Research has shown that the way you dress can have a direct impact on how successful you are. According to Men’s Health magazine, a person who wears professional attire can earn 5% more than their regular salary and HOSA has stated that 93% of executives said that an employee’s choice of clothes is a factor in whether or not they’re promoted. While what you wear is not the primary factor for your success, it does play a big part which is why I’m here to share my style tips for men.
These are style tips that I’ve developed throughout the years of honing in on my craft. Mainly, they answer four main questions:
- How Should Clothes Fit the Body?
- What are the Wardrobe Essentials for Men?
- How Do I Wear Accessories?
- What are the Rules of Fashion?
I’ll be answering each question as best I can with all the experience from my years of experimenting with different clothes, styles, and tastes. But first, why is style important?
Why Are Style Tips For Men Important?
Why is style important? Style is important because good style can play a significant influence on how far you move up the corporate ladder. But it also plays a big, if not bigger, role in the dating world. That’s why I’ve assembled these style tips for men like you reading this post right now.
A study by Zoosk has shown that in online dating, people who just talk about dressing up or being stylish will get 135% more incoming messages. In this same study, 94% of women said that dressing nicely on a first date is a necessity. This number has gone down as only 76% of millennials think this is a requirement but 76% is still a high number.
Therefore, how you dress can play a big part in how your work-life and dating life goes. It also can build up confidence and plays a role in how you perceive yourself. Those who dress well tend to have a stronger purpose in what they do, so that’s another plus for why you should dress up.
Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty. Let’s take a look at what style tips you should know and how to apply them to yourself. But first…
How Should Clothes Fit the Body?
Clothes should fit the body in a way that gives you space to move your arms freely but also keep the excess fabric at a minimum. That’s a broad answer, but I’ll elaborate more as we move along.
For most people, the perfect shirt is one that ends just below their waistline. This perfect clothing fit should give you air around your stomach and envelope your back in a way that feels comfortable and doesn’t press too hard against your skin.
As for arm-length, it depends on what type of shirt you’re wearing. If you’re wearing a long-sleeve t-shirt/dress shirt, then the sleeve length should end about an inch past both wrists. If it’s a short-sleeve t-shirt, then it really depends on what you’re wearing.
Some like to have their sleeves end right on their elbow. Others like to have it 2-3 inches upwards of the joint. Personally, I think that three inches upwards of the elbow is the magic number. When it comes to the margins between your skin and the t-shirt itself, it again comes down to what you prefer.
I’ve met people who like to have a great deal of space between their skin and their shirt but then that can make the t-shirt look boxy and unappealing. I’ve also met people who like to have zero space between their skin and their shirt and that usually results in a very tight, uncomfortable t-shirt that you’ll get sick of within a month of wearing it.
The best piece of advice I can give when it comes to the margins between shirt and skin is to have an in-between. Leave about 1-2 centimeters of space between your arm and the sleeve, but never go past one inch. These are the magical numbers that have served me well in the past.
However, these style tips for men would go to waste if I didn’t tell you what types of clothes hold these dimensions. To answer precisely the question of “how should clothing fit the body,” the answer comes in an adult-medium slim fit. Most men are able to get away with wearing an adult-medium slim fit because it fits most of their proportions.
The average chest size for men is around 42 inches while an adult-medium t-shirt is around 40 inches. This puts most men within the range for this size, but a slimmed-down version will help get rid of any excess fabric around the arms and the waist.
If you don’t fit into this bracket, then here are the other measurements to help you out:
- Adult-Small: 36 inches
- Adult-Large: 44 inches. (still a good fit for most people, but it can leave something to be desired even with a slimmed-down version.)
- Adult X-Large: 48 inches
- Adult XX-Large: 52 inches
Take a look at some other style tips for men we’ve given you:
(Learn how to wear a white t-shirt)
What Are The Wardrobe Essentials for Men?
This style tips for men guide has to talk about wardrobe-essentials. Otherwise, it won’t be a true male style guide. So, let’s talk about wardrobe essentials.
Wardrobe essentials are the pieces every man should have inside their wardrobe, Simple enough. They’re also the pieces that, if these were the only pieces a man had, these would be the only pieces they need.
There are several different wardrobe essentials that a man can have, ranging from clothing to accessories, but each one is as important as the one before it. We’ll start off with clothing.
For clothing, there are several essentials that one will need in their wardrobe. These will cover a wide range of activities from work to outdoor play:
- Well-Fitting Dress Shirt
- Well-Fitting White T-Shirt
- Well-Fitting Black T-Shirt
- Well-Fitting Blazer
- Tie
- Oxfords
- Casual Sneakers
- Athletic Sneakers
- Dress Pants
- Chinos
- Tailored Jeans
(Check out our best shoes for summer)
These are the essentials that will get you through everything when it comes to clothing. Now, if the season is a little colder, then you can add another essential: the sweater. However, this collection will cover most occasions, assuming that you wash and maintain all of them regularly.
For accessories, there aren’t as many essentials and most of them are actually optional. However, for men, each accessory I list plays a pivotal role in helping you stand out from the crowd.
- Rings
- Bracelets
- Necklaces
- Watches
Most men consider necklaces and rings to be optional, but bracelets and watches are on the more popular side, so popular, in fact, that a lot of fashionistas will refuse to leave their house without one or the other on.
Nevertheless, all four of these accessory essentials can be styled with the wardrobe essentials that I’ve listed above. These are only the essentials, however. Feel free to add more pieces of clothing and accessories to the collection as you further yourself into the fashion world.
More for you:
(Learn more about The Best Shoes for Summer)
(Learn more about How to Find an Affordable Starter Watch)
How to Wear Accessories
Remember how we talked about the four accessories that men can wear with their outfits? There’s a different way to wear each one. You can’t wear a bracelet the same way you wear a watch and you certainly can’t wear a necklace the same way you would wear a ring. That would be weird.
So, how do you properly wear each accessory? For one, the bracelet and watch both go on the wrist while the necklace is supposed to be draped around the neck. And the ring belongs on the fingers, nowhere else.
How to Wear Bracelets
There are four main bracelet types: beaded, chain, leather, and cord/rope. Beaded bracelets are the most common types of jewelry because of the different variations in material. You can get plastic beads, metal beads, stone beads, even lava beads. You name the material. They probably have a beaded bracelet made with that material.
Chain bracelets are exactly how they sound. These are multi-linked chains made with a range of different designs. They’re more on the expensive side because most chain bracelets use silver and gold.
Leather bracelets tend to be the go-to for more formal events. A good leather bracelet requires great craftsmanship and skill to design. Most leather bracelets have a strap and a buckle to connect the strap around the wrist.
The final bracelet, the cord/rope bracelet, is a more utility-based version of the leather bracelet. Meant for the outdoors, most people like to use this type of bracelet when they’re out hiking or hunting.
There are three ways you can wear bracelets: stacking, with a watch, and on both hands. When you stack bracelets together, you don’t want to wear more than two bracelets together. When it’s with a watch, the best two bracelet types are leather and chain, but beads can also work. Putting bracelets on both hands follows a strict regimen. You can wear a maximum of two bracelets on each hand. Otherwise, it will look like you’re overstuffing the wrists.
Check Out Our Guide on Wearing Jewelry
How to Wear Watches
The tricky thing behind watches is the varying dial sizes and the different watch types. Too big of a watch and you risk making your arm look like a wall clock. Too small of a watch and you risk not having any effect a watch brings.
Here’s a good watch dial sizing chart that you can use:
- <6 inch wrists–34-36mm watches
- 6 inch wrists–38mm watches
- 7 inch wrists–40mm watches
- 7.5 inch wrists–45mm watches
Now, there are four main types of watches that you can choose from: dress watches, dive watches, field watches, and sports watches.
What is a Dress Watch?
A dress watch is a clean-cut watch that typically has a leather/alligator strap accompanied with a really clean, white dial. The numerals are usually standard arabic numerals and they have nothing more than a day-date on the dial to finish it off. Some dress watches don’t even have day-dates and keep it to a minimum.
What is a Dive Watch?
A dive watch is a robust watch, intended for diving. You can wear them with many different straps, but the most common type is bracelet because it fares well against contact with water. Dive watches are equipped with bezels that help track your time underwater and luminous numerics and hands so that you can see in murky waters.
What is a Field Watch?
Field watches were originally designed in WWII with the purpose of telling accurate time amidst constant fighting. Therefore, the field watch is a durable watch, built for every environment. The field watch possesses a canvas or leather band, has a high contrast black dial, and lumed hands so that you can see in the dark. On top of this, a field watch also has extremely strong stainless steel, titanium, or PVD-coated casing.
What is a Sports Watch?
A sports watch is a watch that can withstand the burdens of most sporting activities. A sports watch must be durable, water-resistant, shock-resistant, and keep good movement over the years. Furthermore, a sports watch can be anything from an Omega Speedmaster to a Casio G-Shock. As long as it fits the criteria.
How to Wear Necklaces
Necklaces are tricky because there are so many different sizes and variations. The proper way to wear a necklace is to have the necklace end around the midpoint of your chest. It’s ideal to have silver or gold make up the necklace.
How to Wear Rings
I follow two simple rules when it comes to wearing rings.:
- I need to be able to take the ring off. In other words, the ring cannot be too tight.
- The left wedding ring finger is reserved until marriage.
Rings should be minimal, meaning that they don’t steal the spotlight. To wear a ring properly, one should put the ring about two centimeters past their joint. The ring can go on either the index, middle, or pinky finger though I personally have found the pinky finger to be most aesthetically pleasing.
What are Men’s Fashion Rules?
I’m giving several style tips for men like you to use, but this wouldn’t be complete without covering the rules of fashion. Men’s fashion rules say to keep your clothes basic and simple, use natural color combinations, keep everything at a minimum, and keep your outfits consistent. However, grooming is also big when it comes to men’s fashion.
Keep Your Clothes Basic and Simple
The best wardrobe is a simple one. This means keeping essentials like a pair of well-fitting jeans and a blank white t-shirt in your closet at all times. Having clothes that have designs on them (e.g. streetwear brands) can be beneficial for your closet, but these tend to be harder to style without the proper clothes.
My recommendation is to have clothes that have minimal designs, use basic color schemes, and fit well on your body. Therefore, clothing like a bright-blue t-shirt, a black long-sleeve, or a white dress shirt will fit well within this range.
Use Natural Color Combinations
First off, the best colors for clothing are neutral colors, colors that rarely stand out. However, if you want to dress with colors other than the neutral tones, then the ones that give off a summer vibe are your best bet.
This means:
- Light Yellow
- Watered-Down Hot Pink
- Light Blue
- Medium Blue
- Gray Navy
Neutral color tones includes:
- Black
- White
- Gray
- Brown
- Beige
Darker tones such as Gray Navy can also fit into this since it’s not too hard on the eye and has a more subliminal look to it. For neutral tones, the color combinations come when you’re pairing something with a white article of clothing.
For instance, a navy suit paired with a white dress shirt is a business formal essential for a lot of workers. I’ve attached below a list of all the other color combinations for men that you can try out.
- Light Blue and Light Brown
- Rich Red and Brown
- Gray and Light Blue
- Light Brown on Gray
- Warm Brown and White
- Gray and White
If you still want to mix it up, then I recommend using analogous colors or triadic colors. Analogous colors are colors on the color wheel that are directly next to each other, so these color combinations are warmer and more centric around a single color.
Triadic colors are three equidistant colors on the wheel. They can provide unique combinations when in harmony, but together, they can also be quite bold. When it comes to using triadic colors and analogous colors, the best option would be to combine them together. Triadic colors can sometimes be too bold and analogous colors too centric, but when you mix them up together, they can create some pretty nice color schemes.
Keep Your Outfits Consistent
Find the outfits that fit your personality and style best. Then, reuse them throughout the weeks on a consistent basis. This cuts down the amount of time that goes into picking an outfit since you already have outfits planned that you know wear well on you.
If you want to take it one step further, once you find that pair of jeans or that shirt that fits well and resonates with you, buy three more pieces. That way, you don’t have to limit your choices because your favorite shirt or your favorite pair of jeans are now in the wash.
Of all the style tips for men, keeping your outfits consistent is probably one of the most important ones. Yes, it’s good to diversify and try new things, but it’s also convenient to lean back on an outfit you already know when you don’t feel like experimenting.
Some good outfits that you can keep in your wardrobe are:
- The classic white t-shirt and jeans
- The business casual dress shirt plus chinos
- A bright summer tee with equally bright summer shorts
- A well-fitting suit combination
What is Male Grooming?
Male grooming is the process by which men put time into making their skin, hair, and other bodily features look the best. The best way to do this is by implementing a shaving routine for facial hair, getting monthly haircuts, and applying a daytime and nighttime skincare routine for your face.
Style tips for men are great and all, but a fresh face can make everything look ten times better. That’s why it’s important to implement grooming into your everyday routine.
(See more on Grooming Tips)
Stay Updated!
Hungry for more? I’m always updating this page with new tips and tricks that I find. Be sure to come back for more style tips for men like you!
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