How to dress well with minimal effort/funds

Many of us never got into dressing up. And why would we? Our jobs require more practical clothing, and there are much better uses for surplus funds anyway. However, as Christian men, we have a moral obligation to be a role model to the young men in our congregation. When we were young, we looked to the adult men for role models, for someone to aspire to be like, especially when our Boomer parents did not provide much direction.

But now we are the adult men. Now the young men and boys look up to us. Let us all strive to never disappoint them. Let us, among many other things, present ourselves properly in church. Let us make our 'Sunday best' be pretty good.

This guide will work from the bottom up, starting with the cheapest/simplest setups, and building from there. This will allow every man to commit as far as is appropriate for his situation.

Stage 1: the absolute basics

Get a light blue or white dress shirt and navy blue chinos. If you get both colours of dress shirt, this should still be around $100. Definitely buy these in person. Make sure that they fit properly. It is a better use of your money to get the cheapest stuff altered than to buy the slightly nicer ones and have them not fit well. What does a good fit look like? It looks like the dudes on the pictures displayed in the store. They were all fitted perfectly for the photoshoot. If needed, work on your posture. Good posture saves money in the long run, and it makes almost every outfit look substantially better.

Stage 2:

Get a charcoal-grey sports jacket and a tie. Stay away from fancy patterns. With alterations, this may set you back up to $300, but then you are covered for every occasion.

Stage 3: 

Get a pair of khakis and a white polo shirt. This is essential for warmer climates, since the polos have short sleeves. Do NOT get a dress shirt with short sleeves/Hawaiian shirts. Leave those for the celibate vocations and the Boomer filth.

Stage 4: further reading.

A lot of men dress a lot better than I do, and some of them have written about it. Below is a list of links for your perusal. Note that I do not vouch for their adherence to clean speech rules.

https://pushingrubberdownhill.com/2015/12/28/a-non-idiots-guide-to-idiot-advice-on-getting-dressed/