The Language of Men’s Clothes- Part Three

Part Three: the yoke of the shirt and the all important… TIE!

The Yoke- The yoke of a shirt is the piece of fabric that rest across the shoulders. The yoke allows for movement and can be altered to make the shirt fit properly.

The shirt above has a single yoke panel, or is simply called a plain yoke. The shirt bellow has a split yoke.

Now for the TIE!

Lets start with a little history first.  The tie is thought to have originated during the Thirty Years War of 1600’s. The first known publication on how to tie a tie (or a cravat has they were) appeared in September of 1818. It was called the Neckclothitania. The following is a page out of the book:

The Neckclothitania was prints as a joke, making fun of how many knots and methods had come along.

In Today’s world there still more knots and methods of tying ties than one person can count but two knots that are generally wore by most men, the full windsor knot and the half windsor knot. Bellow are videos of how to tie these knots.

For more information on the subject of ties visit The Art Manliness.

The Language of Men’s Clothes- Part Two

This post is going to be all about collars. There are loads of collar details that make choosing the right dress shirt a little more involved than one first thinks. Lets get started:

There are three things to consider when looking a a collar: 1)the collar point length    2)the collar point type    3)the collar spread.

image source; gentlemansway.com

The point length: The distance from the top of the collar fold to the bottom of the point, measured on the edge of the collar opening– The point length varies from shirt to shirt. Point length is matter of tremendous worry because the point length affects the way your face looks. Men with long, oval faces should not choose collars points longer that 3 inches because this will make their faces’ appear to be longer than they are. On-the-other-hand,  a man with a short, round face a should pick collars with a longer point length because the points will lengthen and give the appearance of a thinner face.

On the left is Jude Law who has a long, oval face. You can see how short his collar points are. On the Right is Elijah Wood who has a shorter, round face and is wearing a collar with long points:

The point type: The style of the the point classified by its features– the features of collars point can clue you into the use of the shirt. For example shirts with button collars are less dressy than a shirt without buttons. Here are some illustrations of a few collar point styles you might run into:

The spread: the distance between the points of the collar– Bellow are two examples of the most common spreads. Note: There are MANY MANY more including modern spread, combo spread, and curve spread. Like I said the two spreads I have chosen to show here the most common and most have the most agreed upon definitions out there. The wider the spread the dresser the shirt! The spread is probably the most important feature of the collar because of the tie (if you plan on wearing a tie with a wide knot DO NOT choose a modern of slim spread collar).

Traditional:

Wide:

The Language of Men’s Clothes- Part One

It seems to me that women’s fashion is much easier to understand than men’s fashion. In women’s fashion there are obviously noticeable difference from season to season, year to year. Men’s fashion, on-the-other-hand, has subtle differences from season to season, year to year. A scene from Ugly Betty Season 3 episode 15 (“There’s No Place Like Mode”) illustrates this perfectly:

“Wilhelmina [about Daniel’s cuffs]: Peering? My god Daniel, have some self respect
Daniel: I really need you to deal with these
Betty: Okay
Daniel: Last year the mandate was for cuffs to be peering out from jackets. At Marc Jacobs’ preview last night suddenly they’re peaking instead. Can you believe it?
Betty: Nope, I can’t
Daniel: It was humiliating. I need an eight of an inch off all of them ASAP. Please use your discretion. I’d be mortified if anyone knew they were mine.”

HERE IS A LESSON #1 in MEN’s FASHION TERMS

Believe me, this is going to take multiple post…

…but is all interesting to know.

 

THE LAPEL
Lapel refers to the collar/neckline trim of a jacket, coat, or blazer

Notched Lapel- The is the classic lapel

 

Peak Lapel- This lapel is more formal, often found on tuxedos

 

Shawl Lapel– This lapel was made popular in 19th century with the introduction of the “smoking jacket.”

 

 

JACKETS/ COATS

Sports Jacket: Jackets are textured and/or have a pattern. Sports Jackets developed out of the 1800’s as causal wear suitable for men to wear to horse races, boxing matches, tennis matches, and the like.

Blazers: Blazers are solid color. Blazers are the more formal of the two. They are made of smooth fabric and often have brass or other metal buttons.

Hugo Boss Brown Wool Sportcoat Jacket

 

 

Ben Sherman Men’s Oxbridge Blazer in Navy

 

 

CUFFS

Button Cuff: The button cuff in closed with buttons and comes in a variety of lengths and weights

 

French Cuff: The French cuff is long and heavy, meant to be folded back once and then linked together with cuff-links or silk-knots. Note: Do not wear a french cuff shirt with a sports jacket.

 

Link Cuff: The Link cuff, like the french cuff has no buttons

Long Lengths for Spring 2011

 

This is what I’m dreaming for spring to summer 2011…

… All-in-all think new 70’s glam (but without the music and the sparkles)!

Main lesson: mind your hem lines.

1. Mixed prints- The Key is to mix small and large prints together and matching color palette (like blues with other blues, and purples with other purples or dark reds).

Miu Miu Spring 2011, source; Gorunway.com/ photo by: Monica Feudi

2. Bright color- Feel free to rock the craziest color you can (note: not everyone can pull off yellow, orange, etc… be sure to experiment to find the best brights for your skin tone).

Michael Kors spring 2011, source: style.com

 

3. EXTREME hem lengths:

• Long (like covering your shoes long) wide legged pants

Akris spring 2011, source; fashionising.com

• REALLY short skirts and shorts

Marc Jacobs spring 2011, source; style.com

 

• Dresses and skirts that are pass the knee, tea length, or brushing the floor

Chanel spring 2011, source; style.com

 

D&G spring 2011, source; searchingforstyle.com

 

Jil Sander spring 2011, source; getty images

4. Funky-chunky shoes- ***I know these shoes are FANTASTIC, but remember don’t get them if you can’t walk like a lady in them… there are so many options out there…

From left to right, source; style.com- Top row; Bally spring 2011, Brian Atwood spring 2011. Bottom row; Calvin Klein spring 2011, 3.1 Phillip Lim.

Suits are to Humans as Feathers are to Birds

“Because of the wealth of information a woman’s appearance provides about her fertility and reproductive value, men were predicted to place a greater premium on physical appearance or physical attractiveness than do women in mate selection. Although physical appearance was still predicted to be important for women in their choice of a mate because of its link to health, many qualities that women desire such as resources and status are not easily evaluated by physical appearance” (The Evolution of Human Mating by David M. Buss)

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It would seem that most men don’t think that dressing themselves’ nicely is a priority. Science says those men are wrong.

…That is why “pick-up artist” will often call dressing up “peacocking”…

And what is the easiest way to tell status? To give others visual clues? Answer: the way you dress of course.

Status symbols for men are things like nice cars and suits. However, they are also the simple little things like shoes, belts, and watches. These are the little visual clues that let others know if you have money, pay attention to detail, and care about how the way you look reflects in the world. Let’s be blunt here… This may all seem REALLY superficial and vain to many people out there. You may be saying to yourself right now “I could care less about how others view me and how I look.” That is fine if you really have NO motivation to get a job you enjoy, find a girlfriend, or earn the respect of your peers. Cross-cultural studies have found time and time again that when a man dresses well he earns more money, is more respected than his ill-dresses counterparts, and is more likely to attract not only a good-looking mate, but one who is loving as well.  You men might not be convinced that women take note of these things but somewhere in the back of ours head, when we see a man wearing a nice pair of shoes or a Rolex, we think… “Wow, okay… he can talk to me… IN FACT… I want him to talk to me! ” Here it is, plain and simple: most women care about how their mate or potential mate dresses.

Vain? Yes… but it is the reality of our modern situation, one which has extremely limited opportunities for men to show off their status and desirable qualities by conducting kin/tribal meeting or hunting for food.

For more info on this topic I suggest these interesting reads:

1. The Evolution Of Desire by David M. Buss
2. Rules of the Game by Neil Strauss (**WARNING… this book could be considered offensive and does contain dangerous information!)

NOW… I AM NOT SAYING that every man should go out and buy a $300 suit, a Rolex, and a pair of Louis Vuitton shoes.

I AM SAYING to invest in a nice pair of dress shoes (they don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg) they just need to look nice and like you care! A great pair is Rockport Evander Oxfords.

I AM SAYING to invest in a nice pair of jeans… ones that you can wear with a dress shirt or a t-shirt like Joe’s Jeans- Men’s Classic Fit.

I AM REALLY SAYING to invest in a few great pieces that will make you look great when you go out, when you go to work, or really just anytime you want to walk out the door.