MEN! Making a Statement

I was at a few events downtown this week and I couldn’t help noticing a great number of fashion train wrecks on the women in attendance. But as I was critiquing the femme fashion felonies, I also noticed that many of the men deserved honorable mention because they looked darn good. I always say that it’s easier for men to dress well because they have less options than women and so there’s less room for failure. Now – saying that – many men still look like slobs with their untucked shirts (a whole blog entry unto itself!) and lack of originality. Well – last week – a few men got it right (looked stylish and polished) while making a statement to boot!

Here are a couple of the winners in my humble opinion… Now I must admit that the guys in these photos are both stylists (one hair and one wardrobe) but it’s still proof that it’s POSSIBLE for men to look good without trying very hard.


On David Bui, a fitted jacket over a print shirt and (although it doesn’t show in the photo) cargo pants to keep the outfit “artistic casual.” On Lorence Manansala, a teal turtleneck under a black jacket and vintage Fred Segal tapered pants that say “FUCK” all over them. Now that’s what I call a statement piece! In both cases, the men were wearing a shirt, pants and a jacket – but the difference was WHICH shirt, pants and jacket to make them stand out in a crowd. On Bui, it was the print shirt and on Lorence it was the pop of color in the shirt and most definitely the fantastically unique pants. I hear over and over from clients that they want to be comfortable and they think they need to wear sweatpants in order to achieve that. Not true. What is blatantly apparent in these photos is how comfortable and confident both men are. Good job guys.

I also saw many men in well fitted suits that looked great, so it’s not just about bold designer pieces. Often fit is the winning element and it doesn’t get simpler than that: Fitted clothes are almost always more flattering. Any questions?