It's that easy!

What if I told you that you could that you could improve your overall style several-fold with:

No cost
No Change in the way you currently dress
By implementing one change

Would you be interested?

Well the truth is that through one simple mind-set shift this is entirely possible. In fact I believe it is the necessary first step in order to undergo your transformation into style. It is probably one of the easiest ways to start and creates for a great mindset shift for the future.

Step It Up A Notch

Although. Not everyone will be aware of it we all have “Notches” on our own “Internal Dress Code”. These notches are just different levels of casual or formal wear WHENEVER we have to get dressed for something.

Everyone of has their own “dress code” for different events and activities in which they participate. Not just parties and special events, but I am referring to the broad sense of EVERYTHING we do. In other words, when were not nude.

All the style books, websites and blogs out there talk about dress codes and keep regurgitating things such as black tie, smart casual etc. but let’s be honest the percentage of times where these dress codes are relevant to us are a very small percentage of the total times in which we actually wear clothes J.

If we can realize our own style dress codes, it makes it easier for us to step them up a notch and instantly become more stylish.

Our own codes

As I said each of us have our own (probably mostly subconscious) dress code for every single thing we do. Typically starts at very casual and hopefully moves up to quite formal (for some people it doesn’t and that is the whole reason we are here trying to work on it, so don’t worry about that).

I have come up with generally 4 core codes for each of us, which should encompass everything.  Everyone will categorize their own differently, which is good and all part of the process. There are also two extra codes which are Formal and Work.

For the purpose of this post work stands by itself because a lot of people will have a standard work uniform or dress code for each individual work place, for example a tradeperson is not going to be able to apply this for work. But personal life is a different story, because this is where we have complete and free choice. NB: Feel free to add work dress into a category if and where you see fit.

As a general rule the higher the code the less number of times in a given month or year you will dress this way, i.e. you will wear code 1 and 2 a lot more than code 4 or the formal code – hence the reason for the triangle:

Our current internal dress code

To put it in perspective below are some events or everyday activities that may coincide with each code:

Code 1

• Staying at home
• Gym, run down the street or working out
• Going for a drive
• Visiting a close friend

Code 2

• Going to the supermarket
• Going for a walk down the street
• Visit a friend
• Going to the shops
• Flying on a plane

Code 3

• Casual Dinner
• Having a day out
• Traveling
• An event or show

Code 4

• Having a night out
• Attending an important function
• Going on a Hot Date

These are just examples and you will probably have different things that fit into each code. The examples above are pretty much what it used to look like for myself.

Money for Nothing

So how does knowing this help us? Well we can use this information now to increase our own internal dress code and step our style up that extra and well deserved notch.

We simply wear what we currently wear in code 2 during our code 1 activities, code 3 for our code 2 activities and code 4 for our code 3 activities and then introducing parts of our formal wear (not all, but mix and match) in what was previously code 4 activities.

The change needed in our internal dress code

Our new internal dress code

By doing this one thing we will increase our style and sophistication and be one step above all our friends and colleagues attending the same places, events or situations. This will cause us to stand out and be noticed which is really the whole aim of the game.

Ultra Casual Should No Longer Exist

Enough said. We should not being wearing super casual clothes out in public or in any one’s eye. We always want to be known as the man who goes that extra effort and looks good, because that’s what women notice and want. If you have women following you, then other men are soon going to follow suit (In a respectful way J).

Take Action

1. Assess your current internal dress codes and what you would likely wear in each code above.
2. Go about making an effort to step it up that extra notch (to the next code) every time you go out and do something in the public eye (which is if ANY one else will be seeing you)

What do you think? What are your typical internal dress codes and how do you determine what you will wear to the next outing, date, event or anything else you need to get dressed for?

Underconstruction!

This post is continued from What is Style? – Part 1

Image

This is the quart that usually has the most attention paid to it when men talk about style. However, it is usually in the form of wearing new articles of clothing that seem to be the latest trend that everyone is trying.

The truth is that Image contains a lot more within itself than just clothing. Yes, clothing is an huge part of it, but so is grooming, putting the clothing into an “outfit” and also lesser thought about ideals  such as keeping in shape, your reputation and social proof. Because let’s face it, if you have a bad reputation or no one else in a certain community likes you, then you are not going to have a good image – no matter what clothes you wear.

Intelligence

I think that this is a very under-rated quart and is also the most powerful. It is often ignored, and over looked in being able to help your style go the distance.

Essentially, if you have intelligence about everything, from what to dress in to what to say and do in the right situation, then this is going to boost your personal style more than anything you could ever wear.

Intelligence, used in the context of wanting to learn and gain knowledge on a large variety of subjects, is the back bone of not only the other quarts, but in most other aspects of your life as well.

Being intellectually curious can help you in anything you want to do. It can help you spark up a conversation with anyone, because you are genuinely interested in someone else’s life or only one aspect of their life – social intelligence.

Presence

Presence is the next step of improving your image. People can have presence on many different levels. Putting it basically, to have presence: when you enter  a room, you are noticed.

It is also when you have the ability to be the centre of attention, influence other people (morally) and essentially be in control of a situation.

In a nutshell: as an example, presence is that guy at the party that everyone knows is someone or is recognised for something. They could be rich, famous or know how to work a crowd. But not all of these aspects are required of us, because I am going to show you how to have presence, without being rich or famous, just through working with a few special tools.

Lifestyle

Similar to intelligence, your lifestyle is reflected in your outer self and will subconsciously help your outer image. It is about having good habits (and not just when people are watching you), it’s about being cultured and having plenty of outside interest to talk about, and as a result, have a informative conversation with any one you want and not bore someone with your un-interesting 9 to 5 job.

Once things about your personal style get kick-started, your lifestyle will start to come automatically (to a certain extent) because you will want to try, do and follow through with new things. However, there is still no reason why you can’t kick start it now by doing things that are out of your comfort zone whenever and wherever you get a chance.

Putting it all together

I hope this post hasn’t come across too philosophical. Because there is so much info that I wanted to share with all of you. I am going to be going into a lot more detail on each of these different quarts in separate self titled posts, which will include tools required for success in each quart. These will also give you  actionable steps and learning’s that you can put into place yourself straight away. So this is just an intro into future things to come.

Action steps

1.       Keep in mind that style is a lot more than just the clothing you wear, but rather it is about your overall persona and individualising it to your personality. Then look forward to the future posts where I will describe how you can work on each of the elements of style for yourself

What do you think? What is your definition of style? What are the main elements of my style definition that you think need the most work for yourself?

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Hmmm...what is style?

Men’s Style is NOT fashion!

There I said it! Maybe I’ve offended some people, contradicted others and maybe even agreed with a lot.

A common mistake that a lot of people (especially men) make, is that they seem to think Style=fashion, which ultimately couldn’t be further from the truth. Technically speaking, if a man dressed in everything that seemed to be “fashionable” at the time, he would be in a lot of trouble.

Men have it a lot easier than women in a sense, because women do have to keep up with “fashion” to be considered stylish. Fortunately for men, when it comes to clothing alone, there are lots of timeless pieces that are very stylish and always will be.

Style is deep

Style goes even deeper than just the clothes that one wears, and clothing is just a small part of overall style.

We’ve all seen the guy at a party or in some other social situation that you just know is “someone” because he has a certain style about him. This is what I am referring to and eventually what I want to get ALL our readers to achieve.

I have spent quite a lot of time trying to compose this post and hence figure out a way to systematise it. I basically did a brain dump of everything that I thought could possibly be associated with a stylish man in my journal, in order to come up with four basic subheadings on what I believe is style. Just have a look in the photo below of what I had originally come up with:

My brainstorming on the definition of style!

Two types of style

So to begin with I think there are two types of style:

1.       Quick Style

2.       Lasting Style

Each type has their own purpose, and are both necessary in your quest to style, but ultimately lasting style is what we all want to strive for.

Quick style is important in the early days. The way to “quick style”, can be viewed in an earlier post I did: . This is still the best, quickest and easiest way to get started, and I will go into specific examples of this in later posts.

“Quick style” is a way we can learn what to wear and when to wear it, through trial and error. It is a very good way to get us thinking about our image and the way we present ourselves. Mostly, it serves the purpose of us being “consciously aware” of style, ourselves and the way we are viewed by everyone else. From this we can then build up the foundations to create lasting style.

Lasting style is more  of an in-depth, continuous improvement-type view that covers a number of different aspects of our life and that will come together in such a way that even on our worst, average and most disappointing days we will still be viewed as stylish.

Because eventually unless you have “lasting style”, you will fall down in a number of ways. What happens the next time you meet with the girl you’ve got a date with that night (that she thought you were stylish)? Unless your style is lasting, there is no way you’re going to get to a third date with her!

To further illustrate the difference between the two, and why it is inevitably going to be important to focus on lasting style, I’ll use an old house as an example/analogy.

Let’s assume this old house is starting to look old and decrepit and has a wooden frame that is starting to rot (or has termites) and you the owner need to do something about it.

What are the possibilities?

If you needed to sell it straight away you could give it a quick paint from top to bottom, maybe install a new kitchen and put in some new carpet, if time and money permits. This is the equivalent of quick style, who knows how much longer before the wooden frame gives way, but it doesn’t matter because your quick style has served its purpose, just as it would if you had to dress up for one night.

However, if you are going to live in it for the next 10 years, then it is going to be a good idea to replace the wooden frames, put in some termite protection, add some waterproofing and on top of that still give it a paint job, extra kitchen, new floors and maybe even a new bathroom. But needless to say you are going to have confidence in it and hence be comfortable living in it, just as you would have the confidence and be very, very comfortable within your own new stylish self with the lasting style you’ve created!

I hope this analogy connects with everyone who reads it because as a structural engineer, I guess it’s my way of incorporating my profession into this site J.

I will be going into more detail of quick style in the future and give specific examples where everyone can get started, but for the remainder of this post I will focus on lasting style, and why it is important to keep this in the back of your minds whenever making decisions down the track in relation to your own style.

Lasting Style

So what is lasting style?

As mentioned earlier, from extreme analysis, I have come up with 4 main sub categories (Style Quarts) for men’s style. These being:

• Image
• Presence
• Intelligence; and
• Lifestyle

Each of these categories intertwine with one another and have certain aspects of each other that overlap:

The four quarts of style!

However, when meeting new people there will only be two of these categories that a person will immediately notice of you: Image and your Presence. They won’t visually notice your presence, but they will be able to tell if it’s there or not, unlike your image. These are the two upfront quarts that give you your style.

Intelligence and Lifestyle are running in the back ground and complementing the two foreground quarts:

Style behind the scenes!

This post will be continued in Part 2.

How many clothes do you really need?

This post is continued from  How Many Clothes Do You Really Need? – Part 1

Jeans

Jeans are slightly different from the above two examples. They are a necessary item, but it is good to keep in mind that even though you should have a certain number of pairs it is important to go for quality over quantity every day.

Basically given your situation, it is better to get 2 good pairs of jeans over 4-5 cheaper pairs. I will talk about jeans a lot more in future posts, but for now let’s have a look at the formula:

N(jeans) = ³√D(jeans) – 1 ≥ 2

What this means is that you should have a minimum of two pairs of jeans…period.

As an example, if you wear jeans for the Saturday & Sunday of each weekend for the year, then:

D(jeans) = 2 x 52 = 104, hence you will need

N(jeans) = ³√104 -1 = 4 pairs

Again, I just want to iterate, If you only have 2 pairs at the moment and using the above formula you think you require 4, don’t go out and buy 2 cheaper pairs and compromise on quality. Add 1 pair of quality jeans when you can and slowly build up to the ideal amount. I will post on what makes a quality pair of jeans in the future.

Suits

Suits is a tricky one. Again in the same genre as jeans when it comes to how many:

Quality over Quantity

It would do far more for your style and image to wear the same quality, pricey, great looking suit to the office for 2 or 3 days a week as opposed to wearing a different cheap, basic looking suit each day.

Color is probably one of the most important things to consider also. I will go into detail on this a lot more in the near future, but basically, If you only wear suits for business and to the office, then a black suit shouldn’t even count as a number for your wardrobe.

Every man should have suits, I am surprised by the amount of people that don’t actually, and can’t get over why not.

However, you need to look at where you are wearing it. Do you require to wear them at work? Full time? Or only for important business meetings? Or do you only wear them for weddings and funerals.

So, as far as numbers are concerned for the suit:

1 (non-black QUALITY suit) ≥ N(suits) ≥  up to a maximum of X(suits)

Where: X(suits) = the maximum possible number of QUALITY suits you can both afford and justify for your needs.

So you should have at least 1 non-black suit as a starting point and work your way up from there. If you only have a black suit, then I believe it is important to get another color as well. If you don’t believe you wear it anywhere else, then It is a good time to start, because men look better in a suit than they possibly can in any other outfit you can wear, just ask any girl this and they will agree.

Changing it up = Infinite outfits

Going on from the early example of the best ways to add “style” to yourself and look like you have an endless wardrobe, is to constantly change outfits and wear the same things in different ways. i.e. change your pants, add a sweater, add a blazer, casual up with sneakers, smarten up with a vest, add a scarf etc. Etc.

The size of wardrobe does not need to change for you to have more outfits. The only thing that does is your creativity and thought process with coming up with new outfits from the good stuff you already have. In a later post I will go into more detail of specific items of clothing that will allow this (i.e. 80/20 of volume clothing), and examples of where I have done it.

Please bear in mind that these are only approx guides and a starting point for everyone. Naturally when times permit more or less of each could be needed and/or wanted.

Take Action

1.       Put these formulas into place to work out the approximate number of each of the pieces of clothing YOU require.

2.       If you need anything extra add them to a list with what you think is the most important first. Slowly shorten this list by buying the top priority whenever you are shopping or have a bit of spare cash burning a hole in your money clip J

What do you think? How do these number compare to your current wardrobe? Is there any specific details you would like me to provide on what colors, styles or types of each piece are best to buy first if you have limited funds or don’t know where to start?

Avoid too many clothes, especially in bright colors!

This is part 1 of a 2 part post.

Recently I went through and did the old 80/20 analysis on my wardrobe again.

Sometimes I do it for a need of extra space, sometimes I do it when I move, but most of the time it is when I need to de-clutter my wardrobe for mental clarity and hence an internal style boost.

How many clothes we need, is a question that comes up all the time.

The problem is that the majority of people think that more clothes = style.

Less is more

I don’t believe that more clothes is always the best way. In fact buying more clothes is essentially just compensating for not knowing what to buy for “your look” and an attempt to cover all bases due to lack of “knowledge”

After all, I am sure we all have our favorite few outfits (or crutch outfits) that we all refer back to in case of emergency  and am positive that if we tracked it we would wear approx 20% of our clothes the majority of the time, which makes buying more and more clothes pointless anyway.

How much then?

The problem still is “well how much should I have then?” I stumbled across a couple formula’s that I have adapted somewhat that gives a guide to how many articles you should have for each of the following basic items:

• Shirts
• Trousers
• Jeans
• Suits

For other articles of clothing you can apply the same general principles of these formulae, just adapt them slightly to suit your needs. If you would like to know what I would recommend for other clothing items please feel free to email me at info@stylethroughintelligence.com.

The formula’s

Basically, as a rough guide, you can calculate how many articles of each of the different pieces of clothing you need using the number of days that you are likely to wear them in one year:

D(x)= approx number of days per year that you will wear article x.

N(x) = the number of pieces of clothing x that you will need based on D(x)

The result N(x) should always be rounded up for example if the result came back as 1.34 then the answer is expressed as 2, i.e. 2 shirts.

Shirts

The number of shirts needed is the square root of the amount of days per year that you will wear them:

N(shirts) = √D(shirts)

Trousers

The number of trousers needed is the cube root:

N(trousers) = ³√D(trousers)

So as an example if you wear shirts and trousers to work each day (with or without a tie, but the tie is neglected in this example):

You would wear them for approx 50 weeks (52 – two weeks vacation) for 5 working days per week.

i.e. D (shirts and trousers) = 250

Hence:

N (shirts) = √250 = 16; and

N (trousers) = ³√250 = 7

So you will need 16 shirts and 7 pairs of trousers for work. This could potentially give you (16 x 7) 112 different combination’s to wear.

However, as I am sure you will know that not all you shirts are likely to go with all of your trousers. So let’s just assume half your shirts will match up with half of your trousers, which will give you (8 x 4) 32 different combination’s to wear. This is 6 weeks before you have to wear exactly the same thing again.

Now  imagine changing it up every second time you wear an outfit, by adding a sweater. This would give you a 3 month (12 weeks) bank of potential outfits. Add a jacket and you will have half a year (6 months) etc. I am sure you get the picture.

This post will be continued in part 2.

You should not have to do this to your wallet before you go out!

Is that a wallet in your pants or are you just happy to see me?

Unfortunately, a big ugly wallet does not equate to wealth and power, and least of all style…In fact it demonstrates exactly the opposite.

The problem

I’m sure we have all seen the wallets (or even used them) that, for a start are too big for our pockets, then we try to cram them full of every card we have (including Christmas cards it seems) as well as all our coins.

Small is sometimes better

Maybe not in everyone of life’s situations case but in this one it is. In fact over years of slowly downsizing my wallets, I have come to conclusion that the ultimate “money holder” is the smallest that you possibly can get:

The Money Clip

The money clip, I believe, has lots of advantages including:

• It simplifies things – only have what you need on you. It will de-clutter your mind as well as your pockets.
• Empowers you – When you go to make a purchase and you get out your money clip with folded up bills in nice sequential order it really gives you a boost of confidence and a wealthy mindset I believe. Try it for yourself and see what you think.
• It impresses other people – If you have a “bank roll” in your pocket concealed only in a money clip, people are going to be very impressed and want to get to know you. This will create a simple power of attraction. Similarly to the way a lot of people like to know other powerful, wealthy and famous people. A form of social proof without anyone in society needing to do anything.
• It Just looks good – It will fit in with all your clothes (or style) that you are wearing, because it is not brown or black like your wallet could be. It will also not bulge in your pants, which does not good on any man.

How it started for me

I first started experimenting with the idea of a minimalist approach to storing my money when I was traveling a few years back. Long story short because I was in areas where pickpockets were plentiful I left all my passport, id, and credit cards in a safe and only had the cash in my wallet.

It was the best feeling. I knew that I was stocked up with all the cash I needed for that day, and in the end if it got stolen I wasn’t too worried, because I only had the cash for that day, and not ALL my other valuables that I would have to spend a day on the phone trying to get canceled.

The Rules

After trying a few different things I have come up with a bit of a process that you can also used when you purchase yours:

• No coins – Your wallet should never contain coins. If you have them keep them in the bottom of your pocket (loose), but never in your wallet. At least it is physically impossible for you to keep them in your money clip
• Keep the big notes on the outside – Have your money folded directly in half with your biggest notes on the outside of the bunch. These should be the ones that are visible
• Keep some “artificial notes” – by artificial I mean that I try to keep 1 or 2 (or even more, depending on what your comfortable with) $100 notes on the outside of my roll. These are more for aesthetic purposes than anything else. When all the notes on the “inside get used” I will get more out and always keep these outer ones there. This is a big point that helps with power and prosperity traits in your subconscious mind
• Keep your most frequently used 1, 2 or 3 cards only – I keep ONLY the cards that I use or need ALL the time. All others I keep at home and take them only if I know I will need to use them for the day

My Money Clip example

Below Is what I will keep in my money clip (3 cards):

• My ID
• My swipe card to enter my apartment building
• Sufficient cash that I believe will get me through the day (or night) depending on where I am going
• 1 credit card for back up
• My artificial $100 notes for the outer of my role

Take Action

1.       Buy a money clip. Or at least a slim line wallet that won’t allow more than 3 or 4 cards in and certainly no coins. Even if it is just a cheap one of Ebay to get you started, trust me you will notice the difference

2.       Follow the 4 steps in the “The Rules” section above to organize your money clip

3.       Take it out with you, next time you go somewhere. Just start on the weekend when you are out on a social gathering, and eventually incorporate it into your everyday life

What do you think? What sort of wallet do you use? Do you usually keep lots of cash on you or just rely on credit cards?

Learn to dress with style right away!

There I was sitting in my first year college exams, sweating, and moving around with “nervous” written all over my face. I kept on going over and over in my mind “should I do it?” “should I do it?”

Do what you ask?

Under my sleeve, I had written every answer a friend had given me the night before to help me get through the exam.

The problem

Now this is wrong isn’t it?….because it is copying (or cheating). But here’s the thing: To learn everything that I needed, would have taken in excess of days….where as what my friend told me (and I wrote on my arm) took less than an hour and could eventually give me the same result.

Unfortunately, from a young age, all during school we are taught that copying is wrong.

The Solution

But, as most of you could be aware that it is the opposite to this as you get older, which makes it a lot easier for everyone.

By this I mean:

The quickest way to learn to dress with style is to copy someone!

So copy your friend who you know has style and puts a lot of time looking for the latest trends, copy someone that you don’t even know, but respect the way he dresses and holds himself, or even copy someone from Hollywood be it a Clooney, Pitt or Bana, If you want to get more adventurous.

Next Actions

1. So find someone that you want to look like, or that you know/think has style and take notice of what they are wearing, how they are wearing it, and why they are wearing it. A lot of it has to do with the mannerisms they also use, so take note of these. If you do the same or similar you will be Styling it up in no time.

I will be posting a follow up sometime in the future with online resources that I use with this approach with also.

Please comment below, if you have any further questions in relation to this post that I can address in the second part?