A Man's Closet, Part 1 - The Basics
By Frank K Siciliano
The vast majority of men hate shopping. Not just a little bit, either. A brief perusal through the annals of history show men who have scheduled root canals, knee surgery, late days at work, and a myriad of other unpleasantries just to avoid a five-minute hop to the clothing store for a pair of pants to replace the pair of pants with the hole in the pocket (which no one can see, so no big deal, right?).
I know you have jeans, sweats, and t-shirts in your closet, but how about the proof that you can clean up nicely once in a while? Most men rely on their significant others or members of their family to stock their closet for that. They too, however, may require some guidance. Whether you are making that trip to mall, or they are, here's the shopping list:
1. Navy Blue Suit - Yes, navy. Not black. Navy. The black suit is for weddings and funerals, and even in those cases, you can get away with navy. It's nice to own a few suits. It's required you own one. Go navy.
2. Four (4) Button Down Shirts - For those of you who read my article, "Clothing Should Fit!", you are perfectly aware of how your Oxford shirt (button down) should be sized. Owning four means you have two with two backups. Here's how to break down the four:
**Two (2) White - White is the standard. We like standard.
**Two (2) Blue - One light, one dark, or two of the same. Blue is for mixing it up a bit, and trust me when I say you don't want to have every dressed-up day of your life spent in a white Oxford shirt.
3. Black Lace-up Shoes - No, not black sneakers, but black lace-up shoes. Yep. With laces. They even come with thin rubber soles now, instead of tractionless leather.
4. Black Leather Belt - I stress black, because the shoes are black. Unless you want to start playing around with fancier combinations, match the belt to the shoes. Brown with brown, black with black. Whatever with sneakers. Never brown with black. Ever. Period.
5. SOCKS THAT AREN'T FOR THE GYM!! - Every time I see someone in a suit and white sweatsocks, I want to pull them aside, drag them into the nearest store, buy them a pair of black dress socks, make them change, then resume whatever else I was doing at the time. Either that, or hit them upside the head with a blunted (or blunt?) object. To avoid either, PLEASE make sure you have black socks. Not sweatsocks, either. You can do socks that are more suited (pun intended) for this occasion without going all nylon. Trust me.
Foolproof. That's the only way to describe this list. You may need to dress this way less than a dozen times in your life, but make those moments count!
Frank K Siciliano is the founder of dressinglikeaman.blogspot.com, which is in place to help guide men towards a more presentable way of dressing, without being all fussy. Since 1982, Frank has been developing an eye for what's hot, what's not, and what will stand the test of time in fashion. Interestingly enough, "what will stand the test of time" is the only thing that matters to most people. He does all that he can to guide anyone who will listen to a sharper, cleaner sense of style that will stand that very same test.
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