Men’s Fashion: What Are The Rules?!

This post starts with a confession of a failed opportunity. Bare with me: we’re going to figure this out together.

It started a couple of months ago, when my boyfriend requested my help with the wardrobe basics and handed over the reins to his style (and credit card – woohoo!) My friends got excited – I kept hearing “it’s going to be so fun to dress up your boyfriend!” And I was right there with them; after all, I’m fashion-obsessed and have written my fair share of articles on wardrobe staples and major trends. What I didn’t realize? Knowing something about women’s fashion isn’t equivalent to knowing something about men’s fashion. Women’s fashion to men’s fashion is as baking to barbecuing. Or visa versa. I’m not trying to make any statements about gender proclivities towards making good food here. Baking is just not the same skill as barbecuing, even though both activities produce edible goods. Moving on.

Image Courtesy of GQ

I thought that I’d walk into a couple of stores, get the hang of it, and come out of the experience an expert in helping guys to achieve that elusive balance between manliness and trendiness. I didn’t even get part one of that down, because it turns out I had no clue what stores to actually go into. After some hearty Day 1 defeat, I looked to male friends for a clue: surely the question of “which stores do men typically shop at?” would get an easy answer, ideally in list form. Again, wrong, so wrong. I got some inarticulate mumbling, some half-hearted suggestions practically posed as questions, and some allusions to moms still regularly buying their sons clothing. Not so helpful.

Image Courtesy of Retail Insider

Ultimately, what I found was that a lot of the twenty-something men I know aren’t very sure about where men’s shopping should be accomplished, therefore they tend to avoid the whole process. I realize that this doesn’t apply to all men, but I guarantee any one of my age twenty-something girlfriends can easily name off their favourite stores, and that this isn’t the case for the majority of their male counterparts. I suspect that this has something to do with the fact that “men’s stores” are usually “women’s stores with a smaller men’s clothing side.” And what I’ve noticed is that stores that are reliably trendy for women aren’t always so reliable when it comes to men’s fashion (sorry, Express).

Image Courtesy of Explife Express

I think that on the whole, men and women shop differently. Men’s fashion is just a different beast, and that beast should have some of its own stores! Sure, a lot of guys enjoy having individual style, interesting pieces and a variety of options. But what I’ve gleaned from this whole (so far failed) experience is that men are expected by society to adhere to some rather strict rules of dressing, but that those rules are hard to find and difficult to decipher. Men want to master the basics just like women do – and a lot of men don’t want to go anywhere further than the basics, because, you know, clothes. The big questions are: what are the basics, and where does one go about purchasing them?

The thing is, there are piles of people (of both genders) out there writing about women’s fashion dos and don’ts and rather a lot less people doing the same thing for men’s fashion. Maybe this is because fewer guys than girls are interested in reading about fashion; maybe this is because there are more options when it comes to women’s fashion (dresses, a whole dictionary of heels…); it’s probably a little bit of both these reasons along with some others, too. I actually tasked my boyfriend with doing a little research on men’s fashion, and his conclusion was: “There’s a lot of stuff on the internet about watches.” There are some amazing blogs out there for guys, but for my boyfriend and most of the men I know, the whole situation is daunting, and sifting through the internet in search of fashion is (no-brainer) not going to happen. So I’m going to do it! No more excuses to be lazy with your clothing. And if dressing well for yourself isn’t enough motivation, here’s a little extra: there are a LOT of women out there who won’t date you because of your shoes. I’m not saying we’re superficial; we’re just really into this fashion stuff.

Image Courtesy of Fashion Finder

I understand now why sports jerseys and questionable mandles regularly populate my dressy-casual office. But I am also newly motivated to work on this men’s fashion issue. So I’ve decided to dedicate one of my two weekly Designer Swap blog posts to learning (and sharing) the basic rules of men’s fashion. From pants to belts to shoes, I want to dissect this beast one piece at a time and then put all of this info in one place.

Because for most of the men in our lives, Saturday shopping with the guys isn’t a thing. So let’s stop trying to make it a thing.

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