned out to be an adult who favours the low-rise jean wearing, slung over the botom, hoodie-donning, beanie wearing, spiff-smoking rapscallion- and thinking nothing of it. But it stayed with me and i continued tying a FIH ever since not knowing it was the ' favoured knot'.

 

[ConchitaWurst]

My dad's a trucker. I had to buy him his first suit for my wedding last year. My dad became decently wealthy when I was in my late teens and started making the move to jeans and collared shirts. My mother dresses like a hooker and is very embarrassing to be out with.

Majority of how I dress actually came from spending a summer at a friends house. His father is a very powerful corporate lawyer for a major firm. Every time I saw him he looked like the most powerful man in the room. I wanted to be that, I was a young 19 year old boy who had no identify. I followed him around running errands for him and just observed what made him so monumental in his presence.

 

[FriendCustomer]

My dad's a trucker. I had to buy him his first suit for my wedding last year. My dad became decently wealthy when I was in my late teens and started making the move to jeans and collared shirts. My mother dresses like a hooker and is very embarrassing to be out with.

Majority of how I dress actually came from spending a summer at a friends house. His father is a very powerful corporate lawyer for a major firm. Every time I saw him he looked like the most powerful man in the room. I wanted to be that, I was a young 19 year old boy who had no identify. I followed him around running errands for him and just observed what made him so monumental in his presence.

Me and my mentor

 

[Monkeyface]

My dad's a trucker. I had to buy him his first suit for my wedding last year. My dad became decently wealthy when I was in my late teens and started making the move to jeans and collared shirts. My mother dresses like a hooker and is very embarrassing to be out with.

Majority of how I dress actually came from spending a summer at a friends house. His father is a very powerful corporate lawyer for a major firm. Every time I saw him he looked like the most powerful man in the room. I wanted to be that, I was a young 19 year old boy who had no identify. I followed him around running errands for him and just observed what made him so monumental in his presence.

No lawyer is powerful.

 

[seamless]

No lawyer is powerful.

I'd look at him more so as a powerful person then what he does for a living.

 

[InstaHate]

He lifted then?

 

[Fwiffo]

It's Father's Day weekend in North America....

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life...ng-for-dads---and-their-kids/article30415933/

I’m wearing tan chinos, a black peacoat, a button-down shirt, a knit tie and a tan fedora – cocked slightly to one side – as I stand in the checkout line at No Frills. “I’m bored,” says my seven-year-old, scuffing my chestnut- brown leather chukkas as he shifts back and forth. I’m not the only father getting groceries with his family, far from it. But the others are wearing the typical Saturday-morning dad uniform: battered and faded Blundstones, sagging jeans, a hoodie under a jean or leather jacket, bed head or a baseball cap. And unshaven since Friday morning. What I see in their clothes and on their faces is exhaustion and frustration. It’s disheartening.

My son looks around and asks me, as he often does, “Why do you dress so fancy?” I always have the same answer: self-respect. Sure, I’m deeply tired and supremely annoyed, too, but dressing well makes me feel better about myself. I hope it broadcasts positivity to those around me. And just because nobody knows me at the grocery store doesn’t mean I’m invisible.

==

Oh good, I'm not the only one who thinks you need more than your underwear when buying groceries. Sadly, I won't have a chance to influence any of the next generation.

 

[Thruth]

It's Father's Day weekend in North America....

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life...ng-for-dads---and-their-kids/article30415933/

I’m wearing tan chinos, a black peacoat, a button-down shirt, a knit tie and a tan fedora – cocked slightly to one side – as I stand in the checkout line at No Frills. “I’m bored,” says my seven-year-old, scuffing my chestnut- brown leather chukkas as he shifts back and forth. I’m not the only father getting groceries with his family, far from it. But the others are wearing the typical Saturday-morning dad uniform: battered and faded Blundstones, sagging jeans, a hoodie under a jean or leather jacket, bed head or a baseball cap. And unshaven since Friday morning. What I see in their clothes and on their faces is exhaustion and frustration. It’s disheartening.

My son looks around and asks me, as he often does, “Why do you dress so fancy?” I always have the same answer: self-respect. Sure, I’m deeply tired and supremely annoyed, too, but dressing well makes me feel better about myself. I hope it broadcasts positivity to those around me. And just because nobody knows me at the grocery store doesn’t mean I’m invisible.

==

Oh good, I'm not the only one who thinks you need more than your underwear when buying groceries. Sadly, I won't have a chance to influence any of the next generation.

Guy wears a fedora. His kid will be beaten up at recess

 

[FriendCustomer]

My dad's a trucker. I had to buy him his first suit for my wedding last year. My dad became decently wealthy when I was in my late teens and started making the move to jeans and collared shirts. My mother dresses like a hooker and is very embarrassing to be out with.

Majority of how I dress actually came from spending a summer at a friends house. His father is a very powerful corporate lawyer for a major firm. Every time I saw him he looked like the most powerful man in the room. I wanted to be that, I was a young 19 year old boy who had no identify. I followed him around running errands for him and just observed what made him so monumental in his presence.

top top post

 

[Dropbear]

My dad has always dressed badly. In the eighties, I remember a glossy sharkskin silver suit, pink shirt and white leather slip-ons. These days it's head-to-toe Cabela's.

However, he did teach me the value of wearing what you think looks good. He cared about his appearance. He understood that dressing well (or thinking you are dressed well) is a good investment in self-confidence.

He would usually buy a new shirt or other item before an important meeting, just for a little cheap confidence boost. He's a pretty secure and confident guy but, perhaps because he is a psychologist, he recognises the role appearances make in our interpersonal relationships.