The top 2 rules for men’s style on a budget

RULE NO 1:

Inspite of the GFC, spend good money on jackets, belts & shoes.

Jackets:

Own at least one awesome jacket for each season – a light one for summer and heavy wool or gaberdine jacket or trench coat for winter. If you don’t have much money then probably the one item to make a large one off investment in is your jacket. For your winter jacket, think $350 – $500 (trust me, it’ll be worth it), then perhaps a couple more light-weight jackets in the $100-$200 range to help mix things up in the summer or on sunny winters day. Then hit up the second hand stores for some dress jackets to mix things up.

Belts:

We cannot stress how much difference a good belt can make. Men don’t have as many accessorizing options as women, so a good belt is almost more important for a guy than for a girl. $100 for a brightly colored belt is not unreasonable. When it comes to how many, 5 or 6 belts is about the right number to own (if possible) for the standard guy and mix them up – two business/work belts if you have a job that requires business attire AND some brightly colored awesome belts, perhaps one leather one (this is where you spend that $100) and one that’s more a novelty item (think cheap 2nd hand stores). The final belt should be a standard (but nice) black belt, possibly studded if you want to go for a more punky route (think $50). White belts are sweet as well.

Shoes:

You can actually get some pretty nice looking shoes on the cheap, and then have one or two primary pairs that you spend more money on. Obviously you want a pair of dress shoes, and these are usually down to personal preference. Avoid the overly curly tips, a bit of a point is ok, just stay out of pirate territory. As for the more casual look, try ’street’ sports shoes – for example the Chuck-Taylor variant is good to have as well.  You can score some fantastic shoes with plenty of character for under $100 (believe it or not).  Your main pair of dress shoes may obviously be somewhat more than this.

RULE NO 2:

Spend the rest of your clothes budget on accessorizing and clothes with bright colors.

A mix of contrast and color in  your wardrobe and style will definitely lift up your game. Think dark pants/jeans and a black jacket worn with a very bright (but simple) colored t-shirt or a plain white shirt + colored tie.

Ties:

Ties are great as an opportunity to add some color and diversity. The white shirt + tie look never gets old, and can be worn casually (with jeans, open top button and loose knot) as well as formally. Browse second hand stores for color and character, and perhaps spend a bit more on some nice new (perhaps black or red) versatile ties.

Gloves and Scarves:

These versatile wardrobe accessories are gaining in popularity amongst men because and they’re an awesome accessory and a great way to add further color, especially in winter with your jacket. Once again, owning a few scarves is handy, and you can often pick these up very cheaply, especially in second hand stores. How to wear them … see our next post!

Sunglasses and Watches:

Try and own two watches, one classy, analog watch and perhaps a more casual one (possibly digital, provided it has smooth lines and isn’t clunky). As for sunglasses, stick to variants on the aviator look; take Ray-Bans as your expensive starting point and then go from there i.e. cheaper variants that look similar nonetheless. Also, stay away from the standard cheap wayfarers, everyone is wearing those things. You can get good looking sunglasses for $30 if you shop around.

Cardigans and Sweaters:

These can be hard to find, try some second hand or even casual wear stores for the right style that could make you look very sophisticated. Some jeans stores today are carrying great sweaters and cardies – and if you’re a slimmer guy, try the chunkier sweaters to add some bulk to your frame. Beware though, avoid exessive bagginess and over the top patterns, or you could end up vying with like granddad or Professor Joe for most unfashionable man in the room. And don’t be scared of bright primary colours in your knitwear – blues, greens, yellows, reds are excellent for cardies!

Bags:

A good casual backpack is good for the casual look (worn over one shoulder). The backpack as a fashion accessory should NOT be a camping pack, nor should it look too high school, so be careful here. Try  having a satchel as well, try not to get one that looks too battered, also watch out for the surfy/skatey logos on these, you don’t want any of that. Also, don’t go too big. $50 should get you what you need satchel wise.

Hoodies:

A standard, must have item. As with pretty much everything else, the more you can afford, the better, but having at least a couple is good. As usual, keep them design free, and stylish if possible. Have one with a front zip and one without and budget at least $100 – $150 per hoodie.

Fragrances:

We only have one simple tip for fragrance. Keep the spray to a minimum. Our idea of MSP hell is being trapped in an elevator with a over zealous spray dude reeking of ‘Mega Odour du Homme’! Pepe le Pew anyone?

Shopping advice:

1) Take a girl who you trust with you on your expedition (make sure it’s one with a good fashion sense themselves). They’ll tell you if things fit right ( and secretly they’re better at dealing with overly-persistent shop assistants than you’d probably be).

2) Patience. Most guys go way too fast when shopping. Take the time to browse and hunt out bargains. Don’t blow your budget on one or two items. Therefore, you need to be on the hunt for sales, second hand stores and sweet deals.

3) Keep your eyes peeled for interesting colors. Being able to have a light, pastel mix is cool, with a very light pair green or blue jeans (cardigans are awesome when you go for the pastel look), while the other combination is dark jeans + black jacket + colored t-shirt + colored belt.

Budget Tips:

Look for specials at the end of the season and try get new clothes at wholesale prices here from time to time. Second hand stores offer the best in bargain hunting even in the most odd shop places you might be able to find a great piece like a velvet jacket circa 1930s. In particular things like cardigans, scarves, shoes and ties can be picked up on the cheap from these types of places.

And lastly, things to kick out of your wardrobe (or rock ONLY in the right context):

1) Sandals are horrible anywhere except on a beach.

2) Graffiti/big numbers/garish designs and logos. Generally keep your clothing free of brands and logos – it looks generic and sloppy. You also don’t want to be a walking advertisement unless they’re paying you a big fat commission!

3) Baggy jeans/pants. Once again, these lack class. You don’t have to go super-tight, but at the same time, don’t be afraid of going to a tighter cut than what you might normally feel comfortable in. You can get great specials on jeans (particularly at the end of a season), but without a special, a really good pair can be found for around $140 or so if you shop cleverly. This is not unreasonable, a good pair of jeans should last you a long time if taken care of properly.

4) Sporty &/or skate shoes. Keep this look to the casual casual days (never on a date! or for a formal dinner!), and if you want to go the sports brand route, try some variation of the ’street’ style.

Gents, we can assure you that if implement these handy tips you’ll enjoy your great masculine style (and the ensuing compliments) without robbing the bank!

Icarus Store

There’s a massive stirring in the city of Sydney. Pitt Street Mall is full of construction & noise, day in, day out. You would imagine this to be off-putting for the local Sydney-Sider but the opposite seems to be happening. Instead of foot traffic slowing and stores reporting decreased sales, we’re seeing the general public’s insatiable curiosity leading them into ‘almost finished shops’ with glaring 50-70% off sale signs.

Just like kittens, these shoppers are tenderly making their way through the new shops of Lend Lease and Westfield (still yet to be opened) as Pitt Street Mall takes a face-lift. It’s been in the making for many years, and while the 2 giants go head to head in a Jurassic tug of war trying to entice consumers, we have a subtle yet more tailored call to the design district of Sydney, known as Surry Hills.

This understated design district has a new player called The Icarus Store. Now if you didn’t know, in Greek mythology, Icarus, is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus. The main story of Icarus is about his intent to escape Crete by means of wings constructed by his father. He ignored instructions not to fly too close to the sun, and thus, feel to his death. What I love about this character, is he dared to be great. He also was innovative, larger than life, and thought outside the square.

Which takes us to Nathan. Not unlike the character named – Neo out of the Matrix, Nathan knew there was something else to his life than an office job. In a moment of true revelation, and while on a holiday in New York City, Nathan started to see retail as a way to serve young men (in his home town of Sydney) in their efforts to look different, feel confident and have a more unique and quality driven wardrobe. So, with the help of his friends in creative and high places, Nathan stuck a deal with various unknown yet splendid labels and brands and planted them in Reservoir Street in Surry Hills.

Now this story may not be for everyone, as it’s localised. But remember, we have international products in this store.

Take ‘CB I hate perfume’ for instance. After four years with Kiehl’s USA, Christopher Brosius set out to make perfume on his own in 1992. Since then, he has won four Fragrance Foundation awards and been nominated for many others. Christopher opened the I Hate Perfume gallery in Williamsburg in 2004. The name reveals his disdain for overpowering department store perfume brands and their use of alcohol as a base for fragrance. His oil and water based perfumes have their own story to tell and capture a very special sense of place or experience. Each perfume is carefully compounded, blended and bottled by hand in his gallery workshops. We love it!

Then look at Loden Dager. This is a menswear collective based in New York designed chiefly by two Marc Jacobs alumni, Oliver Helden and Paul Marlow. Loden Dager debuted in 2006 with a rigorously unadorned collection of shirts, jackets, and pants. As the label has gained a loyal following — plus an Ecco Domani award and a partnership with Uniqlo — it has grown more adventuresome with its fabrications and influences. With a nod to a bygone era, Loden Dager’s designs echo fashion’s grey area between the masculine 1940’s, the mod 1960’s and the hippie 1970’s. The result is a sophisticated and approachable wardrobe for the student, worker, activist and everyman.

Swedish-born Patrik Ervell received a political science degree from UC Berkeley and fell into design after working as an editor at V magazine. Ervell saw a gap in the market and launched his own menswear collection in 2005. His designs are heavily influenced by the military and classic American sportswear, carefully tailored with luxurious touches. Ervell has received widespread acclaim for his minimal aesthetic and creative use of utilitarian materials, highlights include winning the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Award in 2007 and being a runner-up in the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2009. Check out the home page! http://www.patrikervell.com/ It’s totally innovative.

It was ridiculously hard to move throughout the store at the opening of Icarus. The environment design, which as you all know either repels or attracts the side street consumer, was understated and subtle, yet inviting. Masculine to a tee without taking sides of the ‘too dandy’ or the ‘too lumber jack’, we found Icarus to be modest, intelligent and savvy. The supportive crowd chattered and silently coded a nod of approval, as Nathan carefully selected the right ambient lighting, the right music and the right display of product. Even the accidentally broken bottle of ‘CD I hate perfume’ ended up wafting through the store making this another sensory experience for the opening launch crowd.

Icarus Store is located at 42 Reservoir Street, Surry Hills.

www.icarusstore.com – head over on a Saturday to chat to Nathan and his girlfriend Karen, who go beyond retail and actually take pride in customer service.

Menswear trends according to Pitti Uomo

“With Pitti Uomo begins a month-long cycle that tends to leave even the most dedicated follower of fashion feeling as glutted as a foie gras goose on corporate design agendas.”

Pitti Uomo? Who?

It’s neither the name of an Italian count gone rogue nor a notoriously expensive entree at a ridiculously exclusive Michelin establishment, although both have credence in that vein.

Pitti Uomo is the leading menswear trade show held each season in Florence, Italy. It’s where the trends for next season are debated over glasses of Prosecco and the world’s top buyers parade for The Sartorialist.

“At Pitti Uomo, you can count on the Italians to wear tight pants and smoke (outdoors only now that a new ban is in effect) as if Marlboros were the staff of life. You can rely on Japanese buyers to overexert themselves performing courtesy bows. You can guess that the English will come dressed in the kind of clothes that evoke lager-lout blowouts on Ibiza. And you are guaranteed to find at least one Austrian wearing a Heidi T-shirt, ironically. And, of course, you will see plenty of Americans doing all of the above, more or less at once.

There is a sober side to Pitti Uomo of course, since it is here that one encounters all the major players responsible for the continuing glory of the “made in Italy” label, even though it increasingly comes to mean “assembled in Romania with buttonholes added somewhere near Milan.” There are Ermenegildo Zegna and Pal Zileri and Luciano Barbera and Maurizio Corneliani and Giorgio Canali, representatives of what is brightly termed the “upper-casual market” here. There are dozens of companies making sports clothes under labels that no one but retailers bother to differentiate.

Increasingly, though, it is Pitti Uomo that attracts the new names and no-names whose business plans may never bring them to international fame but whose ideas will almost certainly turn up on Italian and American runways, in specialty boutiques and at the virally replicating multibrand stores. It is at Pitti Uomo that one can chart the future of bluejeans. And anyone who thinks that the end is near for treated, roughed-up and overpriced denim had better take a couple of aspirin and lie down.

In need of an inside scoop, Swide.com got in touch recently with Pitti Uomo’s elegant CEO, Raffaello Napoleone to quiz him on the secret life of this menswear institution.

FIRST EVER PITTI UOMO
Florence, Hotel Villa Medici in February 1972

THE FIRST EXHIBITORS
Roberto Cavalli, Fendi, Flli Rossetti, D’Avenza, Ingram and an additional 44 menswear designers.

THE STRANGEST EVER PITTI UOMO
January 1990 when half a metre of snow fell on Florence and then in June 2005 when temperatures hit 42° – equal to those of the desert.

STRANGEST VISITORS
Cicciolina (Ilona Staller) a former porn actress and ex wife of Jeff Koons and – member of Italian Parliament.

HOW MANY PANINO’S ARE EATEN DURING PITTI?
The average is 20,000 paninos per day!

HOW MANY GLASSES OF CHAMPAGNE ARE CONSUMED?
More than 1000 glasses per day.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO SET UP THE STANDS INSIDE THE FORTEZZA DA BASSO?
We start setting up the stands a month in advance.

HOW MANY OFFICIAL PARTIES ARE THERE?

More than 80 parties during the 4 days

WHEN DID YOU START PLANNING THIS EDITION OF PITTI UOMO
We start organising each edition six months in advance
HOW MANY COUNTRIES DO YOU VISIT SEARCHING FOR NEW EXHIBITORS?
We visit all international trade shows worldwide, with particular attention in the USA, Great Britain, Japan, France, Germany, Benelux, Spain, Brasil, China, India, Scandinavian countries, Australia and Austria.

HOW MANY DESIGNERS APPLY TO EXHIBIT AT PITTI EVERY YEAR & HOW MANY SPACES ARE THERE?
We have a waiting list of about 180 application forms for Fall/Winter and 150 for Spring/Summer
HOW MANY LANGUAGES ARE SPOKEN DURING PITTI UOMO?
Over 30 languages
HOW MANY PEOPLE DOES IT TAKE TO ORGANIZE PITTI UOMO?
Throughout the year Pitti employs 50 people. During the show itself, more than 200 people.

And that’s that about it on Pitti Uomo!

References and thanks to:

- “What the modern aristocrat wears“, NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE

-  Kerry Olsen, swide.com

To find out more about 2010 Pitti Uomo events click here www.pittimmagine.com

Get racy with OntFront’s casual street style

Dudes, start your engines! If you love fast cars, this new men’s collection, ‘Shift Gear‘, will tickle your racing funny bone.

Beautiful black, stream-lined cars and lots of horsepower was the inspiration for Amsterdam-based OntFront’s fifth collection’. The menswear label, which prides its self on designing for the bad boy and the gentleman, takes on a streetwise approach that they call “sidewalk tailoring” with clean cut yet hardcore designs that emulate a fast city life.

For their fall/winter 2010-11 offering, head designer Liza Koifman drew her inspiration from the world of street racing and night life: “I’ve always had a love for the aesthetics of car design. Spyker, Lamborghini …The aerodynamic lines and forms of fast cars are the basis for this collection of OntFront.”

The 68-piece collection, which consists of jackets, t-shirts, jeans, shirts, and unique blazers, is primarily made with dark colours like asphalt and car tire black, with highlights in red and eggplant colour. The Italian and French imported materials are high in quality being both ‘water resistant’ and breathable.

We love the OntFront aesthetic, pity the label’s only available in The Netherlands and China … when, oh when will they find a distributor Stateside & Down Under?

To get a peek at more from OntFront visit www.ontfront.com.

Oh, and watch the launch video for the collection right here – quirky, yet quite engaging! OntFront – the \”ShiftGear\” Fall/Winter 2010-11 Collection Video

First impressions count & girls don’t want to interview

Summer was a great girl with luscious, long, black locks, a quick smile and a fun, bubbly personality.

When Tom first saw her he was intrigued by her sharp mind, gentleness and genuine joy. He too wasn’t a bad specimen, with a kind heart, a shy smile, great guns, and quick wit.

They’d met through mutual friends and they quickly became part of the same crowd, hanging out at barbeques, dinners and beach parties.

Overtime Tom became increasingly enchanted with Summer and her great personality. He started vying for her attention in the hopes of scoring a date but each time she’d laugh him off gently. She’d smile easily at him, and chat and laugh but he just could not get her interested in him in anything other than being a casual pal. Worse still, he could tell she never gave him a thought after they parted company each time.

Then came the day their friends hosted drinks after work. Tom sauntered into the bar in a beautifully tailored, form fitting D&G suit and … Summer nearly passed out. The ‘Tom’ standing before wasn’t the slouchy baggy pants, oversized T, Nike tottin’ homeboy she knew. He looked like a smart, successful and confident man and in one moment, she too was enchanted.

Months later, after they were engaged, Summer let him in on what had changed her mind about him – his new-to-her, elegant style had made her consider that he was a man worth taking seriously.

True Story!

Tom learnt a powerful lesson – what you wear and how you wear it leaves others with a very strong impression of who you are. Your style is tied very closely to your identity and more than that, to your image. Tom burnt his oversized jeans and Ts and bought shares in D&G.

Style is for real men, not posers.

Right now all over this planet, decisions are being made on who to promote, who to date, who to hire and who to fire; with a strong emphasis on the overall impression that the subject leaves on the decision maker.

Although ‘MENSTYLEPOWER’ does not in anyway promote image over character, we do encourage gentlemen all over the world to take the time to think about how they are perceived – what does your image say about you? Are you Shabby? Flabby? Crabby? Or Sexy? Seriously, ask yourself the question and if you can’t honestly answer it, ask a chic – your sister, girlfriend or gal pal.

Do you get compliments on your style often? Do you enjoy the feeling that comes from being told you look good? Or do you only get that feeling on Sundays at church, or at funerals, when you drag out your only suit?

Your image strongly determines your career path, your personal happiness and your self-confidence. It’s elemental, right?

The problem is, many men simply don’t know what to wear or how to wear it.

This what you’re going to learn from us: Style involves understanding how to wear clothes that suit you. One guy can throw on a pair of jeans and T-shirt and looks great, while another guy can wear a T-shirt and jeans and look horrible.

Most men don’t suit most high-fashion trends so DON’T wear it simply because it walked down of a runway in Milan. There are quirky men who can carry off ‘quirk’, but most men can’t.

Alternatively, the homeboy look – oversized, really sloppy pants hanging off a man’s waist – gives the impression the man is just as sloppy in his private life.

The tight, bum squeezer is also a no-no! Others won’t easily trust you’re comfortable with yourself (and your sexuality) if you’re constantly mincing around in overtight trousers and jeans.

When you’re trying too hard it doesn’t work. When you’re trying too hard or not at all, it shows!

MENSTYLEPOWER focuses on helping you make a great first and lasting impression that’s unique to YOU – individuality rules and reigns in our world!

MENSTYLEPOWER will give you the confidence to try something new because looking good is not complicated – if you have a few simple, key, modern and yet comfortable and elegant wardrobe items.

And because we believe that style is also about character MENSTYLEPOWER discusses the importance of character, integrity and chivalry as attributes of the stylish man.

Take the ride with us and become the coolest YOU in town.