Dress Like a Man (10 page)

Do older men, broadly speaking, look better in double-breasted navy suits with white pinstripes than men fresh out of college? Most people would say so. But there are going to be college-aged guys who can pull it off, and older men who frankly can't.

So don't let your age define your fashion. Just let it influence it, a bit, and maybe be leery of styles that have very specific, stereotypical age associations (like a college student's hoodie). You don't want to lock yourself in, no matter what your age.

C
HAPTER 17:
W
ORK VS.
P
LAY -
W
ARDROBES
O
N AND
O
FF THE
J
OB

There's a subtle distinction between "dressing sharp" for work and "dressing sharp" for the rest of your life.

The emphasis there is on "subtle." Most of a man's wardrobe can work equally well for professional and for personal settings. The distinction lies mainly in how they're worn.

The Work/Social Distinction - Does It Matter?

You could argue that nice clothes are nice clothes, and that you should be able to wear the same ones on and off the clock.

And it turns out you can, if you want to! There are men who don't bother differentiating between their work clothes and their social clothes.

But small changes can help to send a useful signal. A man who looks good in his work clothes still looks like a man who just came from the office.

A man whose clothes clearly could not have been worn at the office, on the other hand, is making a deliberate statement: "I don't look this way by accident."

It tells people that you're not just someone who buys good clothes, you're also someone who thinks about how to wear them well. And that's a subtle distinction -- but a flattering one. Even people who don't think it through consciously are still more likely to identify you as a "sharp-dressed man" when there's no question of it being accidental.

It bears mentioning that you shouldn't even consider going the opposite route -- that is to say, buying fancy-looking evening clothes and then wearing them into work. That makes you look like you came straight from the Walk of Shame, and it does not say good things about your character.

How to Transition from Work Wear to Social Wear

Switching from an on-the-job look to an off-the-job look is one of those "your mileage may vary" situations. The best way to do it depends on what you wear to your job.

But in general, the goal is to have at least one clothing element that is
not
work-appropriate, at least in the mind of the average viewer.

Here are some quick examples of transitions that can make a clear distinction:

• Men who wear ties to work can shed the tie, open the collar, and perhaps even undo the top button on the shirtfront. This is almost mandatory -- unless you're going somewhere very formal, no neckties after 5:00 PM or so.
  
• Men who don't wear ties can throw on a shirt or a jacket that's too brightly-colored or vividly-patterned for conventional offices.
  
• If there's no chance for a change (going straight from work to drinks at a bar, say), rolling up the shirtsleeves is always a good way to signify "off-duty."
  
• Upping the level of contrast in an outfit makes it less formal. That's why a lot of "social" shirts have multicolored stripes -- it lets one garment bring the formality level of the whole outfit down.
  
• Anything that's a little on the flamboyant side -- colored leather shoes, say, or brightly-colored pants -- is definitely off-duty wear, and works well in social settings.
  

Long story short: give it some pop. Put some flair in your outfit. Don't go so over the top you look like a clown, but don't be afraid to catch the eye a little. That's what makes it clear to everyone that you're not just some shmoe on his way home from the office.

Dressing Up at Night

All that works great if you want to dress down -- to relax, unwind, and let people know that you're taking it easy.

But what do you do when you need to go someplace dressy at night?

A couple easy strategies:

• Wear a jacket. A suit is fine; so are blazers and dressier sports jackets. Avoid anything too unstructured, and make sure the fit is reasonably close -- you want to look at ease, but not slumped.
  
• Skip the necktie. Unless you're going somewhere ties are required (such as some "white linen" restaurants), an open collar beneath a suit or jacket tells people that you're off-duty.
  
• Wear dark colors. This applies to suits, jackets, and trousers, but it can apply to the shirt as well. Deep, rich colors like burgundy and forest green give an air of richness but still couldn't be worn to work, making them ideal for evening social outfits.
  
• Play with contrasting formalities. If you need to look nice, but not stiff, pair something like a dressy blazer with dark, fitted jeans or a pair of Nantucket red pants. Or do the same thing with a nice pair of charcoal gray slacks and a casual, tweedy sports jacket on top. It's a way of effectively "dressing up dressing down."
  

A man can, of course, always avoid the issue by simply wearing a business-appropriate suit and tie to his nicer evening events. There's nothing
wrong
with that approach.

But it does tend to look a little stiff, and suggests that the wearer either isn't very imaginative or doesn't have much of a wardrobe at his disposal. Neither is an impression you necessarily want to send, which makes a clear day/night and work/play divide in your outfits worth building.

Section 4: Physical Properties of Clothing

C
HAPTER 18:
R
AW
M
ATERIALS -
P
ROPERTIES AND
P
URPOSES

Textiles are an amazingly complex subject for study. People get graduate degrees in it.

An incredibly deep understanding of fabric isn't necessary to dress well. But some basic information about the raw materials that go into menswear can help you shop smarter and take better care of your clothes.

The following is a very
short
overview of the major types of materials commonly used in constructing garments for men: wool, cotton, linen, silk, and synthetic fibers.

Wool

Sheep's wool is the base material for the vast majority of men's suits and the higher end of men's overcoats.

Finished bolts of cloth woven from wool can vary dramatically depending on the type of wool used, the method used for spinning the threads, the weave that joins the threads, and many other factors.
Wool is not a single, uniform clothing option.

In general, however, all wool-based menswear shares a few desirable properties:

• Drape
  - Wool has a strong tendency to keep its shape. That makes it ideal for structured garments (like suits and jackets), and helps give it a smooth "drape" over a wearer's body.
  
• Durability
  - Wool cloth is densely packed with tiny fibers, and takes many years to break down or wear out. The biggest dangers to wool cloth are direct heat (which will shrivel and bunch the fibers) and insect damage. Water does not harm wool, but improper drying can shrink or distort its weave.
  
• Luster
  - Wool threads have a soft, textured surface that absorbs dye well. Colors tend to hold deep and fast in wool cloth, giving it a very rich appearance. Wool also contains its own natural oils, which help keep the surface supple and soft-looking.
  
• Water Resistance
  - The same natural oil, lanolin, helps wool cloth repel water. A wool jacket isn't a rainproof shell, by any means, but it will keep the clothes under it dry for a surprisingly long time in light rains.
  
• Warmth
  - Without getting too technical here, wool threads contain more air pockets per square inch than those spun from other fabrics. That creates thousands of tiny, insulating chambers throughout the garment, resulting in a very heat-retaining piece of clothing. Simultaneously, it's more breathable, meaning you stay warmer and get less sweaty than you would in a garment of comparable weight made from another fiber
  

Because there are so many kinds of wool (including exotic options from animals other than sheep), and because it can be spun and woven in so many different ways, the material is also incredibly versatile. It can be used to make everything from coarse, hairy tweeds to ultra-fine jackets with an almost silken handfeel.

With all that said, why isn't every garment made from wool? It comes with a few disadvantages as well, which has led to at least some market for alternatives:

• Cost
  - Sheep are a lot less cost-efficient than fields of cotton, or machines cranking out synthetic fibers. The cost-per-ounce of wool fabric is much higher than other materials. And the finer the wool, the higher that cost gets, making it -- if not exactly a luxury fiber -- certainly one of the more expensive options out there for a man.
  
• Care
  - Wool is sturdy, but it needs to be washed and dried carefully. Wet wool loses much of its strength, and can be distorted or stretched if it isn't washed gently, while any intense heat will damage the fabric during drying. That makes most wool clothes hand-wash or dry-clean only. While those are fairly simple tasks, they're still more complicated than throwing cotton garments in a conventional washing machine.
  
• Weight
  - Most wools are heavy, warm, and bulky relative to other fabrics. There are very fine wools, and even very cool and breathable "tropical" wools, but these cost correspondingly more for their convenience.
  
• Allergies
  - Some sensitive skins react badly to the texture and the oils in wool. It's not a concern for most men, but a few unlucky souls will need lining or other garments between their skin and any wool clothing.
  

Wool, in a nutshell, is a fantastic outer layer. It works great for jackets, trousers, coats, and sweaters. It'll crop up in other applications from time to time as well -- knit ties, for example, are sometimes made of wool.

The maintenance can be a bit of extra hassle, compared to some of the no-thought options out there, but the luxurious feel and look of good wool makes it well worth the effort for your finest items. When you really want to impress, wool is your default.

Cotton

As wool is the default for men's suits, so cotton is for men's shirts.

That's not without reason. Cotton is cheap, abundant, and easy to work with. It lacks the luxurious weight and drape of wool, but it comes with its own valued properties:

• Ease of Care
  - For many men, the biggest selling point is the no-thought laundry. Cotton cloth does not distort when soaked, and it takes a lot of heat to damage it (open flame will do the trick, or an iron left on, but you can crank a conventional drier up high without damaging most cotton clothes). That makes it a low-maintenance material for clothes that see a lot of regular wear.
  
• Cost
  - Quality can vary widely (more on that in a minute), but manufacturers can get cotton
  very
  cheap if they want to. Even the cheapest synthetics have a hard time undercutting the price of cotton, and most of the cheap synthetic options are less comfortable and sturdy. Cotton is still usually the most bang for your buck in terms of pure functionality.
  
• Weight
  - Cotton shirts are light. You can weave cotton threads thick, or even spin it into yarns for knit sweaters, but per square inch it's considerably lighter than wool. That makes it cool, comfortable, and portable.
  
• Breathability
  - Cotton is a porous fiber (at least when dry). It breathes, allowing sweat to evaporate off the skin and air to flow through the garment. Both are highly desirable properties in a garment that sits directly against the skin, and a big part of why cotton cloth remains the default shirting.