Welcome back to the Gentleman’s Gazette.
In today’s video we discuss 5 young men’s style mistakes or beginner mistakes, all of
which I made.
And in this video, I try to explain to you what I did wrong and how you can avoid them.
The first big mistake I made and I see a lot of other young men doing is to use ugly ties.
Well probably they got their ties from their dad’s closet the last time he invested in
neckwear was the 90’s, so we get this distinctly dated patterns that just don’t
work with a modern suit or anything else for that matter.
The first tie I ever wore was a skinny red leather tie that I got out of my dad’s closet
and I wore it with pride then, but honestly it looked terrible.
The problem is it was a leather tie, it was shiny and there is a reason you hardly find
them anymore.
It was just a short trend and they just looked hideous.
Then as a 14 year old boy, I wore a silk teddy bear tie.
I know Hermes sometimes has featured animal ties, but most of the time it just looked childish
and outdated.
Sometimes I also see men wearing bold colored shirts in purple, red, green or really vibrant
blue then paired with a shiny satin silk tie in patterns or solid and it is just too much
and looks bad.
You may think you look cool in those ties when in fact, most people won’t take you
seriously and you kind of look incompetent.
You definitely want to avoid that.
Same is true for sports themed ties or any emblem of clubs or any logo for that matter,
just like Mickey Mouse ties or patterned printed 90’s ties that just looked very dated.
Instead you should invest in a range of classic ties that you can wear 20 years from now without
ever looking outdated and for more information, check out our video on 12 essential ties everyman
should have.
If I could redo it all over again,
the first two ties I’d get is a dark navy silk tie and maybe a dark red or burgundy
grenadine tie.
Those two ties will get you through weddings, interviews, formal events, informal events
and anything you might need a tie for.
The second mistake I see young men making a lot is wearing a lot of black jackets and
black suits.
You are not alone.
I did the exact same mistake.
In fact, the very first time I had a jacket was a black leather jacket that was cut like
a suit jacket and I wore it with my red leather tie.
Most people think a black suit is the first thing they should invest in because they can
wear it for business and you can actually wear it for funerals.
But other than that, it has a very limited range of use.
Instead you should invest in a dark navy suit or in a dark charcoal suit because they are
more versatile and they are not all black and they are not so harsh but you can combine
them in may different ways and that’s the choice of elegant gentlemen.
Don’t let the ubiquity of black suits fool you. This is a men’s style and fashion don’t
and if you know something about suits, you are not going to wear it in black during the
day to the office.
The third big mistake I made and many others do as well is to invest in boxy square toe
shoes.
My dad is from Brazil so we went there on vacation.
They had shoes and they were rather affordable.
And so we got these squishy leather soled, really wide toed boxy shoes and I wore them
with pride.
But in fact I look back today and I think, “Oh my god, those were so hideous!.”
And I actually could only wear them for a year or two before I threw them away simply
because was so extreme and made me look bad.
These boxy style of shoes is exclusively found in low end cheap shoes.
Whereas if you want to invest in a quality shoe, I suggest to watch this video on the
three first pairs of shoes I’d invest in If I could do it all over again.
The fourth mistake I see men who are interested in style and fashion make a lot and its too
have too many accents in one outfit.
When you first get interested in style, you learn more about patterns and colors and you
want to mix them and you learn about pattern matching.
And so overtime you just add up all of these different accessories that overwhelm your
outfit and it’s just too much.
People won’t be able to look you in the eye because you have so much going on that’s
just a distraction.
I remember one point in time, I had a brown glen check jacket, paired with a bold white
and orange striped shirt paired with a paisley tie and a loud pocket square and I thought,
Man, I’m actually four pattern here and all is fine and dandy when in fact it was
just over the top.
If you go with one loud accessory, just like the green shantung tie here, you pair it with
a plain solid shirt and a fine herringbone jacket such like here in brown and a simple
pocket square and that way it looks polished, it looks elegant, but not over the top.
Once I realized that I was overdoing it, I really toned down my outfits.
And I would say that today I have much fewer accents in an outfit than I used to have back
in the day when I just got started.
Mistake number 5, and that was an important one for me was buying things on sale exclusively.
I grew up in a household where we bought a lot of things on sale.
And so when I grew up and became interested in clothes, that’s what I applied to my
wardrobe as well.
So at first I tried to find marked down items, but the problem with marked down items is
that they are just marked down because they did not sell in the first place.
So people weren’t that interested in it.
And even if it is a well made item, if it’s too special and it’s a strong color, you
won’t get a lot of wear out of it and so the cost per wear can be a lot more expensive
than the navy suit you buy for regular price.
After a while I also realized that the classic navy blazer or the charcoal suit hardly ever
went on sale and only maybe if there was someone going out of business and even then it was
not marked a whole lot.
Once I invest on this classic garments, I realized that I could combine them, with lots
of different accessories.
I always look dapper and I covered a wide range of occasions that I could wear it to.
To learn more about the things that I would buy If I have to do it all over again, please
check out the 10 clothing Items every man must have here.
Now if you happen to find a steal, and it’s exactly the item you need and that you want
to buy, that’s okay.
Go for it!
But it’s much better to have a plan in place beforehand so you’ll only buy the
things you need and don’t just randomly buy the things on sale because those are the
remorse buys that cost you a lot of money but don’t get you anywhere because the cost
per wear is so high and you can’t hardly combine them with other things that you already
have in your wardrobe.
One thing that I always found was that accessories such as ties or pocket squares sometimes look
dated and so I would invest money in the good pocket square.
I remember the first one I had was one with all white with a blue edge and I still have
it today, 10-15 years after I bought it because it was such a good investment even though
ii was full price not on sale.
Now, these were just 5 style mistakes and we also have an in depth ebook about 15 style
mistakes and how to avoid them as well as a video course with 30 style mistakes here.
So, go check them out now.
If you enjoyed this video, please give us a thumbs up, subscribe to our channel.
Hit that little bell.
I hope to see you soon.