Why Dress Well?

Do we need to ask the question? At AskOkey, the answer is obvious – because we can. However, judging from the men that your humble correspondent saw in the lift this morning, many men have never asked the question; or, if they have, they have forgotten the answer.

First, what does it mean to dress well? It means that your clothes suit you and the situation (party, boat, back garden, office, coronation, inauguration, etc). It means that your clothes fit (yes, even the shorts that you wear in your back yard for digging in flower beds ought to fit). It also means that your clothes are well-chosen for their colour, fabric, texture and weight to suit you best – in other words, a suitable colour, a decent fabric such as cotton or wool, an interesting texture and a weight that suits the weather but that maintains the shape of the garment, as well. Finally, and this is the hard part, it means that when people see you, your appearance says “I am somebody”.

The opposite of dressing well is dressing badly, the best way to say “I don’t care”, about yourself or about others. And, there is nothing quite like stepping out knowing that you look at least as well as the men around you, if not better. Think about it: if men spent as much attention on their personal appearance as they do on their cars, we would all look fantastic, all the time.

How can you achieve this? It depends where you are and what you are doing, but here are a few tips (and you don’t have to go bespoke):

1. Collect clothes that are well made. This does not mean that they have to be expensive, just that they are made of good material and are well constructed.

2. Focus on quality, not quantity. You do not need 50, or even 20 shirts. Enough to cover a two-week rotation for work, and others for leisure. Neither do you need 20 pairs of pants. Look through your wardrobe and remove any that are not well made or that you never wear.

3. Focus on fit. Do all your clothes fit? If not, throw them out, because you will not want to wear them (or be able to wear them, for that matter). If you have recently lost or gained weight, now might not be the best time to do this. Instead, wait until you are back to your normal size, and then go through your collection and assess what you can keep and what has to go.

4. Dress up, not down: if an event calls for a tie, wear a tie. If it calls for a suit, wear a full suit, not half of one suit and half of another. And, if you know that an event is casual, don’t wear a suit and tie (unless you are feeling particularly radical), but a well fitting jacket and neat trousers.

5. Mind your shoes: scratched, dusty shoes do not make much of an impression.

6. Think about colours and patterns: a suit with a light check, or a shirt with stripes, as opposed to plain; dark or light khaki for casual pants, and so forth. 

Here are a few “don’ts”:

1. Trousers that bulge near the ankle because they are too long: it looks as if you don’t know how long your legs are when you buy your pants.

2. Shirt too tight for your chest, waist, arms or shoulders: it just looks as if you did not check the size of the shirt when you bought it.

3. Trousers that hang without a shape: they, like any garment, must complement your physique and size. Opt for a fuller-cut pair if you have larger legs or slimmer if you’re more slight in build.

4. Shirts that hang out, unless they are made to be worn hanging out

5. Jackets that crease when you button them up (too tight in the waist): again, it looks as if you were blindfolded when you bought it.

Of course, if you really want to fix everything, bespoke is the best way to go, but pointless unless you have addressed some of the fundamental issues already.

Why take the trouble? Because you will look better, feel confident and make the kind of impression that you want to.