Why not take advantage of this. Since 90% of us is covered with clothing, the clothing you choose makes a significant impact and one area where we can effect the greatest impression!

Dressing badly can be taken as contempt for other people or the situation you are in. Clothing is a way to show others that you have respect and consideration for the situation. If you have respect for the theater, you don’t show up in shorts and a T-shirt to a Broadway play. (The same goes for church, a job interview, etc.).

So it’s not a question of being judged. We are judged thousands of times everyday.

It’s a question of whether we want to have an affect on that judging or not.

Are we ready to see what we can do to present ourselves in the best package to project a credible, professional image?


Here are some basic tips, and faux pas to avoid in order to look your best:



1.Never wear a short sleeve shirt with a tie. Short sleeve shirts are perceived as lower class apparel. Fine as part of a uniform or if you aspire to be a fast-food manager, not if you want to project a professional image.

2.Shoes are one of the most evaluated elements of men’s wardrobes. Your shoes should be clean, shined, in good repair and appropriate for the occasion. If you are wearing a suit, wear lace-up shoes. Don’t wear the same shoe on consecutive days and keep shoetrees in your shoes when you’re not wearing them.

3.Trousers should be long enough to cover your socks, and socks should cover your shins even when you cross you legs. Pants are long enough if they have a slight break in the front. Pleats and cuffs are traditional and functional. Pleats let you sit down comfortably and cuffs add weight to the bottoms allowing for proper drape.

4.Wearing both a belt and braces (suspenders) make you look insecure. One or the other please. And if you opt for the braces, please make certain they are the kind that fasten inside your trousers with buttons.
It’s very easy to have a tailor or the alterations person at your dry cleaners put brace buttons on your pants if they don’t already have them. The metal clip-ons are for the guys who wear short sleeve shirts with ties.

5.Socks should match your trousers.

6.Belts should match your shoes in color and texture.
7.Ties should reach your belt line. This is neither arbitrary nor negotiable. Too short of a tie makes you look like a rube.


8.Properly knotted ties have a “dimple” under the knot. Clips and tacks are out of date.

9.Suit and Sports jackets are symbols of authority. However the bottom buttons of men’s jackets are not designed to be buttoned, since King Edward VII gained weight, and started a fashion trend.



About Buttons on Mens Suits
Single Breasted suits can have one, two, three or more buttons. Two and three button jackets are classic, one or more than three get you into the fashion forward arena, which is more suitable for social events than business. With two button jackets only the top button is fastened.

With three button jackets, you can close the middle, or middle and top button. Some suits are made so that the lapels roll to the middle button. On those suits you leave the top button unfastened. Some East Coast hipsters fasten only the top of three buttons!

Four or more button jackets may be designed to fasten all the buttons, even the bottom. If the bottom button of a four button can be closed without a noticeable pulling of the fabric, it’s ok to close or leave it open.

Double Breasted suits are the more formal of the two styles and can have four to six buttons with one or two “to button”. They are often identified by a two-number designation such as 4/2, 4/1 or 6/2 (also “four to two”).

Translated, the first number gives the total number of front buttons and the second is the number of functioning buttonholes. It doesn’t always mean that all the buttons have to be fastened.

Often only the middle or upper button is secured on a 4/2 or 6/2, but the Duke of Kent started buttoning only his lower button creating a longer diagonal line across his chest giving the wearer a thinner, more dynamic look.



10.Suit and Sports jackets should fit properly which includes showing ½” of “linen” or shirtsleeve at the jacket sleeve.

11.No pens or pocket protectors in your shirt pocket. Pens go in your suit coat inside pocket, out of sight. Also applies to telephones, etc. worn on the belt. Think about getting a nice briefcase!

12.Hair longer than shoulder length for women and over the ears for men diminishes perception of authority, but increases accessibility.

We live in a complex, crowded society where considerate people dress appropriately for various places and occasions. Dressing appropriately is about respect for your fellow humans and our institutions.

Men’s clothing, unlike women’s, is more traditional and less fashion oriented. It takes several seasons for men’s designers to change even slightly the width of a necktie.

The male business suit is virtually unchanged in 70 years! Part of that is the progression to perfection that has resulted in attire that looks great on most men. The theory is once you reach perfection, don’t mess with it!

So why even bother with fashion? Why not choose acceptable classic clothing items and just stick with those?

It’s important to know what the trends are, so you can update your wardrobe periodically with the fashion items IF they fit your own style and body type.

You don’t want to still be wearing a light blue member’s only jacket and red polyester Sansabelt pants, do you?

Well it was sooner or later. Designers getting in on the new Obama presidency. here are some pics and the byline. Somehow I just can't see Michelle and the kids watching a video in their new home with Obama in one of these outfits.
































Milan, Italy — The latest "first" for Barack Obama comes off the Milan runway.
Calling the U.S. presidential hopeful "the man of the moment," Donatella Versace dedicated her Spring-Summer 2009 collection presented Saturday evening to Obama, creating a style she said was designed for "a relaxed man who doesn't need to flex muscles to show he has power."
Chatting with reporters in the cool of the garden of her private palazzo in downtown Milan at an after-show dinner party, the designer also had some fashion tips for the campaign trail. "I would get rid of the tie and jazz up the shirt," she said.

In fact, there were no ties in Donatella's latest show, and shirts under jackets were either super easy with rolled up sleeves or replaced by a silk T-shirt.

The new Versace suit has a structured jacket softened by a double lapel or no lapel at all and slim trousers with slick techno-fabric sheen. Crazy zigzags break up the monotony of pinstripes and checks, while the pastel palette gives the collection a warm summer feel.

Sitting in the front row, actor Rupert Everett applauded enthusiastically, showing that even if it was not dedicated to him, he found the collection right up his alley.

Overall, this round of "moda Milanese" menswear preview collections, which ends Wednesday, promises to be all about chilling out, a refreshing thought in a Milan in the grip of this summer's first heat wave.

The relaxed feel of the collections is epitomized by the return of the unlined jacket, which, when coupled with wide loose trousers, creates a casual yet elegant summer suit.

Right at home with this look was Tomas Maier, the creative director at Bottega Veneta, who presented his collection Sunday morning.

From the ultra soft pajama jacket to the classic blazer, to the white shantung silk dinner jacket, the idea is to keep a guy stylish and comfortable throughout the day. Novelty comes in the "double jacket" which appears to have separate layers, creating a two-jackets-in-one effect.
"If you think about the gap in menswear between a tailored suit and a T-shirt and jeans, it's filled by the jacket," Maier says in his show notes.

Ultra-soft trousers with well-defined cuff, cool khaki and pastel shades, loafers and saddle shoes, and the latest men's shopping bag in Bottega's exquisite leather complete the collection's casual chic.

Sunday afternoon, Giorgio Armani presented his second line Emporio collection aimed at a younger customer.

The first part of the show reflected the current return of the jacket and suit, with the added attraction of the vest, either as part of the suit or on its own. Here the designer was tops, but then suit tailoring comes naturally to the maestro who invented the unlined jacket back in the 1970's. An Armani suit is a must in the closets of the rich and famous.

The second half of the show, dedicated to sportswear, strayed from this tradition. Ruffled surfing shorts and rubberized — or were they patent leather? — Bermudas made one yearn for Armani the tailor.

Earlier Saturday, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana underlined the relaxed feel of these previews with a series of silk bathrobes and boxer shorts — the utmost in the luxury of indolence.

Models walked down the runway of the designers' theater in downtown Milan wearing pinstriped suits as loose and easy as silk pajamas. Their horn-rimmed eyeglasses and leather sandals told a tale of a contemporary business man who can combine beach and office with ease.
When home he might be lucky enough to find his better half in a Dolce&Gabbana robe number, just like the one Naomi Campbell flaunted for the show's finale.

Also showing Saturday, Christopher Bailey for Burberry embraced the easy life for next summer wrinkling everything from jacket to trench coat before it gets crumpled in a suitcase or soaked in the rain.

Typically British, the summer Burberry man can't part with his cardigan — this round so light it can hardly be called sensible — and his traditional hat, the latest version a cross between Paddington Bear and a scarecrow.

To complete the first day of showings, the minimalist Jil Sander label presented its take on the current casual look: Jackets cut close to the body in color blocks like a Mondrian print with zippers instead of buttons for an extra cool fit.