Inside Peek Into Antonio's Interchangeable Wardrobe
Hi!
I'm Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style.
Today, I'm going to be giving you an inside peek into my interchangeable wardrobe and
how I have been able to really go to probably four conferences in the last four to five
months and look sharp, and in fact, always get compliments and travel pretty darn light.
So before we get started, make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel.
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And make sure there's a link right below this video that's going to take you to my free,
47-page e-book.
Go grab that e-book, packed full of solid content.
It's going to help you dress and build your own interchangeable wardrobe.
Okay, let's get right into this.
UNDERSTAND YOUR NEEDS
So first off, this is a kind of a visual right here and I'm going to go through each piece
very quickly, but before I go anywhere, number one, I understand what my needs are.
And by understanding that, I can pack appropriately, so not everything here is what I would take
with me, but much of what is here, I will.
I just got back from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Now, Minneapolis in May, first I look at the weather.
I know I'm going to be indoors and I'm going to be giving a presentation.
This was for Tory Johnson's "Spark and Hustle".
And so, I knew that I would need to have at least -- I didn’t want to wear a suit.
I wanted to go though with a nice sports jacket with a pair of odd trousers, have a tie.
I didn’t end up pulling off the tie.
I just went tieless and I had some really nice shoes and it worked.
Now, a month before that, I went down to Austin, Texas.
I went to Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition.
I judged down there with the University of Texas, and I was heading down to Texas.
Well, guess what I was wearing?
I took my Western boots.
I've got a pair of 1883s Lucchese I'm going to show you here in a second.
I had my jeans with me and I wore those with this sports jacket.
Actually, I think I maybe even wore this shirt with this pocket square, so you have to know
where you're going and dress for that occasion.
That's number one.
PROTECT YOUR INVESTMENT
So number two, protect your investment.
This clothing right here is not inexpensive.
This is a really nice piece.
These are both two custom jackets.
This is a custom jacket.
Four of these are custom shirts.
The other one is a Guayabera from my friend, Rafael, but this is a very nice Guayabera.
The trousers are custom.
The ties are from Charles Alexander, so there is a lot of really nice clothing here.
Now, I don't want to arrive and all of a sudden realize my shaving cream shot off all over
the place and ruined some of my clothing, so I use a dopp bag, something small, but
you've got to protect your clothing.
Right up here is my weekender.
I asked my son when we were over in Minneapolis to bring in the bags.
Now, I'm very careful with my things.
My son, he's eight years old.
He just thought, "I'll just roll the bag right up the mini van."
We weren't moving, thank goodness, but yeah, my bag just flew across the parking lot right
in front of a car.
It didn’t get run over.
That would've been, I guess, a great stress test there.
I use a garment bag, so this is something a lot of guys skip on, but I don't want my
jackets -- yeah, I fold them occasionally if I'm traveling really light, but when I
am traveling in my car, when I go down to Austin, Texas and I take a vehicle, I use
a garment bag.
The garment bag, you don't want to just use those things you get for free.
This one by Blue Claw, made with ballistic nylon.
Now, I don't think it's going to be stopping bullets here, but I can tell you it stops
all types of stains, water.
I can throw this around and not fear that I'm going to be tearing up my clothing and
it keeps my clothing reasonably wrinkle-free.
I haven't had to press or iron my jackets for probably two months and I've taken them
all over the place.
They get a few wrinkles, but those usually fall right out.
Again, I love how it folds up on itself.
It's a great way to be able to take the clothing and protect it, so number two, protect your
investment.
THE INTERCHANGEABLE WARDROBE
Now, let's talk about number three, the interchangeable wardrobe.
What do I have over here?
So whenever I'm traveling and if I'm traveling light by plane, I usually pack a little bit
lighter.
Maybe I'll only take two jackets with me, one I'll wear, but on these last few trips,
I took three.
I would usually be wearing a jacket, not necessarily in the vehicle -- I'd hang it up -- but I
would take my brown hopsack right here along with my beautiful green flannel.
This is something I had custom-made.
I just love this jacket.
Another thing to notice is all the pocket squares are already in my jackets.
In addition, business cards are already in the jackets.
It's one of my little secret weapons, but this just saves me from having to think about
it.
This is my summer blazer.
I wear this in the winter, but the thing about my blazer is I use white mother-of-pearl buttons.
The fabric, it's a Glen Check, so it's a very subtle Glen Check.
You can see it right here, but it works as a great blazer.
This I can wear into the evening.
This is more of a day wear.
The green olive, the drab olive, I can wear this any time of the day.
Those are my three jackets.
WHITE COTTON DRESS SHIRT
Now let's talk about shirts.
Always have a white cotton dress shirt.
This is your base shirt.
It is your most formal, one of your most versatile.
It works for almost any occasion.
It can be dress up, dress down, so many things.
This is the shirt you always want to take with you.
It's going to match pretty much anything in your wardrobe.
It matches all three jackets.
Next up, I'm using blue and white, so this is white with a nice little stripe on it,
a very beautiful shirt.
This is custom-made for me, but you can find similar shirts out there.
Go check out 5th & Lamar if you're looking at custom checkouts.
Raja over at Monte Carlo Tailors, he's in Bangkok.
If you want to stick within United States, check out Proper Cloth.
Seph is doing a great job over there.
So a beautiful shirt, and again, this works really well with my brown.
So whenever I pack shirts, I find one or two other jackets that it really goes with in
a pinch.
I could wear this with any of the other jackets.
This is a pretty easy color to match.
Notice I'm not going with anything extravagant, white and blue.
My next shirt is a herringbone, so it has a bit of a pattern, but from a distance it
appears solid.
This is my light blue shirt.
Again, this goes with all three jackets.
I think it looks really great with this brown.
It also looks really good with the blue and it works well with the green.
All three of those shirts, very, very interchangeable.
Now this one isn't as interchangeable and this one I'll reserve for if I wanted to go
out a little bit more evening, a little bit more casual because it's just not as formal
of a color.
We've got a herringbone, a little bit of a variance in the lavender, so this will work
well okay with the brown.
It will work really nice with the green and very well with the blue.
Again, everything here is interchangeable working together.
Now, I do dress down.
Yes, I do just simply wear shirts out there, but when I do, I try to do it right.
Here is the Guayabera.
My friend, Rafael Contreras over at D'Accord in Miami, he makes these right in Miami, beautiful,
summer linen wear.
So I can wear this in an incredibly hot weather and still be cool.
I can roll up the sleeves, look great.
I was at InfusionCon in Arizona, felt great, looked great.
Other guys are trying to wear suits; I'm wearing this Guayabera and I feel and look great.
Now, if it's really hot, if I go down to Austin, Texas let's say in the summer or Miami in
the summer and I don't want to wear the Guayabera, well, I have this linen shirt as well, just
one I picked up at I think Macy's or something.
Trousers, gray, flannel trousers.
I love these, a little bit harder to find.
Go check out Brooks Brothers.
There's a place on Amazon I think called Orvis, or contact Raja over at Monte Carlo Tailors.
The guy makes amazing custom trousers.
These are custom.
I don't even wear a belt with these.
A light pair of tan trousers, so these I picked up as well I believe at Macy's about the same
time I purchased this shirt here.
These, I think, are made by Perry Ellis, good company.
Now, what's interesting about these trousers is they are made from a synthetic material,
but they're made really lightweight.
They fit me well because I knew to measure my clothing before I took it in.
it was pretty easy to find these.
The great part about both of these trousers is again, you could wear them with any of
the jackets.
Now, the gray flannels aren't going to go super great with this jacket, but you know
what?
These light tans will.
And so, I always make sure that if something doesn’t go great, I've got something that
contrasts it.
And the light tan, yeah, it would go okay with the green, so-so.
It would work with the blazer, but I really have it here for the more casual looks.
Now, for my ties, I use a lot of ties made by my friend, Charles Alexander.
I try to go with patterns and colors that aren't going to be super crazy or anything,
very easy to match.
I like solids.
I like dots.
I like regimental stripes.
By the way, those regimental stripes there at the end, you can see this is my limited
edition United States Marine Corps tie and this is my limited edition United States Air
Force tie, so look for those to come out very soon.
I'm going to be probably putting these out here close to the Veterans Day.
Now we just went over the interchangeable wardrobe.
Now let's assume really quick.
I want to make a big point here.
Three jackets, five shirts, three trousers -- oh, and by the way, I'm wearing jeans,
so that's what I'm traveling in.
I've got a nice pair of dark denim, so three trousers, two ties, two shoes.
How many outfits, if all that's interchangeable?
And I was conservative because I only talked about -- which, by the way, sorry, Sperry
Top-Siders, this is my very casual wear.
I can wear these without socks.
My Lucchese Western Boots, oh, I love these and I wear these with my jeans.
And then a pair of Cheaney, these are Bluchers.
As you can tell, they are a light brown, medium brown, and very casual, but these look great
with a sports jacket and a pair of odd trousers.
I'll also oftentimes wear a belt.
My friend, Robert Porter over at Vvego -- and I'll link to them as well -- he makes some
amazing belts.
So I've talked about all this.
Everything I laid out, let me hit it again:
• 3 jackets • 5 shirts
• 3 trousers • 2 ties
• 2 pairs of shoes
Now, do some quick math if all of that is interchangeable.
And again, I was conservative on those numbers.
How many outfits?
I'll give you a second.
How many outfits?
A hundred and eighty -- 180 outfits.
With this clothing here, I could wear a different outfit for half of the year, for six months.
It just goes to show it's not about how much clothing you have.
Focus on that interchangeability.
If I threw in three pocket squares, what does that do to the total number?
Quickly, come on, the math guys -- 540 outfits.
Now, you may not count that with the pocket squares and stuff, but it's there.
Okay, so we've talked about knowing your needs.
We've talked about protecting your investment.
Number three, make sure you pack an interchangeable wardrobe.
WEAR THE BULKIEST CLOTHING
Now number four, wear the bulkiest clothing.
This one's pretty quick.
I wear these boots, Lucchese 1883s.
I wear them.
My jeans, they're going to take up more space than my dress trousers; I wear them.
Also when I'm driving, if I spill coffee, jeans are very easy to clean up.
I always wear one sports jacket especially if I'm flying.
I will take the jacket on.
I can always have it hung up.
The shirts, they're all pretty interchangeable there, so pretty simple.
SECRET WEAPONS
Let's talk about the fifth.
I'm going to go over some of my secret weapons.
I'm going to give you guys insights in the little things I do.
Do you guys know what this is?
Sharp & Dapper makes these.
I've talked about these -- Shirt Stays, so I attach this to my shirt, I attach it to
my socks.
It keeps my shirts looking great and tucked in.
Why is this important?
Well, when you're getting up in front of hundreds of people and you're giving a presentation,
you don't want to worry about your shirt all popping up and making you look like a muffin
top.
I stole that from 5th & Lamar, but it's a very simple way to keep your shirt tucked
in and looking great, a military secret.
Wurkin Stiffs Magnetic Collar Stays, so these go right into the collar if your shirt is
built like that.
You put the magnet under there and it keeps your collar points exactly where you want
it.
Again, if I'm getting in front of hundreds of people or I'm talking to one person at
a networking event, I don't want to worry about my collar.
I don't want to worry about the way I dress.
I want to worry about making a deep and solid connection with the people I'm talking about.
RibbedTee undershirts, so yes, I am unbuttoning and taking off my clothing.
Okay guys, RibbedTee right here makes an amazing V-neck and Crew Neck undershirt, and I use
these all the time, and I double them whenever I'm going to exercise or when I'm going to
work out.
I'll just simply wear one of my undershirts.
Occasionally, I will take out my workout gear, but if I forget that, I've always got my undershirt.
I could wear it around my hotel room, work in it, feel perfectly fine.
Those are my five points.
Let me summarize them again:
• Know your needs • Protect your clothing
• Pack an interchangeable wardrobe • Wear your bulkiest clothing
• Secret weapons
Hopefully you enjoyed that.
I will see you guys in the next video.
If you want more information or if you've got some questions, make sure to leave questions.
I love hearing from you guys down on the comments, so jump down there, put some stuff, or go
check out my Men's Style Q&A website, great website.
That's it.
See you guys in the comments.
Bye-bye.