The Basic Wardrobe: British budget edition
Basic wardrobe expansion packs
Please note: The 'Basic Bastard' wardrobe is a tongue-in-cheek phrase, and not meant to cause offense.
What is this post?
The Basic Bastard (BB) is a wardrobe created for someone who is new to the idea of dressing better. It is very simple, basic, and has relatively few items that should be available at most retailers. It purposefully has a reduced the number of options in order to keep it as simple and inexpensive as possible. It was made for someone who mostly wears casual clothes and doesn't need to dress up that much.
This post is mainly just an update of an old post. It is a list of budget options for the Basic Bastard module wardrobe which /u/metcarfre posted around ~2 year ago, but specifically aimed at British MFA users.
The items listed are from the Building the Basic Bastard and Your Favorite ___ for $___ community recommendation threads. Both which can be found in the MFA Wiki)
This is not a list of essential items or the be-and-end-all of fashion. it's just a simple list to get started in one direction. If you don't want to go in that direction, fairs enough. You may instead want to check out our "expansion pack" guides or our inspiration albums.
Response to 'The Basic Bastard wardrobe isn't very British'
As mentioned in the original Basic Bastard post itself, the BB wardrobe is for someone who mostly wears casual clothes and doesn't need to dress up much, and that it was mainly adapted to an American environment. That being said most, if not all the items, could be exchanged for something else. As recent and older community discussions have highlighted there are some elements of the items in the BB wardrobe which sometimes have negative connotations in the UK.
Some recommendations have been edited, such are a higher preference for greys and navy compared to khaki tan. In addition, the number of recommended shorts has been reduced, as of course our summer's only last 3 weeks every year.
Note on prices: The below prices are the given Recommended Retail Price (RRP) rather than sale prices. A few of these brands are having sales at the moment or do offer Student Discounts ranging from 10% to 20% which can be taken advantage of. Some brands, notably GAP, perpetually have some form of 'sale' or 'offer' on which makes their RRP misleading.
----> Inspiration album <----
Wholly made up of /r/malefashionadvice community members!
Item recommendations:
Tops
Plain t-shirts in white or grey (1 to 3)
Oxford-cloth button-down shirts in white and light blue (1 each) -
Topman shirts - starting at £20
Next own-brand - £20
Uniqlo oxfords - £19.90
GAP oxfords - starts at £35 RRP. Note the perpetual sales and offers for lower prices drops it below this.
Bottoms
Plain, dark, indigo or black jeans in slim (1-2)
Uniqlo jeans - starting at £24.99
Various H&M jeans - starting at £17.99
ASOS jeans - starting at 14.99
Grey, navy or tan chinos (1-2)
Uniqlo chinos starting at £34.90
H&M chinos starting at £19.99
Primark chinos - starting at £9
Plain-front chino shorts (not cargo shorts) in grey, navy, or olive (1-2)
Weekday shorts - starting at £20
GAP shorts - starting at £19.99
Layers
Crew-neck jumpers in navy, grey, oatmeal, green, or maroon (1)
Uniqlo merino wool - £29.90 or lambswool for jumpers for winter - at £29.90
Various H&M jumpers - starting at £18.99
Topman jumpers - starting at £20
And/or
Crew-neck sweatshirt in grey, navy, oatmeal, green, or maroon (1)
H&M sweatshirts - £8.99
Uniqlo sweatshirts - £19.90
Weekday sweatshirt - £20
Outerwear
Rainy (1)
Rains classic jacket - £75
Uniqlo blocktech parka - £59.90
Weekday Zune raincoat - £55
ASOS raincoats - starting from £35
Mild (1)
H&M bombers - staring at £24.99
Various ASOS own-brand bombers - starting at £20
Zara bomber - £49.99
Topman overshirt - £35
Burton Harrington jacket - £39.00
Colder (1)
Uniqlo wool blend chesterfield coat - £129.90
Topman Borg Collar Jacket - £59.00
H&M wool-blend topcoat - £79.99
Shoes
Plain white trainers (1)
Adidas Stan Smiths - starting at £75
H&M trainers - Common Projects alternatives? :^) - £49.99 or various models
Brown boots (1) -
Combining Items
The beauty of restricting this wardrobe is that essentially every top works with every bottom. Shorts shouldn't be worn with boots or outerwear, but aside from that every combination should work together in color and style.
Fit
Most items should fit fairly slim without being restrictive. Trousers and jeans should have a half-break or less on your shoes. Consult the Fit Guide for more information.
Retailers
Most British high street clothing stores will carry all or some of the above items. Next, Topman, GAP, Uniqlo, M&S are the usual brick & mortar suspects. Online you have places like ASOS, and every single high street brand listed here will have their own websites.
Plus you don't have to stick to the brands on here. Do a bit of research on other brands - if you have questions about fit you can always post in the Daily Questions threads.
Other buying tips
Generally it's OK to skimp out on t-shirts and trousers, instead spend a bit more on outerwear and footwear. This especially true if you're on your feet a lot and outside when the temperature drops.
Finally make use of secondhand websites and apps if you have time and want to be thrifty. Places like eBay, Grailed's 'core' market section, Depop and Poshmark are good for the UK market.
In closing
And there we have it. A list of basic, in-offensive and relatively versatile items at budget(ish) prices. That was a mouthful.