The Men's Dress Code Bible

The key to true style is confidence. If you feel good and true to yourself then everything will naturally progress and fall into place. In the spirit of being true to yourself, these tips aren’t strict doctrine, but a simple educative guideline that scratches the surface. They are designed to give a starting point to build on and a rough guideline to keep within, while making clothes shopping seem like less of a confusing chore. So take your time with them. Once you embrace the fundamentals at your own pace you should feel empowered and knowledgeable enough to experiment and start deviating in developing a sense of personal style that best reflects what you are about!

1.Plain white cotton v or scoop neck t-shirts are incredibly versatile and should be a staple of any man’s wardrobe. Have at least five at any one time. They can be dressed down with jeans or shorts, worn with a cardigan, leather jacket, blazer, even a suit for relaxed yet formal evening wear. Plain v or scoop neck t shirts in shades of grey (being another very neutral colour that goes with everything) also work well.

2.Avoid stonewash denim unless you want to look like Joey from friends circa 1993!

3.Levi’s jeans are a timeless classic. Aim for a straight or slim fit (501, 506 and 511 models depending on your personal style). 

4.Match your belt to your shoes, black with black, brown with brown.

5.There are three types of shoes every self respecting man should own:

· A quality pair of brown leather brogues. They look just as good with a suit as with a pair of jeans.

· A pair of black Chelsea boots.

· A pair of black oxford toecaps for the office.

Good shoes are the staple of any look, so Invest in the best quality leather shoes you can afford and take care of them. Polish them periodically and store those you don’t wear day to day in a shoe bag or box. Women tend to pay a lot of attention to men’s shoes, as would a discerning potential 
employer.

6.Diamond earrings, rosemary beads, oversized watches, oversized belt buckles and too much hair product make you look like a second division footballer, a bad one. While subtle accessorizing should be embraced, for men especially over accessorizing takes away rather than adds style factor! 

7.Buy a brown or black leather travel bag for short trips away. You will look infinitely more stylish turning up at the airport with one of these bad boys than wheeling a plastic samsonite or hauling a hiking rucksack like a scruffy student on a gap year.

8.       Every self respecting man should own a leather jacket and a peacoat for casual wear, and a trench coat and/or a classic three quarter length wool coat for formal wear.

 

9.Leave white socks for the gym! 

10.   Chinos are a great alternative to jeans, especially during the warmer months, and should be just as prominent in a contemporary wardrobe. Try shades of camel, navy and grey. 

11.   A large, dark coloured knitted scarf gives an instant style hit to any winter outfit, as do leather gloves.

12.   Stick to pure wool and pure cotton for suits, winter-summer respectively. Avoid polyester all together.

13.   Always have at least suit sleeves and trousers altered by a tailor even when buying a suit from the high street. Alter the sleeves so that a quarter to a half an inch of shirt cuff is exposed when standing straight with your arms by your sides.

14.   Casual button down shirts are not supposed to be worn formally with a suit and/or tie.

Written by Drew Sykes.