Opinions from women who like men that look nice and know what they’re doing

Another guest post, this time from my friends and authors of "life, capitalized." Here, they given some thoughts on some common menswear mistakes that girls take notice of. If you're going to impress someone by how you dress, it might as well be someone who can get you laid.......am I wrong?

Guys who care about how they dress are attractive - that’s common knowledge.  Whether you’re male or female, when you see a dude that is owning his look and acting confidently, you respect it.  Unfortunately, some guys have yet to discover their personal fashion boundaries, thus creating some major cases of fashion faux pas.  The opinions below are from a group of six twenty-something females who wish the d-bag dressers would just do less.

1. The short-sleeved button-up shirt: this trend has been popping up all over lately as a casual hybrid of the t-shirt and long-sleeved button-up.  It says, “I like to look nice, but I also like a little arm breeze in the Midwestern summer heat.” No offense boys, but if you aren’t either a). an I-could-care-less-about-my-appearance hipster, b). a 65-year-old grandfather, or c). a beach dweller in California, you probably look dumb.  Don’t dress like your Grandpa Virgil, and don’t dress like a skinny dude who wears women’s jeans.  Extend your sleeves to your wrists and move on from this stage in your life. 

People who get it wrong:

2. Tight clothing - you know when you see a girl wearing an obviously too-tight outfit (not in a good way) and you can’t unsee it and you don’t appreciate it?  That happens to girls, too.  It’s a simple concept, really: dress appropriately for your size.  For example, about 1% of men can successfully wear super tight pants, and most of that 1% is made up of male celebs like Beckham and McConaughey.  If you haven’t done something about the extra lb’s you gained in college from too many Keystones, that’s a personal problem.  But go up a size in your pants and stop sharing your male camel toe with the world. Thanks in advance. 

3. Shoes - just because they’re the closest thing to the ground doesn’t mean we can’t see them, dudes.  Don't wear old, gross tennis shoes, especially not with jeans (see #5 for more on this).  Don’t ever wear black tennis shoes; instead wear cool ones from Nike or New Balance.  Or wear nice dress shoes.  Or wear loafers if the occasion is appropriate.  But don’t wear shoes that you might find on a child or an elderly man.  Isn’t there a saying about ‘dressing your age, not your shoe size?’ Yeah, this applies to literal footwear. 

Casually cool Adidas, featuring Josh Duhamel.  We approve. 

4. A well-tailored suit is to women what lingerie is to men.  Enough said. 

5. Jeans - Guys wear jeans about 99% of the time they are outside of work. So maybe drop some money on some dark jeans and quit resorting to $35 pairs from a department store that make you have either a). a mom butt or b). high waters. Don't even attempt to pull off ones with shading, embellishment, intentional holes or anything like that. Just normal, nicely-fitted jeans.  We suggest Nordstrom, because it is our fashion Mecca for all ages/sizes/genders/humans. 

Here’s an example of a well-fitting pair of rag & bone jeans on what appears to be a suave male model:

Available at Nordstrom. Go figure.

6. At the end of the day, just care enough about what you wear.  Don't try too hard and get caught up in crispy hair gel or Armani cologne overload, but look like a man (not too metro) and give a damn about what you wear. 

There you have it - some gentle tips for men who try to incorporate trends into their closet without asking the internal question of, “will I look like an a-hole if I wear this?”  We’re always here to help. In the meantime, we will try to follow our advice and not attempt to dress like the Hollywood stars we envy; fewer rompers and pantsuit attempts. We apologize for all of female-kind for confusing you with these onesie-like fashion statements.

PS: Two of the contributors, K & H, blog over at “life, capitalized.” So check them out if you like things related to booze or Ryan Gosling.  Or both. 

Pictures-source, source, source