The Essential Rules of Style Part 1

Styles change every season. Round toe shoes may be popular now, but the square toe shoes that everyone hates may be the next "in thing" in six months. Trying to follow today's style trends is insane to say the least. Not to mention, we're men here, we aren't fashionistas. We're guys who do guy stuff who just want to look good doing it. So, here is part one of my Essential Rules of Style (in no particular order). If you follow these rules all of the time, you'll be well on your way to becoming a real man of style.

1: Own a Suit
     You're a man. You need one. Make it something dark like a navy blue, black, or charcoal and keep it simple.
     People tell me that they don't need a suit. They say that they don't ever go to anything that they need to wear one too. That's a fallacy. You do go to places were you'll need one. You'll find yourself going to weddings, funerals, nice dinners, parties, church events, the list goes on.

The Ultimate Man - See what he's wearing?

     When you wear a suit, people will be more apt to take you seriously. Lawyers, business executives, and politicians all wear suits and, for the most part, are all respected. When you wear a suit you look like you took the time to look nice and people, especially women, will appreciate it.
     Someone once said to me that they don't need a suit because they never intend on having a job that they'll need one for. That's all fine and great, but don't expect to ever make any money if you want to go to work in jeans and a t-shirt every day.
     While we're on the topic of dressing up, you should learn to tie a tie. Google it. It's not difficult. You aren't 12. Guys who know how to tie ties get tired of having to tie 20 of them every time their friends dress up because their friends don't know how. Just learn how to do it, ok?
When you wear a suit you'll feel more confident. You'll look more confident. You'll look better. Trust me.

2: Wear Clothes that Fit
     I hope I don't sound like a jerk with these posts, but you need to make sure that the clothes you wear actually fit. You can own the nicest suit in the world, but if it doesn't fit, you'll look worse than the guy in well fitting jeans and a t-shirt.
     I'm not saying that you have to always have your clothes tailored, but they need to fit. That means no sagging pants. They call it underwear for a reason. You don't look cool. You look like a four year old wearing his daddy's clothes, or like someone who is just plain too stupid to buy the right size pants and/or wear a belt. You don't look like a man, you look like a boy.
     That also means that really tight clothes are out. You know that guy we all make fun of at the bars who wears his shirt too tight? Do you want to be him? Do you want everyone to think that you're trying too hard? That goes for skinny jeans too. Women like men who look like men. They don't like guys who look like they are wear women's clothing.

3: Dress Appropriately
     At some point in the last few years, the trend has gone away from looking good to looking unique. Sometimes that's cool. Most of the time it's not. Dressing down for a formal doesn't make you look unique, it makes you look like you didn't know that people wear suits to formals. Your date puts the time into dressing nicely, you should too. Khakis are for golf and church, not for formal events.
     There's a difference between dressing with pizzazz and looking like an idiot. That doesn't mean there aren't ways to show you personality off. We'll discuss these concepts more on this site at a later date, but the rule of thumb here is that less is more. You want people to notice you and how good you look, not how unique you look.

A Very Basic Toga

   This isn't so much a rule of style, but it goes with dressing appropriately. If you are invited to party where there is a theme, go with the theme. You may think you'll look like an idiot wearing a Leisure suit, but you'll look a lot worse if you are the only one at a 70's party not dressing in the right clothes. One more thing, you do own a toga. It's called a bed sheet. No one actually goes out and buys a toga. If you are too cool to dress in costume, than you're "too cool" to go to the party.

More rules soon!