Men Style

A stylish man's clothes should not have symbols on them. No Ponies, No Alligators, No "D&G"s, nothing. Just clothes that fit properly and are put together in a unique and creative (and reasonable) way.

A button-up shirt, whether it be a spread collar "tie-shirt" or a laid back button-down-collar oxford, looks goofy when it has a symbol - especially when worn with a tie. Symbols take away from your look, they do not add to it. The attention is inevitably taken away from your outfit, however unique or stylish, and is put on the commonality of the brand you are accidentally showing-off.

You want people to say "he always dresses well...I wonder where he shops", rather than "oh, he's just wearing another same-old insert-brand-here shirt". You already paid for the shirt, you didn't sign a contract to advertise for the company too.

Come to think of it, most high-end designers don't even put symbols on their clothing. Instead, they let the clothing speak for itself...and let you speak with them by putting them together in creative and unique ways.

While I think a blank chest is better in any occasion, the only piece of clothing that is symbol-acceptable is a polo shirt - which may or may not be due to a lack of a really good clean-chested polo brand. Nevertheless, men have a large selection of summer chest ornaments to choose from - from Brooks Brothers' suspended sheep, to Ralph Lauren's little horse-riding-polo-player, to John Varvatos' two-finger piece sing, to Hickie's cannabis plant...just to name of few.

Interestingly, each symbol has its own unique "image" that subconsciously "says something" about you when people see it on your chest...(post coming soon on logo symbolism).

Thanks for reading. Keep it clean chested, Style Blogger.