10 Style Rules to Live By [0:00:00]
Today, we’re talking about foundational guidelines; ten style rules that every man
should live by.
[Music] All right, gents, let’s have fun in today’s
video.
So, if you get at least seven out of the ten correct, let me know down in the comments
and I’m going to go through and choose a few guys to send some cool gifts to.
I will reveal what the gift is at the end of today’s video.
Style rule number one to live by.
Know your measurements.
You see this right here.
This is a fabric tape measure.
It cost about a buck.
Go out and buy one of these, you’re going to get a thousand to one return on your investment
within one year.
Why?
Because brands and manufacturers, they’re putting out size medium, but what does that
mean?
That’s their medium, they use their own models.
There isn’t a standard across the board, so you need to create your own standards.
You need to know, okay, my shoulders are 18 inches across.
Guys, if you know your measurements, all of a sudden you’re getting out of this all
subjective sizing and you’re getting into objective, hey, I am this exact measurements,
I know in my stomach I’m this, I know in my chest, I’m this, so when I put on a jacket
I know what fits me and I’m able to more accurately spot it.
Style rule number two to live by.
Control your message, know who you are, know what you stand for, know what you want to
get out of this one life that you’ve got and make sure that your clothing and your
mannerisms send that message.
What you don’t want to have happen is you don’t want to betray people’s expectations.
Make sure that you actually dress to that because, one, you’ve got to practice becoming
that guy.
The other part is you want to get good with their first impressions because people’s
first impressions are oftentimes wrong.
So, the problem here is it’ very difficult to dislodge that first impression, so I would
much rather be thought of as smarter and more confident than I actually am than me thought
of as less confident or less intelligent because then you’re fighting an uphill battle.
So, my next style rule to live by, buy items that you absolutely love and let me explain.
So, Jim Collins in his book, Good to Great, talks about the enemy of great companies is
actually good enough, settling.
So, when you’re building your wardrobe, you don’t want to buy accessories you don’t
want to buy fragrances that are just okay.
No, you want to have a set of items that you absolutely love.
So, at this point, guys, I want to introduce you to a belt system that I’ve been absolutely
loving for almost a decade.
That’s the sponsor of today’s video, Anson Belt and Buckle.
So, three things about this company you need to know.
First up, the micro adjust system.
Notice, there are no belt holes, so you’re going to get a more accurate fit to a quarter
of an inch.
In addition, belt holes one of the problem there is it starts to create these like the
slant right there on the leather.
That is not going to happen to you, you’re not going to get any type of impressions any
type of damage.
It’s going to look great.
Now, the other thing I said that’s a belt system.
So, what do I mean by that?
I mean you can take this buckle right off and you can change out straps and you can
change out buckles.
So, if you had three different types of buckles and three different types of straps, what
you have here are nine combinations.
And Anson Belt & Buckle has a wide variety of straps, so no matter what kind of shoes
you have, how you want to match it up, you can go with casual, I’ve got a couple right
there.
And, what’s cool about these straps is if you’ve got a 16-inch waist if you got a
50-inch waist, you’re actually going to get the same product.
And if you haven’t seen, they’ve got this great gift packages.
I absolutely love these because you can choose do you want to go with three buckles and two
straps or do you want to go with three straps and two buckles, so a total of six combinations.
This makes a great gift because it doesn’t matter if you know the guy’s waist size
as long as it’s within 16 to 50 inches, this is going to have them covered and it’s
going to give them a wide range of options.
The third point I want to hit on is their customer service.
I know David, I know Frank the founders.
I have watched this company grow up for over eight years and I have to say that it’s
their customer service, it’s treating people how they would want to be treated.
I can tell you one story where a guy cut the belt strap a little bit too small and he’s
like, “Oh, man I just screwed up this belt.”
They found out about that, they simply sent him a new strap.
Guys, I’m linking to Anson Belt & Buckle down in the description of this video.
Go check them out.
Go out there and look at all the different straps, look at all the different options
they’ve got for you.
Just a great company I am very proud to stand behind.
Style rule number four to live by.
Develop an eye for quality because when you can spot quality that means that you’ll
be able to go into this store and say, “Hey, this is on sale 50% off and I know that this
jacket is a very high quality.”
But how do you know what true quality is?
To be honest, you’re going to have to watch quite a few of my other videos which I will
link in many of them down in the description of this video.
But I will say, guys, a quick shortcut, go into the best menswear store in your area.
[0:05:06] You want to go in there and touch quality.
Go in there, try on quality.
Hold some of the bags, look at the luggage and see, okay, this is what a $1,000 bag looks
like, this is what a $5,000 watch looks like.
Find out more about the details because when you build up your knowledge and you start
to be able to see quality, again, you’re going to be able to spot quality when it’s
on sale.
So, my next style rule to live by, don’t be afraid to spend more if you’re going
to wear it more.
And this goes to my style theory of value.
The style theory of value states that the value of a piece of clothing is equal to the
number of wears times the way it makes you feel divided by the price.
So, as an example let’s look at two suits.
One of them is $200, the other one is $1,000 suit.
Now, let’s say the $200 suit, it doesn’t fit very well, but you can afford it today.
It would get the job done.
The $1,000 suit though, it looks great.
You’re so excited, you have to save up for it.
It was more of a painful purchase, but you were able to actually make it happen.
So, which one was the better deal?
Actually, a lot of people are going to say, “Oh, the $200 suit was cheaper.”
But, don’t just look at that, look at how many times did you wear it.
That $200 suit, you wore it ten times because – and every time you wore it, you didn’t
feel great about yourself.
That $1,000 suit, you ended up wearing it a hundred times.
Why?
Because you absolutely love that suit.
So, a hundred wears versus ten.
But, let’s also look at the way it made you feel.
Every time you wore that $1,000 suit, you got compliments, you felt like a million bucks,
you performed better, so clearly the higher value suit is the $1,000 suit.
The next style rule to live by, buy classics over trends.
And I’m not talking cutting edge street wear, what I’m talking about here are your
more classic basic pieces.
And the reason being is because when you spend good money on an item, you want to be able
to wear it a year from now, two years from now, three years from now.
And all of a sudden, those skinny lapels on that jacket that you spent all that money
on, you realized they are out of fashion and they never worked for your little bit larger
body type and you realized you just wasted money and that’s what I want to avoid.
And there are tons of classic items that you can build your base wardrobe on.
And I want to stress, I have nothing against fashion, I think it’s something you can
introduce into your wardrobe once you have your base built, but your foundation should
be classic items.
The next style rule to live by, buy strategically for your wardrobe.
You want to put together outfits.
You don’t want to buy individual pieces and let me explain.
So, I’m not saying, no, don’t go out there and buy an individual piece.
Of course, you can buy individual pieces, but when you buy it think about how is this
individual piece going to fit into my interchangeable wardrobe.
An example.
You got three pairs of shoes, three trousers, you’ve got three shirts and you got three
jackets.
Twelve items and from these twelve items, if they were all perfectly interchangeable,
we’re talking eighty one outfits.
You will not always going to have perfect interchangeability, but you want to make sure
that you’re not buying a piece which actually is not going to work, you’re not going to
get much wear out and if you don’t wear it often, guys, where is the value?
So, my next stop rule to live by, buy needs not unnecessary deals.
So, it’s 90% off, are you going to purchase it?
Guys, you should have a simple list of items that need to be in your core wardrobe, so
when you’re out there shopping and you spot something that’s on sale and it fits on
that list, of course, go ahead and purchase it.
But, if it’s not on your list, you want to say, okay, am I falling into a sales trap
here?
Yes, it’s 80% off, yes, it’s buy one get ten free, but I mean do I really need this?
You want to avoid falling into the sales trap and only buy things that are on your core
wardrobe list.
The next style rule, develop your uniform.
You want a baseline style, a baseline look that you default to whenever you don’t need
to dress up, whenever you don’t want to dress down, whenever you just don’t want
to think and you simply need to wear clothing.
I know for me, it’s going to be a navy shirt.
During the winter, long sleeves; during the summer, short sleeves polo.
It’s going to be oftentimes dark denim and it’s going to be boots.
Now, notice how I thought through that.
You want to do that for your uniform.
You want to look at your needs, you want to look at your life requirements, you want to
look at the message you want to send to the world make sure that your uniform does that
and then you can just default to it when you don’t want to think.
The next style rule to live by is to invest in your education.
Guys, books are great place to start, but, come on, we’re here on YouTube so many other
great resources.
You’ve got Raphael over at the Gentleman’s Gazette, you’ve got Aaron Marino over at
Alpha M, Jose over at Teaching Men’s Fashion, Brock over at Modest Man.
There’s just so many different resources, tons of vlogs that you can go check out, tons
of podcasts that, yes, maybe aren’t exactly style-related, but actually talk roundabout
about the accessories and the other details when it comes to style.
All right, guys.
I want to throw in a bonus style rule to live by and that is know the tools of your trade.
If you want to be a well-dressed man, you’ve got to know how to shine your own shoes.
When it comes down to sewing on a button, an emergency sewing kit, carry this with you
because when you’re about to go into that interview, you’re traveling and all of a
sudden a button pops up, you’ve got to know how to fix it.
[0:10:06] All right, gentlemen now it’s your turn.
I want to hear from you down in the comments.
Did you get a perfect score?
If you miss a whole lot of them, guys, that’s okay because you can take steps in the right
direction starting today to become the man you know yourself to be.
And, that special gift I was talking about, well, I’m going to go down I’m going to
choose a few of you and I’m going to be sending out some of my own belts from Anson
Belt & Buckle.
But, what I want to hear what exact belts do you want, so you got to go over to their
website and tell me exactly what belts you would like to receive the right belt buckle
because I want to make sure that I send you something you actually will use.
I appreciate you.
I appreciate everything we built here at Real Men Real Style and I’m excited about what
the future holds.
Guys, take care.
I will see you in the next video.
[0:10:47] End of Audio