7 Style Secrets That INSTANTLY Level Up Your Outfit
[0:00:00] Gentlemen, have you ever wondered how some
guys look just so damn sharp? What do they know that you don’t?
What you’re seeing is the Pareto principle, the 80-20 rule. 20% of your effort yields
you 80% of your return. Basically, it’s the right details that count. The little things
that you may be wouldn’t even notice that add up and make a huge difference.
I’m sharing with you the seven style secrets that all men need to know to be able to take
their outfit from okay to next level awesome. First up on the list, shirt stays. Wearing
an untucked dress shirt, guys, this screams one thing, slob. In the morning you get dressed,
you tuck in your shirt, but as the day goes on, it works itself free. So, you tuck it
back in and then repeat one thousand times throughout the day. It’s so frustrating.
So, what’s the solution? Two words – shirt stays. I first learned about shirt stays while
I was serving in the Unites States Marine Corps. We wore them with our dress uniforms
and they were a secret weapon to keep your shirt tucked in all day.
Now, shirt stays are made from an elastic strap with clips on each end. You usually
have two clips that attached to the bottom of your dress shirt, and then the other end
attaches to the top of your sock. And, once you put on your trousers, no one would even
know. The constant tension from the elastic part
keeps the shirt tucked in by pulling the shirt down and pulling your socks up. Now, the only
way this is ever uncomfortable is if you make the working mistake of having too much tension.
Too much tension and they could snap off, ouch! And too little and, yeah, they’re
just not going to be effective. And, besides keeping the shirt tucked in all
day and your socks up, the tension from the stays also keeps the lines of your shirt straight
all day long. Next up, we’ve got the microadjust belt.
Belts have been a men wear staple for over a thousand years. Today, the most common style
are belts that use holes that latch with a buckle. But, to be honest, gents, this belt
style, yeah, it’s outdated and in my opinion sucks.
The holes are about an inch apart, so if you find yourself between holes, you’re stuck
with the belt that’s too tight or too loose. In addition, the buckle puts a lot of tension
on the leather strap at this point leaving indentions and creases. The result is you
get a very unsightly looking belt strap especially if you move to a different hole later on.
So, how to solve this problem? Enter the microadjust belt. This belt system skips holes entirely.
Instead, it uses a track system that can adjust down to a quarter of an inch. The beauty of
this system, you now have a belt that will fit you perfectly.
And, if you have a big lunch or you go on a diet for a week and lose a couple of pounds,
guess what? You can adjust the belt, no problem, and it looks good. The reason for this is
on the microadjust belt, the tension is on the track of the backside. There isn’t tension
applied to the front of the strap like on a traditional belt. The result, you’ve got
a belt that fits you better and looks great even months after wearing. No unsightly creases
or indentions. Next up, we’ve got the gray undershirt.
So, the undershirt is an essential tool for any well-dressed man. It helps to get rid
of sweat stains and it helps to keep you warm. Now, undershirts are supposed to be invisible
to the naked eye. Now, you might think a white undershirt is hidden under a white dress shirt.
Well, gents, if this is what you think, you are wrong. Seriously, try it. Go look at a
mirror, it’s more obvious than you think. So, how to fix this problem? Gents, go with
a gray or nude colored undershirt. Gray or nude colored undershirts are oftentimes a
closer match to your skin tone than white. For the vast majority of men, gray or nude
is going to be better because it’s going to allow the undershirt to remain invisible
under your white dress shirt. Next up on our list, the button extender.
Here’s the situation. You’ve got to wear a necktie. Wedding, interview, whatever it
may be, you have not worn a necktie for awhile, so you grab your trustee white shirt. You
buttoned it up all the way to the collar, except you can’t.
Somehow, over the last year this shirt collar has gotten smaller. Now, maybe you’ve gained
5, 10, 15, 20 lbs, but come on, not in the neck. You can’t button the collar. This
is your only shirt and you need to wear a necktie with it. What do you do?
The solution? The button extender. This secret device gives you an extra three quarters of
an inch to help bridge the gap between your top button and the button hole giving you
that much needed breathing room. And, of course, it remains hidden behind the necktie.
And, in case you don’t have a button extender, another quick hack is to pop off that top
button and resew it on a quarter to half an inch moved over, so you got a little bit more
room. Next up, we’ve got the tie bar. So, I don’t
know about you guys, but I find it incredibly annoying when my necktie wants to go off and
do its own thing. It’s getting blown with the wind, it’s dipping into my soup.
[0:05:00] So, how to keep an unruly necktie under control
and add a bit of style to your outfit? The solution is the tie bar. This classic men’s
accessory clips your tie to your dress shirt keeping it place all day long.
Now, in general, the tie bar should be about 75% the width of your necktie. Give or take
50%. If you drop below 50% of the width of your tie, it just looks a little bit odd,
it looks too small. If it goes beyond the width of your tie, yeah, just not a good look.
It looks way too big. Fasten the tie bar between the third and fourth
button on your dress shirt. Placing the tie bar too high makes it ineffective. Placing
the tie bar too low, well, nobody can see it.
Next up, the slick collar. I love to wear a dress shirt without a tie. The problem is
that your shirt collar without a necktie oftentimes fall over. It sags, it looks crumpled. And,
this look is even worse when you wear a jacket and the collar falls underneath it.
Why does this happen? Well, historically dress shirts were made to be fully buttoned up with
a necktie. As such collars especially cheap ones are like jelly fish, they have to internal
structure. They have no bones to keep them up.
So, what to do? How to get a shirt collar that stands up straight and looks amazing?
One solution I found is slick collar. Slick collar is a lightweight adjustable device
that fits right underneath your shirt collar. It gives your collar structure, it stays hidden,
and once installed you don’t even notice it’s there.
The result is a collar that looks great, stands tall, and that you don’t have to worry about
slipping underneath your jacket. Next up, shoe grips. Leather dress shoes are
a must, a foundation for which you can build your entire wardrobe. Really, gents, don’t
waste your money on cheap shoes. That being said, leather soles can be troublesome.
Sure, they’re a sign of expensive well-made shoes, but the reality is as soon as it starts
to rain as soon as you step on some snow or sleet, you are going to slip and fall on your
backside. So, how to get some traction on those letter soles without having to have
the whole shoe rebuilt? The solution? Shoe grips. Shoe grips are made
from rubber. They attach to the bottom of your shoe using an adhesive and sometimes
tacks. Now, the great thing about quality shoe grips
is that they’re so thin, they’re not going to affect the way you walk, the profile of
the shoe. And, if you put them in the right spots, they could also slow down the wearing
away of the bottom of the sole. And most importantly, you won’t be slipping and falling on your
backside. So, what video to watch next? How about this
one, ten clothing tricks that most guys don’t know.
[0:07:43] End of audio