Oh man, this is a convo that could go on for days.

In the end, if you're looking at developing a "style" for yourself, you just need to develop your own tastes, but that takes time + money.

You've looked at the MFA subreddit, and they have their "basic uniform" thing for a reason: it gives you some solid choices real quick and several pricing options for those things. All the stuff they talk about is pretty safe and won't "go bad" in terms of style, it's just boring as shit.

The most fun way of getting into dressing yourself is actually dressing yourself and trying on different looks. Don't throw down a bunch of money initially, because you will change your mind about exactly how you want to look.

I would suggest this:

1) Look around.

Pay attention to how people dress and how it affects the way you perceive them. Once you become aware of this stuff, it becomes more and more obvious.

Check out inspiration albums or Lookbook. For lookbook, just sort by Guy's->most popular and just see what people are doing. Ignore the fact that everyone on there looks like a goddamn model. A lot of these people don't do anything but this all day, but you just need to scrape from their lessons and build something solid for yourself and move along with your life.

Don't feel the need to recreate anything you see to a T, just feel lucky you're a guy and there's simply some rotating common themes that you can focus on that a lot of people use for many different looks.

Namely: Outerwear (jackets, sweaters), shirting (t-shirts, button-downs), bottoms (jeans, pants), and shoes (dress, boots, sneakers).

2) Build something basic

The most productive thing you can do for yourself, is think about your clothes less. You want to make sure most of the stuff in your closet works together and you can throw something on and look cooler than most people around you.

I suggest the following to get you started:

-buy a decent pair of jeans. Dark blue jeans go with everything. Levi's are fine. You're a smaller dude like me, and the thing on fit with jeans is they need to follow your contours closely, but (unless that's what you're going for) don't need to be skin tight. Levi's 511 will probably be perfect. Later on, buy a pair of black jeans. After that, upgrade each of those per your acquired tastes. Don't get any that are pre-faded.

-Get some button-downs. This is a lil more complicated, but really, they just need to fit right, and not be too business-y. Patterned stuff is good, but don't lose your mind (yet). Check out Urban Outfitters, they have a lot of stuff that are safer takes on very popular styles. Some of their stuff tends to billow out, if you can pull the shirt more than 5 inches out from your navel, don't even bother. If you can afford it, buy some stuff on sale at J Crew, in their slim fit. They always fit me perfectly (Xsmall) and they are pretty safe, style-wise. Solid blue button-downs are pretty business-casual, go for solid grays, blacks, and patterned. This bad boy is the go-to, for a reason, it's simple, versatile and safe as fuck.

-Get a denim jacket. Again, Levi's is the go-to. Again, dark wash. It goes with everything and it's never gonna get cold enough in Tejas for you to bundle much more than a denim jacket + sweater.

- or a Bomber jacket. Black or green.

-Merona t-shirts are fine. keep it simple. I have a $150 tee from rag and bone and you know what it doesn't have? branding or screenprinting. avoid like the plague. chest pockets are cool right now, too.

-Get some decent sneakers. Tigers, Nike running shoes, pretty much anything that looks like this in black, grey or white. If you buy something with a lot of color, you can't wear them every damn day. Well, you can, but just be confident, yo.

-DO NOT BUY A BLAZER/SPORTCOAT YET. They are too easy to do wrong.

3) Start branching out

After that, you can start to add stuff in that is more specific for what you want to go for, or for different outfits for different occasions.

The best sort of "looks", which can all be drawn from, are the #Menswear thing (try to look like either a businessman or a sartorial laborer), streetwear (easier to find, fit not quite as important, think pharrell or 20-something urban asian-american male), techwear (always look like you're about to go for a run inside the world of a dystopian anime) or scandanavian minimalism (so clean. grow a beard.).

There's a lot of overlap, so just do what strikes your fancy,

nowaypablo has the right idea, look around at a few brands, you'll get a good idea of what to look for and how it can fit together.

I'm sure there's a Buffalo Exchange or similar store nearby you, go there a couple times a week and browse, try stuff on,. You don't have to spend forever, just look for like 30 minutes and see if anything strikes your fancy. Piece of advice: if you aren't quite sure that you want to buy it when trying it on, don't buy it. you'll most likely end up regretting it.

Recap and Addendums

Remember: Do all this so you can think about clothes less. optimize the (time spent preparing)/(time spent looking good) ratio

You live in texas. There is a boot shop nearby with impeccable and cheap boots for sale. Only buy lace-up, none of that cowboy nonsense. Do not buy cheap boots. DO NOT BUY CHEAP BOOTS.

DO NOT BUY CHEAP JEANS.

Don't buy H&M, it's junk. Uniqlo really is great, I wish they had more brick and mortar places everywhere, they even freakin' tailor their clothes for you. It's ridiculous.

Throw away your polos.

The t-shirt and jeans is combo is the only way to dress where you'll never look back in disgust at how you used to dress. It's also the best way to dress to avoid being pre-judged by the clothes you wear. It's the universalist, egalitarian way to dress oneself.

I want to make a post about this, I'll give you a shout-out. You should start by looking at brands and seeing what catches your eye, seeing their styles. For dressing yourself, prepare for insufferable pain as I do when you realize your taste is four times the magnitude of your budget. That's when you'll check out places like Jackthreads.com to simulate top-tier everyday style with slightly cheaper designs for the sake of dignity.

Super-duper brands (and stores) if you're super-duper unaffected by designers' tendency to rob consumers on a daily basis:

Scotch&Soda, AllSaints, Rag&Bone, Diesel, all the way down to Topman, UrbanOutfitters, and H&M.

I'm not the most fashionable fella but I almost rarely feel inappropriately dressed. The worst scenario is being "under"dressed for the occasion. If we are talking about a professional setting, there is an old addage that you don't dress for the job you have but rather for the job you want.

I went to a school with a dress code and there learned to tuck your collared shirts in, wear a belt, dark socks etc. Lots of common sense stuff. But it's all stayed with me.

As for casual attire, you can't go wrong here: http://www.redbubble.com/people/hubski/shop

Hmm. I'll reinforce some general advice, but I also want to be specifically helpful. Disclosure: I'm a white boy from Baltimore, I think my sense of fashion is pretty neutral, I hate displaying logos or graphic tees, and I'm 5'8'' and 170 lbs, pretty muscular.

The proper fitting of clothes will be stressed here and elsewhere because it is important. Something really expensive or good looking looks downright goofy if it's too big. Not only is getting the right size important, I would also recommend exercising and being fit. I'm also poor, I can very much relate, but I think I can wear a plain black v neck because I have an exercise regimen that lets me fill out the shirt and makes me/it look better on me, not because its $150 Versace shirt. Shit, I rock exclusively Merona, our favorite Target brand.

A few months ago, I could barely do two pull-ups. There was a monkey bar outside our housing that I went to every morning before breakfast and just tried to do as many as I could, and after five weeks I was doing 12 pull ups at a time. It was one of the largest catalysts for my newfound bent on self improvement (masturbation as it is).

Ok, so fitness. Push ups, pull ups, crunches, squats. Not a nickel on gym equipment (ok, maybe 25 bucks for a pull up bar to install in your doorway).

My favorite sweater. (This link won't appear properly)

www.hm.com/us/product/28716?article=28716-A#article=28716-A

I've never received more comments or compliments on any piece of clothing I've owned. It's relatively cheap and fits great universally on everyone who's ever tried it on because it's a little poofy (lol I haven't written the word poofy in a long time).

Clark's Chukka is a great shoe. Good for formal, informal, walking the dog, taking someone out. The sizes are a bit wacky, I had to order a size 8 for my 9.5/10 feet.

While I love jeans, I also would recommend a pair of non-white chinos, or "khaki" pants. Some gray chinos I own have stayed with me for a while now.

Good luck pardner. Try it out. But also, just know you look good, and then you do. Fake it til you make it.

I think dressing yourself well is very similar to cooking. It's about individual pieces making something great together. Find your taste.

Pants: there's not a lot of different types that look stylish but there's a ton of variation. Jeans aren't inherently bad, although I would try some more slim fitting pants. I have some neat black / dark blue pants and some caramel pants. I'd definitely try some accompanying belts.

Upper Body: ever tried some casual button-down shirts? They require some work ironing them, but I really enjoy wearing good-fitting button-down shirts. Also, you either ENTIRELY tuck them in your pants or not at all. The former also looks way better with a belt. I've seen people who put their shirts in their pants only on their backs and it just looks weird. T-shirts can be pretty stylish too. I have multiple colors of these.

The most important advice is to try stuff out. Go to a store that you think is stylish and try all the clothes on, even though you don't think it'll suit you. And no, nobody at the store cares that you only buy one of the ten thinks you tried on. Do ask them, they often know what works together and they haven't seen your previous wardrobe much.

Coming from someone who isn't actually 'fashionable' but felt uncomfortable in his own skin for a long time - find things that fit/are comfortable that you like before anything else. Something that fits you and that you like will always look better than some expensive brand that doesn't fill either of those two criteria.

If you're comfortable in what you wear, it'll reflect in your posture and confidence. Case in point: the t-shirts I was wearing for a long time felt tight-fitting and like they were dipped in starch. That's 'cause they were made in material that didn't fit me.

So I got shirts from fangamer.net that were American Apparel - those things feel fantastic. I didn't realize it at the time but I also have a super broad chest and the shirts compensated for that. And they feel like wearing a blanket over your body. And the bonus was that I really liked their designs. All of those things together reflected themselves in how I carried myself.

So you might have to try a couple of different types of the same type of clothing before you find something that fits while being comfortable.

Also, I would say that cleanliness is 60% of 'dressing well'. Always make sure you're washing your shirts and stuff.

And if you get a suit, for the love of all that is holy get that shit tailored.

I'm also talking out of my ass, though, so Insomnia's advice is probably better.

I don't know if anyone can help you here (I certainly cannot) but I've heard exception things about http://www.reddit.com/r/malefashionadvice/.

Saved this thread a while, but in case galen or anybody else still looks at this there's one other great resource that I didn't see posted here:

Frugal Male Fashion. Once you know what you're looking for it's a great way to get good clothing for cheap. Example: The current Bonobos thread.

My one piece of advice is to wear what you feel comfortable in and like. Don't wear certain clothes just because someone else says they'll look good on you, or that they're fashionable. Half the battle is looking and feeling confident in whatever you are wearing.

And wear clothes that fit well.

Couple questions for clarification-

What size are you, generally? This'll dictate in part what looks good on you.

Where do you live (also generally)? Different regions have their own fashions. Don't wanna give Seattle fashion advice to somebody in like Chicago... might not translate.