Formality and proportion implications of having long hair and wearing it down.
One of the more helpful things this place taught me was that it's never your body's fault that a fit doesn't work. I think hair style, type, shape, etc, probably falls under this. But I noticed as I was browsing some basic summer fits that every single model was a short haired man, and I started to imagine these models with the same length hair as myself.
Given that there are some rough conventionalities, such as monochrome making people look taller, black being slimming, etc, is there any value to giving thought to how having long hair affects silhouette or proportion? Particularly when it comes to neck visibility or clashing layers of formality? Sometimes I check how an outfit looks with both my hair up and down (it's quite long - down to the middle of my chest) and I feel like it can greatly influence the look as a whole.
Has anyone else with long hair noticed this? Is it worth considering or am I just overthinking? Do you avoid certain things or have you developed any habits around this?
7 Replies
Personally I have curly hair that occasionally grows to shoulder lenght and I find that somewhat more textured jackets work better with that then very untextured fabrics.
Apart from that I don't really do much with my hair so its just one aspect of figuring out my silhuette in general.
I think in most English speaking places the most obvious thing to say is that for most of the post-ww2 period longer hair on men and male presenting people has generally been associated with countercultural movements and alternative lifestyles.
These cultural associations are obviously going to influence how your outfit comes across to others and yourself. One might not expect to see someone countercultural conforming to traditional suiting rules etc, hence the potential for "formality clash".
That said, all of this can be overcome with grooming and/or styling.
My hair is at a shoulder length hot boy mullet spot rn and I don't really think about it tbh.
If ppl with long hair aren't styling it at all and the cut itself isn't well-done then I tend to think it's doing a disservice to the fit, but outside of that, no not really. Lots of men have long hair and wear it formally all sorts of ways.
Also lmao at the idea of monochrome making ppl look taller.
This is honestly just more of a gender roles thing than a clothing thing. Most western men have short hair, so long hair is breaking the traditional gender roles. Menswear itself is associated with traditional western male gender roles, so the hair contrasts that. That's about it.
Also agree with carrion, most of those "conventionalities" as you call them, are bullshit lmao.
Oof. I'm struggling to find a style that I like and that fits me. I've been told I'm very incongruent. I'm 6'0, muscular, with long hair and a bit of a baby face.
I feel like I'm too old for any sort of rockstar vibe and that my hair throws off any attempts to look dressy or slightly more refined/formal.
"Too old" is bullshit, it's all swag based.
Imo the biggest struggle in finding your own style is being honest with yourself about what you actually like, and then having the confidence to just do it.
Im a pretty masc, nonbinary, bigger guy with a gentle little face and literally none of that has anything to do with what I wear🙏
ignore the haters