Ultimate Guide To Men's Shorts (2020) [0:00:00]
It’s summer time. It’s hot and you want to wear shorts. But, aren’t they casual?
So, when can you wear them and what style of shorts looks best on your body type?
[Music] So, let’s start things off with a question,
when to wear shorts? Shorts are casual. So, if you’ve got a meeting with a bunch of
lawyers and consultants talking about a multimillion dollar merger, guess what? You don’t want
to wear shorts. It’s just not appropriate, not something that you want to show up wearing.
But, guess what? There are alternatives. You can wear chinos or maybe a little bit too
casual for chinos, maybe you simply want to wear tropical weight wool trousers. It’s
a great option not many men know about and they will both keep you cool. The point is
shorts are casual wear. So, if it’s a formal meeting, if it’s
a business casual meeting, you probably don’t want to be wearing shorts. You want to wear
shorts to a pool party, to the beach. If you’re going to be going to the gym, that’s where
they’re appropriate. If you’re going to be walking around town going out to Disneyland,
those are the times to wear shorts. A safe rule of thumb, if you’re uncertain
whether or not shorts are appropriate, they’re probably not, so wear something else.
Next up, let’s talk about fit. So, I’ve said fit is king and I will stress this even
harder on shorts. Here’s the thing. Poor-fitted shorts, the wrong size shorts, shorts that
are too wide, too long, too loose are just going to look bad. Shorts that are too tight
are going to look horrible and are probably a hazard that you need to avoid at all cost.
Point being, you’ve got to nail the fit on the shorts.
Now, I’m not going to say you need to go out there and get a custom or bespoke pair,
but I am going to say that you need to be picky when you’re looking for shorts. And
when you find the brand, when you find the style that just works for you looks amazing,
don’t be afraid to double down. Pick up two to three pairs if you wear a lot
of shorts because this is something that, yeah, if you could nail the fit, the shorts
will just look so much better on you. So, in general when we’re looking for fit,
we’re looking for a tailored fit. If you were a thinner man, you want shorts that fits
you closer to the body and proportionally give you a bit of room. What you don’t want
to have is if you’re a thin man, shorts that is way too large. You’ve got about
6 inches of excess fabric around the leg. This is going to do you no favors.
You also want to be careful about elastic bands. Great on swim trunks, but if they’re
not swim trunks, you want to be careful because basically what that causes is bunching in
and around the hips. You do not want the bunching in and around the hips.
You maybe have a little bit when you got a full length pair of trousers because the whole
trouser length, proportionately kind of cover that up. But, you have no room for error on
shorts. So, whenever you’ve got that big excess room around the hips, it makes it look
like you’re wearing a diaper. And let’s talk about those bottoms. So,
if you got way excess material on the bottom, you see this on a lot of cheaper shorts, all
that does is make it look like you got a lot of extra leg room and it creates basically
this wide shape, so it makes you look like you’re wearing a skirt.
So, in general, you don’t want shorts that flare out at the bottom, have tons of excess
material in and around the hips and do not have an elastic band. The only exception to
this, if you’re a bigger guy, heavier guy, then maybe look for shorts that actually have
side bands and basically these stretch out. I see them on a wide variety of different
styles out there and I think that’s fine especially if you gain and lose weight or
you’re a little bit hefty in the midsection. Now, let’s talk about the length of your
shorts. How long should your shorts be? What is the perfect length?
So, there isn’t a perfect length. I will say in general, I like to see shorts above
the knee about 2 to 3 inches. But this depends on the proportions because if you’re 6’2”,
going to be closer to 3 inches; if you’re 5’2”, much closer to 2 inches and probably
not anything beyond that. In fact, you can go 1-1/2” above the knee and probably will
be fine. It’s all about proportions. What we’re looking for here is just good
overall look that comes above the knee. If it goes below the knee or is at the knee,
all of a sudden we’re getting in the Jordan territory and, yeah, I’m not going to recommend
that. But, you don’t want to have shorts that
are too long. They just are going to look too long and it’s going to cut your legs
in half. We’re going for the rule of thirds, basically about 1/3 of your leg is going to
be covered by the fabric and then 2/3 are basically going to be exposed.
Now, the common lengths of shorts that we’re going to see; 3 inches, 5 inches, 7 inches,
and 9 inches. Both 3 and 9 inches, pretty rare, but you know if you’re a taller guy
a bigger guy, 9 inches my work just fine for you.
3 inches, maybe for swimwear for a shorter guy and 5 inches is what we’re going to
see on a lot of swimwear and then, 7 inches is probably going to be most common measurement
we see for shorts out there. Now, is it worth actually getting that adjusted?
I think if you’re a shorter guy and the shorts are just a bit too long, cutting off
1/2 inch to 3/4 inch can make a big difference. And I alluded to this, but usually shorter
shorts are going to be athletic shorts are going to be swim trunks. Longer shorts, these
are going to be the ones that you’re going to see, okay, you can wear with a button down
you can wear with a t-shirt. This is going to be your more casual wear.
In summary, gents, fit is king. So buy shorts that fits you and if you find shorts that
are really close and if they just have a minor adjustment they would fit so much better,
don’t be afraid to take them to your tailor. Now, gents, as detailed as today’s video
is when it comes to shorts, it does not cover everything. Yes. I didn’t get into performance
shorts, I’m not going to have time to talk about jean shorts, and I’m not going to
talk about all the different things that you can wear with shorts.
[0:05:02] But, if you want that information, use the
link down in the description to go over to the free article I’ve got for you at Real
Men Real Style. You see, all these videos I make here on my channel, I always put together
support articles, which go into a lot more detail.
Actually, oftentimes provide infographics like this one right here. So, you can go over
and you can check out all these infographic information about shorts, so you can quickly
get the information to look good in shorts this summer.
All right. So, now, let’s talk about materials. First up, we’ve got cotton. And that makes
sense because cotton is durable. It’s been around for a long time. It’s functional
and it is inexpensive. About 90% of the shorts manufactured throughout the world are going
to be made from cotton. Now, the most common cotton is going to be
similar to what we see in chinos, which is going to be a twill weave. This is a dense
tight weave that actually can be made relatively lightweight, but it’s not going to be the
most breathable. But, you don’t need shorts necessarily be
breathable because guess what? Air is flowing up and around the leg area, so, yeah, you’re
getting enough air in there. But, if you want something more breathable, then look to madras.
Madras comes out of India. It’s very lightweight. That’s one of the issues of madras, it will
fall apart eventually after a few years if you wear it a lot. But, when it comes to breathability,
you really can’t beat it, except you can when it comes to seersucker.
Another cotton material that seersucker is sewn, it’s a three-dimensional weave that
basically allows air to flow in and out. Twill does not block the air, but what you’re
going to see with seersucker is that the air and madras, it flows back and forth.
But, in any case, both of those are just not going to be as durable. So, that’s why I
do think twill is going to be the most common one you see out there. And, twill when it
comes to cotton shorts is going to look the most formal.
This is where you’re going to see your khaki colors, you’re going to see your navy colors.
You’re going to see a wide range, it’s the most common color out there. And I think
for most men is a great way just to go with the shorts.
Next up, we’ve got manmade fabrics also known as technical fabrics. These are going
to be ones like polyester, nylon, spandex. This is all about performance. So, this is
why they’re going to dominate in the swimwear, in athletic wear, sport shorts, running shorts.
That’s where you want to go for these types of shorts.
If you’re going to be lounging in shorts though all day, these aren’t really breathable,
so you don’t want to be gravitating towards these. There are exceptions to the rule and
I know some companies make these performance shorts which are incredibly breathable.
Point is you need to be looking for, they’re incredibly cheap. They’re also pretty darn
durable, hence why so many companies gravitate towards them. But, when it comes down to it,
understand that this is more geared towards basically athletic wear.
Let’s not forget about linen and wool. So, linen is going to be more breathable than
cotton, but it also is going to attract wrinkling. If you’re going to get linen shorts, look
for something that has a very tight weave, that’s going to be more resistant to wrinkling.
And if you’re looking at wool shorts, it’s probably going to be the most luxurious and
you want to make sure it’s a very nice tightly woven wool that isn’t going to have any
type of itch to it. Wool shorts though in general are pretty rare, but I think if you
can find a great pair, just be careful about how you treat them how you wash them how you
take care of them. So now, let’s talk about shorts and the
colors that you should choose. For me, shorts is like a canvas, you’re going to paint
on this with your shirt with all the other accessories you’re wearing with your shoes.
That’s what you want to draw attention to, not so much the shorts. So, I like to keep
them simple, plain, muted. For me, one of the best colors is gray. Over
50 shades of gray, right guys? Light gray, medium gray, dark gray, charcoal gray. So
many different shades that you can go with. And black you can argue, no, black in not
a gray. And black I think is a little too stark on the contrast with other things you’re
wearing, but to each his own. I do think that navy is a good dark color
that you could go with. And there’s a wide variety of different blues. You can go with
true blue, you can go with light blue, medium blue. And, speaking of lighter blues and medium
blues, what about pastel colors? Those are great options as well and you can even bring
in salmon, so kind of like a pink. You can also bring in browns. I’m a huge
fan of all the variety of browns that we see out there from tan to khaki to even darker
brown. Now, what about brighter colors, can you bring
in a green? Yes, I actually think, again, in a pastel color like a mint and it is something
that you can have fun. But, again, with shorts for me, it’s something that I’m not really
trying to draw attention to that part of my body. I’m simply just going for something
that’s going to work with other items in my wardrobe.
Now, what about patterns? Well, if you see madras, you’re going to know that, yes,
patterns are all over and color and boldness are part of that design. But, in general if
you want to go with a window pane, you can do it, but understand those shorts are not
going to be very interchangeable in your wardrobe. You can maybe wear them a few times during
the summer especially if you wear them with a plain shirt, but in general I’m going
to recommend you keep your patterns to a down low. A small repeating pattern such as a twill
or a herringbone is perfectly fine. No one’s going to notice, but in general, yeah, keep
the patterns simple. Now, what about socks? Well, gents, I know
you’ve got an opinion on this, so I want to hear from you down in the comments. My
thoughts are in general go with no socks especially if you’re going to pull off a look with
loafers. I like that look, but, yeah, some of you guys may have a different opinion.
And, what about cargo shorts? Well, gentlemen, check out this video right here to find out
my opinion on cargo shorts. And the question is, am I joking in this video or am I for
real? [0:10:02] End of audio