There are many men out there in the world who feel lost when it comes to fashion. Fortunately, there are loads of resources available for men to help them find their style and the Millennial Gentleman is one such resource. If you’re a guy who’s always wanted to dress nicer, or even just a guy who wants to learn how to dress better, there are some easy ways you can go about it that are time tested and proven to work. If you’re a guy who’s interested in fashion, then you need to know how to find your fashion style. You can’t be a fashion victim if you want to stand out from the crowd and be viewed as a stylish well dressed millennial man.
Some men are often hesitant to step out of their comfort zones to explore new fashion style, as they fear doing so may jeopardize their masculinity. This article has been written to focus on proven and timeless fashion advice for men that will never steer you wrong. If anything people may be jealous of how good you look if you adhere to the advice in this article.
How to Dress Stylishly as a Man
Being stylish is all about confidence. If you don’t feel confident about your fashion choices, then it’s harder to put yourself out there and show the world what you’re wearing.
Men often think they need to wear a specific type of clothing that is currently trendy in fashion magazines in order to look good. Instead, you should conform to time proven styles of men’s fashion. Regardless of what some fashion bloggers claim, you should NOT wear just whatever you want. Different dress attire is socially acceptable in certain settings and inappropriate in others, and if you go against the grain you are less likely to be perceived by others in the manner that you actually wish to be viewed by others. Your clothing says a great deal about you to others, and one of the most important things it says is how well you can adapt to fitting into a group.
Another factor to consider is that low-quality cheaply manufactured clothing can easily fall apart, sometimes literally at the seams. Clothing that has been produced to ride fashion trends are what is referred to as ‘fast fashion’, as it has been quickly produced to take advantage of the short window of time these fashion trends are still going viral. The downside to this is that fast fashion manufacturing methods require cutting corners, so the materials and sewing process tend to be low quality. For this reason I don’t recommend trying to follow trends in this way and instead focus on timeless classic men’s fashions. This will ensure your clothing is long-lasting, something you could potentially wear for many years.
One thing that is helpful is styling your wardrobe around a certain gentleman personality archetype you wish to convey. This means adopting the look of certain famous fictional and real gentleman in popular media such as movies, television series and novels, in order to present yourself as possessing the readily identifiable qualities these archetypes convey to onlookers.
When it comes to finding your style as a man, there are a few tips to keep in mind. First off, define your personal style. What does it mean to you? Then pick clothes that suit that style.
For some excellent guidance on how to dress sharply and affordable as some of these archetypes, you should read some of these past Millennial Gentleman articles.
Generally speaking, you can’t go wrong pairing a white long sleeve shirt with a brown blazer, jeans, and a comfortable pair of shoes. There are more effortless things you can try to spice up your look, such as untucking your shirt and rolling up your sleeves.
This doesn’t suggest that you cannot still find ways to express individuality even if your style of dress is conforming to a standardized dress code. As an example, back in my Army days soldiers typically expressed their individualism in uniform by the style of boots they wore and how they handled their boot laces. In those days we still primarily wore a woodland camo uniform with black shined boots, and soldiers could purchase and wear a wide variety of approved black boots ranging from the standard issue grunt boots to paratrooper boots, to jungle boots. As laces on boots must be tucked in per Army regulations, many guys came up with novel ways of tying excess boot lace around the top of their boots before finally tucking the remaining lace in, and this created various pattern designs. This was within regulations and allowed expressions of individuality.
In another example, when I wear a tie I often wear a tie clip. I have a variety of tie clips for numerous types of occasions. Some of my favorite tie clips are novelty clips in the form of swords, as I am a sword enthusiast and historical fencer. I also have some ‘nerdy’ tie clips in the form of He-Man‘s Power Sword and the Master Sword from The Legend of Zelda that sometimes I might wear in a more relaxed setting. Wearing this type of tie clip expresses individuality while also conforming to appropriate dress codes. Furthermore I like wearing french cuff shirts with colorful velvet blazers, notable maroon and blue blazers. I like to wear velvet blazers colors because they are a classy evening wear which can also be worn casually with slacks or jeans when going out for a night on the town.
You don’t have to follow fashion magazines or what everyone else is wearing, but you should ensure your clothing conforms to an established fashion trend that is timeless and classic. This does not necessarily mean you must dress expensively; a classic rugged look such as that worn by the characters Sam and Dean Winchester from the TV series Supernatural meets this criteria. If you are going out to a strip mall steakhouse or a local pub for a first date, or a hike in the woods, dressing this way will be appropriate and generally present yourself well, too. Again, the dress code should depend on the activity and venue you are planning to attend. It would be strange for me to wear a velvet blazer literally everywhere just as it would to wear a tanned leather jacket and loggers boots everywhere.
Finally you should wear an appropriate men’s haircut. You don’t want to be too extreme or radical in this regard either, and instead select a haircut that will look well with the shape of your head and type of hair that you have.
Advice for Choosing Men’s Pants
When choosing a pair of jeans, you’re looking for the ones that fit your body shape. Your jeans should form your waist, and they should also be comfortable around your hips and butt.
Finding Your Fashion Style as a Gen Z Man
Gen Z or Generation Z is regarded as men born between 1995 to 2015. These are people born in the digital age. Gen Z seems to modernize everything they touch, along with things considered strict and by-the-book such as gender roles, femininity and masculinity, and fashion.
Some Gen Zers are quick to want to tear down traditional rules and rewrite them for the sake of self-expression, but humans are social creatures and it is our ability to utilize easily identified traits and qualities that makes it easiest to cooperate with others, especially when you need to engage with people of many different social class backgrounds and age groups. Therefore there is still a subconscious expectation for men to dress accordingly and it is good to learn these rules so you can navigate life successfully.
In this generation as no matter how modernized fashion is now because it is still cyclical. Collared shirts, coats, classic slicked-back hair, and other things that used to be a staple for men decades ago are still capable of making powerful statements about yourself in today’s fashion culture world. Following these time proven fashion staples will ensure you wear a timeless style that incorporates comfort and convenience.
Hipster fashion style is surprisingly on the rise. We’ve all lived through the time when flannel shirts, sweaters, scarves, boots, and beanies were everywhere. It was not long until people began to lust for something more exciting. Hipster clothing is getting its redemption now. It is not hard to see why. Almost everyone can rock an artsy, photography enthusiast, Tumblr-inspired style.
Today’s hipster fashion is modernized, incorporating the essence of the classic artsy and relaxed aesthetic with trends, thus giving birth to a crisp, comfortable, and effortless style. Colorful coats and patterned shirts are incorporated to spice up the classic sweater topped with a scarf, fitted pants, and boots.
A Millennial Man Should Avoid Adopting an Athleisure Style for All Occasions
Curating one’s style takes a lot of time and does require a budget. In an effort to minimize the time spent shopping for clothes and to maximize budget, many millennial men these days prioritize comfort and function as easy bases for all of their wardrobe. This style is most commonly known as “athleisure”, which is where people wear things like gym clothing or sportswear as casual everyday wear. While it is tempting to want to wear sweat pants and hoodies everywhere you go as you attend school classes, go to work and even go on dates, the reality is that dressing this way can present you as a person who does not invest any effort into his appearance. On dates it comes across as lazy and can even be interpreted as insulting, especially as women generally do not go on dates dressed in sweatpants and hoodies — you should match the effort of your date because when a girl feels overdressed because you underdressed, she feels embarrassed and insulted.
You should therefore avoid wearing athleisure attire when you are attending a social event that has nothing to do with athletics or sports; it’s fine to wear athleisure to the gym or to go hit up Wal-Mart for some groceries, but you should not wear it to a party, to school classes or on a first date. It is better to dress more appropriate, as the mature adult male you are, and not to dress like you are a child wearing P.E. clothing. This is the the reason why athleisure is said to be “lazy.” Lazy fashion is wearing anything thrown together that is easy to wear, such as oversized shirts, tank tops, yoga pants, leggings, and sweatpants. It takes little to no effort, even if it might be comfortable.
Athleisure is also very popular among hip hop artists and social media influencers, who claim it makes them look ‘urban’. The reality is that they have made themselves walking billboards for Nike, Adidas and Reebok. Even when they have their own branded merch, the reality is they often choose these styles because they are cheap to manufacture and after slapping their own branded logo onto them, can mark the sale prices up 500% or more compared to what it costs to manufacture.
In my personal opinion there is nothing masculine about being a corporate shill who believes clothing mass produced in a sweatshop is fashionable just because it has a multi-million dollar corporation’s brand logo on it. As a young man you need to decide if you want to dress like a drug dealer, or if you want to dress like a gentleman. My advice to you is to dress for the lifestyle you want to have. This has nothing to do with ethnicity; it is entirely about your attitude.
In Conclusion
Exploring your unique fashion style as a man is something I heavily encourage men to do today. Fashion choices and the clothes we wear say more about us to others than we would like to admit. Your fashion style represents who you are as a person and conveys certain values. It tells everyone a lot about your personality before you even speak. It also gives people an impression of who you are. Therefore presenting yourself in a style that you are comfortable with, and you think represents you properly is major.
As a man, your fashion taste is crucial for your expression as a person, because good fashion requires discipline, effort and has principles. Take charge of the image you convey to others about who you are and what values you represent by dressing well as a gentleman.
