The days when men do not bother about what they wear are all behind us. The days when a man is contented with wearing one t-shirt over a denim pant day in and day out and mange to keep it clean by washing it at night before he goes to bed are gone. In our modern time men are very conscious of how they look and what they wear as their level of self confidence is reflected in their physical appearance. Unfortunately the modern society tends to pass quick judgment on people based on their physical appearance.
Your physical appearance which inevitably is tied to your self confidence is very crucial in a society that is faced with steep competition in every sphere of life. A society that requires you to prove yourself for what are you say or claim to be, in order to do this you literally have to tell people how to threat and respect you. Your cognitive skills and talents that are not readily visible are not enough for you to prove your worth to others, so you must back your intangible talents and skills with what is visible to other people, your physical appearance. You must exhibit enough confidence in yourself so as to give a hiring manger the reason to hire you and colleagues at your work place to respect you. You must portray yourself with unflinching confidence and dignity for anyone you meet on the street to recognize and treat you with respect. The unspoken way to exhibit this dignified confidence is through your physical appearance. What you wear and how you wear it, is what give you the confidence you communicate to people around.
To dress properly and appropriately at every event and situation you should have good and adequate men's clothing and accessories in your wardrobe. In this article I will help you to go through the list of some of men's clothing and accessories you need so as to dress properly and command respect from anyone your meet. These men's clothing items could be called wardrobe essentials or wardrobe stables that every man should have. Before going down the list of these men's clothing items and accessories, let me emphasize that quality and fitness are very necessary when choosing or buying any clothing item. Always aim at buying high quality clothes that fit your physique and choose colors that blend with or compliment your skin color.
Let us begin going down the list with most basic men's clothing item;
- Tee Shirts; T-shirts are the very basic men's clothing besides under wears that every man should have. Always buy fitting t-shirts that match and compliment your physique. In making your choices, diversify the neckline of the t-shirts. Buy both crew neck and v-neck t-shirts. Have as many different colors and patterns of men's tee shirts as possible; be sure to include white and dark colors (Navy and black) in the t-shirts you buy. Let other colors and patterns of t-shirts you choose match your skin color and your facial structure or shape.
- Jeans - When buying jeans, always choose style that compliments the shape of your legs, preferably chose slimmer styles over baggy ones and darker colors over lighter ones as jeans often fade with time as you wash them.
- Chinos (Pants or Trousers): Choose the style(s) of your chinos as the ones you chose for your jeans, prefer pants made from cotton material to those made from wool material. Diversify the colors of your pants as much as you can but always have chinos (pants) in darker colors (black & navy), these colors are very good for winter season. Lighter colors (grey, cream and beige) should be your preferred colors in the summer season
- Shorts: - In purchasing shorts apply the suggestions given for style and colors for buying your pants.
- Casual shirts: - Have as many casual shirts as you can afford. Go for button down casual shirts that you can wear with or without ties and blazers, which you can also wear over any shorts, jeans or pants. If possible buy both solid colored and patterned casual shirts. Diversify the colors of the casual shirts you have, always be sure to have casual shirts in lighter colors such as white and mild blue. In choosing patterned casual shirts, buy patterns that compliment your physique and facial shape. For the style of your casual shirts, go for slimmer fits that are not too tight.
- Dress shirts: - Dress shirts are the most important clothing items in any man's wardrobe. These are what you wear for formal occasions and often to your work place, so it is important that you pay close attention when buying dress shirts. Use your neck size to buy your dress shirts and buy only shirts sizes that correspond with your neck size (that means you must know your neck size). Buy dress shirts with any cuff of your choice. Be sure to use cufflinks on double cuffed shirts. When buying dress shirts lean more towards very light colors such as white, mild blue, light purple or light pink, avoid dark colors when buying dress shirts. The reason why light colors are preferable for dress shirts is because light colored shirts can go with any color of suits or tie. If you choose to buy patterned dress shirts, buy patterned shirts that compliment your physique. If you are tall or slim you can always go for striped dress shirts.
- Suits: - Every man needs couple of suits if not for work, for formal events such as wedding parties, dinner parties or any other formal event as the situation arises. Have suits in navy and grey colors respectively. In choosing the colors of your suits prefer darker colors to lighter ones. Always choose suits that fit your physique, aim at slimmer suits. Use your chest size to pick the size of your suits. Buy suits with wider lapels as opposed to those with skinny type, as to match the width of your tie. Aim at 2 button suits that will give you a slimmer look and remember to button your suit jacket when you are not sitting down. You can also add tuxedos in the collection of your formal wears
- Outer Wears:- Every man needs couple of outer wears that should also be part of the wardrobe essentials. These outer wears include:
- Sweaters: - When choosing the style of your sweaters use the suggestions for choosing the styles of your t-shirts. Buy wool sweaters for winter season and cotton sweaters for warmer season. Diversify both the colors and designs of your sweaters. Choose darker colors over lighter colors especially for your winter sweaters. In addition to sweaters you can also add sweatshirts and hoodies in your winter outer wear collections
- Coats: - Preferably choose wool blend coats for your winter coats (be prepared to dry clean them as often as possible as wool coats stink when they are wet). You may be better off buying peacoats or long winter coats that are knee length or even below the knee. When choosing the size of your coat, remember to chose coat size that will give room to the suit you will wear beneath it. Prefer darker colors such as black/charcoal, gray, navy or beige. You may also need to have a trench coat that should be the same color as your coat. You need the trench coat for rainy days. Prefer cotton trench coats to trench coats made from any other material. Besides winter coats and trench you can add sports coat and car coats to your collection of men's outer wear.
- Formal Shoes: - It is necessary for you to have couple of pairs of good shoes, always go for high quality good leather shoes, preferably choose Oxford or Brogues shoes. Have at least a pair of black and brown shoes each. These two colors will match any color of suits, jeans and pants.
- Casual Shoes - Have couple of casual shoes such as sneaker, sandals, boots, ankle length boots depending on your style and taste.
- Accessories:- There are essential accessories that you should have in your wardrobe. These include;
- Belts - The colors of the belts you wear should always match the colors of your shoes. You need to have at least a black and a brown belt each, preferably always go for leather belts
- Cufflinks: Be sure to have cufflinks in your collection of men's accessories if you have double-cuff dress shirts. Cufflinks come in different designs. There are cufflinks with religious over-tone, jewel stone cufflinks, diamond and gold cufflinks. Choose the type of cufflinks that appeals best to you.
- Ties - In choosing ties, pick silk or wool ties, prefer traditional wide ties to the slim or skinny ties. Choose darker colored ties over lighter colored ties. You can always use darker colored ties with any color of dress shirts and suits. If you choose patterned ties, lean towards darker patterns
- Vests: You may need to have some vests, choose the colors of your vests wisely, choose colors that match your shirts. Prefer cotton vests for summer and wool vest for winter season.
- Winter Scarves/Mittens: You need winter scarves and mittens to keep warm during the winter season. Prefer cashmere wool scarves to scarves made from any other material. In choosing your winter gloves or mitten you may want to go for convertible mittens. Convertible mittens will give you the freedom or room to do things with your hands without removing them. If you are a fun loving person, you may add trapper hats to you winter accessories.
These are some of the basic wardrobe essentials every man needs to have to be able to dress properly and appropriately at every event and situation. It can never be over emphasized that in choosing your clothing you should always go for high quality clothing and accessories. Apart the fact that good quality clothes enhance your physical appearance and self confidence, they save you a lot of money over time, as high quality clothing are more durable compared to low quality clothing.
