How To Buy A Man's Scarf - 7 Scarf Buying Tips For Men - Choosing Men's Scarves
Hi!
I'm Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style.
Today, I'm going to be talking about types of scarves and I'm going to be giving you
seven rules on how to choose the right one for yourself as a man.
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So jumping right into this, this is a little bit different of a series.
Normally I do videos that stand alone.
These videos were made to go together, so I've talked about already the history of men's
scarves and I've also talked about why to wear a man's scarf.
Today, I'm going to be talking about types of scarves and giving you seven reasons or
kind of seven rules for a man to follow to make sure that he gets the right type of scarf
because this is not the right type of scarf for a man.
This is my wife's scarf.
As you could see, this is like magenta.
Okay, you color people, you could help me out.
This is not a manly color, by the way.
This scarf is also my wife's scarf and in fact, this one has a lot -- it's a very beautiful
scarf.
I picked it up for her in India.
I was over, I think, in Mumbai and very beautiful, handmade scarf.
You can tell it by all of the fancy tassels here and the little sequins sewn into here,
little shiny things, all the beautiful design.
As much as I like this scarf, it's not for me.
So you're going to learn there are a lot of scarves out there.
There are bandana scarves.
There are head scarves.
There are square scarves, circle scarves, skinny scarves, thin scarves, winter scarves.
At the end of the day, guys, you want to get a man's scarf.
Now, this isn't always as easy as it sounds because most scarves are unisex.
It's a very simple functional item especially when it's a non-striking color.
I mean, this scarf right here could actually be worn by a man or a woman.
It's actually a man's scarf, but it is farther on the fringes of being more of a fashion
forward scarf, but scarves like that are where we get a lot of this confusion.
So I'm going to give you seven things to look for in choosing a scarf so that you can make
the right decision.
1.
Keep it simple
If it's got beads, if it's got really long, lacy endings, if it's got very intricate designs
which give a feminine feel, then it's probably not for you.
Now, if you're Steven Tyler or you are the head of a rock band, go for it.
This is where you can push the edges and at the end of the day, look at what that guy
wears.
He can pull it off.
Well, there are many other things that Steven Tyler can pull off, but a cool scarf or scarves
that go to the far edges of men's fashion, he can do it.
Now, if you're very comfortable in your personal style, feel free to do it, but at the end
of the day, I prefer for most men who are just starting off to go with something simple.
And simple doesn’t necessarily mean not having color, but it means going with one
that is clearly a male scarf.
It has a very muted color to it.
And when you look at it, it's going to add some contrast but it's going to be clearly
for a man.
2.
Length of a scarf
Let's talk about the length of a scarf.
I mentioned bandana scarves.
There are actually full body square scarves out there.
You want to go for a scarf that is the right length.
And for a man, the way I like to measure this is I think it should go up to at least about
your neck area above your chest.
If it is below your chest, it's usually going to be a little bit -- it's just not going
to be enough to wrap around and to be truly functional, so anything below 40 inches, 50
inches, kind of question -- I like to stick around 60 inches.
I'm actually 69 inches tall, so for me, I'm thinking 60 inches is just going to be about
right here.
There are scarves out there that -- in fact, I've got one over here, which is about 90
inches.
I can still wear this, but the length of the scar is oftentimes, especially if it's really
long, it's going to force you to bring in a more complicated knot whenever you're tying
it so you won't have that thing draping down.
But even if it's 90 inches, I think even folded in half perfectly, you're going to have 45
inches on each side and most of you guys are taller than that, so you're not going to be
dragging it with your feet, but you don't want something too long especially if you're
wearing it outside of the jacket.
3.
Material
So we've talked about keep it simple, focus on the length.
Material, so there's a wide range of materials out there.
Most winter scarves are going to be made from a napped material, and that means it's got
a very soft feel, so you're going to see them in wool.
You're going to see them in cashmere.
You're going to see angora, a lot of these animal furs.
They're going to be very soft.
This one is made from wool.
Silk scarves are very interesting because silk can be like this in which you see it's
got a little bit of a shine to it, but silk can also be woven to feel -- I mean, when
someone first feels this, they're going to think it's cashmere.
This is actually silk.
I can tell a little bit by the length, the fiber.
It's got very short fibers, a very, very dense weave, and that's the advantage of a silk
fabric that actually has a napped surface to it.
So this silk scarf, very warm and will do a great job keeping a man warm.
4.
Weave
Okay, so we've talked about keeping it simple, focus on the length, look at the material.
Next, let's look at the weave.
By the way, a lot of these scarves were passed on to me by my friends over at Homme Delicacy
and I'll be linking to them down below.
They've got a lot of these scarves that I'm showing.
In addition, I've got my friends over at Brown, Deim that sent me a lot of these really nice
silk scarves.
My good friend, Christopher Brown, he actually runs a denim company and we're looking at
the high-end silk scarf market because you are going to see a big difference in price
for something like this.
This is actually a one of a kind silk scarf.
Again, the Homme Delicacy ones, they're very good quality as well, but you're going to
see more than -- this isn't the only one in the world.
The silk scarves, these are individually handmade, so just a side note.
That's actually how price is oftentimes affected.
It also depends on the material, which we've talked about, the length and the amount of
material used, but usually it's about the rarity of the scarf and the intricacy of the
design.
This scarf is really cool and different than a lot of the other ones I've shown, again,
because it's got a very interesting weave.
And so, the pattern is woven in to the scarf.
Now, you're going to see sometimes -- maybe you've got a grandmother or a wife that knits
and she would make for you a knitted that is a little but clunkier looking because it's
got the heavier weave.
Now, that is going to be a much more casual scarf.
And because of that weave, it's going to be just heavier.
That one right there, you want to be careful.
You want to go with very solid, a little bit tighter weaves if you can get them for a man.
Once you start seeing intricate weaves and even brighter colors sewn in with those types
of woven scarves, they're really not going to be for men anymore, so women are better
with heavier knitted scarves that are a bit just heavier, although I've seen a number
of men be able to pull it off.
You need to be a little bit more fashion-forward and really understand style before you try
going for that.
I would recommend for most men -- and you can probably on this video not even see the
weave in here and that's good.
That's probably about where you want to go.
5.
Color
Okay, so let's talk about color.
We've got solids.
This is a solid grey one side, blue on the other.
This one, introducing a little bit more complex of a pattern and this one's even got a houndstooth
pattern right in there, so a wide variety.
Normally, solid scarves are going to be more formal.
The darker they are, they're also going to be more formal.
It depends on though on contrast because if I were to wear, let's say, a solid pink scarf,
obviously it's solid, but the light color, the pink, all of a sudden that's going to
make it a little bit more casual.
And especially with this outfit, it's going to have a very stark contrast.
I recommend for most men starting off, go with a simple solid.
You can't go wrong.
Look at what clothing you're going to be wearing for it.
Don't go for a lot of contrast.
And then your second scarf or even your first one, if you're comfortable with this, patterns
like this are great as well especially when they've got the dark mixed in here because
this would go well with the clothing I'm wearing.
6.
Pairing with the right clothing
Okay, so moving on from color, let's talk about pairing it with the right clothing.
As you can see, I am wearing an overcoat.
So because I'm wearing an overcoat, if I was wearing a trench coat or any type of out,
cold weather jacket, a scarf is going to go well.
So even if you're wearing a bomber leather jacket, that will work because if you think
about it and I talked about it in history, aviation is where the scarf picked up a lot
of its romance feel.
You would always see aviators covering their neck, so any type of jacket a scarf is going
to work well with.
Now, slipping down from jackets, all of a sudden we’re looking at, okay, you're going
to wear a scarf with a t-shirt.
I would say here no.
You can do it if, again, you're really fashion forward or let's say you're the head of a
rock band, but if you're not in that category and you're not comfortable, if you're not
a fashion-forward kind of guy, then you need to be careful about wearing it with items
which it naturally doesn’t wear it.
So a sweater, it makes sense especially if it's a lower neck sweater.
If it's not covering your neck, then you can use a scarf to cover, although normally you
would be probably putting over a jacket, but if you're just wearing a heavy sweater by
itself or a medium light sweater, feel free to wear a scarf with that, although make sure
the scarf isn't overpowering and isn't making your neck look too large.
7.
Function first than fashion
The last thing I'm going to leave you with is always remember, function first than fashion.
If you're going to try to reverse that, which I have no problem with people breaking my
rules, my rules are not hard and fast, but you really need to understand men's style
and you're probably not really watching this video.
So if you're watching this video, focus again on the function and then move to fashion.
All right.
This has been Antonio Centeno with Real Men Real Style.
Hopefully, I've given you some great tips so that you can go out there and choose a
manly scarf.
And if you're still having trouble, again, I'm going to link to some of my friends down
below who they've got an entire men's section on scarves so they make it easy for you.
Okay.
I will see you in the next video.
Bye-bye.