Are you all tired of the same old standard knots? We below I will list images of many different ways to tie your tie. Enjoy.
What's up faithful readers and guest of the congregation. I pray you all had a great weekend. The topic on this great Monday is, "Can your boys breathe!?" With recent trends, pants are getting tighter and tighter.......... AND TIGHTER!!!!! Now, there are "men" out here buying jeans from the women's side of stores! Now don't get me wrong, I have some slim fitting pants but they are slim through the ankle, loose in the thigh so that my "boys" are not gasping for air. There are so many different fits when it comes to purchasing pants and you have to know what's for you and what's not. Take me for example. I know darn well I better not even think about grabbing a skinny jean/pant/chino/etc. Tgese thighs from football are not going anywhere anytime soon. I like for my pants to fit snug around the ankle but I refuse to sacrifice my boys for it. So you may ask, "well what do you do to get the fit you want?" One thing I do is take full advantage of a tailor. They can usually tailor anything to your every need. Also, shopping around can do wonders for you. I am not a fan of the Levi 501s, I do own a few pair but shopping around has placed them in retirement. Lucky Brand jeans are my current favorite brand of jeans for the fit I like and gives me a lot of comfort in the thigh. I have also bought a few pair of express jeans, I get the comfort I want in them but in a size up from where I buy my lucky jeans. When it comes to chinos I usually go to gap, banana republic, j.crew, etc..... especially their outlet stores lol. I'm all about saving money and will use every coupon possible to get the lowest price. I also use burlington, Tj maxx, belk, etc. in order to find pants, suits, slacks, etc due to the unbeatable prices I can find there, then I usually them to the tailor to get the fit I want. So you may ask, "well what do you do to get the fit you want?" One thing I do is take full advantage of a tailor. They can usually tailor anything to your every need. Also, shopping around can do wonders for you. I am not a fan of the Levi 501s, I do own a few pair but shopping around has placed them in retirement. Lucky Brand jeans are my current favorite brand of jeans for the fit I like and gives me a lot of comfort in the thigh. I have also bought a few pair of express jeans, I get the comfort I want in them but in a size up from where I buy my lucky jeans. When it comes to chinos I usually go to gap, banana republic, j.crew, etc..... especially their outlet stores lol. I'm all about saving money and will use every coupon possible to get the lowest price. I also use burlington, Tj maxx, belk, etc. in order to find pants, suits, slacks, etc due to the unbeatable prices I can find there, then I usually them to the tailor to get the fit I want. This post has zero pictures because, as a man, I didn't want to go looking around for photos of pants too tight and see prints and all that BS on the Internet. If you want to look, I'm sure there are plenty of pics online for you to view. Or, you can simply watch a Young Thug video. Have a great day. What is going on, good people? This topic is one that I can relate to in a major way and could look at from any perspective and understand. The designer shoe has become so relevant in today's time. From Balenciaga and Giuseppe to Del Toro and the many other big foreign brand sneakers, people are flocking to get them. But who can blame them? They are dope! If it's in your budget (refer to finance page) then go for it! Let's take a look at a few pair of these fancy shoes. Above, we have a good variety of shoes and brands with prices ranging from $150 to north of $1000. Now, if you have it and don't mind spending it, go for it... However, I enjoy being as frugal as possible so I try to find any and every kind of deal or I will not make a purchase. There are too many sites out here with discounted prices for people to pay full retail, but hey, to each his own. These shoes are very nice and there are so many designers out there with so many different styles. There's almost something out there for any and everyone. I'm a big Del Toro supporter. The key is finding your brand, style, and shoe that you like and doing some searching for a price you can afford or are willing to pay. From there, it's all about creating a budget and using those funds to buy yourself what you like from time to time. I was almost suckered into listing some sites as well as some brands with some dope designs, but I am going to be selfish for the moment (plus one of the blog members might kill me for disclosing one of the sites because it is too good to be true). My favorite aspect of the sneaker is the versatility for this day and age. You can literally wear it with anything if you want. Like I'm always preaching, you define your style, wear it with confidence. Things I wouldn't dare wear, may be the norm for others. As seen in the picture above, the collage displays a wide variety of wardrobes with different designers sneakers. Though they are different, the one thing they all have in common is... They work for them.
What's up our faithful and new readers, I pray you all are having a blessed start of the week. As I am sitting here in Greece at the moment, I notice more and more things that are not specifically my style at this moment but that I really liked. I contemplated for hours then I said, forget it, I'll get it. Besides, it's not like I can come back in a couple weeks to get the shirt once I regret not getting it. So, I asked myself, what was causing me to do this contemplation? If I like it I should get it, right? Although it's rare for guys to do this, because we are more so the "I know what I want and that's all I want" type people. So, what should be done?!? Absolutely nothing! If you want to buy things that are new to your wardrobe..... DO IT! In earlier articles I told everyone that you create your own style, be comfortable in it and don't try to please the world. So, in Greece, there aren't many people who care much about fashion, well, at least not the ones I dean into. However, they all have their own style. Our tour guide is from here, yet, she dresses like no one in this country. It doesn't make her this or that, but it's unique and she is not afraid to be different. She doesn't do it to fit in but it's bc she sees things that she likes. So this post is just a reminder to you all to do what makes you happy. What's up fellas. You feel that outside? Yep, that's the sun. It's finally getting hot... Not warm, HOT down here in the south east U.S. As temperatures rise, you wish that your suit has less and less lining. For particular occasions, this is very possible. This type of suit is called the seersucker suit. Once again, the art of manliness has great information on seersucker suits, even includes a history so I'll pull from that to provide for this article. We will run through this like you learned in grade school: Who, what, when, where, why, how WHO: While the seersucker suit occasionally waxes in trendiness, its position today is much like that of traditional hats: worn by those who simply like the style, and don’t give a damn about whether or not something is currently in. Like hats as well, just because you don’t watch trends, doesn’t mean you should just throw a seersucker suit on and call it good. Wearing the item properly — so that it fits well and looks sharp — matters. WHAT: So, what is seersucker you say? Seersucker is a fabric made with a unique cotton weave that causes the thread to bunch together in some places, giving the fabric its trademark bumpy appearance (called “pucker”). Typically, the pattern on seersucker alternates between smooth and puckered pinstripes, though the puckering pattern can be checkered as well. WHEN: Traditionally, men only busted out their seersucker suits between Memorial Day and Labor Day. That rule has gotten looser in the modern age, but it’s still only appropriate for hot weather months and occasions. A seersucker suit would be out of place as workwear in many traditional offices; workplaces in the South have more wiggle room, depending on office culture. They’re generally not a good choice when you’re trying to make a serious and professional impression; a regular, wool suit will give you a more structured, put together look. Instead, the seersucker suit is right at home anywhere that has a looser, more casual feel — a spring/summer outdoor wedding, the Kentucky Derby, and dressier parties near the beach. WHERE: (to buy)As the fabric is slow and expensive to produce, seersucker suits are made by surprisingly few manufacturers. Haspel, maker of the original suit, is still around, but has largely moved to turning their signature fabric into trendier menswear. Their traditional seersucker suit is available through Nordstrom at a hefty price ($700) and in seemingly only a few sizes. Brooks Brothers, who introduced the suits that became so popular with college students of the 20s, still makes a classic seersucker suit as well. It’s a little more moderately priced at $500. Not wanting to spend very much for my first go-round with seersucker, I picked one up from JoS. A. Bank. The suit certainly has its limitations, as I’ll mention below. But, it was on sale for only $118. I wear a suit to church every Sunday, and I plan on wearing it most weeks this summer, so it will get plenty of use. I figure if my experiment with sporting seersucker is a success, I can always upgrade later to a more quality model. WHY: Seersucker suits are typically unlined. Since they’re designed to keep you cool, an extra layer would simply defeat the purpose. Seersucker was brought to America sometime in the second half of the 19thcentury, and first worn by men in the railroad and oil industries. Laborers donned overalls, work jackets, and caps made from a heavy-duty, dark blue version of the seersucker fabric. With its durable but ventilated nature, such garments were prized by men who had to work alongside hot locomotives, engines, and furnaces. HOW: Fit is the most important factor in wearing any suit, and it’s doubly important when donning the seersucker variety. Because the material is so soft and lacks natural structure, if it doesn’t fit you well, it will droop and hang on your body like a pair of pajamas. Have the suit altered as needed.
Because of the fabric’s lack of inherent structure, some seersucker jackets (including the one from JoS. A. Bank) come with shoulder pads to artificially add some in. A natural shoulder, however, is preferable. The pants can be a little baggier that you might normally wear — seersucker doesn’t lend itself to the super slim fit currently in fashion — but shouldn’t balloon into clown territory.
What's up fellas? I hope you've enjoyed this series just just as much as I have. I truly learned a lot of detailed information while looking this information up over the past few weeks. I hope you were able to take it all in, if not, you can always revisit the old post. Use this information to your advantage and provide feedback as you see fit. As "The Tailored Suit" series comes to a close, we end with the necessary alterations every suit needs. It's very rare you find a perfectly tailored suit straight off the rack, so we will help you to understand what you need to get done when you get a new suit to create your perfectly tailored suit.Virtually every suit will need three basic alterations. 1. Sleeves Shortened 2. Pants Tailored 3. Waist Suppressed Let’s take a look at each of these in depth. 1. Sleeves Shortened Many off the rack suits have sleeves that are many inches too long. Ideally, you should allow 1/4″ to 1/2″ of shirt cuff (known as “linen”) to show when you rest your hands at your side. In most people, this equates to having the suit jacket end at the bump on the pinky side on your wrist, where your arm meets your hand. It will look something like this: This look is classic and rakish. Look to the icons of men’s style – the Duke of Windsor, Cary Grant, Fred Astaire – and you’ll notice that each of these men follows this rule. Walking around, you’ll notice scores of men who leave their sleeve unaltered and too long. As a result, they look like boys playing dress-up in their father’s suits. With properly tailored sleeves, you’ll avoid this juvenile look and instead appear mature and professional, making yourself stand out from your peers who’ve neglected this important detail. It’s small, but it makes a huge difference. 2. Pants Hemmed Normally, pants on off the rack suits are unfinished and run about 38” long – too long for anyone to wear. You must have these hemmed. You have a few options. To Cuff or Not to Cuff? The first decision to make is cuffed v. non-cuffed pants. This is a matter of personal preference. Cuffed pants are a more traditional option. Cuffs add weight to the bottom of the pant and allow the fabric to drape naturally because of the added weight of the cuff. Done right, it looks clean and classic. If your suit trousers are pleated, cuffs are your best option. However, make sure that you’re wearing the trousers at the proper height. Pleated pants are not meant not be worn at the same height as jeans. Hike the waistband up to around your natural waist (around your navel) to avoid looking like you have about 30 extra pounds in your hips and thighs. Non-cuffed pants are generally better suited for slim, plain front pants. Slim legs hug your body better and don’t require the extra weight at the bottom to make them drape properly. That said, cuffs do look excellent on straight leg pants. It’s a matter of your preference. If you want to really stand out, try getting two-inch cuffs. The next decision you need to make is the break of the pant. Break It Down The break is the degree to which a pant extends down your leg, ranging from a full-break to no-break. Full Break A trouser with a full-break extends to about the top of the heel on your shoe and generally covers about 2/3 to 3/4 of the laces on your shoe. The pants neatly fold once where they meet the top of the shoe. Your socks generally do not show, even while walking. A full-break is best for wider-legged, pleated pants. It’s a traditional, classic look, popular with many older men and those who strictly adhere to the rules of dress. No Break A trouser with no break is known colloquially as a “flood.” The pant neatly ends at the top of the shoe. This is a look that is best suited for a slim, flat front trouser. When you walk or sit, your socks are pretty much out there for everyone to see; this can be a good look for you if you like to showcase your wacky sock collection. While not terribly popular with any but the 60’s Ivy crowd, or Thom Browne, it can look rakish when pulled off well. A no-break trouser looks best with a cuff to weigh down the bottom of the pant. If you decide to go this route, you have to know that it’s not without risks. Because you’re essentially breaking a rule of classic men’s style, you are going to have to do it with confidence; otherwise, you run the risk of looking like you’ve outgrown your trousers. Half-Break A compromise between the two extremes is the half-break. A half-break trouser is slightly shorter than a full-break, but longer than a flood. Instead of the pant hem ending at the top of the heel, it ends about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way down the shoe, allowing a slight fold where the cuff hits the shoe. Your socks may show while you walk. Half-break trousers are a nice look that’s equally suited for trousers of all finishes– flat front or pleated, plainly finished or cuffed. Don’t forget to make sure the pants are properly sized around your waist while you’re at it. So your sleeves are properly shortened and your pants are finished. Now it’s time to focus on your jacket’s fit. Suppression Waist suppression is the descriptive term for the cinching of a jacket’s waist to accentuate the ideal “V” shape of the male torso. Many off the rack suits are rather boxy, so your tailor can rectify this by suppressing the waist of your jacket. When your tailor suppresses the waist, he helps the jacket hide whatever flaws you might have in order to make you appear that much closer to the masculine ideal. This Ralph Lauren Black Label suit has rather aggressive waist suppression, but works well for illustrative purposes: With proper waist suppression, you’ll look less like a burlap sack and more like a human with shoulders and a waist. But remember – the jacket should be fitted, not tight. If you notice any pulling around the button in an “X” shape, it’s too tight. Thanks to the art of manliness for the great, very detailed information yet again. I challenge you all to take out your suits, try them on, and see what alterations you need to get done. Take a trip to your tailor and see what he/she can do for you! That’s it for today’s lesson, gentlemen. If you have any questions or suggestions for future articles, please please leave a comment or give feedback in the space provided on the home page. thank you all again. We do this for the readers, without you all, there is no us. What's up yall? How is everything going? Taking notes? Well this week we are speaking on the pants of the suit. This can be complicated but if you have a pretty good tailor, they will definitely know what to do when you mention how you would like for your trousers to fit, but this will help you understand or give you some insight. The “break” is the small wrinkle caused when the top of your shoe stops your trouser cuff from falling to its full length. This should be a small, subtle feature. One horizontal dimple or crease is usually ideal. The cuff should indeed rest on the top of your shoe — there needs to be contact — but it shouldn’t do much more than that. The trouser can fall a touch longer in the back than in front, so long as it’s still above the heel of the shoe (the actual heel, not just the back of the shoe). This is one of the easiest adjustments to make, so you can rely on making some changes here if you need to. In fact, dress pants are often sold unhemmed, with the assumption that the purchaser will take the trousers to a tailor (or make use of the store’s tailor if there is one) to have the cuffs fitted. The back of your trousers should be a smooth drape over the shape of your rear end — whatever that happens to be.
A good fit in the seat will lie loosely against your underwear, without pulling tight against your butt or draping loosely down your thighs. You can spot a bad fit in the seat when there are horizontal wrinkles just under the buttocks (caused by too tight of a fit), or by loose, U-shaped sags on the backs of the thighs (caused by too loose of a fit). A tailor can “take in” a seat to make it tighter in the back without too much difficulty, but there’s a limit to how far he can go. If the seat was way too loose to begin with, it’s not possible to adjust it to fit without pulling the pockets out of place. Unless the pants have an unusual amount of spare cloth on the inside, seats can’t be “let out” very far to make the fit looser. Err on the side of too loose rather than too tight when buying. Ok fellas, we are back on schedule and now move from the shoulder, but not far at all. Thanks again to our guys at the art of manliness. First, we address the top of the sleeve, where the shoulder meets the sleeve. If you’re getting noticeable bunching on top of your shoulder, rather than on the upper sleeve, the jacket is too large in the shoulders.This could be a simple length problem, but more likely it’s that the interior space is simply too large — your shoulders aren’t broad enough, front to back, to fill out the jacket.Try a slimmer fit, if the manufacturer offers multiple styles, or a smaller size. If you’re still seeing wrinkles on the tops of your shoulders, the brand probably isn’t going to work for you. Next, we comment on the actual length of the jacket. “A half-inch of linen” is a good, old-fashioned guideline for the relationship between a suit jacket and the shirt worn under it — about half an inch of the shirt cuff should be visible beyond the jacket cuff.That said, it’s a general guideline, and you don’t need to get too obsessive. What you do need to be sure of is that the suit sleeve doesn’t rise above the cuff entirely — the seam where the shirt cuff joins the shirt sleeve should never be visible.Similarly, the jacket sleeve should never hide the shirt sleeve entirely. At least a small band of shirt cuff should always be visible.For most men, that ends up being a jacket sleeve that terminates just above the large bone in the wrist. But everyone’s arms are slightly different, and sleeve length is a very easy adjustment for a tailor to make, so get the best sleeve length you can (erring on the side of too long if possible) and then have it adjusted to fit. Lastly, we will talk about the forbidden wrinkle. Faint spiraling wrinkles on the outside of the sleeve occur when the angle of your arm in its natural stance doesn’t match the angle that the sleeve was constructed with. The result is a sleeve that looks slightly twisted even when your arms are hanging still at your sides. A tailor can theoretically remove the sleeves and reattach them at a slightly different angle, but it’s not a simple or a cheap fix. Generally speaking, you can consider this one a deal-breaker. Keep trying until you find a jacket where the sleeves fall smooth and straight when your arms are resting in their natural stance.
What's up fellas? As I'm sitting in Jamaica, I felt the need to take a break from the tailoring of suits to address an issue I'm seeing on the beach wayyyyyyyyyy too often, but I've also seen it on a day to day basis.
So I go to my handy dandy art of manliness to address this issue. So, how short should your shorts be? Short enough that your knees are visible or just slightly covered if standing still. Long enough that you’re not showing the world you rarely tan your thighs; if I have to be specific, I would go more than 2-3 inches above the knee, depending on your proportions. Barron from the Effortless Gent backs me up here. Anything past the knees has ceased to be “shorts.” Those are high-cut pants, which is something else entirely (and not very flattering). Shorts that do come up to mid-thigh should be limited to lightweight athletic shorts, and should only be worn in athletic settings. Running shorts get more leeway than casual shorts because the expectation is that you’re not going to walk into a store or restaurant wearing them. Exercise devotees should bear this in mind, and should go home and change (and shower) before inflicting themselves on the public outside of gyms, courts, or bike paths. So, yes, I've seen all three lengths here in Jamaica, and even some lengths that, me being a man, will not dare to display... EVER!!!! I've worn shorts above my knee all weekend, but there's a limit to it all. So, reaching back to our first post, I don't knock anyone for it if they say it's their style to wear speedos or briefs and call them shorts... Before this post... But when you know better, you do better, so here is an outline for you to correct your mistakes. Don't be that guy. Continuing The instructional on the proper look of a tailored suit, we now move from the shoulders of the jacket, to the collar of the jacket. Below is an in depth analysis of how your jacket collar should fit, courtesy of artofmanliness.com. It’s easy to tell a well-fitted collar from a poorly-fitted one, although identifying the cause of the bad fit can be challenging. Your jacket collar should rest against your shirt collar, which in turn should rest against the back of your neck. All of these should touch lightly, without significant gaps in between. If the collar is too loose, it’s very easy to spot — there will be a gap where it’s flopping back off your neck. A tight collar is a little harder to spot on a jacket, since (unlike a shirt collar) it’s almost all in the back. Turn from side to side as needed and check it out in a mirror. A tight collar will create bunching and folds just beneath it, and often wrinkles the shirt collar underneath it as well. Bad collar fit could just mean the neck size is wrong for you, but it’s often caused by a larger fit issue: bad shoulder sizing, a back panel that’s too small for you, or even a jacket that’s constructed with more of a forward or backward tilt than your neutral stance. Since these adjustments cost time and money to fix, you want to get as good of a fit in the original jacket as possible at the collar. |
AuthorWhat is going on everyone?!? I hope you are as excited about this blog as we are. This is the style section. We will have more than enough to discuss here so prepare yourselves! Please, do not forget to leave your thoughts and opinions, who knows, one of your ideas/comments may end up being the topic of a future conversations. For the record, I am no type of fashion expert or one who goes to fashion week or anything of that nature. Tune in and enjoy yourself, and remember, leave your thoughts and ideas! Archives
February 2016
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