Antonio Centeno - Dress Like a Man: A Style Guide for Practical Men Wanting to Improve Their Professional Personal Appearance

A Man's Guide to Style

The Ultimate Fashion Book for Men

The web's best guide for men looking to dress sharp & use clothing to their advantage.

by

Antonio Centeno and Geoffrey Cubbage

illustrations by Anthony Tan and Ted Slampyak

Copyright 2013 Real Men Real Style

First Edition

Table of Contents

Congratulations!

Your purchase of A Man's Guide to Style comes with free poster-sized infographics from www.RealMenRealStyle.com .

We've included nine illustrated posters on everything from how to wear black tie to how to fold a suit jacket and how to tie your necktie eighteen different ways.

They're our gift to you, free with the purchase of this book.

To access the bonus posters, go to http://www.realmenrealstyle.com/dress-like-a-man-bonus/ and use the password " dresslikeaman" -- all one word and no capital letters.

Enjoy!

Every generation produces one or two style manuals that become true classics.

Men of the early 21st century -- this is one of yours.

We've taken full advantage of the e-book format to cram as much information into this work as possible. Bound and published, it would rival some textbooks for weight. You could do some serious damage swinging it around.

But instead of straining your wrists, you can swipe through effortlessly on your tablet or your phone. Ain't technology something?

This isn't some Amazon quick read, or a preview to get you to buy a real book. It's everything you need to know about menswear, condensed into one e-book and sold for the lowest price possible. We made it good and we made it affordable because we want to impress you.

So read on. And be impressed.

This isn't a book you sit down and read in one go. It's much too big for that.

Believe us when we tell you up front -- this thing's too big to tackle all at once.

So relax. Take it slow. Browse around a bit. Make full use of the ebook format. Sections are interlinked so that you can skip easily from one to the next. We recommend it.

Some of this stuff gets pretty technical. Don't overwhelm yourself. If you're getting bored reading about the difference between vented and unvented jackets, or worsted versus flannel wool, stop reading. There's not going to be a quiz at the end.

This is your book. Enjoy it.

Men's style: why bother?

It's a natural question, especially if your idea of "style" comes from runway shows.

But there's more to menswear than experimental fashions on unhealthily slender models.

Upgrading your look can lead to big rewards, even for casually-dressed men who don't face a professional dress code. Here are just a few of the reasons style matters for all men:

A good outfit opens doors, literally and figuratively.

From getting past the bouncer and skipping the line at a nightclub to being invited up to the boss's office for a private chat about pay, you're going to go further in a nice jacket and slacks than you are in blue jeans and a flannel.

People assume that a man who's dressing better than the men around him is doing it for a reason. You might not actually have a reason, beyond wanting to look good -- but that won't stop people from assuming that you're a person of consequence.

Turns out, a little bit of favorable assumption goes a long way.

Perceptions of wealth, status, and influence are deeply ingrained in our society. You can like it or not, but it's how the world works .

When you look "respectable," people assume as a default that you're an okay guy. Yo u can always prove them wrong (being a well-dressed jerk won't hide the fact that you're a jerk for long) but you start with a favorable baseline impression.

Guys who don't dress well, on the other hand, don't get any benefit of the doubt, and they may even face negative attention. If you're looking sloppy in an upscale setting, or dre ssing like someone's idea of a student or a child, you can expect to be treated with dismissal or outright hostility at least some of the time.

It'd be nice if we lived in a world where every man was judged solely by his actions, regardless of his appearance. But we don't -- so go ahead and make life easier on yourself by dressing nicely as a habit.

Other people's perceptions matter -- but so do your own!

Personal appearance has a well-established "talisman effect." If you believe that you're dressing like someone successful, it has an actual, positive effect on your own performance.

One of the more interesting studies on the subject, done at Northwestern University, showed that participants scored higher on math/science tests when they were given a doctor's white lab coat to wear -- but scored lower when given the same coat and told that it was an artist's smock.

The same principles apply to business and social clothing. When you take the time to put yourself together in a way that you know looks attractive and impressive, you actually start acting more like an attractive, impressive kind of guy.

Dressing well is not all that challenging.

But it does require a little attention to detail. And when you're buying nice clothes you're more inclined to take good care of them than when you're wearing any old thing, so along the way you start to pick up some good habits.

Organizing your closet, thinking about patterns and colors, cleaning and maintaining items with different requirements -- it all helps make you a more careful, thoughtful person overall.

It's why the military places such a heavy emphasis on appearance. Soldiers who get in the habit of doing things 100% perfect the first time, even when it's as unimportant a task as shining their shoes, are soldiers who are less likely to screw things up when important things (like their lives) are on the line.

Realtors use the concept of "curbside appeal" to talk about whether or not a house stands out to casual passers-by.

Your appearance works the same way. If you're dressed sharp, you have "curbside appeal." You stand out. People notice you, and like what you see.

Most of the time, you're only going to be impressing strangers. But you never know who you're going to meet, or where, and if you're well-dressed as a general habit, you never have to worry about that one chance meeting with a boss, a respected peer, a potential romantic interest, or even a rival that you don't want to embarrass yourself in front of.

You'll also be reaping the usual benefits of dressing well, of course -- additional respect, the assumption that you're a fine, upstanding citizen, and all that good stuff. But equally importantly, you'll be prepared to impress anyone you need to, at all times, without advance warning.

So let's look back over our list here.

We've got personal and professional advancement, social advantages, self-improvement, good mental training, and constant "curbside appeal" from dressing well -- and that's just the first few examples.