Dapper Gentlemen

Hi dear

After the article on the six most popular styles in women's fashion it seemed cruel to exclude our male friends; so I'm back for more new, unsolicited advice that I'm sure you'll have something to learn from.

P.S I just finished rewatching Gossip Girl so I'll use Upper East (or Out) Siders to showcase each style.

Let's start with a bang: the dandy. Keyword: eccentricity. If you bumbed into this style is because you don't to go unnoticed.

Jacket and tie are the order of the day, the more daring can combine a waistcoat and pocket square in the same color as the tie. Tartan, plaid or checkered prints are all permitted as long as the dominant dark colors are combined with other more vibrant accessories.

There is no other way to look as elegant as a Bass.

But hey, sometimes the clothes not made gentlemen as that mother Chucker teached us.

Haven't you heard about preppy style?

Well, if you haven't, watch Gossip Girl, just the first episode and you'll get it.

Preppy stands for preparatory school, just like Constance, tipical schoolboy style and as such it must be flawless in every detail. Unlike the dandy, the preppy style does not include a tie: it is a bon ton style that can be easily achieved by combining some basic items.

Main colours are blue, grey and khaki one, even red if in small doses (evergreen colour in school uniforms).

For the top, the choice is limited to a polo or shirt with a cardigan or the famous blue blazer. For pants, there are no limits: off to jeans, chinos, joggers, skinny or whatever makes you feel comfortable.

We talk about fashion in the world of Gossip Girl, how could I not mention him?

This pretty face on the left, reminds me that I have to talk about casual style. Casual one is used as much as it is abused: Everyone talks about it: those who don't have one, or those who have many but can't define them. But the biggest mistake is confusing it with the sporty style.

The casual style is evergreen, it adapts well to many occasions, making appropriate changes as the day goes by. You know, wearing ipped jeans to a dinner party even if it's with friends isn't casual, it's just in bad choice.

I don't want to confuse you but a t-shirt during the day can get into a polo shirt by dinner; a cardigan in the afternoon turns into an elegant jacket in the evening. You get this?

Solid colour or multi-coloured is fine, but stay away from loud prints or inappropriate writing.

As to pants off to any type but obviously: tracksuit has the biggest no!

Let's go on with your favourite my man: sporty style.

The sporty style is by far the most stereotyped. We girls talk about normcore, the style of carelessness, but it's not really the same thing. Although the keyword is the same, the result is completely different.

Tracksuits are allowes, but unless you are a professional athlete, wearing baggy sweatshirts and shapeless trousers all day and every day is still an attack on your self-esteem as well as your style.

But fortunately for you man, I'm your friend and I know how much you love this kind of clothes, so I suggest you something to meet each other halfwy: you can reinvent them, combining them with other more elegant clothes (like our model does in the photo). Let's mix and match between sweatshirts and elegant trousers, or elastic trousers and sleeveless jackets.

Tell me, what you see here on the left?

A Dan Humphrey in his natural habitat: bad taste.

This time, however, we forgive him, it was 2007 and around 2000's the Hipster style was in fashion and is actually returning in small doses.

Can you recognize the oversized cardigan worn as a jacket, the tartan style or the charm of an intellectual's well-groomed beard?

Get ready: hipsters are coming.

What hasn't yet knocked on the door of the twenties are suspenders but those are also arriving, camouflaged behind dungarees. We may be say this, Hipster is almost the opposite of casual style: here we seek extravagance with prints and writings (even provocative, if you really have to), very far from the refined simplicity of casual.

As I used to say: style is a way of telling ourself: can shows what we love, what we dislike, and that's why fashion usually goes hand in hand with music. Punk and rock for exmple, they are not really fashion-related styles. Actually they find their origins in the musical culture which then needed to manifest itself more strongly also in other forms of art.

Fashion, like music, creates a sense of belonging to an ideal or a character: just as it is unlikely to listen to just one singer, it is also unlikely to be influenced by a single style.

Let yourself be influenced by the various styles, let them talk about you and I will understand who you are.

xoxo

V