Men's Style Guide: Distressed Fashion
Distressed has long been a buzz word in the fashion business
, especially when men are involved. Pieces that are beat up and stripped down always convey that macho image, the sense of being ready for anything. You end up looking like the tough guy who's seen it all and lived to tell the tale. Distressed styles are a little harder to pull off than you might expect, but it's one that any modern man can master.
Beat Up the Base Layers
Every guy starts his distressed journey with that first layer of garb, and you probably will too. It's easiest to deal with shirts and tees and jeans since they're cheap and easy to get; if the style doesn't work out for you, that $15 shirt or $75 pair of jeans won't be do any long-term damage.
It's tempting to play around with ripped up pants. You've seen them before on hobos and more than a few celebrities when they get caught by the paparazzi. Besides, they look damn comfortable. But the truly stylish man doesn't have to resort to wearing Salvation Army castoffs to look cool and macho. All it needs is a little color play.
You'll notice - this season, in particular - that numerous brands are stocking up on items that are 'washed,' 'aged' or simply 'distressed'. They're all different names for the same thing: old-looking, beat up-feeling fashion. They're also the equally stylish alternative to ripped up jeans and shirts if you want to look laid back but don't want to show any skin. Faded colors and irregular bleaching are trademarks of this breed of clothing.
Faded and washed jeans are the easiest to find; a light enough wash with odd bleaching gets the job done. One alternative, though, is to look for dark chinos. Many brands like Dockers and American Eagle are coming up with washed chinos that have a darker base color with splotches and age marks on the fabric.
By and large, though, the pieces should fit just like any other item in your wardrobe, no matter how distressed you're trying to make things. A great fitting shirt and pants that drape just right will keep you from looking outright sloppy. There's a difference between looking relaxed and coming across rubbishy.
Aged Accessories
Most of the accessories you find in the stores are very generic: sleek bags and shiny new shoes. Those kinds of things are fine, only you end up looking like every other guy who goes to the office. Give yourself a bit of a veteran air with accessories and extra pieces that are aged and distressed; you'll look that much more deserving of the corner office.
Shoes are a particularly easy place to start adding some age to your style. There's already a premium on beat-up men's sneakers; just ask anybody who's owned Chuck Taylors for more than a couple of years. For the office, distressed shoes mean brown shoes that have a bit of tarnish to them. Black shoes aren't as easy because the distressing process can make them look simply dirty and unmaintained.
A patina on brown lace-ups is the ideal pair of distressed shoes, especially if they're of the wing tip variety. You could wait five years or so for a brand new pair to acquire that kind of individuality - the older the better - but some makers already sell their shoes pre-treated to age them. It's the same story elsewhere.
Have you always lusted after a too-expensive accessory at the department store? You now have more reason to get it secondhand. Saks is stocking up on wrinkly linen blazers, aged leather jackets and patinaed calfskin bags. The ageing process gives all of these items new color and depth that any man could use in his wardrobe.
A word of warning: distressed style can be overdone. Like with color and pattern, try to keep just one or two aged and distressed pieces in any outfit. It gets the point across without your having to look aged and distressed as a whole.
by: Hendrik Pohl
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