Blue is the colour
A COMMON complaint when it comes to menswear is that there isn’t enough variety (with the exception of T-shirts, which we’ve omitted here because, frankly, you’re spoiled for choice).
While women can pick from skirts, dresses, shorts and jeans (not to mention the wide array of hybrid items: jegging, skort and so on), men’s wardrobes are often limited to smart-casual – think jeans, chinos, T-shirts and short-sleeved shirts – and formal – the odd suit, ties and, if they’re very daring, a cravat. So what can you do to liven up a wardrobe that is, for a large proportion of men out there, akin to a social uniform?
Don’t worry – we’re not going to suggest you start wearing pyjama shorts and shirts, such as those shown at Topman’s autumn/winter show; nor are we here to recommend huge deviations from what has become a comfortable, if slightly jaded, norm.
Blue is, in fact, for the male of the species. At birth, baby boys are swaddled in blue clothes; as you grow up, you are presented with blue runners, blue dungarees and blue peaked caps.
Blue jeans are an ode to relaxed Americana, while blue denim shirts are still seen as being a little bit “Deep South”: for blond, blue-eyed, cornfed boys.
These items take the idea of the traditional boys’ blue and exaggerate it.
From a light sky blue we have moved to cobalt; these items can be mixed and matched with more muted tones of navy, black, white and beige for a pop of colour that will be noticed, but, crucially, won’t draw too much attention.
Swap out your beige chinos for Gucci’s bright blue; take off your everyday navy sweater and try out Tommy Hilfiger’s baby blue knit for size.
They say a change is as good as a rest – but boys, we like you just the way you are, so try not to change too much.
What does your underwear say about you?
IF DAVID BECKHAM’S cotton boxers for HM are anything to go by (right), Beckham is an uptight individual who does very little sitting down and favours his boxers with added sound effects of the crunching variety.
What you wear underneath your cobalt blue chinos may not say a lot about you, but it will give a certain impression – and there are several rules of thumb worth taking into consideration from the get-go.
Designer labels are all well and good – although arguments about the quality will fall on deaf ears. How much quality does one need in one’s underwear, after all? But wearing boxers with “Calvin Klein” emblazoned on the waistband is just not okay, unless you’re Marky Mark and it’s 1990 again.
