Unless you have formal training in menswear, knowing how to dress effectively can be difficult.
Turning up to an event underdressed (or making fashion a faux pas) can give those you meet the impression that you do not know what you are doing, and therefore, are immature.
Ahead we explore this topic in extensive detail and explain how you can blend elegance and coordinate your hairstyles and outfits for all occasions, starting from footwear and moving up.
Buying Yourself Shoes
The first step in looking elegant is finding a good pair of shoes. Of course, a lot of men do not know this. Instead of investing in stylish men’s shoes they waste their money on what’s fashionable at the time.
Try to buy something elegant and tasteful that is going to be popular now and in ten years, rather than a pair of sneakers with a designer logo on them. Here are a few tips that you can use when you are buying yourself shoes:
Getting the Right Fit
If you are buying a new pair of shoes, you need to do everything you can to make sure you get a pair that fits. Lots of men buy shoes that do not fit and as a consequence develop blisters whenever they wear them.
You can get blisters from shoes that fit too tightly or ones that are too loose. Blisters can get infected if they are not properly treated or if you continue wearing the offending shoes even though you have several blisters already established. Shoes that fit comfortably don’t hurt.
Complimenting Outfit
The shoes you buy need to compliment your outfit. If you are wearing a tasteful, straight-fitting suit, then you should consider buying a pair of Oxfords.
Oxfords are a classic type of men’s shoe that goes with most suits. A lot of men make the mistake of wearing loafers with extremely formal suits. Loafers should only ever be worn with casual suits, as they are a casual type of shoe.
Oxfords should not be worn with casual suits, because they are too formal. Wearing a pair of Oxfords with a casual sit will make you look like you have no idea how menswear works.
Colour Coordination
Browns with blues and greys, blacks with charcoals, and blacks. The previous sentence is generally how colours work with men’s suits and their shoes.
You should not wear a pair of brown shoes with a black suit. Truthfully, you should not even be wearing a black suit, unless you are going to a funeral. Most men wear black suits for absolutely anything, unaware that in menswear circles, wearing black is a fashion faux pas.
Moving on however, make sure that you coordinate your fits and use the suggestion above to make sure that your outfits and shoes work well.
Consider Going Bespoke
One final consideration to make as it relates to footwear is bespoke. Finding footwear that fits well can be a challenge, especially if you have awkwardly sized feet.
Bespoke footwear is made entirely for you, from scratch. It is not usually possible to get sneakers made bespoke, but you can get formal shoes made bespoke.
If you are going to have a pair of bespoke shoes made, find the highest-quality cobbler you can in your area and understand that no pair of bespoke shoes is going to be cheap. Bespoke shoes can cost a small fortune.
Buying Yourself Clothes
Moving on from shoes, you need to think about the clothes you are actually going to buy and wear. A lot of men make the mistake of buying what is fashionable at the time they are shopping.
Fashions come and go. For the last decade, men have been wearing very tight, narrow clothes. Now, however, they’re switching to looser ones.
It’s always better to play it safe and wear clothes that are timeless and cool, like straight-fit clothes. Straight-fit clothes suit almost everyone and they do not tend to go out of fashion, making them timeless.
Thinking About Fit
As with shoes, you need to think about the fit of your clothes. If you buy and wear clothes that do not fit you, this will be much more obvious than it would with shoes.
Clothes that are too small tend to pull at the shoulders, whereas clothes that are too big tend to be baggy and oversized, ruining your image. If you are unsure how to find clothes that fit (or if you have had no look at finding a good fit), consider going to a tailor.
A bespoke tailor will be able to create a suit from scratch for you. Finding a bespoke tailor to work with can be difficult to do if you have never had to find one before, however. Make sure that you read online reviews and find one with a good reputation. A tailor’s reputation can tell you a lot about them and will help you to decide if they are the right one for you or not.
Planning Your Outfits
In addition to fit, as mentioned in the previous section, you also need to think about colour. You can do this by planning your outfits. Start thinking about your outfits and planning them before you have even bought the clothes that are going to make an outfit.
A good way to find good outfit ideas is to use a website like Pinterest. Pinterest is free to use and gives people the opportunity to see thousands of outfit ideas in one, easy place.
If you are going to take and use other people’s outfit ideas then you need to make sure that you add your own flair to them. Do not make the mistake of straight-up lifting people’s outfits and doing absolutely nothing to them to change them. If you do this, even if nobody notices, you’ll look unprepared and unoriginal.
Mixing and Matching
Once you have built up a sizable collection of clothes and shoes, you can begin mixing and matching. Mixing and matching outfits can be an effective way of stretching your clothes and getting more use out of them. Once you have a lot of clothes, it is not a good idea to never wear them.
Trends change and so do you. You might be one weight today, another next month. If you do not get good wear out of your clothes it is a waste of money buying them. If you ever feel as though purchases you have made in the past no longer reflect your personality, sell them on an e-commerce site like eBay.
If you are going to sell your used clothes, make sure that you are honest and open about their condition. A lot of people make the mistake of advertising their used clothes as being in better condition than they really are. If you do this, customers will return clothes back to you after you have sent them out, which will cost you time and money and ruin your reputation on your chosen platform.
Going to A Hair Stylist
If you want to get a good haircut, the first thing that you need to do is to go and see a stylist. A stylist is going to be able to give you the care and attention that you need and tailor your haircut to your current look.
Many stylists are also able to accentuate people’s looks by giving them haircuts they think are going to suit them. Of course, you are going to need to find the most experienced stylist that you can if you want this kind of treatment. If you go to an inexperienced stylist, they are not going to be able to give you the care and attention that you need.
Make sure that if you are hiring a stylist, you hire one with good reviews. A stylist’s reviews can help you to decide if they are the right one for you or not, as mentioned above in relation to finding a tailor. Hiring an inexperienced hair stylist could lead to you getting a haircut that looks bad on you. A bad haircut can ruin a person’s day and make them feel that they do not look very good.
Matching Hair and Clothes
You need to make sure that you match your hair with the clothes that you are wearing. It’s very easy to accidentally get a haircut that doesn’t complement your clothes.
If you are wearing a traditional suit, for example, then a skin fade or another modern haircut isn’t going to look very good on you. If you are unsure how to make your clothes, you may want to hire a stylist, but not a hair stylist, a fashion stylist. Fashion stylists advise people on clothes and help them to buy outfits and get haircuts that suit them.
Coordinating hairstyles and outfits can be challenging. However, just because something’s challenging does not mean that it is impossible.
You can use the guidance given here in this post to pick the right look for you. Make sure that you enlist a professional’s help if you have no idea what constitutes a good outfit or you do not know what looks good on you.
