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Jeans and a T-shirt are hard to screw up, but it can be done. The key — as is usually the case — comes down to fit. You need to understand your body and you need to be honest with yourself about your body. As the sartorial knowers at Put This On once wrote, “slimmer clothes don’t necessarily make you look slimmer.”
Obviously buying clothes online complicates this process a bit. Which is why we’ve always been fans of denim retailer Mott & Bow, proponents of a “home try on” program that sends you two pairs of jeans with every purchase: keep the one that fits best, send back the one that doesn’t. (Editor’s note: we recommend sizing down one inch; they offer odd and even numbered sizes.)
The simplicity of their styling goes deeper than that, though. They offer a ton of different fades, washes and styles, but everything comes in the same three fits: skinny (for skinny guys), slim (for more athletic or average guys, and also skinny guys who don’t like skinny jeans) and straight (for larger guys, guys who like a little extra breathing room, and your dad). The whole system makes buying jeans online about as painless as possible.
Through tomorrow (Thursday 2/14), they’re also throwing in a short- or long-sleeve T-shirt with every full-price denim purchase — just use the code PERFECTPAIR at checkout. These are comfortable T-shirts made from Peruvian cotton, and vitally, not the kind of T-shirts that cling to every nook and cranny of your torso in potentially unflattering ways.
Says one InsideHook staffer, who happens to be wearing one:
“They’re remarkably thin for how sturdy they are and almost feel like a performance tee. The long sleeves are perfect for layering under a light jacket or work shirt thanks to their thin profile (obviously the same goes for the short-sleeve tees). They also seemed to have found a great equilibrium in terms of fit on the body: the upper arms and chest fit snugly, but the torso falls nicely, without being too tight.”
Long story short: Buy some jeans. Get a free T-shirt. Impress people.
Sometimes, it’s really that easy.
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