Wearing layers in men’s fashion

Fashion is rather unpredictable and very changeable. It really takes quite a lot of efforts to try being always fashionable and looking your best in any situation. And the thing is not in buying expensive clothes if you don’t know how to wear them! Even if you have several nice things in your wardrobe, know how to combine them and how to wear layers, you’ll have your own style – it also means a lot!

The art of wearing layers as well as the art of coordination needs some practice and skills. Here are some tips for beginners.

Rule 1: avoid too big and bulky garments. Otherwise you’ll look like a cabbage in all those pieces of clothes! Remember, that the main aim of layers is to create a neat and sophisticated look, but do not do it too bulky. Thus you’ll only spoil the whole impression.

Rule 2: if you start building your outfit, mind, that you should begin with lighter fabrics and proceed with heavier ones. This will form a complete ensemble and won’t distract anybody’s attention. If you do it vice versa, your whole image will be the same…

Rule 3: combine colors. See to it, that all layers you wear have corresponding and/or matching colors. Make them work in tandem, creating a more united overall composition. Using complementary or matching colors ensures that all the layers in the outfit work in close connection, plus it establishes another level of successful “construction” to the outfit.

Rule 4: be wary of layering multiple patterns. As you have already noticed, the art of combining patterns is difficult in itself, especially dealing with wearing layers. Begin by coordinating a lightly patterned white button-up with a more heavily patterned sweater that uses the same main color. However, until you’ve truly mastered pattern mixology, it’s probably best to err on the side of caution and use a 1:1 ratio (one pattern with one solid).

Wearing layers can really enrich your wardrobe, enabling you to reuse different pieces of clothes in different combinations. Do not give up, if sometimes goes wrong from the very beginning, you just need some practice. By the way, nobody said it would be easy…

Once again about Scarves and How to wear them

Once I touched upon the issue of wearing scarves, but I believe that this piece of clothes, sometimes too unloved among men, really deserves your attention and if worn correctly, can become part and parcel of your style. “If worn correctly” means that there are several variants of wearing scarves and you are free to choose something for yourself.

There are several popular knots, which can not only add you more style, but also add you more warmth in winter.

Parisian Knot

The most sought-after knot is also one of the most universal. Here’s how to tie a scarf in a Parisian knot: Take the scarf in both hands and fold it over lengthwise; drape it around your neck; insert the loose ends through the loop hanging in front of you and pull them through. It looks really very stylish and together with the feeling of warmth adds your image more sense and feeling of style.

Once-around Knot

This knot will be the best variant for those cool days when you need a bit more comfort, but don’t want to wear too much on yourself. The point of this knot is casual warmth. To learn how to tie a scarf in a once-around knot, drape the scarf around your neck allowing one end to be longer than the other. Take the long end and bring it around your neck and let it fall over your chest. If you have a long neck, overlap the scarf in back just a bit so that most of your neck between the jacket and the base of your skull is covered.

Loose once-around Knot

When it comes to knowing how to tie a scarf in a loose once-around knot, the same rules apply as the regular once-around knot: Drape it loosely as though you haven’t the time to finish the job right. In this case the main purpose of the scarf is just “for the sake of its being there”, it is not used for warmth, perhaps for fashion more!



Twice around knot

This knot has something in common with a Parisian Knot and will also provide you with warmth in a winter day. Thus, if you like Parisian Knot, you may change something in your appearance with twice around knot. Here’s how to tie a scarf in a twice-around knot: Begin as you would with the once-around with both ends hanging in front of you, but make sure one is significantly longer than the other. Take the much longer end and circle it around your neck twice; do this without making the knot too tight. Getting the lengths of the ends to match up or come out relatively close will take a bit of practice, but a knot like this will make all the difference on a cold day.

There exists a mistaken belief that only gays wear scarves. This is nonsense, I’d say. If you wear a scarf, it means, that you have the feeling of style many men are deprived of, take care of your health and want to feel not only warm, but stylish and standing out from the herd of others. I wish you didn’t allow perpetuated stereotypes influence your life!

Art of coordination. Lesson 5: mixing three different patterns

For the majority of men mixing three similar patterns seems to be the most difficult. The main difficulty here lies in failure to understand about scales, and in identifying which piece of clothes is the most important in this ensemble.

While coordinating three different patterns, the first pattern should be the outfit that is considered as the inner one. Start with the smaller pattern (let it be a dress shirt) and constantly increase scales in the second and third similar pattern. To coordinate three similar patterns creates strong tension between the patterns. Without proper scaling base on the sequence of the clothing will create confusion and discord to the viewer’s eyes. You should keep this in mind while coordinating both striped and checked patterns.

In this example we put together a gray plaid suit and a small blue check wide spread collar dress shirt, and a plaid tie. The difference in scales sets up nicely for this combination. Start from the small check dress shirt, then working outwards we set up a nice large plaid suit as well as a large check pattern tie.

This example shows how three different striped patterns may be mixed. It once again shows the play of scales focusing with smaller scaling from the first pattern on the inside then graduating the scales outwards. The large stripe and wide scaling of the tie takes away the possible strain involving the closely scaled stripes of the dress shirt and suit.

It goes without saying that mixing three similar patterns is rather difficult and demands much practice and a good feeling of taste. But unless you try it and probably even make mistakes, you won’t learn to mix any patterns. So do not be afraid of making mistakes – it’s all natural, be yourself and do not allow different stereotypes influence you!

Art of coordination. Lesson 4: mixing three patterns where two are similar

This time I’d like to pay your attention to mixing three patterns where two are similar. It is not an easy task, while here we should also take into account scale and space of all three patterns, mixing them, in such a way creating a new ensemble. It is important that this ensemble should consist not of opposite patterns, all the patterns should supplement each other.

If you are not yet skilled in the art of coordination, you’d better start with two similar patterns (a suit and a shirt) and your emphasis lays on the tie. This combination is the least difficult.

If you take a striped suit and a striped shirt, make sure that the space between stripes on the suit is wider than that of your shirt. For the tie, it is advisable to use of larger spaced patterns like polka-dots or large dotted floral prints to give a good balance on the finer stripes found on dress shirts. Ties with larger patterns or wider spacing are safe choices to create a more soothing effect for the eye.

If you try to create an ensemble of a checked suit and a checked shirt, give preference to a striped tie! Choose the smaller checks on the dress shirts to harmonize the bigger check pattern on the suit. Then the large scaled stripes provide an accent to the whole combination that blends easily to both check patterns.

You shouldn’t neglect color coordination as well. A safe method for men without experience in mixing and matching is to have the patterns use similar hues coordination or achromatic hues coordination between the apparels. And when only you feel that you’ve got your hand in this art of mixing patterns, you may experiment with other colors and varieties of coordination.

Generally speaking, the concept for three patterns coordination is always use one large scale pattern to balance out the other two similar patterns. This is the reason why we can easily use ties with large scales or patterns or motifs as the easiest way to off-set the similar but different scaled patterns on the suit and shirt.

Do not be afraid of experimenting and try your hand in creating your own style. You are sure to like it!!!

Art of Coordination. Lesson 3: mixing three different patterns

Today I’d like to throw some new light on how to mix three different patterns and look stylish and fashionable. Sure thing, it is more difficult to combine three different patterns into one ensemble than two ones.

While coordinating three different patterns, you should also pay attention to the scale and pattern itself. Whenever there is involvement of larger patterns starting out from the suit, the choice of the other patterns should naturally be preferred to be of the same scale. If you feel like coordinating three different patterns, they’d better all have large sized patterns. This will result in complete perfection of your style and won’t allow one pattern to overwhelm another.

f you have a look at the following example, you’ll notice that all three pieces of clothes have large scaled patterns, thus, this combination creates a complete thought-out ensemble.

Using similar hues color coordination between the three patterns makes the blend well-balanced and enhances the classiness of the overall combination without making it look too trying.

For simplicity in mixing three patterns where all are different, it is always good to play around with different scales between the patterns when one of them is smaller scaled or spaced.

Using wider scaling or wider spacing for the other two patterns helps to make the patterns visually compatible.

Sure thing, it’s not quite easy to mix three different colors and many men fail to do it correctly. But if you manage to get your hand in this sphere, nobody will ever dare to say that you have bad taste!

Art of Coordination. Lesson 2: mixing two different patterns

While mixing two different patterns, it is important to remember, which pattern is the first and which is the second. The first pattern should take up the most of your body and the second is to add some accent to your style. If you emphasize two patterns at a time, your style is likely to look rather ambiguous and too difficult for other people’s perception.

Some examples of matching two different patterns are check suits and stripe ties or dress shirts, stripe dress shirts and polka-dot ties, as well as plaid suits and foulard ties.

The art of achieving a soothing effect matching two different patterns presupposes getting the scales of the two patterns as close as possible and this applies mainly to those with bigger and medium-sized scaled patterns. Avoid the situation when the second pattern overwhelms the first one.

Here we can observe that a stripe suit is combined with two types of ties. As we can see from the pictures, the small geometric patterned pink tie overwhelms the suit more than the other Raffaello hand-made wide spaced square patterned tie. It creates a more soothing effect due to the scale of the pattern on the tie, which is good combined with the stripes on the suit. Speaking about colors, dark blue and grey go well together, avoiding creating too difficult combinations. Besides, it is important to remember, that tie is an accent and it shouldn’t take too much attention from the suit.

I’d also mention, that this style variation is rather difficult and is good for those men, who are perfectly sure what and how they should wear. If you are not that confident, give preference to less complicated patterns, like a tattersall check dress shirt and a polka dot tie. See to it, that the spaces between dots and stripes are rather wide.

Combining two patterns, mind that one of them should be more than the other, thus avoiding a very intense and vibrating transition.

Have a look at these three variants of combining Zegna suit with different types of stripe tie. In the first example patterns scales are alike, creating unnecessary tension for the viewer. This ambiguity is omitted in the second variant, where the tie has more space between the stripes. The third stripe tie has big and wide scaled stripes and offers an even nicer counter-balancing from the small patterned.

The Art of Coordination. Lesson 1: how to mix two similar patterns

I didn’t make a slip, I really meant “Art” of coordination. From my own experience I know, that it is not always easy to combine the color of the shirt and of the pants, stripes and checks, and in general, can they be mixed??? This question we are going to discuss right now. And the first our topic will be combining two similar patterns.

The most important here is to create a complete and perfect ensemble, to preserve one style and do not look ridiculous. We want to have a natural and smooth transition between the two similar patterns. The art of doing so is to have different scales for the two same design patterns. Let us begin by looking at mixing stripe patterns first.

If we deal with stripes, we should take into account two things: the space between the stripes and the size of the stripes. It is desirable, that these two parameters should be different, because if two small size stripes are put together, the effect can create quite a bit of tension between them. When having two different stripes yet with similar spacing makes it difficult to put the attention on either stripe.

For example, what can be the combination, if you wear your stripe suit and a stripe dress shirt? One combination involves stripes with very similar spacing for both the suit and dress shirt. The other combination - the suit has a much different scaled stripe spacing compared to the dress shirt. As we can see, there is a higher preference for the combination that has different scaled stripes. It allows a more distinguished transition for the dress shirt from the suit.

You can also mix stripe shirt with a stripe tie, keeping to the same model. It’s better to take a tie with more space between the stripes – your image won’t blend too much.

Speaking about checks, you are sure to follow the same pattern. But checks have more intense pattern compared to stripes, so it can be more difficult in coordinating especially for plaids. Let’s look through possible combinations of dress shirts with a check tie.

Do not wear a check dress shirt with a similar check tie – you will look weird and your whole image will acquire unnecessary tension. But if you match it against a smaller check tie the overall look allows a smoother transition between the two similar patterns even though with more contrast. At the same time, we you wear a small check tie and a tiny check dress shirt, you create a lot of disorientation. This is because of its intense and vibrating effect on the eye that is confusing and blurry to the viewer. So you’d better use contrasting sized checks as well as contrasting sized stripes.

In general, if you are eager to mix two similar patterns, you should take into account the combination of your suit and your shirt, your shirt and your tie or even your suit and your tie.

Patterned Men’s Dress Shirts – who dares?

Having written about solid men’s dress shirts, I simply couldn’t fail to write about a worthy alternative to them – patterned men’s shirts. Patterned shirts enable men to create some new original combinations and not to look dull at the worst business meeting. Today patterned shirts come in variety of designs, with a number of different stripes and checks, of those colors which were considered to be out of place earlier and which win popularity among customers today.

Here are some examples from the variety of patterned men’s dress suits offered today:

Patterned men’s dress shirts with white background generally give a more formal feel than colored ground fabrics. Dress shirts with finer patterns generally look more ceremonial than those with bold patterns. The mini-checks and gingham checks gives more dressy effect when compared to the other check patterned men’s dress shirts.

Similarly, the bolder stripes and wider spaced stripes look dressier against the finer stripes as well as closely spaced stripes. Besides, it is easy to notice that the blue hairline stripe shirt looks practically blue and no visible stripes can be seen. This is the supposed effect when looking at hairline stripes from afar which it seems like a blue dress shirt. This creates a sense of style and sophiscation for a patterned men’s dress shirt. Such an effect applies the same to the mini and micro checks as well.

Regarding this, don’t stop at solid dress shirts – as you see you may look stylish and fashionable wearing patterned men’s shirts as well!

Colored dress shirts – why not???

I’m almost 100 percent sure that if I ask now what color your dress shirt is, the majority of men will say “white”. And it’s no wonder, because white shirts are part and parcel of every man’s wardrobe, they are suitable for almost every occasion and look neat and stylish. At the same time, it is important to know that overindulgence in “white shirts fashion” is not quite good or better to say is not at all good. If you are so fond of white shirts, nobody can make you refuse to wear them, but at the same time you shouldn’t forget, that there exist a number of other colors you can like and which can suit you perfectly well.

While choosing the color of your shirt, you should take into account your skin and your hair color. If you are fare haired, have fair skin and cannot imagine your life without a white dress shirt, make accent on your tie, otherwise you are likely to look too pale. To make your white dress shirts more interesting, then a choice of either Twill white shirt or Herringbone white shirt would provide good subtle texture to your overall monochromatic feel.

Blue color fits almost all colors of hair and skin – you are sure to have a pair of blue dress shirts in your wardrobe. As you know, blue comes in variety of shades, that’s why the best choice is going for medium blue and the suitable shade of medium should always bring the focus toward your face.

Men with tan or olive skin tones are sure to look great wearing darker blue tones. Fair skin men with dark colored hair have the best advantage in their choice of blue tones. Basically all the shades of blue are suitable for them especially the medium to dark blue tones. Men with light colored hair and fair skin has to settle for light and soft blue hues.

If you have fair skin with pinkish hue over it, you may wear pink dress shirts. But be here careful – pink color can add you a feminine touch. Today pink dress shirts are especially popular with Wall Street bankers and stockbrokers.

Yellow and gold colors look great for blonde hair men or brown and dark skin tone men. It brings out the radiance on these men’s face. It forms a nice ensemble with brown suits and even gray or navy suits.

Tan colored men’s dress shirts are a good variant for men with small difference between their skin tone and hair color. It is also a great color to match with dark brown suits creating a nice combination of these two colors.

In a nutshell, it’s worth noticing that among solid colored shirts white shirts still take the first place, then come blue, pink, yellow or gold, tan, and lastly green. Besides, you may give preference to red and orange solid dress shirts, but mind that these two colors are more fashionable that’s why can quickly become outdated. Generally speaking, if you want to look stylish, you are sure to have dress shirts of different colors – in this case you can create nice combinations and ensembles with your suits for different occasions, making every time a new impression over your friends and colleagues!

Scent wearing rules

Do you have your favorite scent? You don’t want to change it for anything better? You like that people recognize you by your smell? I wish you knew that it is a widely spread mistaken belief!!! It’s nice that you have your favorite scent and feel great wearing it, but at the same time you should know some other rules of using your cologne. If worn in a wrong way it may become your worst enemy. In order to prevent it, here are some tips for you.

First of all, you should take into account place you are going to. If it is office, you may use some cologne, but with a delicate aroma (it will be noticeable, but won’t be too foxy). For going out, you may choose cologne with a stronger scent with spice undertones or musky notes that will mix with your own natural pheromones. Mind, that scents for daytime and night are different: a light citrus scent or woods-based scent are perfect for daytime activities. Nighttime, however, requires a scent with deeper mystery. Add your personality aroma of mystery – your woman will hardly resist it!

Secondly, mind the strategy of spraying the scent. It is also very important, because taking into account the places where you spray it, you may either strengthen the aroma or vice versa make it unnoticeable. A little under each ear and a woman will be pleased to lean in close to talk to you. Don’t forget about your face and chin, especially about your chin - the best location for the cologne to mix with your own natural scent. Don’t spray too much of it, even if it seems to you that nobody including you notices the aroma. Just a couple of drops will do their business and you are sure to smell very pleasant, unless your cologne is not a qualitative one. Cologne actually mixes with your body and intensifies over time. As a rule you should feel no aroma after several minutes you have sprayed it. But it doesn’t mean that people surrounding you don’t smell it either.

These are the ABCs of wearing the scent, all the rest, including the choice of cologne itself is the matter of your own preferences and desires. You may choose John Varvatos Vintage - a mix of tamarind leaves, herbs and dates, with spice, woods, leather, and vanilla; Woods (Burberry London for Men) – a mix of bergamot, cinnamon, pepper, lavender, port, mimosa, moss, tobacco leaf, leather, and opoponax (it is a great variant for daytime); Musk (Gucci Pour Homme II) – it combines black tea, bergamot, tobacco, cinnamon, wood, and musk (excellent for the night) or Citrus (LaCoste Elegance) - a light, mature scent with plenty of floral fragrance notes mixed with citrus create an almost effortless second skin. Wear it at daytime and a successful day is guaranteed!

Don’t be afraid of wearing cologne – it is an important part of your image. Simply don’t bathe in it and think where you go and who will be close to you enough to notice your aroma!

Men’s bags’ trends

It goes without saying that a nice stylish bag is part and parcel of your image. And if you want your image to be complete, you cannot neglect the choice of your bag. There are several classical variants of bags, you can easily change and vary according to your clothes: formal or informal.

Briefcase

This classical bag hasn’t lost its popularity since the times of your grandparents. It is really very convenient and practically all-purpose and may serve you for a long time. The classic shape without the sharp corners, buckles, leather exterior, and practical interior compartments help make this bag a timeless and irreplaceable addition to any working-man’s wardrobe.

Holdall

These bags will be of good avail for those people who have occasional or regular business trips. They also come in variety of colors, shapes and designs from totally sporting to more classic and business. Holdalls are very practical, have leather exterior and enable you to take all necessary things with you.



Messenger bag

Originally used by messengers, messenger bags are still widely used by almost all strata of society: from students to businessmen. Thanks to its various design, different shapes, forms and colors, it acquires new “modern urban” meaning in the 21st century.

Tote

Due to its long handles, totes acquire a kind of contemporary edge. It creates an excellent ensemble with your casual business attire. It’s really very convenient and roomy, thanks to its design and style.




Camera bag

Camera bags, small versions of messenger bags, are meant to be strapped across the shoulders. It won’t do for long business trips, but is sure to serve you long for keeping your belongings while going somewhere not for a long time. You don’t need to take any huge bag – everything you need is compactly hidden in your camera bag.



Newsboy bag

If you prefer active style of life, this newsboy bag is just for you. Being informal, it goes especially great with casual wear. If your students’ years are still in your memory, this bag will be a nice addition to your everyday wear!

As you see, there is quite a nice choice of bags for all kinds of occasions. Depending on what style you like and what image you are eager to have, you are free to choose that bag, which will be a nice addition to your wardrobe!

Winter 2008: facial hair styles

It goes without saying that winter with its changeable, sometimes unpredictable weather demands new approaches to our style, regarding both clothes and appearance in general. Here we cannot neglect our facial hair as well. Because even if you are unlikely to wear beard in spring or in summer, it may be rather acceptable and appropriate in winter. There are some widely spread facial styles you can choose from for this very season.

Trimmed Goatee.

This facial style enables you to look elegant, stylish and at the same time remain classic. Trimmed Goatee adds your personality a restrained urban flair and a shade of sophistication. If you give preference to this facial style, don’t forget to take care of your goatee. If it becomes too long, it acquires a rather neglected looks!

Balbo.
This facial hair style presupposes a three-part look - separate mustache, soul patch and chin beard. It looks elegant and very stylish. Guys, who give preference to Balbo, represent a clear penchant for all things classic and refined.

Heavy stubble.

This facial hair style is sure to add your image a bit of negligence and sports looks. Though it looks rather untidily, it’s a nice opportunity for guys who are constantly dealing with a heavy beard. Besides, heavy stumble doesn’t require everyday care as in two previous examples and adds you’re a masculine looks!

Scruffy beard.

If you are not afraid of becoming discussed and keeping your facial hair a bit untidy, give preference to scruffy beard. It looks especially stylish with an extremely sharp suit. Besides, this facial hair style doesn’t look great on everyone – make sure that you are not ridiculous and don’t look like a tramp! If still you choose scruffy beard as your facial style for winter, you prove to be a calm, cool and collected person!


Full beard.

Full beard is sure to add you a masculine grown-up appearance, so be careful. If you don’t want to look older, do not have it. On the other hand, if you are eager to acquire more qualities of a real man, full beard is a real bingo this winter!

Notwithstanding the fact, which facial hair style you prefer, you should feel that it is really yours, that in such a way you look your best. Do not follow the fashion blindly; it won’t do you any good.