125 Style Tips for Men

Look around any airport lounge, office lobby or restaurant on a Friday night and you will see the two ways men get dressing wrong. Some try far too hard. Most do not try at all. The first group buys whatever the season is selling. The second stopped buying anything around the time they left college.

The cure for both is the same, and it is not a shopping list. It is a set of rules. Good rules are dull to read and wonderful to live by, because they remove decisions. A man who knows that pleats are out, that shoes need trees and that a tie should touch the belt buckle does not have to think about any of it again. He can think about something more interesting instead.

The 125 rules below are John LeFevre's, in his words, lightly edited and sorted by where in the wardrobe they live. They are opinionated on purpose. The commentary between them is ours.

Men's style tips start in the closet

1. Throw out or give away anything you haven't worn in over a year.
2. Organize your closet so you aren't just wearing the same few outfits.
3. Spend more money on fewer pieces of clothing.
4. When in doubt, keep it simple. Trying too hard is worse than not trying at all.
5. Knowing how to dress is a skill that can be learned.
6. Emulate a style icon.
7. Shop with a friend.
8. Ignore trends. They're a way to separate fools from their money. Keep your look timeless.
9. If the designer's logo is too visible, it's not as stylish as you think.
10. Try brands most people have never heard of.
11. Visit a boutique menswear store you've never been to before.
12. If you like a store or brand, subscribe to its email list for new ideas.
13. Fix damage sooner rather than later. Wear and tear looks terrible in public.
14. Time is too short to do your own laundry.
15. Don't be disgusting: replenish your underwear. Most men keep theirs for years longer than they should. Don't be that guy.
16. Get rid of the college apparel. No one cares.

The first rule is the hardest and the most useful. Most closets are full of clothes that are not worn, and they make the clothes that are worn harder to find. Clearing out a year of dead weight is the cheapest improvement a man can make to the way he looks, because it costs nothing and it forces the second rule: once you can see what you own, you stop reaching for the same three shirts.

Rule three is the principle under everything else on this list. Fewer, better things last longer, fit better and look better with age. Cheap clothes are not cheap if you replace them every year.

On the style icon, pick one who dressed for a life like yours. The original is still a good choice. George Bryan Brummell, the Regency dandy who taught London's men to wear dark, well-cut coats and clean linen, was described by his first biographer as "always carefully dressed, but never the slave of fashion." That is the ambition in a sentence. Ian Kelly's biography, *Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Man of Style*, is the best account of how he did it.

How to dress well as a man: fit and tailoring

17. Get everything adjusted: suits, jackets, dress shirts, trousers, jeans.
18. A suit is only as good as its tailor.
19. Shop for a suit in person.
20. Trousers should "break" on the top of your shoes.
21. No pleats and no cuffs. Ever.
22. Dress for the body you have, not the body you want.
23. Dress your age.
24. Use patterns to flatter your body type. Broad checks add weight; light vertical stripes add height and slim you down.
25. Keep the top and bottom balanced. If you've got a sleek, streamlined jacket and a simple shirt, don't wear loose trousers with lots of texture. Stay consistent all the way up and down.
26. Sometimes less is more. Plain, dark, solid pieces with one bright accent can do more than a flashy, patterned suit or shirt.
27. And sometimes more is more. It's fine to go over the top with color and pattern once in a while. Just don't make a habit of it.
28. Wear seasonal colors: dark earth tones in autumn, grays and blues in winter, pastels in spring.
29. Wear the lightest fabrics in summer. Don't torture yourself needlessly.

If you remember one section of this list, remember this one. Fit matters more than brand, fabric or price, and almost nothing fits properly off the rack. A good alterations tailor can take in a waist, shorten a sleeve and taper a trouser for a small fraction of what the garment cost, and the result looks twice as expensive. The men who look well dressed in an ordinary suit have almost always had it altered.

"Dress for the body you have" is the rule men ignore most. Buying a size down as motivation does not work. It produces a shirt that pulls at the buttons and a jacket that cannot close, which is worse than the extra weight it was meant to hide. Buy for today and have things taken in later. "Dress your age" is the companion rule: a man of fifty in his son's clothes is not fooling anyone, least of all his son.

Men's fashion rules for suits, jackets and coats

30. You can't go wrong with a two-button, notch-lapel, single-breasted suit. It's a classic that suits nearly every body type.
31. Skip the three-button suit altogether, and absolutely no double-breasted, unless you still sleep on a waterbed.
32. Buy as many suits as you can reasonably afford. Keep them simple: if a suit has too much flair, the only thing people will notice is how often you wear it.
33. It's a cliché because it's true: the most expensive suit you own is the one you wear the least.
34. No need to go above Super 160s wool. Between abrasive office chairs and late nights out, the finest cloths don't last.
35. Pinstriped suits look best with plain white stripes.
36. Brown suits are for back-office guys.
37. Keep your jacket buttoned except when you sit. And always leave the bottom button undone.
38. Shirt cuffs should be visible past the ends of your jacket sleeves.
39. Try a flamboyant jacket lining.
40. If you're wearing a blazer, make sure it doesn't look like a suit jacket. Try a one-button peak lapel, which works in the office or out at night.
41. No gold or silver buttons.
42. Don't bother with suspenders.
43. Own a formal overcoat, long enough that you can't see the bottom of your suit jacket.
44. Buy a tuxedo before you're thirty. Then stay that size.
45. Overdress. There's nothing wrong with being the best-dressed man in the room.
46. Keep your jacket on at a bar. People equate sloppiness with drunkenness.
47. Leave a jacket on the back of your desk chair, so no one can ever be completely sure whether you've left early or are taking a long lunch.
48. Never wear a suit with sneakers.

The two-button, single-breasted, notch-lapel suit in navy or charcoal is the most useful garment a man can own. It works at a board meeting, a wedding, a funeral and a good dinner, and it flatters nearly every build. Build the wardrobe out from there. Plain cloth is the point of rule 32: a bold check is memorable, which is exactly the problem when you wear it every second Tuesday.

The tuxedo rule deserves more attention than it gets. A man who rents black tie looks like a man who rented black tie. One good dinner suit, bought in your twenties and kept in fighting shape, will see you through decades of weddings and galas. It is also a decent incentive to stay the same size.

Shirts and ties

49. Wear an undershirt, even if you don't sweat. Hygiene and aesthetics aside, it will significantly prolong the life of your dress shirts.
50. Own several good white dress shirts in different textures and collars.
51. Don't be afraid of pink and lavender.
52. Stick with a stiff spread collar. It works with or without a tie, and with jeans or a suit.
53. No shirt pockets and no button-down collars. The Oxford collar is for college professors who couldn't hack it in the real world.
54. The blue shirt with a white collar is acceptable. The 1980s homage works even better in light pink or baby blue, and without a tie.
55. Get a few custom-made shirts. The value far exceeds the cost. Just make sure they're tapered properly.
56. Skip the monogram.
57. Starch your formal dress shirts and have them folded in boxes.
58. Shirt technology has come a long way. Wrinkle-free, machine-washable shirts mean you don't have to waste money on dry cleaners.
59. Practice rolling up your shirtsleeves different ways.
60. Wear a tie when you don't have to. But only with a suit.
61. A bad tie knot is like a weak handshake. It suggests you don't come from good stock.
62. Learn several tie knots. Some are convenient, some are formal and a few are both. Take pride in tying them well.
63. Tie your necktie so the tip hits the middle of your belt.
64. Ties can be fun. Sometimes.
65. Bow ties don't only come in black, but save the attention-seeking ones for your son on Easter.
66. Roll up your ties and store them in a dedicated tie drawer.

The undershirt is the least glamorous rule here and one of the most practical. It takes the sweat and deodorant that would otherwise yellow a good collar and rot the armpits of a shirt, and it means the shirt can go longer between washes. A plain crew neck, in white or a shade close to your skin, does the job without showing at the open collar.

Pink and lavender are the two colors most men avoid and should not. Under a navy or charcoal suit, a soft pink or lavender shirt keeps the outfit conservative while giving the face some warmth that white cannot. It is the same trick Brummell used two centuries ago with a narrow palette: dark coat, pale linen, one color leading.

On knots, Brummell is again the patron saint. Jesse tells the story of a visitor who met Brummell's valet carrying an armful of crumpled neckcloths. "Oh, they are our failures," the valet explained. Most men do not need that level of devotion, but they do need more than one knot. A four-in-hand for everyday, a half-Windsor for spread collars and the patience to practise both in front of a mirror is enough. *The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie*, by two Cambridge physicists who worked out the mathematics of the knot, covers the rest.

Shoes and socks

67. Cedar shoe trees are an absolute must. They absorb moisture, prevent creasing and materially extend the life of your shoes.
68. Buy more shoes than you think you need.
69. A decent pair of shoes will last several times longer than one at half the cost. Do the math.
70. Shine your shoes more often than you think you need to.
71. The shinier your shoes, the dressier they are.
72. Really good dress shoes make a bit of noise when you walk. And there is evolutionary merit in status signaling.
73. If you aren't confident in your fashion sense, keep the shoes black with a suit and a safe shade of brown with business casual.
74. Loafers are more comfortable and convenient than lace-ups. And the old idea that they lack formality expired long ago.
75. Casual leather shoes make any everyday outfit look more stylish.
76. Don't wear shoes so distinctive that they're recognizable under a bathroom stall.
77. Gym shoes are for the gym.
78. No flip-flops unless you're within walking distance of a beach.
79. Throw all your socks away and buy ten pairs of identical socks, then replace them every three to six months. Nothing beats starting the day in crisp, new socks.
80. Statement socks are dumb. They add neither personality nor fashion sense, and pairing, sorting and color-matching socks is a waste of time and energy.

Shoes are where the case for spending more is clearest. A well-made Goodyear-welted shoe can be resoled again and again, and with trees and polish it will outlast several pairs of cheaper glued shoes. Rules 67 and 70 are what make rule 69 true. Leather absorbs sweat every time you wear it, and unvented, untreed shoes crack and curl at the toe. Cedar draws the moisture out and holds the shape while the leather dries.

If you are building a shoe wardrobe from nothing, start with a black cap-toe oxford for suits, such as the Allen Edmonds Park Avenue, then add a brown loafer for everything else. A classic penny loafer like the G.H. Bass Weejun works with jeans, chinos and an unstructured jacket, which is most of modern life.

Rule 79 fixes a problem nobody admits to having. Buy one style of plain dark sock in quantity, such as Falke's Tiago, and the sock drawer stops being a matching exercise. Every pair goes with every other pair. For the rest of the shoe wardrobe, and the styles to avoid, see [40 things a man should never wear](/a/40-things-a-man-should-never-wear).

Weekends, shorts and casual clothes

81. Always dress as if you might decide to drop by a nice restaurant or bar.
82. Trousers beat shorts, even in hot weather.
83. The era of baggy and cargo shorts is over.
84. Burn your khakis, and wear jeans or a suit instead.
85. Mix it up with colored trousers, but skip the khakis.
86. Wear a lightweight cashmere sweater under a jacket with jeans.
87. There is no such thing as turtleneck weather. Circumcise that sweater.
88. Have a few comfortable sweaters or cardigans for cool nights. Most of the time you'll end up giving them to a girl. And that's the point.
89. The fleece vest, worn occasionally, is fine. It's cheaper than a suit, durable, practical in a cold office and conceals extra weight.
90. Don't wear T-shirts with graphics on them.
91. There is no such thing as a "going out" shirt, especially on a first date.
92. Save the country-club logo polos for the weekend. No one wants to see dad bods miming golf swings in the office.
93. Don't just burn your Vineyard Vines. Donate them to homeless shelters until the brand fades into irrelevance.
94. Do better than Lululemon. It's not a men's brand.
95. Unless you're at the game, pro sports apparel is childish.
96. Your gym clothes still get looked at. Buy ones you look good in, and replace them before they wear out.
97. Don't neglect swim trunks. Function, comfort and style all count.
98. Backpacks are for hipsters and schoolkids.

Casual dress is where most well-dressed men fall apart, because the office gave them a uniform and the weekend did not. Rule 81 is the fix. You don't need a blazer to buy groceries, but if you leave the house dressed for a decent bar, you will rarely be caught out: dark jeans, a good knit or a plain shirt, leather shoes. The cashmere sweater under a jacket is the most useful version of that formula, smart enough for dinner and relaxed enough for an airport.

Graphic T-shirts, team jerseys and the "going out" shirt fail for the same reason. They do the talking for you, and what they say is rarely flattering.

Watches, jewelry and accessories

99. Other than a watch, cufflinks and a wedding ring, no jewelry. The only thing worse for a woman than seeing a desirable man wearing a wedding ring is seeing one wearing a ring on any other finger.
100. Watches serve a purpose. They signal status, and status has always been attractive.
101. Wearing a Rolex is like driving an Audi. It means you have a little money but not much to say. The Daytona is the exception.
102. But don't forget: not wearing a watch is the new Patek.
103. Quality sunglasses let women know you appreciate nice things and are responsible enough not to lose them.
104. Trade in your wallet for a slim card case.
105. Your phone is part of your look. Skip the case. Phone cases are for the poor and irresponsible.
106. Invest in an expensive scarf and leather gloves.
107. Expand your belt collection.
108. Invest in quality luggage. It lasts a lifetime and gets better with age.
109. The man purse is never going to catch on. And the fanny pack isn't coming back.

Accessories are where restraint pays best. A man wearing a watch, a wedding band and nothing else looks finished. Add a bracelet, a chain and a signet ring and he looks like he is selling something. The watch rules are deliberately contrary, and they are worth reading together: wear one if it means something to you, choose it for taste rather than recognition, and know that going without is a confident choice too. For which watches are worth owning, see [watches, explained](/a/watches-explained).

The scarf and gloves rule is about the moment you arrive. In winter, they are the first thing anyone sees. A pair of brown leather gloves lined in cashmere and a plain wool or cashmere scarf will make an ordinary overcoat look considered. Luggage follows the same logic as shoes: buy it once. A Tumi Alpha carry-on is built to take decades of overhead bins. More on the things worth paying for is in [expensive but worth it](/a/expensive-but-worth-it).

Grooming

110. Keep yourself well groomed, and pamper your skin.
111. Facial hair should look deliberate.
112. Shave with a razor.
113. Manscape.
114. Use the same moisturizer on your neck that you use on your face.
115. Always keep a decent facial moisturizer in your desk or gym bag.
116. Manicures and pedicures are not just for women.
117. Get a haircut every four to five weeks. And if you've got problems up top, shave it or transplant it.
118. If you insist on wearing cologne, no one should smell you from five feet away, or five minutes after you've left the room.

Clothes are the frame; grooming is the picture. A good suit on a man with an overgrown neckline and dry, flaking skin is a waste of a good suit. The haircut rule matters most, because hair grows out unevenly, and the difference between week two and week eight is visible from across a room. Book the next appointment before you leave the chair.

For the body, a dedicated trimmer such as the Philips Norelco Bodygroom is gentler than a razor and quicker than anything else. On cologne, the five-foot rule is the whole of the law. Scent should be discovered, not announced.

Habits, manners and the rules behind the rules

119. Stand up straight.
120. Do 50 push-ups and sit-ups periodically throughout the day. Fitness never goes out of fashion.
121. Drink less.
122. Read more. Wits never sag, and a man's intellect is a reflection of his style.
123. Measure yourself only against your previous self.
124. Manners and etiquette are a reflection of your style.
125. Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men. But fashion rules usually exist for a reason, so use some common sense.

The last section is the one that has nothing to do with clothes, and it is the one that decides whether the clothes work. Posture makes an ordinary jacket hang properly. Fitness makes almost everything fit. Reading gives a well-dressed man something to say once he has your attention, and manners make sure you want to keep listening. For the reading list, start with [100 books every man should read](/a/100-books-every-man-should-read); for the manners, [etiquette 101](/a/etiquette-101); and for the rest of it, [how to be a man](/a/how-to-be-a-man).

The final rule is the honest one. Every rule on this list can be broken by a man who understands why it exists. Brummell's own test, as Harriette Wilson recorded it, was simple: if the ordinary man in the street turns round to stare at you, something has gone wrong. Learn the rules first. Then you will know which ones you can safely ignore.