![]() There are many styles that take some getting used to: Fair Isle sweaters, tasseled loafers, herringbone jackets, white bucks, a velvet dinner jacket. The rest of us should let things settle down before embracing whatever is thin, wide, cropped or oversize. We don’t need to be branded with a team unless we’re in the stands having our hearts broken (also: Vikings).Īre you on the leading edge of the sartorial avant-garde? Do you buy your clothes in Tokyo? Then by all means dabble in the latest trends. This is also true of sports team (go Vikings!). You like to golf or fly-fish? Fine, but your clothing doesn’t have to telegraph these interests with novelty ties adorned with golf balls (what I call the dreaded “Father’s Day tie”). New rinse for jeans? Sneakers named for a basketball player who’s your son’s age? Let’s pass on those. Trying to dress like a teenager never works out well (not even for teenagers!). Overly small clothes don’t make you look small they make you look big. ![]() I should probably retire them from the rotation or cut down on beer when I’m fishing. I have a pair of trousers that I pray won’t split when I sit down (this is not a good thing!). Slim-fit is not helping you if it’s tight it merely makes you look uncomfortable. Nothing that promises to make you look thinner ends up making you look thinner. So bright red pants are probably best left for models or Italian men who own yachts named Spritz. But we don’t live in ad campaigns (thank goodness). Clothing brands and fashion magazines try to sell you on a look for the season, with a color that “pops.” This shows up well in catalogs and store windows. That stung you want to be compared to Fred himself - and in black and white. A friend said I looked like a backup dancer in one of Fred Astaire’s later color films. But when it was made up, the contrast was too loud. The fabric swatch was a lovely oatmeal brown with a nice blue windowpane. This happened to me when I had a windowpane jacket made by a Neapolitan tailor. ![]() What you’re often left with is something far too graphic. Maybe a loved one pushed you into something a little more interesting. Here are some tips for avoiding common sartorial mistakes men make - let us learn from them and carry on to a better dressed place. For instance, you might find a pair of jeans deep in a drawer that seems to have become stonewashed over time (I’d get those out of the house before any witnesses get hurt). But that doesn’t mean we don’t err from time to time. Over the course of this column, I’ve advocated for men to take a few chances we want to expand our horizons, after all. In short, we’ve all aimed too close to the sartorial sun. The rest of us can pray the offending image is buried deep in the minds of friends and family (and the Google archives). If you’re lucky, you didn’t make this error while attending the Academy Awards. The intention might have been good, but context, fit and trend conspired to leave you humbled. There might be a pinstripe suit that seems a little too graphic once you’ve stepped away from Savile Row that’s now relegated to a John Dillinger–esque Halloween costume. When you return home, your beret suddenly makes less sense when you’re no longer enjoying a glass of Sancerre at the Café de Flore (I’m not sure how hot it looked even while you were in Paris). This is why you should never buy a hat while on holiday. How do they happen? Well, often a mistake starts from a place of experimentation, of confidence and, dangerously, of sartorial zeal. These clothes seem to have been acquired by some other human with demonstrably worse taste than oneself (isn’t that always the way?). There might be something he vaguely remembers buying that shimmers or flares, something recommended by a persuasive sales associate. Staring back at him is a bombastic tie, an overly daring shirt or, lord have mercy, a pair of leather pants. There comes a time in every man’s life when he looks into his closet and doesn’t like what he sees.
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