Style

you have it

Best dressed and style are terms that are bandied about a lot in men’s fashion mags like GQ, Esquire, Men’s Vogue et al. There are actual lists that constantly tally up those actors/musicians/celebrities that are deemed to dress well, be sartorially elegant, dapper even and given a style cache. They have ‘style’. These lists are updated constantly through the year. Do these lists really have any meaning? How does one get selected to be on such a list? Is it just me or do these lists seem overly populated by celebrities that suddenly have something to sell in that season — a new album, a new movie, whatever. These lists are just marketing gimmicks for the fashion houses and brands. Wear this jacket that was worn by celebrity XYZ on the cover of GQ, and you will instantaneously be transported into a realm of exquisite style and chic. You will be admired as the epitome of style by everyone in your coterie. There will be songs and paeans sung to celebrate your sartorial elegance. I exaggerate a wee bit there but you get the meaning.

Everyone on these lists is wearing expensive designer duds, with stylists falling over themselves to zap and make them look oh sooo perfect, clothing tailor made by fashion houses to fit them as perfectly as possible, with an eye towards the invaluable marketing exposure that this entails. Copying them blindly is not style. You can certainly keep up with the trends or see what new things are being thought up by all of those fashion mavens. You can gain ‘inspiration’ from them. But ultimately they do not know you. You know yourself and you are the ultimate arbiter of your style. Style is about wearing clothes well, as well as putting them together in interesting and intriguing ways. Style is about discernment and comfort. It is about matching and mis-matching, working with colors, patterns, fabric, the things you leave out, the accessories you use, and eventually how you carry them off. Style is about grace. Style is not about good looks or being built like Adonis. Style is about being so comfortable in what you wear that you turn the age old saying — “clothes make the man” upside down. You make the clothes. Yes, you the person reading this. You make them clothes look good because you wear them and carry them off with style. You dont need to be a celebrity or even wear designer clothing.

Open your eyes. Find your own style. You have it! Let it out! Flaunt it! Exult in it! Celebrate it!