Men’s Style

The Modern Man’s Mantra The Mantra of Arrogance: Many assume it to be a product of French invention; as it remains, arrogance is still an arrogant subject. I want to arrogate to myself the ability to mantra an indispensable guide of modern man, modern accord, modern modernism(?), in a post millennium setting. The Buddhists won’t let me. Does my want rather than the self-proclaimed ability to, restore any lost humility? The Mantra of Social Acceptability: There currently circulates six thousand, eight hundred and ninety-two stagnant books professing their gentlemanly principles…

Editor Introduction So this week Matthew has singled out Pharrell Williams as our style icon, and provided a basic guide as to how you can achieve his look. He is an icon for a lot of young males who want to have that “effortless cool” approach to the way they dress. I actually covered him back in the day, so here is what I had to say about Skateboard P: “His style has evolved from typical basic skateboard/street wear into what I think could be called the modern gentleman. He…

Introduction For those of who are are familiar with my previous article on how to integrate colour into your wardrobe, you should now be pros at ditching the blacks and donning the brights! Well that is all very well, but how do we know which colours suit our individual looks the best? Well, you guessed it, I am about to tell you. The great thing about this article is, you can improve your look by wearing flattering colours, and it will look effortless. People aren’t going to realise why you…

Introduction Colour: A goth’s nightmare and the best friend of a children’s TV presenter. Like it or not, colour is all around us everywhere we go, yet all too often I see guys moping around the streets in an all-black ensemble, demonstrating their unnatural fears of integrating any sense of colour into their wardrobes. However, their fear is understandable; wearing bright and bold colours in our outfits is a tricky one. If done incorrectly we could end up looking like a walking rainbow, or even worse, a TellyTubbies reject. So…

Options, Options, Options This article is based on a few experiences that I have had over the past year and it may be something that my fellow males have been going through too. We all know the situation, for whatever reason something is occurring out of town. It may just be a case that you are looking to get out of town full stop but either way you have booked the Monday off work (and called in sick on the Friday) and are heading off for a nice long weekend…

From The Editor Introduction We are hoping to develop a regular style icon series here on Fashionbeans after the first article featuring George Lamb went down so well. A lot of women’s site feature regular “style steals” and “get the look” articles where they look to celebrities for inspiration in their everyday looks and there doesn’t seem to be too much information like that out there for men. So I am hoping you are going to enjoy this regular feature and I think we will all gain a lot from…

Introduction In the first part of this post I took you through the best summer items to be wearing on your top half to suit a tall, skinny frame. I suggested adding bulk with jackets and breaking the natural linear contours of our bodies with horizontal stripes and scoop neck tees. In this post I will be showing you how to apply the same techniques to the bottom half of your body and how you can still accentuate the length of your legs whilst steering clear of looking like a…

George Lamb The son of the great British actor Larry Lamb, the tv-presenter, DJ, and general all round stylish male, George Lamb is somewhat of a fashion inspiration for the man of today. His variety of style is quirky and unique, and this look as a whole is definitely one of my favourites. His style ranges from rolled up chinos and espadrilles, to a three-piece suit and bow tie. He is an all round fashionista and creates an individual look which defines him as a person. He is clever with…

Tall & Skinny Those lucky enough to have been given a tall and skinny frame reap many benefits in life. They can reach the top shelf in the supermarket, they can see above everyone else’s heads at gigs, and most of all they automatically stand out in a crowd – quite literally. But one dilemma us giants are faced with is how to dress correctly for our body type. I can count several occasions where I have left the house looking lanky, freakish and almost clown-like, and I often see…

The Experts’ Introduction Life is a battlefield; yet wielding any description of prehistoric war paraphernalia at your boss/ co-workers/ friends/ potential love interests is deemed to be socially unacceptable. Going into any battle well dressed is going into a battle half won. The other half is won with…blagging it? Throughout my editorials I pedal consistently insightful mottos/life sayings/aphorisms/pronouncements/dictums. I carry myself with an ‘imperceptible’ sense of humility (?) I grasp the English language and ‘blag’ my way through any such means of a dictionary. I could pedal more self-fashioned proverbs…

A GENTLEMANLY INTRODUCTION: From the etymology of the Latin gentili-s: belonging to the same gens or stock. The concise hyphenation of gen-tle-man, aided by the received IPA pronunciation along with offering the pluralisation of gentlemen. The noun form of a man of breeding or of higher class. When produced colloquially it is nothing short of a trip to the ‘little boy’s room’. It is the gesticulation of prolonging an introduction through implementing grandiose words and an elaborate overindulgence of Wikipedia. A gentleman’s disposition, to few, is of personal taste. To…

Editor Introduction So yesterday we featured the latest in Matt Allison’s men’s basics guide in which he talked about suit buying. Today Ashley has created an article with advice and information from a bespoke suit tailor which expands this subject a bit further whilst talking in more advanced terms. This should be used as a quick reference guide for those males who already have experience or regularly purchase suits want to know what to look out for. I have also included some new season collections of the “off the peg”…

The Do’s and Do Knots Walking to work in London, it amazes me now little people care about what they look like as they turn up to the office each day. So today I want to talk ties with you. I’m of the opinion that if you’ve decided to wear one, then wear it! Don’t just let it hang like a dead fish, and DON’T travel to work with it undone, all because you’re ‘flat out and didn’t have the time’. Make time and leave home dressed. Anything less looks…

I was delving through my wardrobe the other morning and was feeling, ‘let’s say’ less than inspired. Although men’s fashion for this season has been given the step up, it’s still difficult to buy high-end, less mainstream threads without spending an arm ‘n’ a leg. Because the majority of men do not want to let go of the standard jeans and T-shirt combination, a lot of high street stores aren’t buying the more avant-garde garments. Due to this predicament I decided to check out the vintage scene again. However, I’m…

Cary Grant dressed like the film stars of old, containing more than a hint of Douglas Fairbanks Sr; his sporty-but-elegant style gave him an edge over other leading men of his day. A classic Grant ensemble would be a grey Prince of Wales checked double-breasted suit, the slightest hint of a pocket square, a sober tie and a buttonhole. For it’s day, this was understated. Grant belonged in his clothes in a way that countless others do not. And it was not something to be taught. Try finding a picture…

Style Shrink Introduction “So tell me when you first developed your fear of socks and sandals…” Over the next few months you will see the FashionBeans site grow even bigger and sexier. And the writers… well they’ll just grow sexier and sexier. I’d love to be able to tell you all the exciting upcoming features that are going to be added to the site but if I told you I’d have to kill you; and steal your shoes. –Mainly because Ben would kill me… and steal my shoes. And I…

Feet Up Ask the majority of women what’s first thing they look at when meeting a man and you may be surprised by the answer. SHOES. I happen to agree. The single most important part of any gentleman’s attire is his shoes. All that effort into honing one’s appearance can be rendered useless in an instant if a man’s footwear is inappropriate, cheap or ugly, or even worse; inappropriate, cheap AND ugly. Personally I’d rather go barefoot, or in socks, citing mental health issues or that my luggage had been…

Have some style Style – what does that mean? To most men it means high end, high priced and highly unattainable. When did this happen? Style should be a mind set, a feeling that you have when you wake up. Look at some of the best dressed men of all time, and I mean the classic trend setters; such Steve McQueen, James Dean or more recently Tom Ford. But wait, Tom Ford you ask? He always wear high end, high priced clothing you say. Take another look, and really think…

Once again fashion is causing a stir for people who have no intention in following it. As the man skirt gets more and more popular, and we’re not talking traditional native kilts here, it is certainly causing a controversial debate not only among fashionistas but Liberal human rights organisations. I am not yet sure if I am a fan of the Man Skirt from a fashion point of view, none-the-less I am a supporter of sexual liberation in clothing, and the man skirt seems to have taken this to a…

Slim Line Hi guys, just a quick one for you here, but it’s definitely a style for anyone out there trying to look good but not to make a statement or go with a stereotype, one for those Sunday mornings when you just want to sling something on and still look amazing. One of the best ways of looking smart without putting in too much effort is by keeping an outfit simple. Fashion is obviously all about putting effort into the way that we look, but that doesn’t mean that…