Please keep in mind when looking at most of these photos, they are taken from the runways in Milan and Paris. The fashions are exaggerated, the looks are fierce, but not realistic for your average guy. Just like us girls, most of us won't dress exactly like the models on the runway, BUT we'll take these looks and tweak them to adjust to our age and figure.
What's out:
Jeans with a lot of detail on them, i.e. True Religion jeans or anything like them. See picture below. I don't know when True Religion and Ed Hardy hit the streets, but all of a sudden I am seeing guys with these jeans, paired with an Ed Hardy shirt, EH hat, EH jacket and too much silver jewelry, shoes with a ton of design on them and funky glasses. It looks silly. Keep these pieces to a minimum. If you own these pieces, you probably paid a lot for them and you don't want to toss them. So please, wear one item at a time, NOT together. You look like you are trying too hard to be hip and it looks silly.
What's in: The classic look, tailored, not flashy, embroidery to a minimum, clean lines, slim slacks, clothes that actually fit you. Dark on Dark, no pastels. Not over sized jeans - you are not a rap artist, stop with the baggy jeans. If you are slim enough to tuck shirts in.....believe it or not, tuck it baby.
The trench coat:
Dark or light in color, light or thick in material, casual or dressy. One thing to remember when shopping for all clothes: Please make sure they fit. That means the seam on the shoulder lines up with the edge of your shoulder. If the shoulder seem is over your shoulder, the jacket is too big. Also, if you can wrap the coat around you, meaning if the buttons don't JUST meet, then it's too big. Men tend to dress in clothes that are oversized. If you are short,big clothes make you look shorter, if you are heavy, it makes you look heavier. Stop dressing like a rap star. Notice the pants in the pictures, no wide legs here. Also, a nice pair of boots, not cowboy boots and no boots with emblems on them please.
Double breasted suit:
If you are in need of a suit, this is it. It's so tailored, slim pants, shiny well made shoes, yummy. This is a sharp look. Again, no pastels please. And, please make sure you are fitted correctly. Nothing looks worse than an oversized suit on a man.
Henley
The Henley is in, it's basically a thermal shirt with buttons. But again, notice, it's not 3 sizes too big. Now if you have a pot belly, you should not tuck this in. Notice his jeans, THEY FIT!!!! you can see his thighs and I bet you could see his butt from the back (we girls like that). I know what most of you are thinking, "if I dress like this I will look gay". This is not so. Now, I have nothing against gay men, I love gay men. But I do know you straight, macho men are terrified of "looking gay". Well as long as you don't wear hot pink, tuck your pants into your boots or show your midriff, you will not look "gay". Trust me.
Fatigue Jacket
Love this look!!! Love the guy in the grey jacket......sorry I got off track. OK back to fashion.
This jacket comes in many styles, long or short - I prefer the long. But if you are short, get the short one. It comes in heavy cotton, almost as thick as jean material, leather, suede or light cotton. You can get a few of these for fall/winter. Just make sure they look very different from each other. It's basically a cargo jacket. Just make sure it does not have a million buttons, snaps or hanging ties.
Again, notice, the pants fit and are slim.
Slim slacks for the following: Short men that are not overweight, men up to about 6'2 who are not overweight. If you don't fit in this category then the opposite applies: your pants should still fit your waist, butt and thighs, the width of the pants should be the same from the thigh on down to your ankle, do NOT let the pants taper down from the knees and get slim.
We'll attack shoes on the next blog entry.
Now this maybe a little overwhelming for you. I notice that once a man gets into a style, he stays with it forever and it's almost impossible for him to venture out into a new look. My advice, shop with me or go to a men's clothing store and just start trying some of these items on, ask for help (hard for you men, I know) and just see if you can picture yourself in some new threads. Don't buy anything right away (again, hard for you men, you usually go in, buy it and leave).
Change it up!!!!
