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How to travel light while packing all you need?

What exactly is an interchangeable wardrobe?

How do you do it Antonio – what are your tips for putting clothing together?

I took a look at my own wardrobe and put together a video on my own interchangeable travel clothes.

I’ve been using the same small set of clothes for many conferences now, with a little variation from one to the next.

It packs light, works across all kinds of weather, and most importantly keeps me looking sharp without any effort on my part.

You can check out the video right here — below, I’ll outline some of what I talk about in greater detail.

1. Understand Your Needs

The key to packing light is to only bring the things you need.

It took me some trial and error to get my travel wardrobe down to the exact minimum of items I can get by on. Occasionally I’ll change some details up here or there, like rotating out my ties and pocket squares for some different designs, but mostly I stick to the same core collection of interchangeable items.

Knowing what you’ll need means thinking about where you’re going and what you’re doing. For example, most of my trips involve hotels and convention centers — I need to take the weather outside into a little bit of consideration, but mostly I’m dressing for climate-controlled indoors settings. That means long trousers, dress shirts, and jackets for the most part. If I’m going somewhere really formal I’ll throw a suit into the mix, but there’s really not that many suit-and-tie occasions on my agenda these days.

I pack a little bit of variety so my outfit can adapt to different places. I’ve got my dress trousers and nice leather shoes for a more refined look, and when I want to dress it down a bit I use dark denim jeans and a pair of Western boots to relax the look.

What I don’t have is a lot of “just in case” items. I leave the heavy overcoat at home and skip the suit unless I know there’s an occasion that will demand it. They’re not going to be useful 95% of the time, so there’s no reason to worry about them.

2. Protect Your Investment

Good jackets and shirts are not cheap.  My travel wardrobe alone is worth about 5-8K depending on what I pack.

You see most of my traveling wardrobe is custom made. Some of that came from my own custom clothier, of course, but it still represents a significant investment. Keeping it in good shape is important to me – these are my tools!

Anything that can spill or stain (toiletries, mostly) goes in my Dopp kit. That’s a small, zippered container that I put inside my other luggage. It has a lined inside, so that even if my shampoo explodes at 15,000 feet or something like that, nothing but my other toiletries get messed up.

The Bay Head Bathroom Bag (Dopp Kit) and the rest of my luggage are all also high-quality.

I use a lot of bags from Blue Claw Co., an American company that we’ve reviewed here on the site before, both for their look (dark nylon and lighter leathers — very striking) and for the sturdiness.

My Blue Claw weekender bag has been thrown out of my minivan by an energetic eight-year-old and survived without any scuffs or tears.

The clothes inside did just fine! Luckily, it didn’t get run over in the parking lot — that would have been quite the stress test — but I’m confident that, short of a real disaster, my clothes are safe inside my luggage.
I also use a Blue Claw Gooseneck garment bag for my jackets as much as possible.

If I’m flying on a short trip, sometimes I’ll leave the garment bag at home and fold the jacket up into something small like the weekender bag, but for the most part I prefer to have it in the garment bag where it can lie flat.

I haven’t had to press or dry clean my jackets for a couple months now, and I’ve been traveling hard — that’s because even when I’m traveling, my jackets are on hangers, draped just like they would be on my body.

3. The Interchangeable Wardrobe

Here is where we really come to the secret of packing light.

I’m able to get by with so few garments because almost all of them can be worn interchangeably.

I don’t have one jacket with a couple shirts that go with it, and then another jacket with two different shirts to match that one.

I can wear any of my jackets with any of my shirts, and vice versa.

I always travel with at least two jackets, and preferably three (it’s easy to do even when you’re flying if you wear one of your jackets onto the plane).

They’re all different colors, and I pre-load each of them with a pocket square in the breast pocket. I also stick some business cards in the pockets of each one — not a fashion tip, per se, but handy when you’re traveling from conference to conference.

My shirts are also chosen to be flexible.

I always bring one plain white dress shirt, and every traveler should do the same — it’s the ultimately versatile shirt.

You can wear it with a suit and tie, or you can wear it with blue jeans and roll the sleeves up, or anywhere in between.

The other shirts cover a range of patterns and colors that are easy to match: semi-solid light blue (with a herringbone weave to make it a bit more interesting), blue-and-white candystripe, and a dusky lavender with contrasting herringbone. I also pack a short-sleeve linen shirt and guayabera in the summer, for when I want to shed the jacket and look casual.

I wear dark, fitted jeans when I travel, and pack a pair of lightweight gray flannel trousers and a pair of khaki dress slacks. Any of those can go with any of my suit jackets, for a wide variety of looks.

My neckties cover a good range of colors and all have pretty basic patterns — I keep it simple so they’re easy to match.

For shoes I usually have a pair of casual brown leather bluchers cap-toes, a pair of Sperry topsiders (slip-on boat shoes), and my Lucchese Western boots.

And here’s the total effect of all that: if you slim me down to my bare essentials, and say I can have three jackets, five shirts, three pairs of trousers, two neckties, and two pairs of shoes, how many different outfits do I have?

Answer: 180.

A hundred and eighty different combinations.

Now, a few of those might look a little off, but by and large I can combine any one of my jackets, shirts, trousers, ties, and shoes and be in good shape. Throw in three pocket squares and suddenly I’m at 540 different outfits — some of them might be pretty similar, but it’s still an incredible number!

4. Wear Your Bulkiest Clothing In Transit

This is an easy way to save yourself some space in your luggage: when you travel, and especially when you fly, wear your bulkiest items.

For me, that usually means my boots, my jeans, and one of my sports jackets. I don’t necessarily wear the jacket if I’m driving, but I’ll have it on a hanger in my car, and I’ll throw it on when I get out.

If your travel plans are going to necessitate an overcoat, you’ll want to be wearing that onto the plane or throwing it in your car as well. There’s no need to try and fit it into a garment bag or small duffel. A big coat can even become cargo space of its own — you can fill the pockets with small items.

Bonus: My Traveling Secrets

These last few tips are a few tricks I’ve picked up over the years to making looking good while I travel easier.

They’re the product of experience and practice — over time, I’ve learned what works well for me, especially when I’m not only traveling but also presenting or doing business, and I need to look my best.

Shirt Stays: These look less than masculine when you see pictures of them, but they work great. They’re little elastic garters that clip to the bottom of your shirt and the tops of your socks, making sure the shirt stays tugged down and neatly tucked inside your trousers. It’s a fantastic way to never have to worry about “muffin top” — the unattractive look of a guy with a lot of extra shirt cloth billowing out over the waistband of his trousers.  I use a set from Sharp & Dapper – they have lasted for over a year which is much better then cheap versions I’ve tried in the past.

Collar Stays: I use Wurkin Stiffs magnetic metal stays that slip in underneath the shirt collar. These not only keep the collar points from curling up, they also give them enough weight to make sure the collar never flops up over my jacket lapels.

Undershirts: I always have a Ribbed Tee V-neck undershirt with sleeves under my shirt. That keeps any sweat that accumulates from soaking into my dress shirt or my jacket — it’s another way to protect those big investments. An undershirt is a lot cheaper to replace! Since mine are T-shirt style, I can also wear them as workout clothes if I hit the hotel gym.

Those three products are my invisible tricks for looking extra-sharp at conferences. All told, they take up maybe six cubic inches in my luggage, and most of that is undershirt — but they make a big difference in how neat I can look even after a day on the road or a long weekend in a convention center.

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This is an interview I did with Pete Lee of Crossfit Lazarus.

I met Pete at InfusionCon this last March.  He was one of the best-dressed guys at the convention and as that he’s shorter than the average height I thought he’d be the perfect guy to ask for some short man style tips.

 Here is the actual interview Pete and I conducted in Arizona – Enjoy!

Pete is a snappy dresser who focuses on putting his best foot forward. It’s not about a specific style or a particular set of patterns and colors. He just wants to look his best, so people (like me!) who meet him as strangers are automatically impressed.

In the video he’s dressed very casually, just in his shirtsleeves, but you’ll notice that Pete’s still got a nice, personalized style that speaks for him.

Being in good shape doesn’t hurt, of course — must be all that crossfit!

Short Man Style Tip #1: Make the Hairstyle Stand Out

One of the first things I noticed about Pete was his hairstyle.

His hair is two key things: it’s unique and it’s vertical.

You can see in the video that Pete’s got his sides buzzed close. That’s a remnant from his military service that he’s decided to keep, both for the look and the personal nod to that part of his history.

On top the hair’s thicker and a little more sculpted-looking. It’s not super slicked (Pete uses a grooming clay, which gives a less “wet” look than a pomade, mousse, or styling cream), just given a bit of shape.

This is a great example for shorter men to be thinking about. I’m not saying you should run out and get your hair cut just like Pete’s — but you should be thinking about styles that have a nice, clean, defined shape. You don’t want lots of hair sticking out all over the place on the sides of your head and down around your neck.

The higher people’s attention is focused on your body, the bigger you look. If your hairstyle looks sharp up top, that’s going to make you seem bigger than you are. And, of course, you’ll look like a man with a stylish haircut, which benefits anyone regardless of his height.

Short Man Style Tip #2: Rock Some Funky Glasses

I love Pete’s explanation for his: he saw the thick plastic rims that are trendy right now and liked the style, but wanted to make it a little less cookie-cutter and a little more personalized, so he went with tortoiseshell instead of plain black.

It’s such a minor, simple change, and it has a big effect. That’s one of the things I love about fashion — the little personal details give an outfit incredible power.

As far as style for a shorter man goes, this is doing pretty much the same thing the haircut does. It pulls the viewer’s eyes up to Pete’s face and makes them look him right in the eye as they interact. That really bold detail around his eyes is keeping people’s attention where he wants it. And if you watch the video, you’ll hear Pete say that he’s got contacts, but actually prefers to wear the glasses just for the style!

Of course, if you’re short and have perfect vision, this might not be useful advice (although there are some pretty stylish brands out there these days that make “vanity” glasses, where the lens is clear plastic with no magnification or correction). There’s no real alternative for guys who don’t wear glasses, unfortunately — a sharp hat, where appropriate, is probably the closest you’re going to get in terms of accent pieces that keep people focused on your face.

A giant facial tattoo would probably have a similar effect, but we’re not going to recommend that on this website!

Short Man Style Tip #3: Keep the Fit Close

The shorter you are, the more obvious it is if your clothes are too big for you.

You can see in the video that Pete keeps the fit of his shirt very close. For someone with his build that probably means buying a “slim fit” from the brands that offer one, and some trips to the tailor for adjustments on some of his shirts as well.

Same goes for the fit in the pants — shorter guys want to keep that as close as possible, especially in the crotch and butt.

Clothes that are loose enough to start to sag do double damage to short guys: first it’s a distraction that keeps people’s eyes down on your lower body, and second it has the unfortunate effect of making you look like a kid who hasn’t quite grown into his hand-me-downs yet.

If you’re short and built more on the hefty side, you obviously won’t be able to wear quite as tight a fit, but you should still make sure you’re eliminating any sag at the seams (crotch, armpit, etc.) or the hems (trouser and shirt cuffs, shirt bottom, and so forth).

And, of course, if you’ve got an athletic build — say, because you do a lot of crossfit, just for example — a close fit has the added bonus of showing off your body. If you got it, flaunt it, right?

Rules You Can Break

Something I liked about this conversation and the video we made is that it shows Pete breaking many “rules” for shorter men — and looking good doing it.

If you look at the video, you’ll notice that he’s wearing a pretty bright plaid shirt, and we talk about some polka-dotted items he was wearing earlier as well.

That’s something most generic articles about looking taller will tell you to avoid. Horizontal elements like the cross-striping in plaids and busy visual patterns in general are things that short guys are usually told to stay away from.

There’s a decent logic behind that — the simpler and cleaner your patterns, the easier it is for people’s eyes to travel up your body to your face — but it’s not carved in stone. A fashionable guy can wear just about anything as long as he’s being smart about it, and that includes a short main wearing plaids (or other checks, for that matter).

Because Pete’s got a really simple, defined style from head to toe, wearing a busier pattern doesn’t affect him that much. He’s still got your attention right away, and it’s up on his face where he wants it as you talk to him.

Having the confidence to own your style, it turns out, does a lot more to make your presence known than struggling to look taller.

Of course, a good fit never hurts either.

Want to learn more about CrossFit? – check out CrossFit Lazurus’ Facebook page here!

What’s it like to have a well-balanced wardrobe, in terms of colors?

Well, picture it this way: you get up, you stumble through your morning routine, and you open up your closet. Eyes closed, you grab yourself a shirt, a jacket, and a pair of trousers.

If your wardrobe is pretty well-balanced, the odds are better than even that you’ve got a matching outfit. If there’s a good chance that you don’t have a matching outfit, you’re maybe leaning too heavily toward hard-to-match colors, and need to add some more basic staples.

How to Balance Your Wardrobe – By the Numbers

The chart above is a breakdown of the colors, by percentage, that we’d expect to see in a well-balanced wardrobe for an adult man who dresses primarily in Western business and casual clothing.

Now, this is obviously not a hard and fast set of rules. Don’t start adding up the number of gray items you own and dividing by the total amount of clothes in your wardrobe or anything like that.

We’re talking about general guidelines here. Broadly speaking, your life is going to be easier if you’ve got a lot of white shirts and only one or two brightly-colored ones, versus having a lot of vivid colors and not much white.

Some of these colors are going to cluster more around specific items (your grays, for example, will mostly be suits and jackets), while other spread through the whole wardrobe. We’ll take you through the color families one by one and look at the clothing that’s usually found in them — and at why you might what more or less of that color in your wardrobe.

Watch the video below for a quick summary of color and the percentages that should be in your wardrobe.

20% – White

White is going to make up the bulk of your wardrobe for a couple of reasons.

First and foremost, it’s the most formal dress shirt color. If you don’t own at least one good, plain white dress shirt, get one — that’s your go-to whenever you’re wearing suit-and-tie formality for a “serious business” kind of event.

White-based dress shirts with some light patterns are going to account for another good chunk of space. They’re not quite as formal, but have a little more individual style, making them a staple for wearing with any sort of suit or jacket.

Then there’s the basics of white cotton: it gets used for T-shirts, undershirts, underwear, athletic socks, and just about every other piece of what you might call “style neutral” clothing — stuff that’s worn purely for practical purposes. And we all need some of those, so even if you’re not taking them into consideration when you dress nicely, plan on having some plain white pieces lying around the house. They’re cheap, interchangeable, and easy to bleach clean when they stain.

Some men may also include a few pairs of white trousers or a white jacket in their collection. These are generally made of light material for summer wear. (Traditionalists will tell you to only wear white between Memorial Day and Labor Day.) White shoes are also not unheard of, particularly the traditionally Southern “white bucks.”

18% – Gray

Gray breaks down into different shades: light, medium, and charcoal.

Charcoal gray is a default business suit color. If you’re going to only own one suit, charcoal’s probably your best bet, and men who own multiple suits often have several variants (pinstripes, etc.)

Light and medium gray are often used for more casual suits, frequently with patterns (glen check, etc.). They also show up in odd jackets and trousers (unmatched), ranging across the whole spectrum from almost white to charcoal.

Less common pieces include collared shirts, socks (to match gray trousers), and the occasional piece of leather (boots, belts, etc.). Gray sweaters are also not uncommon, and many are made with undyed wool from naturally gray sheep.

14% – Navy Blue

We listed navy separate from the other blues because it has a more prominent role in business clothing: navy blue, like charcoal, is essentially a “default” color for both suits and blazers.

In terms of formality it plays an identical role to charcoal gray. Practically speaking, you’re more likely to see a navy blazer than a charcoal one, and probably a little more likely to see a charcoal suit than a navy one, but there’s no rule for or against either one.

Apart from suits, blazers, and the occasional pair of odd trousers, navy doesn’t show up much. Sweaters, matching socks for navy trousers, and the occasional casual shirt might add a bit more navy, but for the most part yours will be concentrated in the jackets section of your wardrobe.

13% – Black

A lot of men own black suits, which is fine — it’s a starker look than charcoal or navy, and purists will insist that the color is reserved for funerals and formal wear, but these days it’s a pretty reasonable thing to have in your wardrobe.

If you do own formalwear, that will also obviously be black: the jacket, trousers, tie, and generally the waist covering (cummerbund or waistcoat).

But for a lot of men black is going to be a casual color as well as a business or formal one. Black jeans are quite common, as are black shirts, ranging from dress shirts and polos on down to T-shirts.

Black socks, while they’re sold almost everywhere as “business socks,” aren’t actually that useful unless you wear a lot of black trousers. You’re better off matching the color of your trousers, or going to something that’s a deliberate and colorful contrast.

Finally, black is, of course, the default “dress” color for leather items. Shoes, belts, and watchbands in black are fairly necessary if you find yourself in any sort of business dress situation.

12% – Blue

The various shades of blue (dark, light, sky, etc.) outside of navy cross over into most sections of a man’s wardrobe.

You’ve got your blue jeans, a basic casual staple that can come in anything from deep indigo to plain light blue.

Then you’ve got blue dress shirts, a wardrobe staple usually done in a soft cloth like chamois. With a soft material and a button-down collar they’re quite casual; stiffened up a bit with a point or spread collar they become suitable for the more relaxed end of business dress.

Blue (like most of the remaining colors) works fine as an accent color in pieces like neckties and pocket squares. It’s occasionally also seen in leathers, particularly shoes.

10% – Brown

If you include khaki on the spectrum, brown is probably the most significant player in the casual and dress-casual wardrobe.

It’s relatively neutral, which makes it easy to match, and shows up in jackets, trousers, and casual suits. Brown is also the primary color for leather accents outside of business dress. Brown shoes can range from dark, plain styles suitable for wear with suits on down to casual work boots and elaborate wingtip brogues.

The only place you’re not likely to see brown much is in shirts. They exist, but they’re not that common, and don’t flatter most men.

7% – Green

From this point on, the colors we’re looking at are less likely to be used in “core” pieces like the suits and jackets, and more likely to appear as accents.

Green is probably the most likely to still have a role as a core piece. Olive suits and trousers are not uncommon, and on the east coast the forest green blazer is worn as an alternative to the navy blazer (with clear prep-school origins).

Apart from those uses, however, and as an accent color in the pattern on a white-based dress shirt, green will mostly appear as the base color for neckties and pocket squares. It may also crop up in overcoats, hats, and in corduroys or other soft trousers for the colorfully-inclined.

2 % – Purple

Lavender has enjoyed a period of popularity as an accent, showing up in ties, shirts, and even the pinstripes on business suits. It’s largely used as a more playful alternative to plain business blues.

Darker purples make good shirts for men with dark skin, and often show up on ties and pocket squares as well. Lighter purple is sometimes used as a stripe or check color on white dress shirts.

2% – Red

Red pants and jackets are only for the truly bold, or for marching band leaders.

The most widely-used subcategory here will be pink garments, with pink or pink-striped dress shirts showing up fairly regularly in business-casual wardrobes.

Some leathers could also be classified as reds — cordovan and burgundy shoes and belts straddle the gap between red and brown, with some leaning more heavily to the red side. The brighter the red, the flashier (and less formal) the shoe, making it striking but less flexible in the wardrobe overall.

1% – Yellow

Not an easy color to match, especially for lighter-skinned men, yellow is mostly used in dress shirts.

Bright yellow trousers, usually denim or corduroy, do sometimes show up in modern hipster and urban styles. If you really like them, there’s no law against having them in your closet, but if you own more than one pair it might be time to re-evaluate your style.

Deeper gold tones are a little more flexible, and are a common choice for neckties.

1 % – Orange

Very uncommon as anything but a necktie or pocket square, and generally used in moderation even there, orange does occasionally show up as a shirt color for dark-skinned men. You’ll know if you’ve got the colors to carry it off — it looks terrible on anyone who doesn’t.

Flexibility

All of these numbers are meant to be taken with a little flexibility.

Are you doing it “wrong,” for example, if you have more navy blue clothes in your wardrobe than gray? Obviously not.

But this chart will hopefully give you a basic tool for organizing and for planning your purchases. The more balanced your wardrobe colors are, the easier you’ll find it to make matched outfits — whether you’re planning them carefully or just grabbing clothes at random in the morning.

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So what am I going to cover exactly?

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Title: 9 Presentation Tips That Build Trust, Create Confidence, & Increase Sales

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Not everything has to be a fashion piece.

Every man needs at least a few basic, functional pieces of clothing to deal with the actual protection of his body.

Quilted jackets stuffed with lightweight down fall into the “functional” category.

They normally serve a practical need, not a style role.

But can lightweight down coats be part of a stylish man’s wardrobe?

And why does a sharp dresser need a down jacket in the first place?

Below Is A Quick Video Summary - Men’s Lightweight Down Jacket – Classic Wardrobe Piece

What It Is: Defining the Lightweight Down Jacket

When we talk about a lightweight down jacket, we’re talking specifically about quilted coats made from sectioned pockets stuffed with down feathers.

Both the filling and the construction are crucial to the coat’s function:

• The down is the underfeathers of waterfowl, usually geese. It’s not a part of the longer feathers you sometimes see shed near ponds. Down consists of small, short, feather-like puffs with a very slender central stem and lightweight, hollow fibers.

• The quilting segments the jacket up into pockets, rings, or other divided compartments, each one stuffed with down. The pockets are sewn shut and attached at the edges, so that the coat is really made of a patchwork of big, puffy pockets.

The purpose of this construction, odd though it sounds, is to make a coat that’s mostly made of air.

Empty air is an insulator. It changes temperature slowly — imagine a big, cold room heating slowly in the sunlight. An individual sunbeam might be uncomfortably warm to stand in, but the room itself will stay cool for hours and hours, resisting the heat of the beam.

Thermoses use the same principle; the most basic thermos is a double-walled container with air in between the two walls.

Down, because it is made of hollow fibers with gaps between them, creates hundreds or thousands of tiny air pockets per piece of down. When you stuff a patch of cloth with down feathers and then seal it shut, you get something that’s bulky but mostly made of air.

Sewing several of those together makes a coat that’s full of air, in both tiny pockets (within the down) and larger ones (the pockets themselves, which have lots of air in between individual pieces of down inside them).

Many down coats come with hoods, and they can be made any length, ranging from a waist-length jacket to an ankle-length arctic parka.

Advantages of a Lightweight Down Coat

A down coat or jacket is largely a “warmth” layer, worn to keep the wearer comfortable in cold weather.

In performing that function, it brings a few advantages over coats made with other materials or constructions:

• Warmth: This is obviously the most important feature, and it’s one that pretty much all down coats possess, as long as the construction is sound. Even a fairly light coat can hold up in serious winter temperatures.

• Weight: Unlike coats that get their warmth from thick, heavy fabrics, down provides insulation without much weight. It’s much more comfortable for prolonged wear than a heavy wool or cotton weave.

• Breathability: Air heats slowly, but it does flow. Down coats tend to be less stifling than ones made of woven cloth. It’s easier for excess heat to move away from your body, and the pockets then trap it and continue using it for insulation.

• Compressibility: Down coats tend to “inflate” themselves naturally when they’re not under pressure, but if you’ve got a way to strap one down you can compress it quite small. Apart from cracking the stems of a few downy feathers, it doesn’t affect the stuffing much — all you’re doing when you squish a down coat smaller is forcing air out of it. Give it a minute or two to fluff back out when you need it and it won’t be affected by being smushed up as small as you need.

• Brightly colored: This is obviously an option, but it’s often the default one — most manufacturers make down coats in bright, artificial colors. That’s a useful safety function in rural or wilderness situations.

Disadvantages of a Lightweight Down Jacket

All that said, there are some problems that may steer men away from the down coat:

• Bulk: When it’s not strapped down, a down coat is a puffy garment. It tends to be shapeless as well — men with an athletic figure can expect it to be mostly or completely hidden by the coat. Of course, that can be a bonus for men who are carrying some extra weight, as much of their bulk will be assumed to be the coat.

• Noise: A lot of cheaper down coats are made from slick synthetics that make a sort of “wooshing” sound when the wearer moves. More expensive jackets may have less sheer surfaces, and be a little quieter, but you can expect the basic models to be a little noisy.

• Loses Performance When Wet: It’s sort of funny, since down comes from waterfowls, but as stuffing it doesn’t do well when it gets wet. All the fibers cluster together, and the big poofy pockets turn into solid lumps that don’t insulate well. Most down coats are given at least a water-resistant treatment to avoid this, and good ones will be fully waterproofed, but if you get enough of a soaking to overcome the protection your coat becomes functionally useless until it dries.

• Unadjustable Fit: Because of the quilted construction, there isn’t much a tailor can do to adjust the fit of a down jacket. You pretty much have to buy one that already fits, and accept that it’s going to be a sort of shapeless garment anyway — no custom-tapered waistlines here.

• Dated Style: Puffy jackets have flickered in and out of style at a few points throughout history, but they’re always a fad. In the late 1990s and early 2000s they had a resurgence in urban and hip-hop culture, but recently that style has started to seem pretty worn-out. It’s hard to wear one downtown in a big city without looking dated, or like you’re trying too hard.

Making a Down Jacket Stylish

The big elephant in the room here is style. If you’ve got a down coat that you really love, and that keeps you warm all winter long, is there anything you can do to make it a style piece as well as a functional piece?

“Not really” is the short answer there, and that’s okay. Its job isn’t to make you look like a fashion model; it’s to keep you warm. But you can keep a couple things in mind that will make it a little more wardrobe-friendly:

• Longer Cut: This is practical for warmth, but a coat that comes to mid-thigh or longer also keeps the bottom of any sports or suit jackets you might wear from poking out.

• Darker Color: Balance your needs here. If you’re mostly wearing your down coat out in the woods, bright colors for safety are more important, but if you’re largely wearing it for warmth over town clothes, a dark blue, gray, or black looks a little more natural with leather shoes and wool or cotton slacks poking out from underneath than bright yellow and orange do.

• Flat Outer Surface: A coat that has a flat panel laid over the quilted pockets looks less lumpy, and therefore a little sleeker, than the quilting on its own. You’ll still have the bulk, but it won’t be a lumpy bulk.

• Proper Pairings: Use a little common sense here. Your down coat isn’t going to look natural paired with tailored trousers, highly polished black leather shoes, and a sharp fedora. If you need to look that nice you’ll be wearing a slimmer overcoat. Wear your jacket with things that seem natural pairings — wool caps, soft gloves, boots, etc.

At the end of the day, it’s not going to be the most stylish piece in your closet. But it is one of the more useful ones you can have in there, and worn right it can look appropriate for its situation, if not particularly flashy.

Past a certain point on the thermometer, the warm guy in a parka looks better dressed than the one who’s shivering in his fancy clothes. You’ll know it when you get there.

What would you ask a man who has successfully transformed his body into an amazing specimen of health?

I talk about style – but the health and shape of your body is a HUGE factor in how sharp/great you’ll look.

Think of the modern James Bond.

Daniel Craig looks great not only because he wears the right clothing that fits him well – he also has a strong and masculine physique.

How can you improve your body build and health?

Well – I have a treat for you.

I interviewed Ryan Master’s of The Workout Corner to find out!

In this interview we discuss:

• The importance of rest in building muscle.
• Eating the right food – and how that is the main component in healthy living.
• The myth of how exercise is the end all be all.
• Why is water so important in building a healthy body?
• My rules on buying food.
• Foods you should be eating and how to incorporate them into your diet.
• Direct vs. indirect rest.
• How not getting enough rest can hurt muscle development.
• Why massages are important to a healthy body (Hopefully my wife reads this!)
• How much time between workouts?
• How Ryan ate 7 waffles and will be OK (I hope)
• How our Body operates as a system.
• 5 Core exercises that will get you 80% of the way there.

The comments are open – feel free to leave a question and I’ll make sure Ryan give you a quick answer!

Don’t let anyone tell you that cardigans aren’t manly.

The open-fronted sweaters were named after the 7th Earl of Cardigan, a prominent British military figure who popularized the style.

Cardigans have become a uni-sex garment, which has sadly led many men to move away from the cardigan as a masculine sweater option.

My advice?

Know your history and stop letting what others think determine how you dress.

Cardigans are a classic and should be a core item in your wardrobe. 

If you’re a man who’s never worn a cardigan you’re cheating yourself out of a useful addition to the wardrobe.

Relax, stop worrying about whether it looks manly or not, and learn to wear the soft, open-fronted sweater like a gentleman.

Why You Want to Wear Cardigan Sweater

More Style for Your Buck

Let’s talk style first.

The cardigan opens down the front instead of pulling over the head, meaning it can be worn open or closed.

Open it functions a lot like a jacket in the way it frames your torso but gives a softer, more casual shape.

Good cardigans will give a little taper at the waist to flatter your figure the same way a suit coat does.

Closed, the cardigan has a little more visual texture to it but works just fine as a regular sweater would.  You can wear it under a sports jacket, over a dress shirt and necktie, with jeans or with dress slacks, and so on.

Between the two ways of wearing it you’re looking at something that can be an outer layer, a jacket, a surrogate waistcoat, the bottom layer under a sport coat, and — in warmer weather — just an accent draped over your shoulders.

That’s a lot of use from one piece of clothing.

Buy Men’s Cardigan’s at Amazon.com FYI – I love Amazon because of their great return policy and as a prime member they deliver purchases within 2 days free.  

Three-Season Flexibility

On the practical side your cardigan is also a more functional piece of clothing than a lot of menswear.

It’s what people sometimes refer to as “three-season” wear:  useful year-round except for the hot summer months.

On cool days that haven’t started to get really cold it can be an easily-removable outer layer.

When the temperature drops it can layer with shirts, ties, vest, jackets, and overcoats to be a thick layer of insulation.

The cardigan’s also a little looser than a sports jacket or blazer and takes a little more punishment.

It’s good on-the-go wear:  easy to toss in the car or a backpack, forgiving of wrinkles, and big enough to wear over a dress shirt or flannel work shirt while still being small enough to wear under a blazer.

In a pinch it even makes a decent blanket — perfect for the gentleman whose date’s legs are getting chilled at a show or on a drive.

How to Buy a Manly Cardigan

Since both sexes wear them, how do you tell a man’s cardigan from a woman’s or a featureless “unisex” garment?

Your first tip will be the fit:  anything too tight against the skin is probably meant for ladies.

They look a lot better than we do when they’re stretching the limits of their sweaters; guys just look overstuffed and uncomfortable.  A good cardigan should have a little bit of a soft drape at the shoulders and hang low enough that it covers your belt when it’s buttoned up.

Big round or decorated buttons are also a feminine feature.  A man’s cardigan should have modest buttons, wooden “toggles,” or a zipper.  The latter is the least formal and downgrades the cardigan into something more like a sweatshirt, so be cautious.

Zipped cardigans are fine as casual outer layers, but they look a little goofy under a nice blazer or paired with good slacks.

A quality cardigan for men should have a taper that flatters our bodies:  narrowest under the rib cage, widening back out down by the hips to give your chest a little bit of a tapered shape.

It won’t be the sharp, precise lines of a suit jacket, but it’ll be creating the same effect in softer and more casual style.

Keys to a Good Cardigan

Whether you’re buying your first cardigan or your twentieth you want to be focusing on three things:  fit, construction, and flexibility.

Fit should be comfortably loose but not saggy. 

The shoulder seams should end on top of your shoulder — if they’re coming down your bicep at all the sweater’s too big.  The bottom hem should cover your waistline but not your trouser pockets.  It should button tight enough that you don’t get a big sag in front of your body any time you bend forward.

If you want a little looser of a look go for an oversized shawl collar rather than a looser fit — it’ll give you all the blanket-like spare cloth you could ever want in a sweater and still look good.

Construction is something to check in all garments.

Give the wool a feel and think about how much you’re going to enjoy wearing it.  Anything that’s too scratchy will be impossible to wear without a collared, long-sleeve shirt.  Which is fine when layering but a scratchy wool reduces the cardigan’s versatility.

Looseness at the seams or any “pilling” (little round balls of wool that form when you rub the jacket surface) are also indications of a poorly-made sweater.

Flexibility is all about how it’ll work with your wardrobe. 

You don’t want to buy something that’s identical to clothing you already own, and you don’t want to buy something that doesn’t go with anything at all.  Dark grays and blues and earth tones are the most flexible but also the most generic; brighter colors are more eye-catching but less flexible.

Think about what your wardrobe needs more — reliable core pieces to build off of or bright accent pieces to go with the staples you already own.

Cardigans Sweaters in Conclusion

As we head into fall and winter a couple of good cardigans are going to be some of the best pieces you could add to your wardrobe.  Be thinking about it if you haven’t, and if you have congratulations — you’ve already got some key wardrobe pieces for being a well-dressed man!

Buy Men’s Cardigan’s at Amazon.com FYI – I love Amazon because of their great return policy and as a prime member they deliver purchases within 2 days free.