What about a belt?

A fashionable man is fashionable in everything. If you have made up your mind to follow the fashion, you cannot neglect any part of your wardrobe including accessories, which are surely part and parcel of your style.

Today I’d like to draw your attention to belts and some tips as far as choosing the right one for you. It is important, because with the right chosen belt you can look as if dressed to the nines, but if not – oops, you’ll look like a tun with an iron rim.

So, let’s concentrate on choosing the belt for you:

· While buying a belt have a look on its tag, which indicates the size of a belt. It is advisable that you buy a belt whose size is bigger than your waist size. For example, if your waist size is 32, buy a belt of size 36 or 40.

· Always look out for a belt which is not costlier than your shoes or clothes. At the same time, never buy a belt that’s so cheap as to make your outfit and appearance shabby. Try to find the golden mean!

· Consider the width of the belts seriously while shopping. Belts, one or one and a half inches wide are ideal for formal wear. If it’s over two inches wide, it falls under the casual category.

· The length of the belt should be such so as to make it easier for you to buckle it tightly in the middle hole.

· Remember the color and finish of your shoes before finalizing a belt. This is because of a thumb rule according to which the color of both, the belt and shoes should match. Do not forget about it!

· If you are buying a belt for work, give preference to leather belts that have a glossy and reflective finish. For informal events you can choose amongst the canvas or cloth belts.

· All types of belts have some types of tightening clamps or buckles. While choosing a belt remember that flat and long buckles go well with formal apparels. Whereas, the big, bulky and flashy buckles are meant for party wear and casual dresses.

· Leave the printed, studded, cowboy belts or the ones in unusual colors for celebrities and fashion models. Even if you are buying the belt for a party, analyze your personality and choose the belt accordingly. In the long run, you are buying a belt to wear it at least several times, not once!

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!

Fashion stereotypes we need to get rid of

Fashion is a rather capricious woman. It changes very quickly, at the same time leaving a remarkable record of itself. In course of time fashion gets rid of some perpetuated stereotypes, which were so popular and unbreakable before. It’s high time we got rid of them and felt freer in our choice and desires.

One of such stereotypes or “fashion rules” is “No white after Labor Day”. Originally, mostly shoes were here meant, because in nasty weather it is more appropriate to wear shoes in dark colors. But trying to follow this stereotype, we all turn into a mass of dark, unfashionable creatures, who by no means stand out from this herd. You may easily change the situation by wearing light colors in autumn and in winter. Why dressing as if for the funeral? We want to look our best not only in summer – we want to remain ourselves in winter too! So leave your fears behind and express yourself!!!

Another stereotype is as follows: your belt and your shoes should be of the same color! Actually, they shouldn’t be of the same color – the most important thing is that they should go well with each other. I mean here colors of the same family, like brown, orange and green. Moreover, if all your clothes are of the same color, you are likely to look very dull and not at all interesting.

You shouldn’t be afraid of combining patterns as well. But you should be rather careful here! If you do it in a wrong way, you’ll look ridiculous. The best variant is to combine the patterns of your shirt and your tie. There are some rules you are to follow: the colors in both patterns should be in the same tone (belong to the same family of colors) and one pattern should be more subtle than the other.

Do not be afraid of adding some classic accessories to your image. As they say, everything new is simply well forgotten old. So do not refuse to wear cufflinks, especially when they come in such a rich variety of forms, shapes and prices accordingly!

In a nutshell, I advice you to wear what you like and in what you feel comfortable. All these old-fashioned rules are not working any longer. Today’s fashion is much more democratic and lax, it enables you to express your individuality the way you (and not somebody else) see it!

Some things you should keep in mind in order not to become the fashion victim 2008

Men as well as women try to keep in step with fashion and add new fashionable elements to their wardrobe. Unfortunately, we may easily become victims of the fashion if try to have the cake and eat it too. As it turns out it is not enough just to buy the thing of the last fashion, it should suit your body, your style and image. How not to lay it thick while dealing with the trends 2008 we’ll discuss right now.

Bright and striking colors are not the latest fashion any longer. Shoes, bags and other garment trimmings will change for a plastic-looking edge. It’s called patent leather, and as far as bright colors go, while it looks great on women, it very rarely looks good on men. If you still do not want to lag behind, try a thin, patent leather belt, but stay away from luminous patent leather footwear.

The style of 80s remains popular notwithstanding its disastrous look. Have you seen men in your city wearing skinny jeans and oversized pullovers? If you did, it was nothing else but a piece of 80s style. If you don’t want to look like a boy in your father’s pullover, stay apart from this trend!

Be careful with metallic craze! Especially with bronze and gold! These colors and styles are better for women and almost never correspond to the man’s appearance. Any large piece of clothing like a coat or sweater are likely to look outdated in the following season, and accessories like belts or shoes are usually very odd on men in these two colors. If you want to add a bit of bling to your ensembles, metallic clothing is not the best choice you could make. You’d better give preference to smaller, well-chosen articles such as fancy cuff links, a watch or a piece of nice jewelry.

Long sweaters are the latest fashion trend 2008 for women. But men should avoid choosing them; otherwise they’ll look rather womanly or simply funny. Mind, that sweaters for men should be no longer than hip length, or ever so slightly past this body point. Besides, your blazer should be as long as or a little longer than your sweater, which means that a long sweater won’t be very compatible with the rest of your wardrobe.

Do not hurry to choose clothes with furry collars or trimmings. Again, what is great for women is not always acceptable for men. Mind it. Those with a club-scene style who allowed themselves to be experimental in their clothing choices and are very confident in their masculinity might be able to get away with this style, but everyone else should consider this a supreme trend to avoid in 2008.

Silky satin is as popular this season as never before. It may be observed in shirts, suits, long and short coats. The main thing is not to go too far. Imagine a man all in silk, looking like a present in gift wrapping. If you can’t do without a piece of silk in your wardrobe, concentrate it on some details, like a tie or a shirt. Thus, you’ll attract attention without striking somebody’s eyes.

Coming back to 80s style, futuristic sunglasses are again popular. These are usually the shiny, mirrored ones that are rimless and wide across the top. Before buying a pair of such sunglasses, mind that in the whole season you’ll get only several (!) occasions to wear them, because they really won’t do for everyday wear. Bur nevertheless you can get a pair of them de bene esse.

I hope, that now having noticed some of the described things in the shop you’ll consider all pros and cons of having this thing and won’t look ridiculous wearing the clothes of the latest fashion!