Punch Up Your Shirts.

You know how a shirt should fit. Now, PG will gradually be about adding a bit more modern style into your wardrobe. So, here are a few shirt ideas based on what is stylish now.

The easiest way is to stray from solids. That doesn’t mean that solids aren’t modern or that you shouldn’t wear solids, but picking a single shade that looks good on you should be something you’re able to do decently well.

Just when you want to mix it up a little, opt for a pattern.

Checks
Checks (a variety of them) are definitely in. Go for some color, with dark jeans, to help keep it modern and allow you to step out from the crowd. Colorful checked shirts also go great with a suit, and gives you a break from the normal solid color dress shirt and patterned tie mold. There are a variety of check sizes, so go with the one that looks best on you. Generally, the larger the check the more the statement. Below are examples of a medium-small check (top) and micro-check (bottom). Both look great.

1.

Photo credit: JCrew.

2.

Photo credit: Martin+OSA.

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Fit Lesson 4: Shorts.

I omitted shorts from my fit guide on pants, but that isn’t because they are unimportant, or that guys wear them correctly, it’s because they belong in a class all to themselves. Just like shoes, guys typically don’t put that much thought into a pair of shorts. They check to make sure they fit in the waist, they don’t ride up too high on the leg, and they’re done.

A lot of guys still revert to their college days where they can just throw on a pair of shorts, because it was all casual, all the time, and the super-sloppy look was cool and acceptable. Dressing like a grown-up means no more baggy shorts. That means ditch the ill-fitting wrinkly cargo shorts made famous by American Eagle and Abercrombie and Fitch (BTW, if you’ve graduated college you should not be anywhere near an A&F or their counterparts). Instead opt for well-tailored and clean shorts.

So, it’s time to update the way your shorts fit. Since you’re showing more skin off, shorts are particularly susceptible to look awkward based upon body type (more below).

Length

As usual, we start with the biggest problem. Most guys wear their shorts waaaay too long. The killer is, that no matter what your body type, shorts that are way too long accentuates it. If you’re shorter, it makes you look like a midget. If you’re super tall, it makes you look too stretched out.

The shorts in #1 are almost halfway down his shin, making him look like a child. Whereas, #2 are above the knee and makes him look like a suburban dad.

1.

Photo credit: iStock.

2.

Photo credit: Target.

The ideal short length for most guys will hit between halfway down the kneecap to just below the knee. Anything longer and you look like a midget. And anything shorter makes everybody around you uncomfortable, despite the recent urban trend of shorts that are well-above the knees. Shorts #3 hit just the right area of the knee.

3.

Photo credit: Original Penguin.

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Fit Lesson 3: Shoes.

Shoes are very important. Let’s be honest: walking around with the wrong pair of shoes and the right outfit makes you look like an idiot. It can completely kill an outfit. Here’s a mental image: you see a guy suited-up in the perfect suit, shirt and tie combo. Pants with the perfect break and width. Shirt that fit like a glove. Everything fits precisely as they should, but then you get to the shoes. Big clunky things with thick soles. It completely disrupts the lines that the outfit was attempting to accomplish.

The problem is that most guys think shoes are easy. Brown belt? Brown shoes. Black belt? Black shoes. Jeans? Sneakers. Done and done. But, it goes beyond color of your shoe or dressy/casual. As mentioned before, the way your shoes fit your body and personal style, is just as important as how you look in a nice shirt.

As I alluded to in the comment section of the last post, shoes are a great place to let loose a bit more of your own personal style. A more rustic guy? Wear a distressed shoe. More urban? Something a bit more on-trend and hipper. But, before you let your personal flair out there, you need to know some of the basic rules, or else the look will just flop. Keeping with the overall modern theme, you want to again strive for clean and simple lines. The following rules will hold true for dress/business shoes, but I will post a few positive examples of casual shoes below.

Soles

The ideal starting point, since this is where most guys make mistakes. These should be thin, and not clunky. What you want, yet again, is a clean silhouette of the shoe, generated by clean and simple lines. Notice the thickness of the soles of #1 vs #2.

1.

Photo credit: Kenneth Cole.

2.

Photo credit: Johnston & Murphy.

Thin doesn’t mean wafer-thin. Notice that the sole of #2, is thin but provides enough thickness to still be comfortable. The shoe in #1 also has a thick lip caused by the sole extending substantially further out than the leather of the shoe. This became especially popular in the late 90’s and early 00s, and just creates a very clunky appearance. Compare this to #2, in which there is no discernible lip, instead it’s very clean and precise.
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Veggie Shoes

I like meat. I like leather. Is it a primal thing? Perhaps. I’ve just always loved the smell of quality leather, and the look of beaten leather boots. But I’ve never really given it a second thought. Virtually all stylish shoes are derived from animals, as are belts and luxury car interiors. It’s just the way my world worked.

But I recently had a somewhat of an eye-opening experience when I went shopping with a friend of mine. He’s pescetarian and doesn’t wear leather. I started thinking about how difficult it would be to find stylish shoes if you didn’t wear leather. It definitely threw me. So, I decided to poke around on the internets to see what I could find out.

I know it’s not for everybody and that I haven’t done a post on shoes, but consider this a prelude to the primer.

Dress Shoes

The hardest type of shoe by far to find in non-leather varieties. But I did find some great stylish alternatives in a variety of price ranges.

Noharm has a great shop on Amazon to purchase their shoes. They’re a little expensive (~$275), but they are by far the best looking vegan dress shoes that I’ve seen (in my brief experience of poking around).

Photo credit: Noharm.

Photo credit: Noharm.

Photo credit: Noharm.

On the less expensive side is this dress shoe from Vegan Chic.

Photo credit: Vegan Chic.

The biggest collection of shoes that I’ve seen is Vegetarian Shoes. Here are two pairs that straddle the line between dressy and casual wear.

Very cool faux-suede wingtips. Photo credit: Vegetarian Shoes.

Photo credit: Vegetarian Shoes.

Casual shoes
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Fit Lesson 2: Pants.

I’m consistently amazed as to how often guys neglect to wear pants that fit them properly. Ill-fitting pants may even beat out ugly shoes as the most common mistake made by guys. I’m curious as to if this is because most guys don’t own a full-length mirror and rely upon their bathroom mirror that only shows from waist up.

By and large, creating hard and fast rules for pants is more difficult than for shirts. This is because there are so many different types of pants, each with subtly different valid style points. Shirts, generally, have the same rules for a casual shirt as for a dress shirt. However, there are some general rules to help you achieve cleaner lines.

Here are some counterexamples with pictures so you can get a feel for what I’m talking about. Notice the size of the pant leg relative to the model, the way the pants sit on the waist, and the length of the pants.

1.

(CC) Photo credit: CharlesFred

2.

Photo credit: Lucky Brand Jeans

3.

Photo credit: Eddie Bauer

5.

Photo credit: Urban Outfitters

Contrast the above pants to the following, while noticing the same things: width of pant leg, inseam length and position on waist.

6.

Photo credit: Gap

7.

Photo credit: Banana Republic

8.

Photo credit: Banana Republic

9.

Photo credit: Banana Republic

Now for the rules.

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Fit Lesson 1: Shirts.

For Lesson 1 I’m going to borrow an image from the most recent Johnston & Murphy catalog to help punctuate my point about how a shirt should fit (for now, ignore the ugliness of the shirt). Now, this isn’t me bashing J&M. I actually think some of their shoes are fantastic. But, their clothing line is consistently unpleasant.

Photo credit: J&M catalog

1. Shoulders

Check your seams. They should extend right up to where your deltoids end (where the shoulder begins to slope). Any less and you’ll notice the buttons pulling. Any more and the shirt will just drape on you, as it is doing on this guy. The rule applies to your tshirts as well. If you have a smaller upper body, this is an especially important rule for you to follow. You will over-emphasize your narrow upper body width if your shoulder seams are too wide.

2. Sleeves

For all types of long-sleeve shirts, you don’t want a lot of bunching near your wrists. If you get that, you obviously have purchased too long of shirts. You want a slight break in the sleeve so that it is comfortable, but not too short where your arm hair is sprouting out. For shirts you’ve already purchased, a good tailor can remedy sleeves that are too long.

Also, notice in the image how there appears to be 3-4” of fabric hanging down from the bottom of his arm. It’s the fabric equivalent of old-woman arm flab and is even uglier in my book (at least old women have an excuse). This creates an unflattering and sloppy look on anybody. Most modern fit dress shirts have slightly higher arm holes to help with this problem.

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