The first thing people notice about you is your clothes. Unfortunately, too many men settle for dirty jeans and a graphic T-shirt. If you lined up twenty men, you could swap their clothes onto each other and nobody would notice a change. That, need to change. Men know about Style. Men know how to look good, what they look good in, and how to wear it. The main barrier is that men don’t know the difference between Fashion and Style. Fashion and style are different. They’re different words, and for a reason. Fashion changes decade to decade (and sometimes year to year). Just look at the 90’s hypercolor fad, or big hair from the 80’s, or everyone’s obsession with skinny jeans in the 2000’s. Fashion is fleeting, pointless and wasteful.
Style, though, style is fluid, and eternal. Style is unique to you, completely personalized, and can make you stand out from a hundred people.
Style is what we focus on, what we pursue and what we focus on. So how to get started? It’s easy, actually, you just need to know where to start.
Learn from the best:
Open Google, or a magazine, something with pictures, doesn’t matter what. Second? Think on a celebrity you like, someone who every time you see them, you think ‘dang, that guy looks amazing!’ Now, pay attention to what they’re wearing, how they wear it, how it fits. Most of those guys have professional stylists, image consultants, and high-end hairstylists. You have pictures of them, letting you borrow all that hard work. You’re looking to move away from the jeans and t-shirts, and start embracing the massive, open-ended world of men’s style, and your celebrity look is your touchstone. Chances are, in a few years, you’ll grow past it, but for now, that’s what you’re trying to emulate, as you learn how colors and patterns and fabrics all work together to show everyone who you are without you needing to say a word.
Elevate the basics:
So, you’re trying to move past having a uniform of jeans, t-shirts, and maybe a hoodie for colder weather. But you have no idea where to start. The pictures you’ve clipped out or saved to your phone help, but you don’t want to walk into a Macy’s and “Make me look like this!” So where do you start? Take what you have, what you know and upgrade it.
Jeans: You already know your size and what fits, and that’s half the battle. Make them look better by A: Keeping them clean, and B: Get dark. Darker blue denim (not black) helps bump up the formality, allowing you to easily wear them with any color T-shirts, polo shirts, button-up shirts, jackets and blazers. Lighter blue denim limits you just lighter-colored tops, and more informal ones. Darker is good, so go out and find a well-fitted pair in the darkest blue you can find. I’ve found decent pairs at Wal-Mart for $12, or if you’ve got the money to spend, you can get a pair of selvedge denim for $200, and anything in between.
Shirts: Get rid of the graphic tees. They’re fine around the house, or in the gym, but as an underlayer, or your primary layer, you’re forgettable. Plain colors or light heathering tees. Look at henley shirts, they fit like tees, but have a row of buttons to add a little visual interest, plus they can be used as a standalone layer, or an underlayer. Look at polo shirts, they can be dressed up or down with the addition of nicer material, a blazer, dress pants, what have you. Look at button-up shirts, leave them partially unbuttoned for a casual look, roll the sleeves up, add a tie, add patterns, add bright colors, they’re incredibly variable and that’s what you’re looking for, something interchangeable. I’d strongly recommend having a decent white dress shirt and a decent blue dress shirt, because you can mix and match those two endlessly.
Pants: Embrace the khaki, it’s not just for office wear. They’re great during the summer months, they can easily add some old-school charm to your wardrobe, and they’ll help set you apart from the masses who never learned there are pants beyond jeans and sweatpants.
Trousers: A single pair of grey wool trousers is one of the best investments you can get for business casual wear. They’re amazing in the colders months, easy to pair with pretty much any dressier shirt, look great under a blazer and an overcoat, and are pretty comfortable to wear.
Jackets: Learn about blazers, sport coats and how to wear leather. The more layers you can comfortably add to an outfit, the better you’re going to look, the more memorable you’re going to be, and the more heads you’ll turn.
Style is not complicated, your focus in on interchangeability. Pants you can wear with multiple outfits, shirts you can wear in different settings without sticking out, jackets that are comfortable year round. Keep it simple, keep it clean, and keep it looking good.
