Matzo Ball Billiards

At the onset of 2024, I penned a handful of fashion-oriented goals for myself. Aesthetical aspirations, areas where I wished to improve, etc. In my previous post, I went back and determined whether or not I lived up to those goals over the past year. In some cases, I did. Others, I still have some work to do.

But when it comes to my style journey and my relationship with fashion and menswear, it seems the work is never truly done. When I look back on some fits I wore even as recently as a year, a year and a half ago, whatever, I find myself cringing.

I actually wore that, and thought it looked good?

And other such lamentations.

Some say that’s a sign of improvement. In all honesty, I’ve done that in regard to my personality and social skills for my entire life.

I was once cringe, like, even a year ago. But now? Now, I am based.

And this cycle never really ends. I truly do feel that my personal style has developed enough to a point where I may not be embarrassed by my current outfits in a year’s time, but I thought the very same thing a year ago. Two years ago. And three. So, I can’t be too sure. I was then, and look how that turned out!

But this is partly why I feel motivated to lay out some of my style goals for the upcoming year. So I can define specific goals for myself, and in order for me to continue this hobby of mine in a way that demonstrates intentionality over mindless consumption.

I feel that a lot of people tend to engage with fashion as a “hobby” in a manner that’s really just a manifestation of poor consumption habits. I’m often victim to this, because I too, feel like the vibes are significantly better in my day-to-day life when I have a new eBay piece en route to me via the USPS.

But I’m always looking to improve both my style and my mindset about style. Which is why I’ve homed in on the following New Year’s fashion resolutions for the grand year of 2025.

Resolution #1: Get Shit Tailored in a Timely Manner

One of the more ridiculous things I am guilty of is finding a nice vintage piece that needs some minor to moderate alterations, buying it, and hence waiting an absurd amount of time before taking it to the tailor.

In the amount of time that passes, I’ll have picked up even more things, some of which need to be altered as well. In a few rare instances, when the alterations are more significant and costly, I’ll put off taking the item to the tailor indefinitely. I have a very nice vintage Barney’s New York double-breasted suit that I thrifted nearly TWO YEARS AGO, and I still can’t wear because I’ve been too lazy/stupid to get the thing adjusted.

The sleeves and the inseam of the pants needs to be lengthened, the waist taken in, as well as a possible taking in of the jacket’s waist area.

Granted, it needs a minimum $100 of work, which is like double of what I paid for the thing. But it has the potential to be a great suit, and I’m denying it for myself for literally no reason. In the time since purchasing it, I’ve bought a ridiculous amount of other tailored pieces. Too many to count. It’s just plain dumb on my part.

Sometimes, I do myself justice in this regard. A couple of months ago, I thrifted some nice Paul Stuart pants and on the very same day, schlepped them over to the tailor to get the waist taken in. That was one of my better days. But most of the time, I’m a fool. A fool, I say.

This year, I hope to be less of one.

Resolution #2: Become a Tie Guy

This might be a bit surprising to see appear on this list, seeing as I do wear ties a lot. I’m a vintage fashion boi, it kinda comes with the territory. But in truth, I tend to save my tie collection for the weekends – that being for Shabbat, when I dress up for synagogue services and meals with friends.

But during the rest of the week, I’m often tie-less. That’s not because I don’t like ties, but because my office has a pretty humdrum dress code, and few others wear them. On my remote workdays, ironically, I’ve been more inclined to dress up a bit, because looking swanky is a lot easier to pull off in a Manhattan coffee shop than in the culture of my somewhat laid-back Brooklyn office.

Additionally, most of my ties are silk, and can lean a bit formal. As someone who wears a lot of tweed and corduroy jackets, these can be paired together, but in all honesty, I do need to grow my casual tie collection for truly casual looks. More woolen knits, squared and fringed edges, cottons, linens, etc. I have a couple, but the ratio is easily 90% silk to about 10% other materials.

Even so, I think I can take more opportunities to make use of my existing tie collection during the week. Even if that means dressing a bit smarter on weekdays than what I’m used to, I do love the personal touch added by a necktie, and I ought to rock ’em more.

I’ve gotten a head start on this resolution, having worn a tie in my first outfit of the year, as well as one while writing this.

Resolution #3 Even MORE DBs

This should come as a surprise to almost no one, but I really, really, really like DB suits, jackets, and coats. I would estimate that roughly 50% of my current tailored clothing collection is of the double-breasted variety, and I want to increase that percentage as much as I can.

I have a lot of love for a good single-breasted suit, but to me, DBs are just inherently more interesting a lot of the time. My favorite type of double-breasted style is that of the 80s and early 90s, with a bias toward 4×1 and 6×1 buttoning configurations. I love a low buttoning point and elongated, full-bellied set of peak lapels. It’s just so powerful! But I do like pretty much all classic DB styles, regardless.

As a matter of fact, my first two major purchases of the year are already doing this goal justice.

I recently scored this brilliant DB corduroy suit by NOAH at Tokio7 in The East Village, and while I definitely dropped too much cash on it for my comfort, I think I actually got a pretty sweet deal all things considered.

My other recent pickup is this fantastic vintage Mani by Giorgio Armani DB jacket, in a sleek taupe-gray whipcord wool cloth. It’s instantly become one of my new favorite odd jackets, and if you know me, anything vintage Armani that actually fits me is a win.

Resolution #4: Improve My Summer Wardrobe

One of my most successful TikTok videos from 2024 was a fun little compilation of my fall/winter outfit combos contrasted against a silly little summer outfit. The former were made up of rich tweed jackets, impressive overcoats, thick corduroys, and more, while the latter consisted of some fun-but-dorky pleated green shorts and a striped tee.

Blindingly pale knees aside, there was a comedic element to the video, because the contrast was so stark. People seemed to be impressed with my fall/winter style and found that summer fit funny in the same way I did. I did actually like elements of that butt-of-the-joke outfit, namely, the vintage Tommy Hilfiger shorts (which were a recent eBay find at the time), but the joke carries a lot of weight with it.

The fact is, my summer style is vastly inferior to my winter wardrobe.

I think that in a lot of ways, this is unavoidable for me. All of my favorite fabrics are rooted in winterwear, and there’s not really any time during the summer months where I prefer the heat anyway.

I’m a layering bro. I like my oxford shirts, knitwear, and tweed jackets. To enable this, I need cooler temps. July heat waves in NYC don’t exactly encourage this sort of outfit combo.

However, I do think I owe it to myself to pick up a few more summertime pieces that truly excite me. It’s not that I hate summer fashion – I just vastly prefer fall and winter clothing, so that’s where I typically choose to invest more of my time, resources, and precious paychecks.

But there’s summer stuff that I do like – and have yet to invest properly in. My linen collection is rather poor, in all honesty, and last summer I found myself very tempted to recreate this iconic Niles Crane look from one of my favorite episodes of Frasier.

This requires a good pair of flowy linen pants (with pleats!) and a solid linen white shirt. Shockingly, I own neither, and I spent much of the summer seeking out these items but never quite pulling the trigger.

There’s other summer style I’d like to embrace, but I admit that this goal is a bit less defined than the others. I’ve been so conditioned to hate dressing for the summer that I feel a bit directionless here, so I suppose I’m just looking to figure out more ways to wear cool clothes during this time of year, and actually like my outfits in the process.

Resolution #5: Hang Out More with Fellow Fashion Fellas!

In my previous post reflecting on last year’s fashion resolutions, I touched on this point a bit, but in this blog entry, I’d like to talk about it more at length.

I like to think I have a healthy social life, but I really want to get more invested and involved in the IRL menswear scene. It’s just that there’s so much enjoyment to be had connecting with like-minded people who share this fun little hobby, and while I’ve done so in the past, I’d like to do so even more going forward.

With the threat of TikTok being banned in the US, I’ve been reflecting quite a bit on my time in the menswear community. While TikTok itself is not my hobby, it is where my hobby lives, and where I’ve been able to build an audience. But even more so, it’s how I’ve been able to make many mutuals and friends who ae just as interested in musty old jackets as I am.

My first forays into the IRL scene were interesting. I used to go to Alfargo’s Marketplace, a roughly bi-monthly menswear market and gathering, and I had a lot of fun checking it out. Admittedly, I was far worse dressed then, at least compared to now, so I do look back on those early visits with mild humiliation lmao.

I would still go today, but the problem is, I can’t. They used to hold the event on Saturdays and Sundays. Since I’m a Sabbath-observant Jew, I couldn’t go Saturdays, but Sundays were on the table.

Unfortunately for me, they’ve since shifted the typical event days to Friday night and Saturdays, which sadly means I can no longer go. Unless I want to walk all the way from The Upper West Side to Flatiron on a Saturday – and even then, I can’t buy anything since Shabbat prohibits one to carry money. Oh well.

The event seems to have really grown quite a bit since I’ve last gone too, shifting locations from The East Village to Madison Square, and I’m glad they’ve seen a rise in success! I just wish I could still easily attend, because it seems like a natural place for me to meet more menswear enthusiasts.

In fact, the very first time I went, I bumped into Chad, AKA alltimedarling, for the first time. We’d been TikTok mutuals for a bit, but bumping into each other in the wild was a cool experience!

And since then, we’ve hung out on a number of occasions. More recently, I’ve met up with Chad and another stylish TikTok buddy, Jack, a couple of times for drinks and vibes. Both have really cool senses of personal style, with interesting perspectives on the topic and are mighty fine examples of how this space is full of incredibly cool folks. Oh, and we all love 70s tailoring (Cheers, fellas).

I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting up with a couple of other wonderful creators and personalities whom I’ve met through TikTok, but considering how deep in the space I’ve been these past few years, I haven’t done it enough, I feel!

This is partially due to the fact that, while I don’t consider myself a shy individual, I’m someone who has, in the past, been hesitant to strike up conversations with mutuals via DMs and such because I simply don’t want to be perceived as annoying. This is kind of ridiculous considering I rather enjoy the art of the yap, and you’d think I’d have outgrown this mild insecurity, but it still persists even into my mid 20s. Go figure!

I do think I’ve been getting better at hitting up internal pals, though. In truth, I like to think my social skills are perfectly adequate (you don’t want to know what a journey that has been lol), and I’ve yet to make a total fool of myself. I only ever end up having a good time when I try to connect with other fashion folks, so obviously, I want to do it more!

I’m very lucky to live in NYC which is naturally home to a ton of fellow creators and enthusiasts like myself. It only makes sense that I should be putting myself out there more, cultivating friendships over shared interests. I’ve found that many of the people that inhabit this space actually share a lot more in common than just clothes – we often enjoy similar tastes in music, film, books, video games, and more!

If TikTok does indeed get banned (I’m still in denial that it will), I admit that I’ll be pretty shattered. I don’t want to have to move to Instagram to post “content.” Unlike most people, I’d prefer it be a secondary social media, whereas TikTok is the platform I take most seriously (while still having fun, of course).

That’s because TikTok has done a lot for me. It’s helped me get deeper into this hobby in the first place. It’s helped me learn to be a better creator and scale my style as well as my video quality. And it’s helped me make friends!

Not to be a total cornball, but the last thing is probably the most important to me. The real thrill of this hobby for me is connecting about it with others who enjoy it just as much as I do. I find there’s always so much to learn from other people who are invested in their personal style – whether we share the same exact tastes or not!

So, if anything, that’s something I’d like to devote more time and energy towards. Hanging with cool people is, after all, pretty cool.