5 Common Style Mistakes & How To Prevent Them

Three months into 2018 and we’ve already decided what will & what won’t rule this year. The Oscars today morning surely gave us some hardcore fashion advice to abide by in 2018, along with the inviolable rules of what to avoid.

Crisp White Shirt
A crisp white shirt

When it comes to the latter, there are some basic principles that have been & always will be true. No matter how soon trends come & go, fashion keeps evolving everyday, but some things in style never change. Some golden rules in fashion are meant to be followed even if they’re not necessarily positive.

With the hope of stamping them out for good, we’ve come up with five common crimes in the world of men’s fashion. If you’re innocent of them all, pat yourself on the back. Guilty of any of the below? Stop now, and we’ll never mention this again. Now let’s begin.

1) Avoid wearing tight shirts: Wearing a shirt should be a straightforward, basic activity that should be of utmost importance. Essentially this is where the exercise of image building starts while on a meeting, one-on-one or even during a casual meet-up. Essentially, when it comes to wearing a shirt, if there are stretch lines across the chest or your nipples are seen, it’s too tight. A good rule of thumb is, if you can’t move your arms freely, you’re doing it wrong. Fixing this mistake is easy. Get yourself measured, consult the sizing charts, and remember that – especially where casual shirts are concerned – it’s okay to loosen up a little.

Blue with spray
Perfect fitted shirt

2) Casual Bow Ties: These should be touched only when you get an invite to a formal event or if you’re an antiques dealer or a historian/waiter. Otherwise, it makes one seem desperate to look “cool“ or like a minor character in a bad indie film or a mime. If you really want to add a bit of irreverence to your look, try a graphic printed tie instead.

Accessorize with bow tie
Accessorize your bow tie.

3) The buttons on a blazer: Despite being a well-worn topic of conversation when it comes to style, some men still seem to get the whole smart jacket/button thing wrong. There is an easy fix to this. On a three-button suit, the rule about which buttons to fasten is (in order, from top to bottom): sometimes, always, never. Hence, it goes without saying – Never do the lowest button.

4) Tie & collar should be proportionate: If you’re wearing a spread-collar shirt, a skinny tie is a poor choice. Similarly, if you’re wearing a narrow collar, a thick tie with a four-in-hand knot will also look mismatched. A tie knot & the collar width should never be wildly disproportionate. You want to create balance. Consider your face shape, the width/length of your neck, and the width of your jacket’s lapels, then select a shirt and tie knot that feel proportionate to all of them. Tip: If you’re wearing a jacket, match the width of the widest point on your lapel with the widest point on your tie.

Collar tie balance
Create balance between the tie & collar
Wide collar
Pair a spread collar with a double knotted tie

5) Age-appropriate dressing: This is a tricky subject as every decade of a man’s life brings with it a new set of conventions, challenges and ideas. The well-cut, simple, statesmanlike pieces are a good investment for men of any age. However, for gentlemen over a certain age, it feels most dignified to err on the side of timelessness.