To Code: Being Fashionably Predictable

 June's To Code: A Guide to Being A Better Gentleman (or Lady in this case) 

Once you become fashionably aware, one of the biggest worries I think people have is how they are going to "re-invent" their style throughout the years. Now there is nothing wrong with re-inventing your style, and I'd say when you're young(er), go for it, you have nothing to loose. However I like the idea of making age appropriate style upgrades because there comes a time in your life when you have to stop wearing one thing and move on to something, well.... age appropriate.

My best advice when it comes to personal style is becoming fashionably predictable, which really means that people will come to expect what you'll wear on a daily basis. You could say this is boring, but really if you have established a personal style, your daily routine will probably already be unique, which is the whole idea of having style in the first place.

I've been abiding to this fashion code for a while now. Once summer hits, I'll have shorts or pants on with a Linen guayabera, sandals during the day, I'll toss on some loafers at night to dress it up, and I'll go sockless with all my shoes while the warm months persist. The rest of the year, I go solid bright colored socks in winter, 98% of the time I will have a collared shirt on, and if it's tucked in I will more than likely have on a tie. A day off for me is to go un-tucked and no tie. My personal style can get even more routine with the gray scarf I've had for over 6 years that I wear all winter, the two ways I wear my hair, and the same cologne I've been wearing since I was 14.

Now the ladies do have a few more options for accessories and hair, but at the end of the day the same rules can apply to a woman's style. If you wear heels, dresses, and skirts five days a week, on your day off you can pull out your favorite jeans you've had for 4 years, and you're already sticking to the rule of predictability.

The point is that I'm very predictable on what I'll wear each day, and that's ok! To be honest it makes things easy and my personal style very well established.

To Code: Classic Sneakers

April's To Code: A Guide to Being A Better Gentleman

Warm weather is on the horizon, and socks are again optional. Although I'm the first person to put on a pair of thong Sandals, a good pair of classic sneakers is a must in every man's (and woman's) closet. A pair of classic Vans in navy blue or white or all white  Lo-Top Chuck Taylor's are probably the Industry standards.

I would like to introduce SeaVees Pantone. I ordered my pair of gray Pantone's over Christmas, and after breaking them in I honestly can't stop wearing them.

The Pantone's aren't the lightest shoe, but the quality in the build and over all comfort is hard to beat. They are more comfortable then any athletic shoe I've ever worn.

SeaVees, a small company in California, is making a stand out product that you need to experience. Since buying my pair, SeaVees have launched a new line of the Pantone made of all canvas material which drops the price to under $100. You might think, YIKES!! More than $100 for a pair of sneakers? I see people blow out $150 or more on the much less fashionable Nike Air Jordan's, where SeaVees want to stick out with great detailing standing behind their product. I e-mailed them a few times with questions and they responded quickly with helpful, detailed answers. As you see in my photos, not only do they come with individual cloth shoe bags, but they have a very cool patch sewn into the sole with their name imprinted on it.

If you're interested in trying on a pair of Pantones, which I highly recommend, you can go to The Need Suppy Co. in Carytown if you live in Richmond or you can go online at needsupply.com. If you don't find what you want there send me an e-mail and I'll put you in contact with Derek at SeaVees and he'll help you get the right shoe.

To Code: Tie It down

March's To Code: A Guide to being a better Gentleman

So you got your slim ties, or really any tie that's not a 1973 four inch wide tie, but now you need to keep that guy in check under your sweater, suit coat, blazer, cardigan. Easy fix! Just add some "man bling" with a tie bar. They are cool, chic and keep your tie in place or from blowing around in the wind.

 

 Just remember some simple rules: it's part jewelery, but also serves a purpose. Depending on your coat/sweater of choice, position your tie bar high enough to be seen but not so high that it still lets your tie move all over the place, which would defeat the purpose of any tie apparatus.

Now say you skip the coat and just want a tie. Find the middle of your tie by bringing the tip to the base of your knot. Find your mid point, place tie bar accordingly. If your tie bar goes missing, don't worry. Go raid the junk drawer and find the biggest safety pin you have, push it through your tie and shirt and close. Once you take it out at the end of the day, push around the material where the pin holes are left and the fibers should tighten back up, leaving your tie good as new. 

There you go! Just remember, no matter what you use to keep your tie at bay, keep its design simple. Now go put on a tie and wear it grocery shopping because you can.

To Code: Put A Glove On It!

 Feburary's To Code: A Guide To Being A Better Gentleman

Welcome to this first edition of what will hopefully be a monthly how to for becoming a better gentleman with generally helpful tips from my point of view. I was going to call this "doing it debonairly,"and although I really love the ring to the title, "To Code" is just as fitting.

Put A Glove On It!

I'm big on a few things: bags, shoes, the outdoors, and then there are gloves. I wear gloves any time the occasion allows or requires it. It is not to be cool, I just think they are practical as they keep your hands warm when it's cold, and they keep your hands safe when doing something that could end up in a bloody mess if you are bare handed. Although being fashionable is cool, I'm big on form and function. You make your own call, but I will always take function over form if I can't have both. Take a look at just a few of my regular gloves in rotation.

From top left going clockwise: water proof Timberland winter gloves, hand made fleece lined leather gloves, Barbour lambswool gloves, Dollar Tree fingerless gloves, Barbour wool fingerless gloves, Thinsulate ragg wool half-finger mittens.

So to make things short, buying wool/cotton gloves is pretty simple. Make sure they are snug and they come to the base of your fingers. I'll personally recommend having at least one pair that is black, brown, blue or tan. Other than that, if you want a bunch of crazy colors go for it! Buying leather gloves is pretty much the same, just make sure you find a pair that fits slim and tight. After some time you'll break in your gloves nicely and they will fit well, like a glove. As you can see mine have a good bit of wear on them.

 Now I feel a bit like a copy cat mentioning this after last month's GQ, but fingerless gloves are pretty handy when the temps are low outside but not so low where you have to worry about frostbite. Although GQ likes to treat every trend like they are the first person to discover this great idea, they are not. I also wrote this in December. Aside from that, I have a pair of Barbour wool fingerless gloves, a blue pair I actually got at the Dollar Tree, and my trusty Thinsulate half finger mittens. If you need some warmth but want to be able to use your iPhone without taking your glove off, go fingerless.

Although I've added a few to the collection, my go to fingerless gloves are my Thinsulate mittens. Sure I can't use my thumbs on a fancy cell phone, but if I need a glove-less finger, I can flip the top and get to poke'n. When its time to get back in the elements I just cover up my digits and away I go. These gloves are about 10 years old now and definitely have seen better days, I might try to salvage one more winter out of them, but the wife is already trying to sneak them out to the trash. I guess next time I'm at the store I can try to find a new pair and keep those for 10 years as well.

So stay warm in this last month or two left of winter! Who knew you could say so much about gloves?