An old Apparel Arts illustration from the 1940s by the late Laurence Fellows, showing a variety of 'looks' to which we might aspire in our quest to spruce ourselves up beyond the bare slob minimum that is so common these days.
Happy New Year everyone! In 2013, let's redouble our efforts to dress better and behave more nicely, not because it's required, but because doing so makes us better company. And frankly, we should simply make these efforts for ourselves, even when we are alone.
Dressing well boosts one's confidence level appreciably in almost any situation, and that ain't a bad thing.
With that in mind, here are ten related thoughts that have occurred to me during the last week. For 2013, let's make a concerted effort to cultivate higher degrees of the following in our dress and conduct:
1) Elegance.
2) Refinement
3) Ease.
4) Comfort.
5) Urbanity.
6) Nonchalance.
7) Good Taste (not as subjective as many might have us believe).
8) Sophistication.
9) Politeness.
10) Clever Wit.
In other words, guys, we're adults. Let's make a conscious and concerted effort to move away from the backwards baseball caps, over-sized basketball shorts, ubiquitous saggy sweatpants , and the related "bro culture" behavior of our high school and college years. Instead, let's start dressing like serious, purposeful adult men with some style, who know how to dress and act in any situation. Think Sean Connery in the early James Bond films, Craig Stevens in the old Peter Gunn TV series, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, or Cary Grant in anything. You can't go wrong emulating guys like these.
A final Laurence Fellows illustration, also dating from the 1940s.
The last two are definitely Fellows—they're signed—but I don't think the first one is.
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