Guide to Men's Style

Guide to Men's Style Better Audra: A lot of us ladies have already checked out the fall shopping deals but we can’t say the same for a lot of the men in our lives, some of them, so here to help, get him off the couch and get him out of his shorts it’s Tom Julian, he’s the author of the Nordstrom Guide to Men’s Style. He’s got the top five trends for men this year, welcome to the show Tom. Tom: Great to be here. Audra: You’ve been a busy guy in the past few months, right by this book. Tom: Trying to write a book, trying to get some headlines out there for all the real men and upgrade their wardrobes a bit. Audra: The first thing I thought off when I saw this book was is do you guys really fit into this one, two, or three boxes. No, they kind of have a different variation in their styles so how do you narrow everything down into just one book and the cover really says it all, right. Tom: It does when you look at the cover we really wanted to express different lifestyles, different ways of dressing from corporate to creative, from weekend to day time and it really is about mixing and matching and even though in the book we tried to define four lifestyles, luxury, classic, contemporary and trend. We have a little quiz for guys to take. We believe the guys are probably two of these lifestyles and their closets thinking reflect that. So you might like luxury product but you still want some classy things. You might be a little trendy but you still want to be a little contemporary and safe. So when you mix it up that way the book really illustrates how to build your wardrobe around that. Audra: And speaking of illustrations, let’s take a look at some photos here because there’s a couple of different trends or classes, I guess you shouls say that some men fall in. Tom: Yeah. Audra: The first one is the hybrids and this one is really good for multitasking, right? Tom: Yeah what we’ve seen is that tapered clothing has become more functional and what we call the hybrid jacket is a jacket that might be work inside or outside. You are able to wear it in a dressy way or a casual way. So this is a great value item and you might see them with buttons or zippers. Some may look like a sport coat but some may look like an outerwear jacket. Audra: Right. Tom: So this is a big trend for fall and it’s great investment piece for a guy. Audra: Okay, another great investment piece for a guy which most probably wouldn’t think off is plaid and this is not your average everyday lumberjack these guy is looking good over here. Tom: That’s right. Audra: So how do you change this up? Tom: Well what’s great about plaids now is the kind of modern, they’re crisp, they’re brightly colored and they’re not so as you said country so what we like is to be able to take a contemporary idea like a western style shirt with snaps and patch pockets and then give it a shot of a new brightly colored plaid so here you see we’re showing it a little bit with jeans, a layered net and this is a plaid shirt that also can probably work under a navy blazer and jeans for a night out on the town. Audra: Because you also suggest that you don’t have to have just the full on plaid shirt, it could just be the cuffs. Tom: Oh yeas. Audra: You can see them there too, right? Tom: Right now you’re seeing a lot of fun shirts where there is just plaid on the inside of the collar of the neck and the cuff. Audra: I like that, okay let’s move on to work wear. Tom: Yes. Audra: Now when I looked at this picture. The first thing I didn’t think necessarily work wear but then I got it once I read the description of it so. Tom: Work wear is all about utility pieces, they are very durable and well constructed and what we see here is the vest. You know this is almost like a worker’s vest. It’s a tattered clothing vest but it’s very functional as an outerwear piece and then all of a sudden we said okay well with that you’ve got to put some durable pieces with it like the dark denim jeans and the scarf and the net. So when it comes to work wear pieces just think in terms of they’re functional, they’re utilitarian, they’re probably all in natural fiber so it’s easy to take care of them and it’s a little more of that rugged influence for the city guy. Audra: And you can take off, change different pieces here and there and make it work for the rest of the day. Tom: That particular vest you might be able to wear with a sport coat and an open collar shirt. Audra: Okay, now look hard again. The evolution of the cardigan shall we say very outdoor friendly type of clothe, piece of clothing a guy should all have. Tom: Yeah a lot of guys think that the cardigan is grandpa sweater. Well the cardigan is marva now. It’s newly designed and what we’re showing you is zip front cardigan. It’s a great wide well which means it has got more texture and what’s very cool as a lot of these zip sweaters now fills it from the top and the bottom for more functionality.. Audra: Okay. Tom: So we like the idea of the cardigan sweater because it can be an outerwear piece and given no matter where you live in a country, it’s a great item when that Indian summer weather moves in. Audra: Right and then if you don’t just do anything else, Tom said it, I’m saying it now you got to invest in a good suit. Tom: Yes. Audra: And because of the fact that now things are a little more casual a lot of guys have not been able to do that, right. Tom: Right now we’re encouraging guys to think about tattered clothing and making a really good investment and everyone says, “Well what do I need to do?” Most men have always worn a three-button suit and that was very indicative of the 90s and the 2000 well now we’re trying to say go to a leaner silhouette. Go to something that’s two-button and maybe consider something like a three-piece suit where you have the versatility of pieces. You can wear these pieces all separately. Audra: Right. Tom: And you can dress it up or dress it down. Audra: And I’m loving the vest too, this is a great book, congratulations. Tom: Great thank you. Audra: Nordstrom really well so we see why so thank you very much Tom. Tom: Good to be here. Audra: Alright if you guys want to clean up your guy and get them looking stylish and fabulous, this season you an pick up a copy of Tom’s book, it’s called Nordstrom’s Guide to Men’s Style and it’s available now.