How to develop a sense of style?
For the past couple of months, I’ve been trying to dress better. Mostly, I’ve been trying to try different clothes, work with a tailor, and see what clothes fit my personality. I work in a traditional occupation, so I can’t dress too casually.
I spoke to a couple friends, and they told me to stop what I was doing and instead try to dress like certain male celebrities. When I told them about certain influencers I follow in the fashion industry, like Hugo Jacomet and Alan Flusser. They told me, that you’d never see Hugo or Alan win awards for how they dress, but you can see loads of celebrities win awards like best dressed man/woman in the world.
Some of the celebrities that were mentioned were Mahershala Ali and Harry Styles. Their comments made me curious, why do we never see people in the fashion industry win awards for being the most stylish man/woman in the world. The likes of Luke Day (GQ editor), Tom Ford, never seem to grace the best dressed people lists..
My question is, what’s a more sustainable approach for a beginner (in the fashion world) to become more stylish? I could hire the same styling company, as some of these celebrities, but would that approach really be sustainable?
21 Replies
Your friends are wack lol, I can't imagine viewing self-expression by "copying the people who win awards"
Also Harry styles does not dress well lmao, but you are on the right path, find people whose style you like
Fashion is self expression
I would never want someone else to dress me, but besides that it's about finding what you like (seems like classic menswear to me)
Figuring out what elements you like, what elements you dislike etc
Maybe check out Derek guys blog? It's a meme but for classic menswear it's right up your alley
Your friends are likely just drawn to unconventional clothes, which I understand, it's definitely more in line with what I like, but it's about what you like
Finding inspiration and trial and error to some extent is how you develop fashion sense
Developing personal style
Getting started: the basic advice guides
First of all, thank you for your message. I’m not really too sure what type of style I prefer. I do like classic menswear, but sometimes it feels a bit costumy. Is there such thing as Modern Menswear?
I’m thinking more like James Bond, and less Don Draper? If I want to learn more about the different types of fashion, like menswear, Americana, work wear etc, where would you advise me to look?
One of the regulars has a blog and pretty exclusively wears meanswear and has written this about it: https://alittlebitofrest.com/2023/02/19/what-is-an-occasion/
Ethan M. Wong
a little bit of rest
What Is An Occasion?
Is getting boba an Occasion? Yes! Is it dumb to wear a cool fit to do it? No! You can bet your ass I’m going to wear clothes I love to do a thing I enjoy.
Instagram to some extent, once we finish getting jnspo albums over from the sub they should be available here
I'll note this about bond (and tv/movie menswear in general) he get a way with a lot cause it's James bond/Daniel craig
If you have swag you can make anything look good, doesn't mean it's emulatable
You may like certain eras of menswear in general as well
Some TV shows/movies will be very period accurate in menswear, some will heavily bend rules
Costume designers use clothes to give insight about characters
Unfortunately no inspo albums for now but i used to just randomly look at them and just kinda think about it
Doesn't have to deep. I was literally like wow minimalism makes dressing so easy
But now im like wow i love cardigans because i feel like it suits me as a more feminine person who intentionally wants a softer appearance blah blah. Japanese city boy? Korean street wear? Just "w i d e" in general?
Also practical considerations like i like wider fits bc i hate when i feel stuffy in my clothes
Or just garments i like, e.g. bombers, green fatigues, yellow sweaters and just looking up however people style those items and I'll eventually graviate towards certain things and notice a pattern emerging
Save things that intrigue you
Im noticing for myself a lot of colors, things that invoke a sense of coziness to me
Ya, to personally talk about myself, I like loud clothing, jewelry, I paint my nails, I'm drawn to modern streetwear and prep and the juxtaposition of the two
And the juxtaposition on me
Fashion is how you present yourself to the world, so it's very personal
Though you should know the rules (particularly in menswear) before you subvert or break them
Brands have their own identity too, refer to lookbooks or even what brands people suggest in relation: I like stuff like Corridor and ALD, and likewise people tend to suggest Abercrombie as a budget ALD
This is a huge way to do it, doesn't even have to be dedicated searches, inspo can just come from your feed or when someone posts a storefront on here and you find something you like on there
Ya honestly saving and writing down outfits/aesthetics you like as you see them for reference is nice
It can be nice for me to look through my saved inspo when looking for outfit ideas (and last outfits to see what I think worked and what didn't)
And brand look books are nice, you for example may like drakes
I know this might sound stupid, but do clothing companies have certain aesthetics? For example, I’ve seen certain brands, and I enjoy looking at their look books. For example, Massimo Dutti and Reiss have really nice looking styles. Are companies like Reiss and Massimo targeting a certain type of aesthetic?
Generally a company has a central design language (designer companies will general be tied to their current designer, though the large houses try to pick designers who will continue in line with the history of the house). I don't know enough about menswear to kinda say what aesthetic those companies have, quiet luxury lol?
Just looking at Massimo Dutto’s main web page maybe check out colhays and Husbands
Masimo Dutti feels kinda preppy and mediteranin inspired right?
If there's any advice I can give you, be conservative with what you're budgeting towards clothing if you feel like you're on the journey to discovering style/self expression. I've blown a huge amount of dumb money on things that I don't enjoy now.
it's infinitely easier to dress well than to develop your own taste.
also, quality is nice but like don’t think of it too much
Just had a glance at Colhays and Husbands Paris. They seem to be what I’m looking for, being modern takes on menswear..
I never thought about Massimo Dutti as Preppy and Mediterranean inspired. But it seems like this could be the case? I’ve looked into an article on Permanent Style, which covers Massimo Dutti and they term the style as Italian Smooth. As the word Preppy is mostly linked with American WASPs, I wonder if there is such thing as Continental/Italian Preppy?
https://www.permanentstyle.com/2021/09/what-would-i-buy-from-massimo-dutti.html
Permanent Style
What would I buy from Massimo Dutti?
When is it worth buying the best possible quality, and when can you economise? This, of course, was part of the subject of my book The Finest Menswear in the World, which examined what constitutes ‘quality’ in various categories of clothing. But what about when you’re not looking at the...
Best things I've learned here are: 1) wear what you like and 2) wear it like you mean it. Also 3) emulate, don't imitate.