The Five Most Common Male-Style Bad Habits
A guest post written for The Effortless Gent
There’s a fine line between slob and dandy, and true confident style only happens when it’s effortless. Barron Cuadro at The Effortless Gent gets it, talks it, and helps us all walk it. Honest without an ounce of high-style snobbery, he’s the kind of guy that you’d want to share a beer or two with, then ask him for advice on what to wear for an upcoming date. He covers everything from the casual button up to orange pants, and he’s true to his site’s promise of “Better equipping the everyday man.”
We all have bad habits, sartorial or otherwise. They can easily creep up with little warning. So taking a good look at your well worn style ruts should be something of a regular assessment. Head over to The Effortless Gent to see the Dappered feature on five of the most common bad habits in male style, and add any others that you think are worth mentioning in the comments section. I’m guilty of at least one, and probably a few more that hopefully you guys will bring to my attention.
Nice guest post! I had to click through to make sure I wasn’t guilty of any of these no-no’s. Phew.
OK, I’ll take exception to 1 1/2 of those. Baseball hats, OK, not all the time, but why not get some grownup hats and switch them around as circumstances dictate? His point goes from no baseball hats to implying no hats at all.
Pleats. Oh, my aching waistline. Another two or three years and pleats will be all the rage and style droners like this guy will be saying you’re boring if you don’t get some. Why do people make once and for all, all or nothing, pronouncements like this? Why not talk about which circumstances call for which styles? Why not encourage people to cultivate a distinctive style and fashion be damned?
I don’t really wear baseball hats anymore, and i do agree on this point.
However, i begrudgingly agree with Loki on pleats. I do think they look very bad right now (and so do many others). Eventually, even the very mainstream companies will stop making them (which is well on its way with companies like dockers and brooks brothers coming out with lines of slim, flat front pants). After this, very fashion forward types (ie…runway shows and hipsters) will start wearing pleats again, and we will laugh at everyone who still insists on flat front pants. It’s inevitable. May as well look good in our pleatless pants while we can!
@Loki: I’ll give it a shot. If you wear your pants on your hips? No pleats. If you wear them halfway to your nips? Pleat away. It’s really garment engineering that’s misplaced on 90% of guys who wear pleats. My take.
My prediction: pleats will remain a staple of “classic” tailoring. If you’re going halfway anachronistic anyway with a woolen plaid or herringbone tweed suit, might as well throw a couple of pleats on there with the leather patches on the elbows while your at it. For some reason I really associate pleats with British suiting. Pleats on khakis or otherwise slim cut suits? Good riddance.
I don’t see any benefit to pleats, and I think they will always look old fashioned. The trends may change, but I doubt I’ll ever be on board with them; fashionistas be damned! I do have one suit that unfortunately has 1 pleat on each side, and I wish I could have them removed (though they are subtle enough that I will wear the pants when I have to because it was an expensive suit way back when I got it). I do wonder if a tailor could do it though.
Guilty of the jeans issue. Nice guest article, Joe.
@Mickyo: Thanks. I’m right there with you. It’s a tough habit to kick.
I like all the points, what about a cardigan in place of the SC or jacket? I love a cardy and tie combo. I look like a smoother urban Mr. Rogers…
I agree completely with Loki. I really do get irritated at these fashion pronouncements that are all or nothing, as if these trends would never change. For everyone here: Pleats are around for a good reason. They aren’t some dandy affectation, they give more room in the pants. If you aren’t trim, pleats give you more room in the waist area. Some guys look good with pleats, some guys look good with a single pleat, and some guys look good in no pleats. Figure out what looks good with your body and go with it.
I’m also going to draw issue with the shirt, tie and no jacket. You know, it’s really going to be one of those workplace things whether you wear a jacket or not. Again, I agree with Loki 100% that it’s all about learning what looks good for you and what is appropriate. I guarantee you that wearing a jacket all the time with your tie makes you look stuffy in certain places. At wear I work, I want to wear a tie sometimes, but wearing a jacket would just be too much. So I end up with a tie and no jacket.
IMO, pleated pants look better on men with muscular legs and hips. They also fit better and are much more comfortable.
As a fairly muscular fellow, I have never found a pair of flat front pants that looked right or fit right.
This gave me an idea..plated denim pants…its gonna be all the rage in the next few years. 😀
Regarding the issue of pleats: What it comes down to is garment engineering, like Joe stated.
Some of you have a good point, that “fashion” tends to dictate what is okay and not okay to wear at any given point. In fact, pleats have already made its way down the high-fashion runways, if you check out collections from a year ago. Same with cinched waists, and harem pants. Eventually, this trickles down to more mainstream manufacturers and department stores. Then we’re stuck with a whole new set of trends, and people telling others that THIS is what you should wear.
Originally though, pleats were practical. Now they’re more for stylistic purposes, and unnecessary.
Argue all you want about what’s in and what’s out, what feels better and what doesn’t, or what provides “more room” (love that argument)… but when it comes down to it, flat front is the ultimate classic look. Why? Clean lines, no unnecessary design, not too baggy, not too tight. A fitted, straight leg pant with no pleats will never be “out of style”.
@Barron: Why the “love that argument” statement? Pleats take clothe that is longer and makes it appear shorter. That way when pulled upon, there is more fabric to extend. Check out wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleat.
This happens to happen on men when they sit or otherwise move their asses (dancing). Certain guys will look better with this extra fabric because they need it. Take a look at these pics:
http://theselvedgeyard.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/to-pleat-or-not-to-pleat-the-great-trouser-debate/
Notice most of those dudes tend to be fit. That’s right, pleats aren’t for fat dudes because the pleats flair and make you look even fatter. It’s really to provide room during movement. So those pants have huge circumferences to hide the movement of the leg in the trouser. A crazy extreme example might be samurai hakama pants.
Good list.
The shirt and tie with no jacket look is awful. I think of low wage bank tellers and fast food managers when I see that look. Why not go whole hog and wear a short sleeved cotton/poly blend “dress shirt”, pleated Dockers and Dexter shoes while you are at it?
Pleats look awful on nearly everyone. Those who say they don’t look right in flat fronts need to find a new tailor or look into custom trousers.