Bassil - AskMen.com Presents The Style Bible

As boys, we are taught that masculinity and a concern for style are incompatible. Fashion is the domain of the woman, and too early an immersion in it might put us on the path to becoming sissies. This idea is hammered into us by our fathers and friends throughout childhood and adolescence, typically until we reach our early twenties. Then, an abrupt and complete reversal in philosophy is thrust upon us. Suddenly, image is everything, shoes make the man, and women love a well-dressed man. We set out on scrambled shopping trips to get ourselves up to date, but, with no acquired style savvy to steer us, we mistakenly let ourselves be guided only by price tags and our favorite colors. The unhappy result? A generation of men that spends too much money on clothes that dont look good on them.

Clearly, this is not a sustainable state of affairs. We need to remedy it. Now, were not about to suggest that men set about raising their sons differently, because we think were generally doing a good job at that. What we will do, however, is provide males with the information that they need to make it through that troubling transition from not knowing how to dress to knowing how to dress.

How do we know what information you need? Well, at AskMen.com, weve been receiving your style-related questions for years now. Every day, were hit with e-mails asking how long pants should be, what appropriate office wear is, and how to match that shirt with those pants. In fact, the volume and variety of your style queries is rivaled only by that of your sex queries (and you send us a lot of sex queries). So weve had plenty of direction in assembling the first and last fashion book youll ever need: AskMen.coms Style Bible .

The 11 rules that comprise the Style Bible will take you through every step in assembling the complete male wardrobe. We know that you are not interested in boring historical backgrounds, so we will stick to the practical, functional advice: the tips that you will be able to apply immediately so that you can begin to enjoy the benefits of this book before you even finish reading it. And by the time you have closed the back cover, you may want to learn more, but you will not need to. Your closet will be stocked full of all the clothes you need, all of which will fit and flatter you perfectly. Women will notice this. You will have the knowledge to replenish that closet when the time comes. And you will have saved yourself a bundle in the process, having spared yourself from future useless trial-and-error purchases.

In short, you will save money and impress women. Only good will come of reading this book. So lets not delay ourselves any further. Well start with the primary rule of dressing well: dressing for oneself.

I n the world of popular culture, fashion is almost always displayed against the canvas of other people. What is considered current or trendy is invariably a question of who is wearing it, whether that who is a model on a foreign runway or a celeb on television. In this climate, its easy to lose sight of the fact that true style resides in accommodating individuality, rather than blindly following the lead of others.

That last phrase has become something of a clich, but one worthy of reexamination because it is so commonly misread. When we speak of individuality in fashion, were not referring to using ones wardrobe as a means to showcase ones independence (by, for example, wearing purple snakeskin boots as a fierce declaration of your free-thinking ways). Nor are we referring to eschewing popular trends simply because they are popular. What we are advocating is the simple act of setting oneself as the primary criterion in dictating what one wears. In other words, dont wear the color purple because everyone in London or Milan is wearing purple. Wear the color purple because youve researched what colors match your skin type and the rest of your wardrobe, and purple came out near the top of the list.

Getting to know yourself in a style sense is not an overnight process. It takes time and experimentation and you will make plenty of mistakes along the way. But the rewards are many. The man who is conscious of his own style walks with confidence, because he knows that his garments do not look awkward on him. His shopping excursions are much less exasperating than those of other men, because he knows exactly what suits him and does not need to waste his time discovering as much through dressing room trial and error. And his wardrobe is perfectly streamlined: devoid of those orphan garments that are worn once and then never again, and filled with clothes that will prove useful for years to come. And his bank account is all the healthier for it.

Your first step toward becoming that man consists in determining the style of clothes that best suit your physical body type.

Although Thomas Jefferson decreed that all men are created equal, when it comes to body type and clothing, that bold statement is simply untrue. Knowing how to dress for your body type as well as which styles to avoid is the key to honing your personal style.

One thing to always keep in mind when shopping for new clothes is that the fit of the garment is its ultimate test. If an expensive jacket just isnt right for your body, its going to look bad no matter what the price tag. Conversely, a cheaper jacket that accentuates your assets and disguises the things you dont love about yourself will make you look like a million bucks even without a million-dollar price tag. So to learn about how to dress for your body type, how to find the clothes that are most flattering for you, and how to avoid the most common body-type faux pas men make, read on.

The Bulky Man

Buy clothes that fit trimly

Many bulkier fellows mistakenly believe that tight clothing will smother imperfections and flatten out pudgy shapes. However, tight clothing will only draw attention to your flabby bits. In a similar vein, other plus-size men believe baggy clothing will hide bulges. Not so. Overly large clothes will only make you look even bigger. The secret to looking slimmer is to choose clothes that are neither tight nor baggy, meaning that all your clothes should just skim your body without hugging it too closely.

THE LARGER MAN: TIPS FOR A GOOD FIT

Avoid any sweater, blazer, or shirt with naturally sloped shoulders because these tend to attract the eye right down to your mid-section.

Jackets should be well adjusted around your waist area and should fall right below your buttocks.

Trousers should be worn on your hips, preferably with a low-rise, which is a shorter distance between the top of the waistband and the crotch of your pants.

Avoid letting your belly stick out over your pants; this lengthens your torso and shortens your legs, resulting in a very unattractive combination.

Stay away from horizontal stripes

If theres a little more of you to love, particularly in the stomach area, avoid any kind of horizontal stripe. While youre at it, avoid diagonal stripes too. Both draw attention to the span of your chest. What you should wear with pride, however, are shirts and trousers with vertical stripes. Vertical stripes draw the eye downward, elongating your silhouette and visually slimming it. Pinstripe suits are the perfect dress-up clothes for you, especially paired with a crisp black dress shirt underneath. Pinstripe dress shirts will also look great when mixed with dark jeans or black trousers. For casual wear, try to find a pair of dark corduroys with slim stripes that are made from thin material.