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Hi there,

Let’s be honest: building your wardrobe from scratch with the basics – whether you finally want to upgrade the quality of your clothes or you want to build a highly functional one – sounds rather unglamorous and boring.

This is the first of three newsletters on wardrobe building — from starting with the basics, to refining what you have, to the special pieces that complete the wardrobe. Today: the foundation stage, and why it matters more than it looks.

For most men who care about dressing well, this is where everything begins. I've been there too, and I'll tell you why I don't regret starting with the boring choices first, because the upsides are real.

If you downloaded my style checklist when you subscribed, you already know what these pieces are. What I want to talk about is what it's like to build a basic wardrobe from scratch — the genuine advantages, and the honest downsides.

When I started out building my wardrobe with more tailored pieces, I made sure to start with neutrals – charcoals, greys, navys, light greys. I made some mistakes along the way and couldn't always resist getting myself more distinguished pieces, but it’s just part of the journey. That said, most of the pieces I own today — and reach for most often — fall into the basic category. Let me share with you the upsides and downsides of building the basics in a listed structure.

The upsides

• Getting dressed becomes genuinely fast and effortless. Everything pairs with everything, contexts are covered, and the decision is essentially already made.
• Which leads to the next point: You no longer buy a suit three days before a wedding because you have nothing appropriate. Believe me, a versatile suit comes in handy. And if you know how to style it business formal, business casual and even date night you have a piece that earns its place many times over.
• You develop a real sense of what you actually wear. The basics get reached for constantly — and the pieces that don't, regardless of how sensible they seemed at purchase, reveal themselves quickly. That's useful information for everything you buy afterwards.
• You start noticing quality. Because these pieces are mostly simple by design, construction and fabric become the only interesting variable. The simpler the piece, the better that simplicity needs to be nailed.
• Money is spent more efficiently. Fewer regrettable purchases, more considered ones.
• And finally: once the basics are genuinely covered, you can go deeper into them rather than beyond them. A second grey suit in a different fabric — flannel instead of tropical wool. A navy blazer with a more interesting construction, e.g. double breasted construction or a glen check fabric. For some men, this kind of quiet depth is exactly where they want to stay – and I think it makes sense. The basics don’t need to be a starting point, they can be built on further.

The downsides

• There's a certain anonymity to it. Though, in most professional contexts that's fine — appropriate is appropriate.
• It can start to feel uninspiring if you want to develop a richer personal style.
• The basics can become a crutch. Because they're reliably safe, some men never move past them — not because they've decided this is their style, but because moving beyond it requires a different kind of confidence, that develops naturally as you try different things. Knowing what to wear in what situation is one thing. Knowing what you actually like is the second layer that a basic wardrobe might not help you with – again, you could be deeply enjoying the basics already and that’s fine too.

In the next part two I’ll talk about what to consider when refining your wardrobe once the basics are covered — what changes, what gets more interesting, and where most men start making expensive mistakes.

Best regards,
Lukas from Thoughtful Style