#rolled me eyes at a lot of men wearing untucked dress shirts with formal shoes and jeans | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thebridgelee-blog · 7 years ago

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An Effortless Look+How to Have It

Hello everyone! By now, I have quite a bit of posts up on this blog, teaching all my fellow men about men style, but one thing I feel that I have not stressed enough (while I do stress it all the time), is looking effortless. What do I mean by this? Skipping the usual crazy introductory paragraph (seems fitting for a post about being effortless), I would like to go straight to the point and simply say that looking effortless is about looking really amazing, without making people think you did so much to achieve this outfit. While I have taught a thing or two about this, sometimes stressing that wearing a single bracelet is enough, I deem that an outfit as an example would be beneficial for my readers to fully grasp the meaning of looking effortless, so here is one.

For this look, which I styled on the day I went to my cousin’s son’s baptism after-party, I wore this very flowy off-white long-sleeve mandarin collar button-up shirt from H&M, of which I rolled the sleeves. I also paired it with my very basic medium-washed blue jeans from Lee. Then to give the outfit some flare, I added some accessories, but kept them to a minimum to still have that effortless feel. I wore my Skagen watch and my favorite marble beaded bracelet. For my shoes, I chose my light grey rubber shoes from Reebok. To finish the look, I grabbed my new dark blue envelope bag from Pedro. (It is surprisingly big in the inside, despite its very sleek features; so it was truly a very good investment for me, plus it was on sale when I purchased it!)

My theories/tips that were applied to this outfit to truly give it that effortless look!

Tip#1-Mix a combination of formal and casual pieces

This is something I do not normally do because I love wearing t-shirts more than button-ups. However, I truly believe mixing a formal looking button-up shirt (even if it is slightly informal because of the mandarin collar) and a casual piece such as jeans always reads as effortless! It simply just looks as if you closed your eyes and grabbed whatever is in your closet. Now that’s effortless, even if you did take time to choose between which color of button up shirt to wear.

Tip#2-Roll the sleeves

Nothing says work more than a button up shirt with long sleeves unrolled and ironed. While I do encourage ironing your clothes, rolling the sleeves is a good way to instantly let everyone know you dress effortlessly, even if it did take a minute to roll the sleeves.

To learn how to roll the sleeves without looking like a hot mess, here is a video by Antonio from Real Men Real Style. I find this video very helpful. Antonio calls the roll I did in this outfit as the Master Roll. Go check it out!

Tip#3-Keep your shirt untucked

Nothing says effortless than a shirt that is meant to be tuck and is not. While I do not recommend doing this with dress shirts in formal events or simply with dress shirts that look too long when not tucked in. I do love the look when it just looks right, considering extended tees are a thing now. Plus, this gives the shirt the opportunity to flow with the wind, which leads me to my next tip.

Tip#4-Wear flowy shirts with well-fitted jeans

Lately, I have been obsessing over my newer shirts which all have the relaxed fit to them, which I pair with well-fitted jeans to keep the look put together. While normally a guy would opt for something tight to show off his physique, lately I am more into just looking relaxed whilst looking attractive nonetheless. You will know a shirt fits really well when it drops on your body in a very relaxed not fitted way, yet almost like it was made for you. There is simply no other word for this but to say that the garment drops and hangs beautifully on your body, and flows in the wind. When you find a garment like this, you win in life, I am telling you. Nothing says care-free like wind flowing through fabric.

Tip#5-Keep your accessories to a minimum

One watch, one bracelet. That’s it. This gives off the “hey, I know how to dress well” look, but without the “I try too hard” look. It also helps when the accessories you use are the ones you use often, so that it will not come off as if you are wearing it simply for the aesthetics and not because you like wearing bracelets and watches generally. This is unless you are already known for having a collection of watches and bracelets. If not, however, it is still by no means wrong to switch up the accessories once in a while.

Tip#6-Have a nice staple bag

If there is one thing that instantly changes the overall look of an outfit, it is a bag. While I do encourage having a collection of usable bags, for the sake of this tutorial, it is best to only use one to two bags to really show that you are using this bag more than just for accessorizing, but mainly for function. For my case, I have a lot of bags, which I love switching out. However, I still achieve the effortless look because I have already established the fact that I love bringing envelope bags, so it does not seem that I try too hard to switch them out from time to time. Remember, the goal is to give everyone the impression that you are being natural, so this does not happen over night. If you wish to start doing a certain trend which normally a person in your area does not do, it is best to introduce your new look to people slowly and subtly.

Tip#7-Wear rubber shoes

Similar to tip#1, wearing rubber shoes with dressier items, just brings the formality a bit lower to give that put together look a more casual appearance. While I do not recommend really loud neon collectors’ rubber shoes (unless you collect them as a hobby, which by all means, do so), a good simple pair would really bring down the formality while still keep the style elevated or even elevate it a bit more. There is just something about looking casually put together that gives off the feel of class.

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