Style Rules for Men 1st

Rule 1: It's more important to look good every day than to look different every day.
This is the genius of being a man.

Rule 2: Wear a tie when you're asking for money.
In the days of Mad Men's Don Draper, business attire was simple: Suit, tie, hat, and polished shoes. No wonder that generation was able to invent such marvels as space travel and the automatic coffee-maker: People weren't distracted figuring out what to wear each morning. Nowadays the office looks more like the cantina in Star Wars, with slackers and dandies breathing the same filtered cubicle air. Hence the ongoing confusion: Should I wear a tie to this meeting? It's simple: Wear a tie whenever you're trying to make money gravitate from another person's pocket into yours.

Rule 3: The rule of shoes: Black is basic. Basic is boring
If you're wearing black, then by all means wear black shoes. But if you're wearing gray, blue, tan, or a combination thereof, brown shoes will almost always look more sophisticated. There's simply more range, from caramel to chestnut to chocolate. If you wear a belt, it should (sort of) match.

Rule 4: Thin with thin, thick with thick
Narrow lapel? Narrow tie. Thick lapel? Thick tie. This is why Howard Stern and Beth Ostrosky look good together. Arnold and Maria? It was never going to work ...
(Emporio Armani suit, $1,400, select Emporio Armani botiques; Ike Behar shirt, $135, Bloomingdale's; Thomas Pink tie, $105, thomaspink.com; tie bar, $100; hankerchief, $10; Emporio Armani shoes, $500, select Emporio Armani boutiques; Cole Haan Turino zip-top briefcase, $700,colehaan.com)

Rule 5: By the time you realize you need a haircut, everyone else has, too
Figure out how long you should go between haircuts. (Hint: This interval will shorten as you grow older. Just ask Gary Busey.) Schedule them in advance—every 6 weeks, or whatever works for your hair. If you wait until you need one, then you're walking around looking like you need one. And masculine style is about looking like you don't need anything.

Rule 6: Vertical stripes make you look thinner
So guess how horizontal stripes make you look?
(Joseph Abboud Collection suit, $800, josephabboud.com; Thomas Pink shirt, $195,thomaspink.com; tie, $105; Cole Haan shoes, $250,colehaan.com)

Rule 7: Good tailoring is job one

Rule 8: Don't try to dazzle
Stick to basics for an interview to ensure that your qualifications are the focus. "Minimize patterns and loud colors," Andre Johnson says. Choose a classic tailored suit in blue or gray, and add a pop of color with the tie or pocket square.

Rule 9: Be ready for anything—or anyone
Always have your A game on, Johnson says; in today's market, you're networking even in your off-hours. "When people first see you, they put you in a box, so you want to make sure you never look sloppy," he says.

Rule 10: Have a go-to suit
"If you're second-guessing yourself before an interview about whether something is too casual or flashy, don't go for it," Johnson says. Always make sure you're comfortable, and know you can't go wrong in your best suit and tie.

Rule 11: When in doubt, go pink
Beige, yellow, and light-gray shirts should come with a warning label: "Not for use by men lighter than Dwayne Johnson." That doesn't mean yellow can't look good on, say, Tim Pawlenty, but pale folks need to be careful because muted colors can make them look ashen or sickly. If you have a healthy tan, then by all means wear what you want. But if it's mid-November and you haven't seen the sun since Labor Day, be wary of wearing anything off-white next to your face. A great go-to color? Pink. Yeah, we know: In junior high, some jock made fun of you for wearing a pink shirt, and now you're all scarred and emasculated over it. Grow up. Pink does exactly the opposite of beige: It makes a lighter-skinned guy take on a healthy glow, and it attracts women because it shows confidence.

Rule 12: Ties run button to button
A tie should cover your collar button and most of your top trouser button. Anything shorter makes you look like you work for NASA. Anything longer makes you look like former congressman Weiner.
(Calvin Klein Collection coat, $1,530, Calvin Klein Madison Avenue; DKNY suit, $600, 800-231-0884; Thomas Pink shirt, $185, thomaspink.com; Calvin Klein tie, $45, calvinklein.com; Frederique Constant watch, $2,750, frederique-constant.com; Boss Black shoes, $395, 800-484-6267)

Rule 13: Dress up to go shopping
This may sound kind of silly, but trust us—what you wear while you shop impacts what you'll look like after you've shopped. It's impossible to tell what a suit really looks like when you're trying it on over your "I Hate LeBron" T-shirt. Similarly, it's impossible to tell how well an overcoat fits unless you're trying it on over a sport jacket. Wear a jacket, a white shirt, and a pair of formal shoes. Your tailor will thank you.

Rule 14: Square-toed shoes are just that
Perhaps you believe in always being prepared to kick a field goal no matter what the circumstances. In that case, opt for dress shoes with square toes. But assuming that you are not, in fact, Charlie Brown, the shoes that will last the longest and never go out of style should be a bit more rounded at the tip. Get the point?

Rule 15: Wear flip-flops only at home (okay—the beach, too)
What makes a man a man? He is strong. He is certain. He is prepared at any moment to meet a manly challenge with courage and fortitude. When a child wanders off the curb into traffic, when a date is hassled by a street tough, when a fire breaks out and someone needs rescuing, a man is there, fast and ready. He is not skipping cloppity-clop- clop down the street, squeezing his toes together so his flip-flops don't fall off.

Source : menshealth