What Dressing Well Has Done For Me

This has been the biggest part of dressing well for me. When I put together an outfit that I really love, I feel like I’m on top of the world. It also gives me the feeling of knowing that I dressed better than every other man in the room. While this may not actually be the case, dressing well makes me feel that way. The phrase “look good, feel good” becomes a lot more real when you start dressing well. And it’s a major confidence booster that your peers will recognize.

What this confidence does, other than makes you feel good, is give you the motivation to try new styles and colors that you might not have otherwise tried. And that’s what keeps your style progressing.

While I’ve always loved clothes and dressing well, it doesn’t necessarily mean I talk about it much with my friends and colleagues much. But because they see me dress well, they automatically assume that I can give them advice. Which I love. So it’s not abnormal to get a random text by a friend with a picture of an outfit asking, “how does this look”?

A friend once reached out to me to help her choose socks for her husband-to-be to wear on their wedding day. I spent an hour researching this. True story.

Part of knowing what you really like means that you become picky and say no a lot. I am very picky about what I spend money on, clothing-wise. I would imagine my closet to be double the size if I wasn’t picky. And while being picky has lead me to mostly only buying items that I really like, it also means that it takes a lot longer for me to find particular items because I don’t want to settle. But it can be a pain in the ass too, because I’m impatient.

When Dwayne Hayes of STAND Magazine approached me and asked me to collaborate on the style section, I was shocked. What did I know about 1.) writing about style in a magazine, or 2.) modeling in a magazine? Well it was time to find out, and it’s been a great experience.

It was an odd feeling when I first saw myself in a printed magazine, but I got used to it and really enjoy it now. We have some cool ideas planned for the future. So go and subscribe! Seriously.

Dressing well is not an around the clock endeavor for me. And honestly, most days I really look forward to coming home, getting out of my day clothes, and throwing on sweats. Once I walk in the door, I no longer care about dressing well, and just want to throw on some sweat shorts, a Nike Dri-Fit t-shirt, and my slippers to lounge in. It’s a stark difference than what I walked out of the house in. And I love that.

While I’m being honest here, I’ll say that some days I really don’t feel like putting effort into an outfit. While I can still pull something that looks decent, it’s a day that I feel like nothing I put on makes me happy and/or fits my mood. Jeans and a henley become my go-to then.

Another way that I have an off day is if/when I’m skeptical about an outfit I’ve put together. But the only way to know if I really like it is to try it for a day. That doesn’t always work out in my favor, and it sucks to realize that after you’ve already left the house for the day.

Most people, including you, only see the outcome. And because we’re sharing our knowledge with you, it may come across as us making it look easy. But we have our battles with clothing and style too, and not everything we choose to wear turns out the way we expect it. And that’s what the style journey is all about, that we’re all in on together in our own right.