Tais Elyse Designer. Stylist. Shopper

I decided to write for this blog partially because I was fascinated by how perspective on men’s fashion can be so small and limited at times. The saying goes that there are no rules when it comes to fashion. But most men (and by “most men” I mean men outside of the fashion industry) are intolerant of many styles or trends, especially anything that could possibly be perceived as extravagant and/or effeminate. Examples?

Jewelry is still a questionable accessory that spawns obsessive “how to wear” tutorials or debates in men’s magazines.  The term murse is still met with derision laced with a bit of anxiety, as if a man in need of a handsome bag for his papers, iPad, or other miscellanies normally jammed into pockets is a preposterous notion. Open toe platform shoes, even from a designer known for “re-inventing the wardrobe for men without scaring them,” have yet to gain traction in men’s fashion. The list could go on and on. And if you listened to such a list, you might also start wondering if American mainstream men’s fashion will ever depart from the dominant, safe utilitarian aesthetic and move towards a more open, experimental state.  

So for my last post on this blog, I wanted to address this issue of the lack of boldness in many men’s wardrobes. It has been a challenge to think of ways to style men that achieved a balance between anomalous and acceptable because many men are hesitant to venture into unfamiliar sartorial territory, whether due to personal tastes or external agents pressuring them to dress a certain way. But if it is the latter that is forcing you to second guess your choice to wear a floral shirt, a necklace, or simply a tie to your lackadaisically-dressed office, then your response should be a flip off. Because even for men, there really are no rules in fashion. Sure, my previous blog posts are riddled with rules on how to wear something:  the sleeves of a short-sleeve shirt should be fitted; or you should be wearing slim fit anything all the time. But I am not saying that you absolutely should not wear baggy clothes. If you are going for the slouchy look, then by all means wear slouchy clothes. Instead of rules, there should be an awareness of what you want your clothes to say about you or at least, what your clothes are saying about you.

Although it is common for Bay Area professional workplaces to have their employees dress in business casual, it doesn’t mean you should also adhere to a lax dress code. Why not go beyond what is expected of you in your office dress as well as in your work? Take a cue from the gentleman in the photograph above and pair your casual denim with a smart blazer. He manages to avoid looking haphazardly mismatched by going for a monochromatic look. He eschews faded denim in favor of uniformly dark jeans and then tops it off with a dark blazer. Even more importantly, both his jeans and blazer are flawlessly tailored, giving him a continuously slim, clean silhouette. His winning combination of black jeans and dark gray blazer strikes a perfect balance between professional and relaxed. He looks suave and sharp, but his outfit isn’t a matching suit and tie ensemble; it is just informal enough to ensure that he won’t look completely out of place in a business casual office. The best part about this look is that it is extremely versatile. It looks office appropriate just as much as bar-ready when happy hour rolls around. Cheers!

Do you want to know how to find jeans with a good fit? Do you want to know more about which cuts, washes, and brands are appropriate for business casual sleek? Come to the Men’s Style Labon Sunday, March 20th!

Would you be willing to change one thing you usually wear...for one day.....to GET the girl?

Think about it....battling in wars, composing symphonies, jumping off really tall buildings, buying Ford Pintos ...do you really think guys did this just because they actually LIKED it? My hypothesis is ...get this....that Guys did crazy stuff for women! Revelation.

Try wearing green instead of blue on Wednesday...or maybe a vest instead of a blazer....of course you could instead, write a sonnet or software or something... 

I don't know....I'm just saying....

Com'on - read this most funny excerpt on how men do so much for women, in "Scientific Fundamentalist" by Satoshi Kanazawa. I suggest doing something less taxing like wearing suspenders instead of a belt or a Goorin cap instead of your usual beanie. That's probably easier than learning to ride a unicycle for example. 

{"paint portraits and cathedral ceilings, make scientific discoveries, play in rock bands, and write new computer software, in order to impress women so that they will agree to have sex with them.  There would be no civilization, no art, no literature, no music, no Beatles, no Microsoft, if sex and mating were a male choice.  Men have built (and destroyed) civilizations in order to impress women so that they might say yes.  Women are the reason men do everything. [Noooooo - Say its not so!]
Once again, my personal hero Bill Maher captures the essence of female choice perfectly, when he quips:  “For a man to walk into a bar and have his choice of any woman he wants, he would have to be the ruler of the world.  For a woman to have the same power over men, she’d have to do her hair.”  In other words, any reasonably attractive young woman exercises as much power as does the (male) ruler of the world."}
Pic Source: nottiehottie.over-blog.com

This Year....let your mantra be "TRY something new...different!" 

TRY a new color....a new side to part your hair.....and new venue for happy hour! WHY NOT? Not ready to get out of your comfort zone? TRY one step at a time. No need in getting yourself in a fluff of a quandry. Take it little by little.

Here are some ways to TRY.

Step 1: Simply TRY to pull shirts to wear, from the OTHER side of the closet...not the middle or the left like normal. You'd be surprise there is a mind shift.  Either one of two things good can happen:
A. You say...all the shirts on that side don't fit. In which case, you can immediately take at LEAST one of those shirts and put them in your bag to take out to the car (for a stop by the nearest goodwill after work:).
or 
B. You actually WEAR it. Fantasy that.

Step 2: Hang your clothes to dry (anything that is a JEAN or fabric that has LYRCA in it). 2011 should be about fabric care - not everything has to go to the dry cleaners. Save some years...or frankly months on those cotton jersey tops or knit polos. You will save money in the long run. 

If you don't have an extra 200 ft of empty space to lay clothes out to dry, just go to tar-ZHEY and get one of those plastic or wooden clothing racks for laundry. Trust me....you'll thank me by how blue those jeans still look after 4 years of wear:).

Step 3: TRY green. No....I KNOW you recycle and carpool and ride bikes and all that. I mean .....the next time when you go to the store...be it Marshalls or Neimens, instead of your usual color polo or bra or t-shirt you buy, TRY choosing the color g-r-e-e-n! Green comes in a variety of hues but most people look good in green and its just a SMALL (but SAFE) deviation from your usual route through the grey, black or beige aisles. 

Remember, whatever you TRY, TRY something just a little different.