Top 8 Gentlemen Styles You Need to Know

Are you a man about town? Do you want to dress to impress? Are David Beckham and Jon Hamm your style icons?

Then you are a 21st-century gentleman.

Dressing in gentlemen’s styles is not easy nowadays. Black-tie events are few and far between, and it is somehow acceptable to attend weddings in white sneakers. But at the same time, you do not want to appear stuffy and elitist.

You want to clean up your look, dress your best and make great first impressions. As they say, what you see on the outside reflects what is on the inside.

Here are the top gentlemen’s style tips for you to follow. They will help you choose the right outfits for the right events and keep you looking sharp 24/7.

1. Know How to Style a Suit

Pulling off any of the modern gentlemen’s styles means knowing how to wear a suit. You have to nail a suit if you want to become a sharp dresser.

And you do not need to have a wardrobe full of tailored suits to achieve this. You only need one well-fitting suit.

Opt for a classic dinner suit. It should be midnight blue (or at least dark) with satin lapels, single-breasted, and two buttons. You can still buy off the rack but get your suit adjusted, so it is a perfect fit.

2. Keep Accessories Minimal and High-Quality

You may think women have a lot of accessory options, but men do too. If you walk into a department store without a plan, you may end up going overboard.

Buying that shell necklace, bandana, and pair of plastic sunglasses is fine if your goal is to look like a surfer in the 90s. But the key to pulling off one of the more refined men’s styles is to adopt the less-is-more mindset.

Invest in a high-quality dress watch that will last you years. Wear almost no jewelry and build a collection of ties.

The knitted tie is a great invention because they are more comfortable than satin and are perfect for smart-casual events.

Treat yourself to a pair of clean and classic white sneakers, black leather oxford shoes, and brown work boots. This is a good foundation of footwear that you can build on.

3. And Keep Your Underwear Simple, Too

Do not try and reinvent the wheel with underwear! Whether you are a boxer or brief man, keep up to 12 black pairs in your drawer and no more. Even better if they are all the same brand and style.

You need to wear white underwear if you wear white pants or shorts, which you should not do anyway. Black is a great color for most men’s styles and clothes because it hides many sins.

And why 12? 12 will help you stick to a once-a-week laundry schedule. Gentlemen do not let their hamper overflow; they are better than that.

4. Dress for Your Size

Think you cannot wear any gentlemen’s styles because of your size? Think again! You only need to learn how to wear them.

Tan, the style expert from the Netflix series Queer Eye, is famous for his “French tuck.” This is where you loosely tuck in the front of your casual shirt and leave the back out. It creates a nice silhouette without hugging your body.

Another tip is that your shoulder seam should always line up with your shoulder. Reality check: people will not think you look smaller because your shirt is two sizes too big.

Choose clothes that fit, and you will look sharper in an instance.

5. Understand Dress Code Levels

The dress code system might be archaic, but it is a system that we still use to some extent today. There are seven dress code levels, which are:

• White tie
• Black tie
• Creative black tie
• Semi-formal/business
• Business casual/smart casual
• Casual
• Ultra casual

Do your research of these manly styles of dress code and make sure you have an outfit in your wardrobe suitable for each one.

Feel free to skip the white tie option unless you regularly receive garden party invites from Buckingham Palace.

6. Create a Capsule Wardrobe

It is so much easier to dress well when you have a selection of versatile, go-to clothing items in your wardrobe that never go out of style. That is what a capsule wardrobe is. And all the items of clothing in your capsule wardrobe should match.

To start your capsule wardrobe with classic gentlemen styles, invest in the following:

• Tailored jacket
• Casual jacket (like a bomber jacket)
• Three shirts (more if you wear them to work)
• Four t-shirts
• One sweater
• One pair of khakis
• One pair of jeans
• One pair of shorts

Choose a color palette and only wear patterns on your top half. You can add more fashionable or seasonal pieces to your wardrobe, but having the basics will make dressing well so much easier.

7. Do Not Neglect Grooming

It does not matter how well you pull off a suit if you cannot master a basic hygiene routine. Good grooming habits are the most important part of any gentlemen’s style.

If you have a short hairstyle, visit your barbers every month to keep it neat. Learn how to use styling products, too. Either rock facial hair or be clean-shaven but never sport three-day stubble.

Choose a signature cologne, keep your nails clean and trimmed, and shower every day. It is that easy!

8. Learn the Rules Then Break Them

Watch any red carpet event from the last three years, and most men are not dressed in traditional black-tie attire. But they look phenomenal, polished, and noteworthy.

Take Chris Evans’s blue velvet blazer that he wore at the 2019 Academy Awards ceremony, for example. Men are experimenting with their style now more than ever, and that is something to embrace.

Gentlemen who know the rules have style, but gentlemen who know when (and how) to break them have a taste.

Revive Your Wardrobe With These Gentlemen Styles

Finding your style as a man can be difficult. You are so often told it is not masculine to care about clothes. But wanting to put your best foot forward by caring about your appearance will never go out of style.

And with these tips, you will nail all the top gentlemen’s styles and be the envy of your colleagues and peers.

Check out our other fashion articles for more tips and advice!