Plain Tees, Good Shoes, One Watch. That's the Wardrobe.

The short version: I wrote before about why I stopped dressing down. This is the other half: what I actually wear. It is a short list. Plain tees in two colors, black shorts or trousers, tailoring where it counts, one good pair of leather shoes, and one watch whose strap changes to suit the outfit. Here is all of it, plus the shorts mistake I will not make again.

Start with colors you actually like

In the article about dressing down I explained why I stopped. What I did not get into was what replaced it.

The first decision was the easiest one. My two favorite colors are red and black, so that is most of what I wear.

It sounds too simple to count as advice, but it does a lot of work. When most of what you own sits in two or three colors, almost everything goes with almost everything else. You stop standing in front of the wardrobe trying to make things match, because they already do.

Pick your own. They do not have to be mine. They just have to be colors you would happily wear every day.

The everyday uniform

Most days, this is it:

• A plain tee in black or wine red
• Black shorts or black trousers, whichever the occasion calls for

No graphics, no slogans, no logos across the chest. Plain is the point. A plain tee in a good color looks deliberate in a way a printed one rarely does, and it goes with everything else you own.

For tees, I like a looser fit. That is a preference, not a rule, and it is different from how I want my shirts and suits to fit.

Uniqlo for the basics

Uniqlo is my go-to. Lots of choice, at prices that make sense for things you will wear constantly and eventually wear out.

Basics are the last place to overspend. A plain black tee is a plain black tee. Save the money for the few things where quality genuinely shows, which in my case is shoes.

Where fit matters, get it tailored

My suits, and the collared shirts I wear with them, are tailored. Off-the-rack suits are cut for an average body that very few people actually have.

My tees go the other way: looser, on purpose. Fit is not one rule applied to everything. Some clothes are meant to sit close to you and some are not. The skill is knowing which is which.

Spend on shoes

For leather shoes, I always buy Ecco. They are not cheap — most of what they sell costs over $200 — but I stand by both the quality and the comfort.

If you are going to spend more anywhere, shoes make the strongest case for it. You wear them for years and you walk in them all day.

One watch, three looks

I always wear my Apple Watch. What changes is how it is dressed.

• Silver, for classier outfits
• Black with a sports strap, for everything else
• A black chain strap, when a black formal accessory fits the outfit better

It is one watch doing three jobs, and it lets the same thing on your wrist match whatever you are wearing that day.

Dressing for the occasion, including how you smell

Outfits change with the occasion, and so does the fragrance that goes with them.

A suit for work gets Le Labo Lavande 31, the same as my everyday daytime wear. A suit for a date night gets Dior Sauvage. Same suit, different scent, because the occasion has changed even if the clothes have not.

It is the same idea all the way through. The watch strap, the shoes, the scent and the clothes should all be saying the same thing about where you are going.

Layering in the heat

If you live somewhere hot, layering is difficult. It is still doable.

What works for me is a thin inner tank top with a thin outer layer over it, like a light collared shirt. You get the look of a layered outfit without dressing for weather you do not have.

The other advantage of a hot climate is simply that you can get much more use out of shorts — provided they fit, which brings me to my mistake.

The waist, and the shorts that failed

The fit problem I am dealing with these days is the waist on trousers and shorts. I am very much in favor of high-waisted trousers and shorts. To my eye they look nicer, and they fit better.

Here is the mistake I made. I bought shorts that were not tight enough around the waist. I did not think about it when I tried them on. I definitely needed one size smaller.

So here is the test I use now, and I would recommend it to anyone:

• Always try them on. Never buy shorts or trousers on size alone.
• Load your pockets with everything you normally carry. Phone, wallet, keys, the full kit.
• Then jump. If they slip, they are too loose, and you need them tighter.

It feels slightly ridiculous in a changing room. It is less ridiculous than spending a day hitching up your shorts.

Clearing out

When I changed how I dressed, I did not keep everything. Some of the old clothes stayed, but a lot of it I had to throw away, because it simply no longer fit.

I changed how I dressed around the same time I got fitter, and that is when it happens. My friend Jason went through the same thing: his old clothes stopped making sense once the shape under them had changed. Do not keep things that no longer fit on the hope that one day they will. Make room for clothes that fit the person you are now.

Where to start

• Pick two or three colors you love and buy mostly within them.
• Wear plain tees in those colors. No graphics.
• Buy basics somewhere affordable. They wear out, and a plain tee is a plain tee.
• Tailor the things meant to fit close: suits and collared shirts.
• Spend on shoes, if you only spend in one place.
• Change the details, not the whole outfit. One watch with different straps goes a long way.
• Try shorts and trousers on with your pockets full, and jump.
• Clear out what no longer fits.

None of this is complicated, which is the point. Like the three products I tell everyone to start with, a small number of things done well beats a wardrobe full of things you never wear.