Aesthetic Inertia

12 January, 2016

Today’s topic is one I’ve touched on in the past, but have never fully fleshed out.

We’re talking about Aesthetic Inertia.

Click here to watch the YouTube video Aesthetic Inertia

Aesthetic Inertia is the idea that the appearance of most men is rooted in passivity – not proactivity.

Now, it may have started out as a proactive decision, but it no longer is for the vast majority of men.

Inertia in Life

Before we talk about clothes, I want you to think about two things – your bank and your insurance company.

Odds are, you’re like me and you use the same bank and insurance company your parents did.

They may have set up an account for you when you were old enough to start managing your funds and you’ve never had any reason to go elsewhere.

Maybe they added you to their insurance when you started driving the car or gave you the name of an agent the first time you moved out on your own.

There’s no reason to get more proactive than that.

Until there is one.

I used the same bank as my dad for years. But there was a change in my life that catalyzed my moving my account – I started working for a competitor.

And that’s typically the way it goes. We have no reason to change unless there’s either a big problem or a juicy incentive.

Maybe you can save $50 a month by switching insurance companies. That’s a no-brainer. Is it worth it if all you save is $5?

It wasn’t for me when the opportunity came up a couple of years ago.

Inertia & Tradition

Ok, so let’s bring that back around to the way you dress.

The men most guilty of inertia are those who continue to dress the way their mom’s used to dress them.

Now, this may not be a bad thing. I was talking to a friend about his suit the other day.

He told me it was from Brooks Brothers and he got it a few years ago when he got home from doing some church service.

In his family, there is the tradition of the father taking the son to get a Brooks Brothers suit as part of his return and his progression into full-fledged adulthood.

Is it inertia?

Of course, but it’s very intentional inertia.

And, while that may not be the case for most of us, there’s still room for Aesthetic Inertia to rear its head.

Maybe you made new friends or associated with a new crowd in high school. This disrupted your past trajectory and as a way to both fit into the new and abandon the old, you probably started dressing like your new friends or idols.

I know plenty of men in their 30’s who still dress like the skate punks we were in our teens. Major changes like graduating, getting married, and starting careers weren’t enough to shake them from the identity of being a rebel punk.

The changes were big but they were gradual. And these men were more established in their identities than they were as kids, so they’re happy to continue projecting that sense of self out to the rest of the world.

Why We Change

But think about those who do go through major changes.

What about middle-aged men who get divorced and find themselves on the dating market?

Or young, single guys who finally make the transition from school to a full-fledged, grown-up career?

Or men who retire from a busy life in the city to something more peaceful and quiet in a small, rural town?

Most of the time, irrespective of age, these kinds of changes are so drastic that the men change the way they dress.

Part of it is an embrace of the new, and part of it is saying goodbye to the old.

Their pace of life changes, their goals change, and – most of all – their tribe changes.

Overdoing Things

One thing I didn’t mention in the video above is that there is an opposite end of the inertia spectrum – men who are always reinventing their appearance and buying new clothes.

Over the last few years, I’ve leaned more this way than the other.

For some of us, there’s a dopamine hit that comes with getting something new.

Most of the time, we associate this with women and call them shop-a-holics, but guys can fall victim to this fairly easily as well.

New for the sake of new isn’t any better than holding on to something old.

Using Inertia

When it comes to a man’s appearance – both change and tradition are neutral.

Neither is good.

Neither is bad.

The trick is making sure that you’re either embracing change or holding to tradition because YOU choose to do so.

Otherwise your inertia can take over and your appearance become reactive.

The best dressed men are those who can use their inertia, rather than be used by it.

Are you ready to make a change or want to double down on where you are currently? This quiz will help you establish your Style Archetype and know the style that will best suit your lifestyle.

Take the quiz here

Want more?

Discover the fool-proof way to dress better immediately.

Learn the secrets of color and proportion, the 30 items every man should have in his wardrobe, and the most effective way to have your clothing communicate what you want it to.

Donald Trump Style in Real Life

7 January, 2016

Today’s post is the beginning of a yet-to-be-named series, in which I take popular figures and break down their style.

And who better to start with, than one of the most polarizing figures in the media in this, the beginning of 2016.

I’m talking about none other than Donald J Trump.

Click here to watch the YouTube video: Donald Trump Style Breakdown

From real estate mogul, to media tycoon, to presidential candidate to, who know’s what’s next – Trump has one of the most recognizable aesthetics and appearances of any candidate in either party.

And I’m going to show you how his image is part of what makes him such a polarizing figure. Because, that’s exactly what Trump is. Whether you believe he’s a super villain or a super hero, the man – and his appearance – are larger than life. And that’s exactly where he wants to be.

So let’s start with the basics and work our way up.

The Suit

While he dabbled in both lighter shades and varying patterns in his younger years, his mainstay has been solid colors for more than a decade. Focusing on darker shades like navy, charcoal, and black – the purpose of his suits is to act merely as a frame for the rest of his over-the-top appearance.

The fit is a throwback to the larger, boxy cuts of the last couple of decades and is an excellent way to indicate his age and his own aesthetic high point. Trump was born on the front end of the Baby Boom (1946) and represents their appearance perfectly. He hails from a time and generation in which a suit wasn’t a symbol of refinement and class, but of corporate greed and capitalistic oppression. Baby Boomers have always aspired to be so successful that they didn’t need suits, not that they could wear nice ones.

Whether he believes in this symbolism or not he wears a boxy suit as a tribal indicator to the other men and women of his generation. It says, “I’m one of you. I hate wearing this thing but, since I have to, it might as well be as big and comfortable as possible.”

The Tie

Any feminist gender theorist and one of her many cats will gladly lecture for hours on end of how a tie is a phallic symbol of male oppression.

And, while most white-collar men don’t see their neckwear as a sartorial expression (or compensation) of their manhood, I suspect Trump knows exactly the image this projects.

His ties always fall well below the waistband of his pants. If we were to see this once or twice, it could be chalked up to an accident, but his tie placement is as precise as if he had a valet tying it for him (for all I know, he might).

Visually this lengthens the legs and shortens the torso, but it also rrrmmm “extends” the visual connection between his face and his manhood.

In layman’s terms, it looks like he’s swinging a big one around.

But it’s not just the length of his ties that make them interesting. It’s also the pattern and color. While Trump will occasionally sport a striped tie, the vast majority are solids.

And not just solids, but the most intense, color-saturated solids available. The extremely high contrast between a dark suit, white shirt, and electric tie is eye-catching and very purposely communicates that Trump is a man who is comfortable being at the center of attention.

But his clothing isn’t the only variable Trump uses to assert his identity.

The Tan

Those on the far left would claim his tan is an excellent way of asserting his white superiority. I don’t know about that (nor do I really care).

Could it be a way to identify with the female voters?

Does it work as a contrast of the every-man appearance in a too big suit and help him establish himself as “not quite” one of us?

Is he secretly signaling his understanding of the power of vitamin D?

I don’t know. What I do know is that a man who spends that much time in front of a camera, doesn’t rock the orange glow simply because he likes it. It’s because he knows it gets your attention and he plans on using that attention to accomplish his goals.

Before we move on to the final, most obvious aspect of the Trump’s appearance, I want to take a minute to talk about his merchandising.

Set his Macy’s collaboration and his own clothing line aside. What is really a key to Trump is the “Make America Great Again Hat”

The Hat

Simple. Patriotic and uniquely… populist.

You see, this thing is a trucker hat, and that’s about as blue-collar, middle America as an article of clothing gets.

Wikipedia tells us that another name for the humble trucker is the “gimme [as in ‘give me’] cap” or a “feed cap” because this style of hat originated as a promotional give-away from feed or farming supply companies to farmers, truck drivers, or other rural workers.

By having this little cap as his mainstay campaign piece, he’s hyper targeting his primary demographic – working class Americans who have felt so disenchanted with the Republican nominees of the past elections, that they chose to vote with their silence and never enter a booth.

Rather than chasing the minority vote, or going after young, single women, Trump is attempting to incentivize the average, white American who lives in a “flyover” state and is disillusioned with DC, Hollywood, and Wall Street – a move that has been working rather nicely for him.

Which brings us to our final piece. The one that’s been accused of actually being a piece –

The Hair

Whether it’s a holdover from better days in the 70’s and 80’s, a poor attempt at hiding a (or three) receding hairlines, or something that’s bad just for the sake of being bad, Trump’s hair is another perfect example of an intentional appearance.

There has been more ink spilt over that particular haircut than almost anything else in the 2016 race.

Doing a quick google search leads to the obvious articles from obvious sites, but even more reputable publications have had a piece or two on the power of Trump’s hair.

And that’s where the true strength of his overall appearance is. Trump understands that a president needs to be a cartoon character. He knows that both super heroes and super villains have super appearances and no one is interested in talking about, hating on, or voting for a man who looks like he belongs at the local bar

(just ask Jeb).

Trump understands the power of polarization and the authority of appearance. By combining the two, he gets his opposition to immediately hate him – and hate is significantly closer to love than most people imagine.

The worst thing a man in Trump’s position can do is be or appear average. The more people hate him, the stronger his supporters feel about him. The more he gets to one extreme, the more the other grows as well.

So set politics aside. He maybe America’s Hitler or its savior. But the man knows how to use his appearance to his advantage.

Do I like the way he looks? Absolutely not.

And that’s the point. Trump understands that a negative reaction is often better than a positive one, and both far outweigh no reaction at all.

Because all that time spent talking about his hair, his suits, his tan, and his ties, is time that would otherwise be used on other candidates.

Trump’s breakdown

78% Rakish
22% Refined
0% Rugged

Don’t know what I mean by Rugged, Refined, and Rakish? Well go check these out.

The Three Masculine Style Archetypes

Want to know where you fall into the Three Masculine Style Archetypes?

Take this quick quiz and I’ll tell you. CLICK HERE

Want more?

Discover the fool-proof way to dress better immediately.

Learn the secrets of color and proportion, the 30 items every man should have in his wardrobe, and the most effective way to have your clothing communicate what you want it to.

Black Ivy Style

4 January, 2016

Today’s post was written by Letroy Woods – the curator of Man Becomes Style. Our political and social positions differ strongly, but he takes an excellent approach to helping black men draw from their heritage, culture, and identity to create a unique, intriguing style.

What in the world is Black Ivy Culture, WASP’s, and Preppy style? Black Ivy League is a conversational phrase referred to the historically Black colleges in the United States that appeals to African American students prior to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s.

Other related groups are Little Ivies, Public Ivies, and Southern Ivies. If you’re unfamiliar with the term WASP, it’s an acronym that stands for (White Anglo Saxon Protestant).

The term isn’t a practical;. It refers more to an inner circle of a high-status dominant group of White Americans.

You may be familiar with the preppy style. There are many similarities between preppies and
WASPs.

Howard University black college

The rich kids, jocks, and the people who were insanely popular were of the many who adopted these looks. They set themselves apart with the way they dressed. WASP’s were considered to be in the top 1% of the population that had a major influence in business, arts, banking, and academia.

WASP’s were stereotyped as being uptight, closed-minded, and cold-hearted.

More interesting is how African American men, during the Black Ivy League times, adopted the WASP and preppy style of dress and made it their own.

Black Men’s Confidence With Clothes

ivy league

Style has always been profound for Black men. The relationship between fashion and its identity for Black men is unique. Style has been a way to defy stereotypes about who they are.

African American men’s confidence in clothing goes back further than we realize.

In South African customs they have a practice known as “swanking” where migrant workers who were forced to live away from their families, got together on weekends in tailored suits to compete for the best dressed.

This provided a means of feeling better about one’s self. Nonetheless the swagger, strut, and edginess black men bring to fashion brings interest to everyday menswear.

Black Ivy Culture and Looks

The Black Ivy Culture looks are compilations of mid-century style with African American focus on image, self representation, and fashion of historical black colleges known as Black Ivy Leagues.

What constitutes Black Ivy looks? Wingtips and loafer shoes, letter sweater, ties, button-down oxford shirts, blazers, desert boots, and tweed sportcoats were among the among the many articles of clothing worn by Black Ivy League students.

The self styled Ivy League look began at the age-old eight ( Princeton, Yale, Harvard, UPenn, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Brown) and instantly spread to the Black Ivy League colleges.

Between the 1930’s and 1960’s segregation was still very alive. Many black men once they got to Ivy league colleges changed their styles to look more preppy and fit in. They sensed their surroundings at Ivy league had expectations of a more business professional attire.

Black men’s dominance over Black Ivy style didn’t happen by chance or overnight. It’s something that’s been assembled over many years to set themselves apart from everyone else.

Preppy fashion was adopted from the fashion of these schools.

Preppy Style

reading

Preppy men have a sophisticated and Refined look to them. They always look their best, and their face appears to be as clean and smooth as a babies bottom.

Blazers add a sense of class to the style, and don’t forget to iron your clothes to perfection, because that is what prep style is all about. Hair should be spot on and groomed respectively. You will not find anything lazy about preppy men’s style.

The word preppy comes from private and University preparatory or prep schools that were where middle to upper class students attended.

The preppy look might be thought of as a trend, in reality it’s a classic style that will be around forever.

WASP’s

Preppy style and the clean cut looks we know and associate them with were a result of WASP culture. In today’s world WASP ways and ideas can be taken up by any individual of any race.

WASP style started in White Ivy League colleges, but the culture and style gained popularity in Black Ivy League colleges soon after. The style even though it was set in stone at the time, was made more fashionable by black men.

Most have not heard of WASP’s, but are more familiar with the clothing style of WASP’s which was that of a Preppy nature. Preppy would be the term used today to understand what a WASP is.

Why Black Men Have More Swagger

The use of the word swagger or (swag) goes back a ways, but more or less it means: Displaying a dominance over others as if they are your lesser.

Black men have had many hardships in their lives. There is a growth process that happens during trouble and suffering. One learns something during this phase. Black men have developed a swag and confidence through their life situations.

Swagger is a man’s attitude. Men with swag stand out from the crowd. Swag and Style are in company with each other. Which brings us to the Black Ivy culture, WASP, and preppy styles.

Having a chiseled style shows the people around you that you have a sense of confidence and appeal that attracts others to you.

A Black man’s swagger is not all in just his style; yet it is how he has learned to handle himself. He has realized that we spend a great amount of time in our clothes and how to make them work for him.

Exploring this topic from many different angles kept pointing back to history. From Black Ivy Culture, to WASP’s, and preppy style, AfricanAmerican men learned to examine themselves.

Confidence and the tenaciousness to overcome the things that weren’t easy pressed the black man to become more than he believed.

Therefore a black man’s swagger was born. There is a different confidence and edginess a black man has with their style.

Conclusion

African American men have had to overcome so many adversities, and clothing has been a form of expression a way of making their mark in the world during difficult times.

The next time you think of a WASP, Prep, or Black Ivy culture you will understand why the black man tends to highly regard making these styles look better than the average man. And do it with a swag that only he can do.

To read more from Letroy, check out Man Becomes Style.

Annual Reader Survey

29 December, 2015

Milestones are a great time to reflect on past actions and plan for future endeavors. And the end of the year is a reliable milestone for such introspection.

I’ve been spending the last few weeks going over personal goals, goals with Beckett & Robb, and goals for Masculine Style.

However, my personal goals aren’t all just about me – they involve my wife and our kids. My B&R goals aren’t all just about my position – they affect the company as a whole and are made in conjunction with the rest of the team.

So obviously my goals for Masculine Style aren’t just about what I want to see happen in 2016 – they involve you.

To that end, I’ve created a quick survey. There are only nine questions – most of which are multiple choice, and all of which are optional.

2015 was a year of a lot of experimentation on my part and I want to know what you liked and want me to double down on, what you didn’t like and want me to skip, or what I missed and you’d like me to try out.

This site wouldn’t exist, it wouldn’t have a purpose, if it wasn’t for you. So I want to give you what you want.

Thanks in advance and happy New Year. I hope you have a great time ringing in 2016 and have your own aspirations for the upcoming year.

Take the survey

Dirty Job Style

10 December, 2015

I got a great email from a reader asking about a few things.

Tanner,

I’ve been a tremendous fan of the blog since discovering you through Rollo Tomassi’s mention of you at the Men in Demand conference. Per your recent post on skinny jeans, I admit that I’m guilty of in the past drawing the line between “masculine” and “emasculated” clothing, as well as taking the attitude that putting too much attention into one’s wardrobe was not masculine. Financial plans are now underway to get a consultation, but I have a few more general questions about my situation that I feel might also be a good topic for the blog.

This is a contradiction for me, because as a former U.S. Marine of eight years, I was a willing and active practitioner of the Corps’ culture of extraordinary attention to detail– especially in one’s appearance. For a great deal of my life after the Corps, I ran my own welding and heavy equipment repair business as well as working on infrastructure construction– iron working, gas pipelines, and steel structures. Attention to my appearance via wardrobe fell by the wayside, as the emphasis was always wearing seasonably comfortable protection from the hazards of welding… which is to say that there is no comfort protecting yourself from the hazards of welding, only minimizing discomfort. Recently, I went through a divorce with a woman who can only be described as the typical careerist who is not family oriented.

The divorce forced me to either sink, or rise to the challenge of remaking and retooling myself. I sought out new work, started teaching my trade at a community college, and am now an inspector and instructor at a steel bridge manufacturer working on the Tappan-Zee and Goethals bridge replacements in New York. I live in Frederick, MD, and work a short distance away outside of town. Frederick is a great historic town with a very active bar/night life scene and plenty of younger working professionals working here or commuting to DC. The last thing I want to do when I get off work is to “dress for my tribe,” as I prefer to leave work at work. I understand and admire that you work in clothing, so getting off work may not result in the kind of radical change in appearance that I feel I have to do.

Clark Kent takes off his business suit to go to work, I want to put one on when I leave work.

Because of the demands of my job and the lack of climate control on the factory floor, I wear “work clothes” usually consisting of duck canvas work pants, Red Wing work boots, a Carhartt hooded sweatshirt, and a welding cap to protect my scalp from UV and sparks. After work, if I want to go somewhere to socialize, or to get dinner with a friend, this usually means dropping by my house first to change into a button down shirt (plaid pattern pictured here because of the chillier fall weather), and a decent pair of jeans or slacks. In jeans, I often wear my Double-H brand cowboy boots not only because I was in my youth a competition western equestrian, but because they’re damned comfortable, versatile to those of us who don’t see them as eccentric, and the 3/4″ stacked leather heal makes for one hell of an improvement in your bearing (as well as shifting your weight onto the ball of your foot, which has its back-pain health benefits). At 210 pounds, a former fullback in football, and a flanker on the local rugby squad, I have “hurdler’s legs”– thick upper leg, skinnier calves. Most “normal” cuts of jeans look a bit tight on me, and my Levi’s 527 jeans are “skinny” jeans on me.

Once I built up the courage to wear them, the reactions received from them have been positive. I have also taken a regular practice of wearing a Joseph Bank gray wool sport jacket with leather elbow pads that wasn’t terribly expensive (lined, yes I know), or a checkered wool sport coat from the same folks. I had both tailored for sleeve length and fit in the midsection. Broad shoulders and chest with a 34″ waist usually means the 44 or sometimes 46 jacket is a parachute around my stomach.

— What sort of advice do you have for men who work in very physically demanding jobs who want to do things and socialize at the end of the day after work? Our tribe tends to be the jeans and tshirts rural country sort, but some of us are senior managers at our jobs who still have to keep a foot in the mud. Some days I shower and change clothes before leaving the office, or some days I change into a nice shirt and shoes in my truck. Are we trying to hide from our tribe? Should we?

Here’s my response:

Category: Clothing

Inertia in Life

Inertia & Tradition

Why We Change

Overdoing Things

Using Inertia

Discover the fool-proof way to dress better immediately.

The Suit

The Tie

The Tan

The Hat

The Hair

Trump’s breakdown

Discover the fool-proof way to dress better immediately.

Black Men’s Confidence With Clothes

Black Ivy Culture and Looks

Preppy Style

WASP’s

Why Black Men Have More Swagger

Conclusion