Suits and other fancy dresses

I don't tend to care too much about what I wear. I'm not into brands or expensive clothing. I rather my stuff be comfortable than fashionable. Warm rather than cool (literally). So I walk around in hoodies and jeans/khakis. Long-sleeves that I can roll up sleeves to so I can "adjust the temperature." I happily ignored years of people telling me to insert some colour into my life until I was forced to consider the opinion. The first time I've ironed a shirt is in 4th year. So it was a rather interesting experience for me to go suit shopping. Yes, I'm getting better. -_-

Suit shopping history
My mom bought me my first and only suit. This is the suit that I brought to Waterloo. This is also the suit to which the pants to I accidentally machine washed because it looked just like all my other dress pants. This is the suit I had to replace.

New suit shopping history
Being totally ignorant of suit culture, my "fine dressing for men 101" consisted of numerous trips malls, trying on more suits more times then I've worn my original one (thanks to everyone that convinced me that non-black/white colours are wearable =P). No, this isn't a post documenting my suit shopping experience. =P

Thoughts on dressing
I've come to realize that dressing is not entirely an individualistic thing. That when I dress to go school, no one really cares if I'm in a hoodie (grad students don't tend to dress any better than undergrads, I've noted). The purpose of my school clothing is to keep me warm (and decent).

But just like there is a season for everything, formal ware is important when the time calls for it. One is expected to "dress to impress" when it comes to situations like interviews and weddings. So if I'm going to spend the time and money to find a decent suit, I might as well finish the job and find a decent shirt and tie as well. And etc. The purpose of these formal situations is no longer just for myself, but for the event/company that I will be attending.

I recently came across this article (Why what you wear matters) and I think it reconciles fairly well my not wanting to spend much time/effort/money on clothing, but still have what is needed for the occasion. Perhaps I'm the only one in my age group that needs to realize these principles. I'm working on it -_-. The points from the articles are as follows:

• Be conscious of clothing selection - Keep in mind of the situation and intent of dress. Going to a interview dressed all bummy draws negative attention. Social protocol is suppose to kick in at some point. And if nothing else, it reflects poorly on chinese people, students, christians, and chinese christian students
• Don't draw attention to one's privilege - A while ago, three of us got involved in a clothing donation run. We ended up gathering a large amount of old clothing and donating it off, to the point that it wouldn't fit into the donation box that we found in the middle of the night. It reminds me that the ability to buy clothing is quite a privilege indeed, and some thought should go into things before picking up super expensive suit when a moderately priced one would do. Or number of clothing, I guess, for that matter.
• Dress modestly, not sensually - I don't think I have any problem with this one. =P
• Dress properly, use good judgment, don't be associated with evil - I guess I don't tend to keep this in mind much. There was this one suit that looked okay-ish and was within my budget, but when I went home and looked up the brand, I found that the company was associated with child labour. I already wasn't super happy about the suit, but that was the finisher for that particular suit
• Spend wisely - Well. I could point out that I don't have much wealth, and is why I choose not to buy much clothing. But this idea should fit with the first point, so some balance is needed here

Yes, I'm learning. -_-