Simple Style Tips

In your professional opinion, what does Reddit’s “Male Fashion Advice” community do right and wrong?

For this question I’ve spoken about men’s fashion forums in general, but this also applies to Reddit’s Male Fashion Advice forum.

I find that it’s too rigid, but it isn’t MFA’s fault. It’s great for guys who don’t know much about style and want to develop a basic understanding. But when you are teaching men like that how to appreciate clothing, you need to be quite strict, rigid, methodical in your approach. That’s why you’ll see a photo of a guy who looks quite good in his chinos and shirt and jacket, and a slurry of comments saying “It doesn’t fit perfectly! Take it to a tailor!”.

In real life, no one really notices that stuff. No one goes to a tailor as much as they should, either. That’s how I operate as well. Sure, I’m a stylist, I wear a lot of formal jackets and pocket squares and whatnot. But I also ride a bike (often in these clothes, into the city on my way to meet clients) and get helmet hair, sweaty and unkempt. There is a big distinction between the ‘ideal’ man we try to be when we get ready in the morning, and the man that we actually are in our day to day lives.

MFA’s kinda like that too. It has an ideal it tries to attain, 99% of the people giving said advice won’t dress like that though (nor do they conform to those rules themselves). To me, one of the best parts about being a man (and a fashion man) is that dichotomy; being able to take pride in my appearance, get dressed up, then realise that I’m not a 19th century dandy, not an ultra-delicate fop – and then I trash my clothes and go play basketball.

What do you think about the jeans/no jeans with sports coats thing. Personally I find if you get a nice pair of darker jeans it works well but the traditional blue jean is normally a no go. Would you limit this to blazer and up?

Wearing jeans with sports coats depends on how far you want to bend the rules with style and traditional dress. Rules like ‘never wearing jeans with sports coats’ are good for guys who don’t know any better, but they don’t actually mean anything. I wear sport coats/blazers with jeans all the time – granted, they’re well fitted jackets and slim, dark jeans.

What you shouldn’t wear is a suit jacket with jeans. These are generally longer and more conservative than blazers/sport coats and are really only designed to be worn with suit pants.

 

I just recently graduated from high school two weeks ago and have what I believe to be a pretty good collection of basics. I’m interested in what sorts of things you things you’d suggest to the younger crowds like high school/college students, or if it would be a relatively similar sentiment to all age groups.

The one thing I find the most difficult at my age is having a very restricted budget, partially because of my lack of any real income and partially because my two biggest hobbies (video games and anime) are so goddamn expensive.

Anyways, I really am curious to see how much your advice differs based on the age of the person.

First off, you’re at a great age to start developing an interest and gathering fashion advice – the younger you are, the weirder stuff you can do and no one bats an eye. My business partner used to wear purple velvet jumpsuits with his name embroidered on the back when we were 18.

I’m 24 now. If I dressed like I do now when I was 18, I’d look like a kid trying to be old, ya know? A lot of it has to do with how you wear things; rolling sleeves, leaving shirts untucked, wearing big baggy jackets/jumpers with skinny jeans. These are all non-conservative styles. As you get older, the conservatism starts to be more fitting and you’ll wear the exact same items in different ways.

But the fact that you even have an interest in dressing well as an (I’m assuming) 18 year old means that you’ll automatically be better dressed than nearly all of your peers. Now is the time for honing your tastes, really analysing different styles and discerning what you like, what you don’t like, and what you want your style to be like. Hopefully you make a shitton of mistakes – because that’s the most fun part about it!

Also, small tip: Don’t ever, ever take fashion advice from anyone in the pickup/dating scene. Most of my job is spent rehabilitating guys who’ve been told that white faux leather square toed dress shoes will get them into clubs and make girls really attracted to them.

What are your thoughts on boots (such as Red Wing Iron Rangers/Wolverine 1000 Miles) with skinny jeans?

It depends how skinny your jeans are and what type of boots . I have a pair of iron rangers and wear them with 3sixteen Slim Tapered (which, contrary to what you’d expect, aren’t very slim or tapered (from the calf down, that is), and they look great. If I wear them with my Nudie Grim Tims, though – or any pant that has a skinny leg – they look odd. Those boots have a fairly bulbous/fat toe and require a pair of pants of relatively similar width.

Skinny jeans – slim toed shoes. A pair of Chucks is probably as fat as you want to go with pants like these, I wear em with slim dress shoes myself.

Relaxed/tapered/looser jeans – larger-toed shoes. As above, I can’t wear my 3Sixteens with my slim dress shoes, they look really weird. I have a pair of Lloyds that have a wider profile and look far better with this style of pant.

Do you tailor (pun totally intended) style to you clients’ individual personalities? If so, how?

Yep, we definitely tailor style to our clients individual personalities. I mean, it varies from person to person, it’s really just a matter of trying to get to know them as much as possible, understanding what their everyday-style-challenges are, that sort’ve thing. We try to help them develop their own tastes – because that’s really what it’s all about. Finding stuff that you’re comfortable wearing, developing your own sense of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.

Other times a guy will come to me and say “Hey, I’m a business analyst but I’m really into BDSM/leather/heavy metal.” The gent in question wore button downs and a very, very conservative business style, but had a hot tub in his bedroom, leather whips and chains and all the rest. Goal for him was to get a style that kinda encapsulated both, and now he wears a lot of dark and drapey stuff that works much better for him.

How did you get into your profession (become a men’s stylist specifically)? Do you work for a company or for yourself? I don’t need any fashion advice, but I’d love to hear about your background and the like.

This is a question we get all the time. I studied psychology and sociology at university and developed a strong interest in perception and social interactions. Big fan of Goffman and Bauman, my personal intellectual heroes. My business partner, Julian, was a model.

As ridiculous as it sounds, one time a guy at a party said he loved my style and asked me to teach him how to dress. Kinda just grew organically from there, we noticed that the only personal stylists in our city/country are middle aged women. We decided to start something for guys who wanted to understand what was cool. Our niche is that we get the issues that men face with dressing well, and explain style to them in a simple, easy-to-follow way.

We run our own business, full time. We’re about to hire some employees to deal with the demand, so things are going great!

Which client has had the biggest transformation? What’s your biggest success story? I mean in terms of biggest turnaround you have achieved with someone trying to improve their style, and how it improved their life.

I love this question. First of all, I think it goes without saying that we regard all of our clients as being pretty successful. Being able to identify men’s fashion as a problem-area and purposefully go out and fix it is something to be admired, and takes a lot of guts.

With that in mind, the biggest transformation was probably one guy who went from literally one of the worst dressed men I’ve ever seen to the editor of a men’s fashion/culture magazine. Another client went from wearing really tacky guido-esque clothing to falling in love with Vivienne Westwoode. Comme des Garcons, Tom Ford and other high end designers. One of the best dressed men I know. Another had pretty ok taste to begin with but just had no idea how to put stuff together, nor how to tell if clothes fit. He’s an Asian guy and now I see him around town from time to time and think “holy shit, he’s way cooler than me”.

It’s not always a huge change, often it’s just simple things like finding the right jeans and t-shirts. All my clients get a massive boost of confidence, and to me that’s a mark of a job well done.

What are the best clothes for bodybuilders? Best fitting shirts/jackets/sweaters for guys with an 8-10 inch drop (V shaped torso)? What brands do you think offer the best quality for my dollar (not necessarily cheap, just high quality to dollar ratio)

There are things that, due to being in Australia, I can’t really comment on. Lots of US specific brands fall into this category, as they simply aren’t available here and I’ve never experienced them.

I have had clients who were body builders in the past, and the biggest thing for them was tailoring. Whenever something fit at the shoulder, it was MASSIVE at the waist. Even in athletic-fit jackets and shirts tailoring was required, so this is just a fact of life with this body type – although garments with an athletic fit had a far slimmer waist so look for this on labels.

A lot of Italian labels understand this body type well. Dior’s athletic shirts are tremendous (and Dior’s factory in Italy do white labelling of their shirts – so you’ll often find that high end menswear stores have ‘in-house’ brands that are essentially the same thing. Harrolds in Melbourne and Sydney do this, if anyone reading is in a similar predicament and doesn’t want to spend $400 on a shirt (their in-house shirts are around $225)).

Brands with quality? That’s a big question because there are so many. Any workwear company that has a fashionable design falls into this category (LL Bean, Red Wing, Wolverine (just their 1000 Mile boots, personally hate everything else they produce)). These focus on rugged durability and are made to last – often very well priced. My Iron Rangers, after a year of nearly-daily wear, still look and feel brand new.

Hey!

I was wondering if you could give me any tips, on two things. (16 yr old here, btw)

First of all, The pics: http://imgur.com/a/M7CVh

* 1: The two pics of me in Tshirt and shorts

Thoughts? It’s my default outfit now that summer is here, and I would appreciate any pointers. I’m trying to stay away from graphic tees, but I can’t redo my entire wardrobe immediately, sadly.

* 2: The pic of me in a tank top

I’m a rather skinny guy (6 ft, 130 lbs), and I enjoy wearing tank tops and such (in appropriate situations, such as the beach, obv), but I’m not sure if I have the body for it. Should I just stick to Crew and V necks?

Thanks for the answering!

Hey mate. First off, I understand it’s difficult to buy new stuff when you’re 16. Here’s what I would work on:

1. You look pretty tall. I can see those sleeves on your tee are quite long yet only reach halfway down your bicep. Be aware that as a tall, skinny guy the best thing you can do is fill out your chest/shoulders so that they’re bigger than your waist. This is best achieved using jackets. Somewhere else in this thread I posted a photo of myself in a sport coat. I have a similar body shape to yours (6’3″, 75kg, relatively muscular body, low body fat, high hips). Jackets really help for this, especially when there’s some padding in the shoulders.
2. Tank top: It’s too short. As a tall guy you want your tops to come down at least a few inches lower, around where your jeans pockets are would be a better length.
3. The shorts scream “teenager”. Which is fine, because you’re a teenager, but try to get something in a solid colour if you want a little more sophistication/style.
4. Same goes for your jeans. Grey jeans aren’t very formal, nor versatile. You’ll look far better in darker jeans (black or deep indigo). Unbranded (available on Urban Outfitters) have some nice raw indigo denim for around $80.
5. Shorts are a little too baggy/tuby. You’ve got thin legs, the bagginess of the shorts doesn’t really suit them. Something a little slimmer will show them off far better.

Hope that helps!

I’m someone who’d rather learn and understand something themselves rather than have others tell them what to do.

 

Having said that:

 

How do I learn about cool hair styles for men? With clothes there are a ton of resources out there but there seems to be very few places where beginners can go and learn about products and styles and terminology.

 

At the moment I just have my usual hair cut shorter. I want to actually try different things but I’m clueless and it doesn’t seem apparent where I can learn. Judging from the amount of posts on mfa asking for hairstyles and the lacklustre status of the r/malehairadvice this seems to be a common problem.

Hair for men is so tricky. 99% of men can instantly look better by getting the bulk out of their back and sides (hence why I’ve suggested it so much here). More than that though, you’ll learn the most by observation. Look at models, and especially at American Crew’s models. They do competitions every year for hair stylists, and you’ll see what the industry considers “good” haircuts for different face shapes.

When you look at a guy, don’t think “He looks good”. Instead:

1. Consider his face shape. How does his hair style compliment this?
2. Look at the back and sides of his hair. How long/short is it?
3. From the front-on, what is the general silhouette of the hairstyle? (imagine drawing a line around the outside edge of the hair). Is this a pleasing shape?
4. What kind of weight/texture/lift does the hair have?

Really, the most important person here is you. You want to find the best hair style for yourself, so you need to consider all of those things in other guys’ hair styles and determine for yourself whether or not they’re gonna suit you.

I’m shopping for a pair of dress shoes. Should they have round or square toes?

The first thing to understand is the foot, and the ideal foot shape. Hard lines and corners just aren’t pleasing shapes for a human foot to have. Anything fat, hard-edged, wide or flipper-esque is a no-go as it clashes with just about any outfit you could possible imagine.

In short: Rounded, never ever square-toed. Hard lines and corners just aren’t pleasing shapes for a human foot to have. Squared-off toes like these:

http://www.details.com/blogs/daily-details/square_toed_shoes_blog_main.jpg

look clompy and inelegant, like they were made to be worn my a platypus. Something like this:

would be much, much nicer. Hope that helps!

As a man, how can I find “timeless” clothes?

“Timeless” is a pretty broad term. Do you mean clothes that will look good today, in 10 years and in 50 years?
If so, really the only thing I can say is invest in clothes that fit you. Well-fitting clothes never go out of style. Specific pieces that will always look good? A good pair of dress shoes (Allen Edmonds’ Park Avenues are a pretty classic shape) will be the least likely thing to go out of style.
Things like blazers, trench coats and the like – the cut, fit and style of these change all the time (sure, your grandfather had a trench coat, but it is far, far different from trench coats being made today!). I’d worry less about ‘timeless’ and more about quality; what’s going to last for 10 years? And are there any “trendy” embellishments on the clothes that affix it in a specific point in time? (e.g. blazers that have Ed Hardy-esque prints on them – clearly bought around 2002).

what about us who live in warmer climates like Brazil, San Diego and Dubai. what should we be wearing on a daily basis?

Here in Melbourne, in summer it gets up to 42*C, so I know your pain. We don’t get the humidity.

Contrary to popular belief, wearing less clothes in summer doesn’t necessarily make you cooler. If you’re outside, especially, the sun is hitting your skin directly and warms it up. You remain much cooler if you wear full-length clothing in a light colour, that reflects the suns rays and keeps them off your skin.

So in a sense, This style:

is exactly right. Exactly the reasons why you see everyone wearing white linen suit in Colonial-era films set in Dubai, Morocco, Egypt and the like.

But how do you make it stylish? Here’s what I suggest:

* Light colours, for god’s sake. They reflect sunlight so much better. Whites, creams and light blues do the trick well.
* Invest in some well-fitting, slim chinos. ASOS do a house-brand chino for around $30 that is really light-weight (this is actually because they’re quite poorly made, but it’s a big benefit to guys who live in warmer climates because they keep the sun off without being too warm. If they fall apart at the seams it’s actually a really easy repair).
* Wear shoes that allow you to go sockless/near-sockless. This keeps your ankle cool and gives a nice little updraft of air up your leg every time you walk.
* If nowhere near you sells invisible socks, you should invest in a company that does so and make millions. They keep your shoes from getting sweaty and gross but still allow your ankle to be free of sock.
* Shoes that can be worn sockless include anything that has a nice low profile to it. Boat shoes (pictured above) are a great example of this, they’re really low-cut and look far better sockless than with socks. Sperry make the ‘original’ boat shoes and they do it quite well for the price.
* If you’re wearing full-length pants, you can wear any other shoe sockless. Personally, I wear my chinos with Clarks Desert Boots, sockless. The boot is quite wide around the laces and top of the shoe so air flows around your feet nicely, not to mention they look good and are comfortable as shit!
* Shirts – I’m a big fan of wearing a singlet (or vest/tank top/whatever you call this locally) with an unbuttoned shirt on top. Keeps the sun off your body, but as you walk around the air flows around your torso and it feels fantastic. This is a must if you ever ride a bike in the heat, it’s like having a fan on your body the whole time you’re riding.

Unfortunately my Google-Fu skills aren’t working this morning, so I can’t find a good picture of the last point, but this is vaguely what I mean: . Have the shirt completely unbuttoned (and just have a plain, white/grey singlet on underneath). If you have a lot of chest hair beware that this look will show it off, so grooming/trimming might be in order.

Hope that helps!

What 5 items of clothing are a must have for every man’s wardrobe? Thanks! Also, what is the best way to wear braces for a 23 year old man. I’m thinking blue chinos, white shirt, blue braces, and back shoes?

The outfit you just described is a pretty textbook 70s post-mod-kinda-skinhead British Street Style look. What this documentary, you’ll probably like it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsAwqT61Gzg

I’d wear with brown boots personally, and roll the cuffs up to show off the boot, and also roll your shirt sleeves up. That’s if you want to go with that style though, if not – don’t wear braces!

My 5 essential items are:

• Clean, slim, dark jeans (deep indigo or black)
• Brown dress shoes
• A navy or charcoal blazer
• A solid collection of plain, basic t-shirts
• A SLIM pair of khaki-coloured chinos. Think Dockers Alpha Khakis, versus old-man-pleated-business-casual chinos.

Every man would do well to start there, which forms the building blocks for a really cool wardrobe. Standard disclaimer of “everything you wear will look terrible if it doesn’t actually fit!” still applies.

Blue Owl Workshop is a great place to source your jeans from, they have excellent customer service (I think some of them are Redditors as well) and all of their jeans are really great.

Here’s a little-known tip: Revolve Clothing give 30% off if it’s your first time buying from there. I assume this applies to your whole order and not just one individual item, so if you have a bunch of things you want to buy, do it all at once (if you’ve got the budget).

http://www.revolveclothing.com/Brands.jsp?search=naked+and+famous

That’s N&F on revolve, I like the Weird Guy cut best but I’d try them on locally if possible. Heaps of places stock naked and famous in the US and Canada. $158 – 30% brings you down to $110 which is an absolute steal.

There’s some info about it here:http://www.reddit.com/r/frugalmalefashion/comments/rkxge/30_off_for_new_customers_at_revolve_clothing_not/

Basically you have to pay the full price but then they’ll refund 30% when you call them.

In the super-cheap range, you’ve got Unbranded denim:

http://www.theunbrandedbrand.com/denim/ub201/

As far as I know, Naked and Famous make these, they’re selvedge and good quality for the price. Nowhere near as nice denim as N&F’s real stuff though, but for $80 you’re not gonna find anything better. The cuts aren’t amazing, so I’d have them taken in by a tailor/someone who has a sewing machine. Remember to size down 1 (so if you wear a 31, buy a 30) because raw denim stretches a LOT. It’ll be quite uncomfortable for the first week or so of wear but then it’ll fit like a glove.

What are some of the staples that every guy should have? I tend to “dress up” a lot, but I only have one 3-piece suit. I also have a weeks worth of dress shirts and dress pants, along with one pair of dress shoes.

I just moved to NYC, and I will soon be overhauling my wardrobe. That being said, shopping is intimidating to me, as I’m 6’8″ and very thin. Any tips for brands or places to look into for when I go through with updating my closet?

Hello fellow tall man! I’m 6’3″ so don’t have quite the same problems as you will, but here’s my advice:

• First, you’re facing two problems here: (1) Having a lacklustre wardrobe/limited knowledge of what to buy, and (2) not knowing how to dress for your body type. The former is easy with a quick trip over to /r/malefashionadvice. The latter is a lot harder, but I’ll do my best to help briefly here.
• Lengths are the most important things for you. Your sleeves (jackets, shirts, jumpers) and your pants length MUST be long enough, otherwise you’ll look like a giant who is unable to find clothes that fit his enormous body. Whenever you buy jackets, look for the ‘long’ version of them (as in, the size will be “48l” (versus 48r (regular) and 48s (short))).
• For pants, the unit you’re concerned with is the inseam. This is the length from the cuff of the pants to your crotch, and is 32in on standard pants. Sometimes you can find pants with a 34″ inseam (especially easy if you do online shopping ASOS sells heaps of 34 inseam pants, as so L.L. Bean and many others). That’s theminimum pant length that you need to go.
• If you’re buying jeans, man, go pick up some 3Sixteens. They have a 39″ inseam, it’s crazy. Like I said I’m 6’3″ and I have to roll these things up at least 4-5 times to get the to the bottom of my shoe. Good quality selvedge denim will always be long, that’s just the style, becasue they’re made to be worn stacked (that is, lots of fabric breaks around your ankles). The benefit for tall guys is that they’re long as shit and look perfect on you!
• If you can afford it, get a made to measure shirt. I don’t mean an online store that does a m2m shirt for $50, I mean one that someone measures you for and makes one specifically for you. This will cost at least $200 but it varies from location to location. I’d get one done localy and then use that as the basis for online made to measure shirts, you can just measure that one and have people copy it in different fabrics/different cuffs/different collars.

That’s some quick and simple tall guy advice. The ‘not knowing what to wear’ part, I’d refer you on to Reddit’s “Male Fashion Advice” section. They’re gonna tell you to get another suit (one that’s not a 3-piece, at the very least!) and can give you tips on how to dress it up/dress it down, what kinds of ties/pocket squares/shirts will look good and so on and so forth. Make sure you post some pictures though!

I am a 15-year-old straight male who, within this past year, began to find interest in how I dress. I enjoy shopping for clothes and finding a garment that I really like. Typically I try to dress with a balance of my youth and style, so an example that I like is an oxford shirt with a thin cardigan and slim (not skinny) jeans with some adidas and a baseball cap. I’m thinking of changing my style to one or the other, lately. Do you have any suggestions?

Aside from that, I also think that your job is very cool and was wondering how you got into the business of dressing other people (apologies if this has already been asked.) Thank you.

I wish I was interested in thus stuff when I was 15. You sound like you’re dressing fine, but when you’re young you can get away with some really crazy stuff. So my advice would be to (1) learn as much as you can. Go on /r/malefashionadvice and learn about the Americanised conception about how clothes are “supposed” to look, the (2) start developing your tastes a little bit more. In fashion, taste is everything. You need to be able to have a strong aesthetic sense that permeates what you wear, what you buy and how you wear things. And then experiment as much as possible.

There are lots of great resources out there. For a younger style I’d suggest checkout out the Supertalk/Superfuture forums, I love the way those guys dress (just work your way backwards in the What Are You Wearing Today thread I linked, or explore the rest of the site). Don’t get too caught up in shirts, ties and sport coats, it’s far too stuff for a 15 year old. Learn about it, know how to use them, but don’t feel like you have to dress like you’re older than you are. Most 25 year olds try to dress like 15 year olds, and will be jealous of what you can get away with that they can’t.

I did tell the story of how I got started here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/wfx70/i_teach_men_how_to_dress_for_a_living_ama/c5d1vmb

But it was written while sleep-deprived so isn’t particularly articulate. I’ve had a lot of amazing stuff come my way because of this job. A lot of people say that we’ve been lucky or that they wish they could do what we do – but I can tell you first hand, the only thing we did was take crazy chances wherever possible.

If you’re interested in starting up a niche business like mine I’d suggest reading The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris (don’t, like so many, fall into the trap of thinking “well this doesn’t apply to me”; there are lots of lessons to be learned from the book, it’s basically just about how to start a good, lean, low-maintenance business. Don’t get too tied up in the whole “I’m only gonna work 4 hours a week” thing though!), as well as reading a summery of the E-Myth revisited. Don’t bother with the whole book, it’s long and stuffy and quite boring. The important parts are all here:

http://www.squeezedbooks.com/articles/the-e-myth-revisited-why-most-small-businesses-dont-work-and-what-to-do-about-it.html

I am a man who absolutely no sense of style, no fashion sense, nothing. I don’t know how clothes are supposed to fit, I don’t know what looks good, I just kind of blindly pick out clothes and hope for the best. Where do I start?

Aside from hiring a personal stylist like me to teach you everything and take you through a style transformation, forgive the shameless plug, but read my book. It’s specifically made for guys like you who are essentially starting from a blank slate.

To form the building blocks of men’s style, what you need to learn about is:

* Fit
* Colour
* Quality
* How to dress well while embracing minimalism
* The difference between good and bad styles (what makes something lame and gaudy vs cool, for example)
* How to go shopping – what to do when you walk into a clothing store, how to interact with sales assistants, how to test and try on clothes, what you’re actually looking for

You also need to learn how to go into your current wardrobe and sort through it; how to determine what clothes to keep and what to chuck away. That way, you can determine where the holes in your wardrobe are and find ways to fill them with cooler clothes.

As suggested below, Reddit’s “male fashion advice” section is a good resource for this. They’ve got basic “$100 starter kits” with links to clothes to buy, to start with in your wardrobe you should have:

* 2 shirts – a blue and a white
* A pair of brown shoes, a brown brogue is most versatile
* A pair of dark denim jeans. Deep indigo or black. Naked & Famous are the best value for money, their deep indigo wash is great, as is their black jean.
* A bunch of basic tees. MFA guys like the Mossimo tees at Target, I’ve never tried them myself as they’re not available in Australia
* A navy blazer. Budget $100 extra to take the jacket to the tailor after you buy it, no jacket fits straight off the rack.
* A pair of chinos, either in navy or khaki. I like [Dockers Alpha Chinos](http://us.dockers.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11587242&cp=2271557.11818030&parentPage=family), they’re cheap, a good cut and good quality fabric and construction.
* If you want a casual shoe, the Clarks Desert Boot in beeswax is a fantastic starter boot. I wear mine with chinos or jeans, sometimes even with dress pants if I’m dressing in a bit of a drapey style.

You’ve probably already got much of this in your wardrobe already – but it likely doesn’t fit properly, or isn’t plain and simple, or has some embellishments that make it less cool and more garish. Understanding the fundamentals of men’s style will help you understand these differences and make major improvements to your wardrobe.

Hope that helps mate, good luck!

How did you get into this business in the first place? Were you interested in fashion from a young age? Was your father in a similar line of work?

Also, what was the career progression like? How did you end up with your own business and a stream of high-end clientele?

Thanks!

I got started styling in late 2009. At the time I had just finished my BSc honours thesis in social psychology, had no experience in fashion whatsoever. A guy who I randomly met at a party said he really liked my style and wanted to pay me to teach him how to dress.

Thus, the business was born.

Literally, that’s how it started. I enlisted the help of my good friend who was a model/worked in fashion retail and we jumped into it by the seat of our pants. A lot of what we’ve done has never been done before/kinda inventing our own industry here so it’s been a really interesting ride.

The higher-end stuff just kinda came naturally. Once we saw Usher walking down the street in Melbourne, noticed he had shopping bags, my partner ran up to him and asked him where he had been/where he was going, and we told him those stores were all shit and we’d show him where all the good stuff was.

His driver was really impressed and we instantly had an in with the chauffeurs for pretty much every high-end artist, businessman, actor who comes to Melbourne. It all just blossomed from there!

There’s obviously a lot more to it than that, and a lot more is happening/developing even to this day. It’s an ongoing process and something that you need to keep working on to really make the job worthwhile. I work 12-15 hour days, but it doesn’t feel like work. I really couldn’t imagine doing anything other than this.

If you want to get started as a stylist, first you need to develop a good business sense. Read about starting businesses (the book, “The E-Myth Revisited” is quite good), Then start learning about fashion. NOT about what’s cool right now, because that isn’t that important. You need to learn how to explain what’s cool, and to predict what is going to be cool in the future. It’s the difference between saying “this jacket is cool”, and saying “this jacket is cool because of xyz, and that works because of abc”.

Fashion is often seen (by people who don’t understand it) as a pretty vapid industry. If you can bring knowledge and intelligence to it, that’s probably the hardest/most important thing of all.

Are guys really that bad at dressing up??

I know I don’t dress or look the sharpest… But I think matching clothes or clothes that look/feel good shouldnt be that hard….

How wrong am I?

Your average everyday guy doesn’t necessarily struggle in front of the mirror for hours on end every day, it’s more that he doesn’t know how to make good style choices for himself. This is most often manifested by wearing ugly and unflattering shoes, ill-fitting suits (especially pants) and just generally wearing things that don’t flatter.

It’s not always like [this](lonelynerdsinfedoras.tumblr.com) though. When you say:

I know I don’t dress or look the sharpest… But I think matching clothes or clothes that look/feel good shouldnt be that hard….

It’s hard for a lot of guys, because it takes a lot of trial and error. Buying clothes that aren’t quite right mean a lot of wasted money, not to mention that shopping for clothes can be quite daunting for guys who aren’t really comfortable with style/fashion/the way they look.

It’s obviously not for everyone, but for guys who want to make some big aesthetic changes it’s quite a valuable service.

So I’m tall and overweight, but I carry it pretty well.

I feel like I’ve outgrown t-shirts, but they make up a large portion of my wardrobe. Outside of them, all I know are button-downs and some basic sweaters that I’m not in love with. What should I know about tops?

I wear jeans pretty much every day. I’m looking for a suggestion on a new dark pair. Any suggestions?

Depending on your height you’ll be looking at jeans with a large inseam (inseam is the length from your cuff to your crotch). Most pants come with a 32″ inseam. Some “taller” pants come with a 34″ inseam, but you have to specify when you order (e.g. if you go to the [Dockers website at their pretty-great Alpha Chinos](http://us.dockers.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11587242&cp=2271557.11818030&parentPage=family), you’ll see sizes marked as 30×34. The first number is always the waist, the second number is always the inseam.)

Some jeans (particularly good quality, raw selvedge denim) come with even large inseams. This is because guys like the denim to stack around their cuffs, or to have thick chunky cuff rolls. Naked and Famous denim all come with a 36″ inseam, IIRC. 3Sixteen come with a 39″ or something ridiculous – I’m 6’3″ and I have to roll them up about 6 times to get them to my ankle. They’re crazy-good quality denim as well.

In short – try Naked & Famous and 3Sixteen. The former is cheaper, and I really only like their “weird guy” cut, but they do heaps of different washes and different weights, and it’s all really good quality selvedge denim. 3Sixteen is more expensive but far superior denim (it is tougher, stronger, will last longer, breaks in better, gets some crazy good fades over time, if that’s your thing).

Both can be readily found in the US, as well as online from places like Blue Owl Workshop. Also available from Revolve Clothing and the like, but always better to support the little guys if the price is the same.

For Overweight Guys:

It’s a big subject (pun not intended), but to generalise:

• Overweight guys are round, especially in the belly and in the shoulder.
• Instead of worrying about old wives tales like “don’t wear horizontal stripes”, you should worry about curves. Avoid anything that clings to your body and lets your natural shape show through – especially around your belly.
• This is best achieved with jackets and blazers – it’s their entire purpose. A good jacket will give you strength and structure across your shoulders and chest, and be tailored to slim your waist. This takes your overweight breadth, and turns it into perceived strength.

Here are some great examples from The Sartorialist:

http://www.thesartorialist.com/my-favorites/on-the-street-fat-bald-man-nyc/[1]

http://www.thesartorialist.com/photos/on-the-street-fat-bald-man-always-looks-great-new-york/[2]

Notice how, in the second photo, the jacket curves inward around his waist? If it clung to his body, it would curve outward (it would bulge, as he’s got a belly). Tailoring purposely offsets this.

Essentially overweight guys have bodies that lack strong structure and definition. The goal is to find clothing that gives your body this structure (like padded jackets and the like), as opposed to clothes that rely on your body to provide the structure (like t-shirts and any other flimsy-fabric that hugs your body).

Here is hardmode! I’m a fat guy. http://imgur.com/a/INJWX What should I do? (Besides the obvious lose weight)

Also I’m cutting my hair off to try and get a job at a golf course, any idea how I should style it? Short hair makes me look nerdy as fuck.

This is a difficult question, so I’m gonna go straight into dot-point mode:

* Whether true or not. overweight guys look like they don’t take care of their bodies (internally)

* 99.999999% of overweight guys also don’t take care of their bodies externally.
* This causes the stereotype where people think that overweight guys are lazy, unkempt, poorly groomed, don’t care about how they look.
* Doesn’t have to be that way. It’s extremely powerful when a guy shirks that stereotype and really takes care of himself. Far more powerful than when a fit guy takes care of himself. Why? Because big guys don’t dress well. If you start dressing well, you massively set yourself apart.

YOUR HAIR

* Short hair will reveal more of your face. Be aware of this. You have less to hide behind.

* You need to add structure to your face. Slim, straight sides and back of your hair will help achieve this. Overweight guys have lots of natural curves – and very few strong, straight lines. Add those strong, straight lines wherever possible (like wearing a good jacket with padded shoulders, this will add perceived strength to your body.
* So short back and sides, give some length on the top. I’d try a combover, it’ll suit the golf course. You’ll feel dorky as fuck but it will look good.
* You could also pull off a beard quite well, but only if it’s immaculately groomed. Most big guys just grow unkempt beards that cover their necks and look ridiculous (look up photos of Shane Koyczan for photos of what not to do). Go to http://beards.org for grooming tips and the like. With great beard comes great responsibility. Might not be suitable for a golf course but could, again, add structure and strength to your face. Zack Galifinakis does this quite well with his beard

I’m 6’6 and really thin. Do you have any tips to compliment such a “lanky” body? Also, are there certain fits I should avoid or make an effort to purchase?

Yep. It’s a big question, but:

• Don’t wear baggy clothes, you want clothes that actually fit your body
• Slim fit shirts and jackets are your friend
• Always be aware of your sleeve lengths. Most jackets/shirts/jumpers will be too short in the sleeve for you, and for tall guys this is one of the worst looks possible – because it looks like your body is so tall that you can’t possibly find clothes that fit you. Most jackets have extra length in the sleeve that a tailor can extend for you.
• Same goes for pant length. You’ll want a 34″ inseam minimum, 36+” inseam if you can find it. As noted elsewhere, good quality raw denim has a longer inseam (3Sixteen and Naked & Famous is what I’ve had (I’m 6’3″) and they’re long as hell, especially 3Sixteen. Something crazy like a 39″ inseam).
• Don’t wear skinny jeans. Slim is fine, skinny is stupid and over-accentuates your lack of weight.
• Jackets with padded shoulders will help, as will thicker fabrics.
• Double breasted coats – like a peacoat – will look good on you. So will trench coats, because they’re long and slim and suit a complementary body type.

I bought your book. Here I was thinking fashion was this complex rocket science subject, but I couldn’t believe how much your book simplified everything. Thanks a lot. My question is: In your experience, what style of clothing do you think most women are attracted to ? I realize that tastes between women vary by demographic obviously, but what if I wanted to maximize my chances of meeting a girl at say, the bar or a club ? Do I go all out or keep it simple like everyone else (boring!) ?

I get asked questions like this all the time, believe it or not. It’s not like food and drink, where I can say “dudes like steak” “women like wine, and mixed drinks”, or that kind’ve thing. If you’re wearing the right clothes, women won’t even notice them – they’ll notice your face, your body, you. That’s what you really want, rather than clothes that draw attention away from your face. (e.g. peacocking, slogan t-shirts, any of that terribly terrible stuff)

If you want an actual answer, I’d say clothes that fit well. For most men, this is very rare; they wear clothes that don’t fit or flatter their body at all.

Thanks for the kind words about the book!

Here’s an album I posted in my ama thread a couple days ago. Any tips would be much appreciated!

Gotcha. For you, there’s one BIG thing you need to be aware of: the sloped shoulder.

Guys who are overweight/have been overweight/are losing weight have a really big problem with this. Compare these two figures (which I just drew on my trackpad, excuse the child-like affectation):

Which of the two looks more ‘masculine’?

The goal with men’s clothing is to broaden the shoulder and slim the waist. Larger men, then, **need** to avoid wearing clothes with sloped shoulders (that is, clothing that clings to their natural frame and doesn’t add any sort of support. Here’s a great example:

Notice how your polo shirt follows your shoulderline and creates a downward slope from your neck to your arm? This is called a ‘weak shoulder’ and should be avoided. Instead, you should be looking for clothing that has structure built into it. Jackets are great for this. For example:

The padding in the shoulder creates a straight shoulder-line which draws the eye outward, then straight down your arms. The effectually broadens the shoulder, makes your body look like an upside-down triangle.

You’ll find that you generally look stronger/more masculine/better when you wear clothes that accentuate your shoulders and slim your waist. Hence, the polo shirt (including the long sleeves that you posted from today) isn’t ideal for you; it adds no structure to your body at all. In fact, the blue long-sleeve polo is a little worse, because it bunches around your waist and gives the impression of extra bulk.

So, in short: Jackets, jackets, jackets.

See how this guy does it:

Big guy, broad shouldered jacket that makes his waist look comparatively quite slim.

Now, in terms of general style, you jacket could use some tailoring. The fabric shouldn’t bunch around the arms like that, and I’m guessing that you never visited an alterer/tailor after you bought it? Always get it tailored after buying! No jacket fits perfectly straight off the rack, for most guys.

While at the tailor I’d ask him to bring in the waist of the jacket a little bit too, to slim your silhouette.

You would definitely benefit from some darker jeans – light jeans have very limited practical use, very hard to dress up and very hard to make look good. By ‘dark jeans’, I mean this dark:

Also I’d avoid the cap. Again, it rounds off your head and brings focus towards the roundness in your body. You want to avoid curved lines at all costs. Weight can be easily redistributed by adding structure, and that’s your primary goal here.

Hope that helps!

I’m short and have a pretty full beard, don’t know whether to keep it. This has peaked my interest. Never really knew what to do in this area, especially with the hair.

The 2nd-4th picture is generally how I dress these days. Any advice/random comments/words of encouragement are appreciated! Thanks!

Cool man. Here are some thoughts:

Photo 1: Beard – big no. Hair is way too unkempt on the sides and sideburns are way too thick/long. Pinstripe jacket (which is too big for you – see how the shoulder hangs over your natural shoulderline) should never be worn with a graphic tee, and never ever worn with light coloured jeans. But you say you no longer dress like this, so moving on!

Photo 2: It might just be the angle of the photo, but your hair/beard here don’t play well off each other. You have quite a bottom-heavy face (your features are all down the bottom, with a large forehead) so it’s important to have a lighter beard (not thick/heavy) as the hair down there will add extra bulk to the bottom of your face and draw attention to the empty space up above. Make sense? T-shirt looks fine (maybe a little tight around the torso, clinging to your belly a bit which makes you look a little overweight, but the sleeve length is spot on). Jeans are too light for my liking, I’d go way darker, like black or indigo.

Photo 3: This looks way better, and the beard looks fine in this photo. Why? Because you have a beanie on, this hides your forehead, adds bulk to the top of your head and evens out the bulk of your beard. Frames you way better. A plain beanie/t-shirt without words on it/darker pants would be better though, but this is my favourite pic by far.

Photo 4: Longer hair! Looks way better than photo 1 and 2. Again, adds bulk to the top of your head rather than the (already heavy) bottom of your head. Looks even, better. You should play around with longer hair like this, I wouldn’t go super long but this length is pretty good. Could be neater but not a huge problem. I like you with glasses on too.

Photo 5: Beard way better here, hair not so much (remember – longer hair, shorter beard. Draw the attention up, balance out your face). Jacket looks ok but the shoulders are too wide (as in pic 1, shoulderline of jacket hangs past your natural shoulder line). Sleeve length is good but sleeves look a little baggy. When you go buy a jacket, make sure that the arm holes are right up under your underarm. This makes the sleeve tighter; baggy sleeves are for old men!

In terms of what to wear, it seems like you don’t have a good understanding of basic dos/don’ts with style (not in a bad way – most guys don’t know this stuff!). I’d suggest heading over to /r/malefashionadvice and reading the guides in the sidebar as a starting point, particularly the basic wardrobe guide and the ‘how to tell if clothes fit’ guide.

Older pics (at least 5 months old):

http://i.imgur.com/sf21G.png 

http://i.imgur.com/a591A.jpg 

Most recent pictures:

http://i.imgur.com/KQsY8.jpg 

And what my style usually is like (minus light headband):

http://i.imgur.com/h3YHM.jpg 

Btw thats a big blue baggy sweater in the first one. I wear it a lot, and it is like two sizes too big but super comfortable, I’m guessing that should stop.

It should be noted I suppose that I don’t want to go for typical in my style, I like kind of being different, not quite hipster I suppose but toeing the line. I’d love some input on clothes that would look good, especially for my body type (it surprises many that I’m actually a medium, large stuff tends to be baggy shirt and jacket wise). Also hair can tots change, though I like the most recent hair cut kind of, but if theres anything radically different you’d suggest, why not listen right?

Also shoe suggestions. I don’t have a lot of money so right now I mostly rock Wolverine boots, close to these, and some of my friends rip on me for them. They are indestructible and comfortable and match everything is why I wear them but I’m due for a new pair.

EDIT: After reading your comment about graphic tees I figured Id post this, I wear a lot of shirts like this in the summer and when I’m goin’ casual. Also I wear the leather jacket in the second pic a lot, and I get mixed responses on it.

http://i.imgur.com/HioXd.png

Ok. Lots of stuff here, I’ve been posting for about 3 hours straight so I’ll try to be succinct. Apologies in advance for not mincing words:

* I know exactly what you mean by wanting to dress a little differently/outlandish/whatever. However, what I can see here is generic! Many of my clients have a similar style when they come to me so I know where it’s coming from; they see ‘standard’ clothes and they want to dress differently – but they do it from an uneducated point, without a thorough understanding of what makes good/bad clothes, good design, nice basic clothes. Without really understanding what ‘normal’/nice clothing is, how can you be different?

Wanna be different? Buy some DUCK PANTS

http://i.imgur.com/BgV2c.jpg

[mfa link](http://www.reddit.com/r/malefashionadvice/comments/tfdnk/does_mfa_like_my_new_duck_pants/)

Awesome!

* Let’s talk hair. First thing that jumped out at me, your hair makes you look really young. It’s not a bad style, but considering that you have a bit of a babyface it makes you appear adolescent. Up and away from your face would look much better, which would likely involve shorter hair/thinning it out a bit/slimming the sides/styling it in an outlandish way. I posted an outlandish quiff to a bunch of other guys elsewhere in this thread, that would also be a good look for you.

* Boot cut jeans. Yupyupyup. Boot cut basically means that they’re straight legged from your thigh to your knee, then from your calf to your ankle they flare out. They’re called “boot cut” because if you’re wearing big boots then this gives more room for them.

However, this is a style reserved for cowboy boots/super functional work boots, and I guarantee you’ll look better in a straight leg or tapered leg pair of jeans. I wear Red Wing Iron Rangers (great boot btw) about every second day, and wear them with 3Sixteen Shadow Denim Slim Tapered Jeans (AMAZING jeans, ignore crappy models in those photos, they come with a 37″ inseam and for some reason those (short models) didn’t roll them up. I’m 6’3″ and even I need to roll them up 3-5 times to get them to the bottom of my shoes/stop them stacking so much!)). More than enough room man.

* Boots: Your wolverines are ok, but not what I’d get for general everyday use. If you want to make the colour darker, buy some beeswax and wax em up. I’m trying to find a guide on this, I’ve seen several around but my google skills are failing me unfortunately. Regardless, wax will make the colour daker and change the texture so it’s smoother/waxy. Definitely get something darker though. Clark’s wax desert boots are a great start (about $80-100), if you can afford more try Red Wing Iron Rangers/Gentlemen’s Travellers, Wolverine 1000 Miles or LL Bean Engineer Boots. Those three boots are all expensive-ish ($200-$350) but will last 5-10-20 years depending on how you use them. I’ve worn my Red Wings almost every day for a year and a half and they’re literally still like new, whereas my desert boots almost fell apart after the same amount of time.

* Your jeans: Grey/light jeans, not good, especially with that dark shirt. Indigo (that is, dark navy blue) or black jeans, far far far far far better. Won’t be able to wear them with those shoes though, try something dark brown instead.

Think I got all of it in!

Here’s an album of me:

I wear a lot of hoodies and beanies, because my hair is naturally curly and it’s just a pain to keep it in place, since I try to wear it down.

The first few are body shots, last few are more my features and what I look like with my hair pushed back, although I’d never go out like that.

Cool. Let me preface with: style is subjective. I don’t want to tell you to dress in xyz style if it doesn’t fit into your tastes/your social scene/all the rest, ya know?
At a vague guess I’d say you fit into some sort of punk/goth/emo-inspired style, which is fine. Based on that alone here’s what I think of your pictures:
First pic: Most evident here, but present in all of them: you look very young. I get what you’re talking about with your hair, but straightening it/fringing it like this looks quite adolescent/Justin Bieber-esque. The hoodie is the same; reminiscent of something from Target/K-Mart that a mum would buy.

For all of these photos I’m going to give one piece of advice: Go darker. Your jeans are too light, so are your hoodies and your shoes. You can easily look great with your style, but you’re over-complicating it.
Example: Pic 3. Black hoodie, but with screen printing all over it. Hood up (looks a bit affected to me). Really light blue jeans. Screen printed t-shirt underneath. None of it fits particularly well, and is instead quite baggy/frumpy.
What could you wear instead? First, you need to understand how clothes should fit properly. There’s a detailed guide in the book I linked in the OP, but there’s a good started guide here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/malefashionadvice/comments/ehrtv/shujins_comprehensive_fit_guide/

Next, hoodies. They don’t fit into an alternative your style at all; ironically it looks more like generic cheap uni student fare than anything out of the ordinary, ya know? I’m not saying you need to go out and get a suit, but if you want to wear hoodies in this style you need to start doing it with purpose. You’d probably really like the gothninja style; dark, drapey, alternative, awesome. Designers like Rick Owens, Yohji Yamamoto, maybe even Dries van Noten, you’d really like. Take inspiration from SuperFuture, which is a great fashion website/forum. Start here:

http://supertalk.superfuture.com/index.php?/topic/2243-what-are-you-wearing-today-pics-only/page__st__71900

Work your way backwards.

That’s not to say you need to buy designer clothes and fork out a fortune on a new wardrobe – you can find similar stuff in thrift stores and at places like http://asos.com. It’s all about discovering a niche, discovering what you like, where your tastes lie and so on. Take inspiration from other guys and model yourself on them.
Final thing: Your hair. Don’t think you should straighten it, don’t think you should hide it under a hoodie. I say this with all seriousness, I think you look really great in the last 4 photos where it’s pushed back. You’ve got great hair and great features. Take it from a guy who deals with models and fashion designers: you’re good looking and look way better with your hair out than with it hidden. Instead of trying to hide it, own it. Put it on show, get comfortable with it, let your hair be your thing.

I’m balding. Have any hair style advice? I’ve made a conscious decision to not use any products to try to reverse it, and it’s probably far gone enough that they wouldn’t do that much anyway. I’m perfectly happy with it. I generally keep my hair short (if it’s standing up in the morning, it’s time to get a hair cut), and I don’t use any products. Is there something I should be doing, or is my current regimen fine?

As men we don’t show off much. Besides our hands and a bit of our arms (and sometimes our calves, in winter), the only part of ‘us’ that we ever really show to the world is our head. Everything else is covered by clothes almost all of the time, and should compliment the body while drawing attention up towards the face.

Men who are balding – it’s tough, because there are often deep-seated issues surrounding a man’s hair, as though it’s a marker of masculinity or youth. It’s not easy to let that go. But it’s also unwise to fight tooth and nail to hold on to it, when it’s plain to see your hair is disappearing.

Compare this to a short man who has self confidence issues about his height. When people look at him, it’s obvious that he’s short – by standing next to someone we can plainly see if they’re shorter than us, regardless of visual trickery. If he wears 6″ platform shoes that bright his height up, his head will be higher up off the ground – but he’ll still be short. In fact, the fact that he’s trying so hard to fight his height makes him look self-conscious and insincere, which is far worse than if he just accepted his height and used his clothes to confidently show off his body as-is.

Balding is the same. Hair regrowth products do often work – one of my clients uses them religiously – and I’m not in a position (nor am I knowledgeable enough) to tell you not to use them. However, be graceful about it. If you have a deep receding hairline, keep your hair short; don’t assume that adding extra length to the back and sides of your hair will compensate for a lack of hair elsewhere!

Don’t, do not, do never, ever, ever try to cover up bald spots with a combover. When it comes to the point where you’re trying to hide your baldness like that, it’s time to shave it. Don’t need to go down to the skin, but shave it as short as you’re comfortable with.

This way you look more like a man who in comfortable with his hair and has chosen a style that works with it – rather than a man who is clawing on to every last remaining follicle. The former looks quite natural and, honestly, people rarely even notice. The latter sticks out like a sore thumb.

Hope that helps!

Very basic questions, but feel like most men have no idea where to start.

1) For, let’s say, someone just entering the job force with limited funds (Lets say $1500), what would you recommend? Let’s assume this person needs to wear a suit 2 times a week, business casual the rest of the time. Colors, brands, materials, etc?

2) For same person, what do you recommend for casual wear?

3) Ever post on styleforum.net?

Great questions. To start with, the prices I give are in AU$. Consider that here, cost of living is much higher so clothes/everything is more expensive than in the US (but we get higher wages so it evens out).

Entering the Workforce

If you ever need to buy a suit, it’s always best to get one that has a quality/fit/style that will last for years. Every man is different, with a different body type and different needs. But almost everybody will look great in a deep charcoal or deep navy suit.

I’m not well-versed with US labels, but here’s what you need to look for when buying a basic first suit:

• Regardless of how much it cost, a suit is worth nothing if it doesn’t fit you. The shoulder is the most important fit area when buying a suit off the rack – the shoulder seam needs to fit right on the joint between your arm and shoulder, and the sleeves should flow nicely down your arms without bunching or being too tight. The waist will almost always need to be taken in by a tailor, and the pants should be slim rather than billowy. If you need a belt to hold up your pants, your pants don’t fit.
• Suits with a floating canvass last far longer than fused suits. A floating canvas means that a layer of canvas is sewn in between the outer and inner layers of fabric in the suit. In cheaper suits, this canvas is glued in (called “fusing”), which tends to wear poorly over time.
• If you’re overweight, you need a suit with a structured shoulder and a slim waist that helps to broaden your silhouette. If you’re athletic, you need less padding in the shoulder and a suit that drapes your body without overly-accentuating it.
• Shoes are one of the most important parts of a suit. The width of the toe should harmonise with the width of your trousers; if you have very slim trousers, you need slim shoes; if you have more relaxed trousers, you need wider shoes.
• Dress shoes should give a flattering shape to the foot. Round, contoured and slim is flattering. Fat, boxy, straight-lined or square-toed is not flattering.

If you had $1500 to spend, I’d roughly suggest:

• $800 on the suit
• $300 on shoes - /r/malefashionadvice[1] would kill me for not suggesting a nice pair of brown Allen Edmonds brogues, which are incredibly versatile, can be worn with a suit or with jeans, and will last for many years.
• $150 on some 3 basic dress shirts. Lands End seems popular and cheap although I can’t vouch for them as they’re not available in Australia. But get a light blue one, a white one and a nice patterny one.
• $50-$100 on a basic pair of chinos. I like Dr Denim’s chinos as they’re well-fitted yet nice and relaxed, although they can be a little pricey.
• $200-$300 on a casual blazer/sport coat. 2-button, no garish features, just something well-fitted and versatile.

With a wardrobe like that you’ll be well-equipped for just about any situation, good basic wardrobe to get you started. As I said, unsure of how much suits cost in the USA, so you may find that a nice off-the-rack suit + tailoring could come in at less than $800, giving you more cash to spend on shirts/ties/pocket squares/whatever you like.

Casual Wear for the Young Business Man

As above, you can easily put together some great outfits that can be worn at work/to cafes/while partaking in an undercover drug sting. Chinos + dress shirt + blazer + dress shoes are the most common option go sans blazer in hot weather, add a scarf and thicker fabrics for colder weather.

It sounds very limiting, but with basic items like that you can make thousands of different outfits by playing with different colours, fabrics and patterns.

Style Forum

I read from time to time, but never made an account. Same with Sufu, Hyperbeast, Stylezeitgeist, Ask Andy About Clothes and many others – there are so many great guys on those forums, they’re a goldmine for anyone interested in men’s style.

I actually can never find clothes that fit me right, could you actually suggest some clothes that would fit my body type.

I’m 6’3 200lbs, but I wear either 32 or 30 inch waist and 34 length, but the butts and legs on pants dont fit right, cause I have an athletic build, and my quads are really big, so pants that are labeled loose fit are like skin tight sometimes, so I have to wear looser jeans usually.
Even worse, for shirts, I would need the chest to be like a large, but then the waist like a small or medium. It’s really annoying cause most of my shirts are really baggy and stick out from the sides.

If u can give me some suggestions on what kinds of clothes would fit better I’d really appreciate it cause this has always been a problem for me (even worse when I was skinnier, and didnt have as much muscle), but nonetheless, I really want to know what to wear.

Also, my normal attire is usually jeans and a collard shirt, I have a lot of express type clothes too. And I’m a 21 year old college student, in case that matters.

Ahhh a tricky one. I have a client who is around the same weight as you, but about 5″ shorter, and finding clothes for him isn’t easy.

First of all, you’ll have to resign yourself to the fact that, in general, off-the-rack clothes aren’t gonna suit you. As you’ve already identified, a lot of stuff that is “supposed” to be loose-fitting will be skin-tight on you.

The way to get around this is through alterations. In Australia, it’ll cost $15 to have a pair of pants taken in at the waist. Probably $10 to have a shirt taken in. It’s a bit tricky without seeing what you look like, but here’s a few tips on buying clothes with the intention of altering them:

1. A little too big is a better than a little too small. Clothes don’t (often) come with extra fabric hidden away under the seams, so when altering clothes a tailor can generally only take things in, not let them out.
2. For jackets, ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE SHOULDER FITS. The shoulder of a jacket is the most important part, as it can’t really be altered. Everything else can.
3. Jeans – It’s a lot easier/cheaper to take jeans in at the waist rather than take in a whole seam of the leg, which will also ruin the cut of the jeans. Your best option is to find a pair of jeans that fits your thighs/calves comfortably and then get the waist taken in at a tailor. Note that pants can only really be taken in 2″ or so before you start to ruin their cut.

As for what specifically to wear? Hard question as I don’t know what you look like. Always start with the basics and work up from there though. Once you find a good pair of jeans that fits/is altered to fit you (maybe try Acne, their jeans are quite loose in the waist I’ve found), pair them with a good white t-shirt (the sleeve should extent a little bit further than halfway up your bicep. Make sure it’s not too tight – you’re not buying a muscle shirt here) and a good pair of shoes (sneakers, or boots (make sure they have a round toe, not pointy or square toe!)).

Hope that helps a bit!