From the Ground Up: Socks

I know this might be a bit weird. You might be thinking "How can you do a whole post on socks?" Well let me tell you, there are a few rules about socks, but this is going to be one of my shorter posts. Here are four rules to remember when wearing socks:

1. White at the gym, Black & Gray everywhere else White socks are alright to wear 24/7 when you're little, but now it's time to upgrade your wardrobe. There are plenty of places to buy black and gray socks. I bought a bundle of gray socks at H&M that have a colored stripe around the top to keep them in pairs.
2. Spice it up with some color Never be afraid to buy bold colors. Especially now with men dressing up everyday, it doesn't hurt to be bold. If I saw someone rest their foot on the knee and I saw a bright red sock, I wouldn't be like "Dude, slow your row". I would like "That's what's up!" and give him a high-five. 
3. Matching never hurt It never hurts to match your socks with a pocket square or with your tie. It will show people not only did you take the time to put this outfit together, but that you thought ahead of time to buy colors that coordinate.
4. No socks? A very new trend is to rock dress shoes with no socks. Certain shoes look good without socks so use this lightly. If perfected, you will look super clean.

That's all I have on socks. I told you it would be a shorter post. Feel free to leave a comment with thoughts or other suggestions.

From the Ground Up: Shoes

Seeing as this series is called "From the Ground Up", I thought it would be fitting to start with the first thing that hits the pavement when you step outside. In my opinion, shoes can make or break anything you wear. You can get away with buying almost anything else from anywhere, but if you cheap out on shoes, people will notice.

Nowhere is your taste and social background so neatly summarized as in your choice of shoe. It is single most important part of your image, the root from which your projected self grows. Large numbers of single women judge prospective male partners rapidly and solely by looking at their feet. -Russell Smith, co-found of DailyXY 

The one shoe every man should own is a black lace-up. You can dress it up or dress it down; it'll work with everything from jeans to suits.   -GQ 

I tend to go a bit over board on this subject solely because this is my favorite aspect of fashion (along with jackets). I stepped away from my computer for a second and counted how many pairs of shoes I own. They totaled to 3 pairs of dress shoes, a pair of boat shoes, 14 pairs of athletic shoes (8 of which I wear on a regular basis) and a pair of flip-flops. Now I definitely do not think that all men need to have quite as much versatility in their collection, but there are a few must haves. Here are 4 shoes that are necessities to a man's wardrobe:

1. Dress - All men need to at least one pair of formal dress shoes. I recommend more, but it's not necessary. The pair that you must have are black oxfords. I went with Florsheim Broxton Black Oxfords. My Grandfather Chester wore Florsheim's, his father wore  Florsheim's and I intend to keep that tradition. 
2. Athletic - All men need a few pair of athletic shoes. If you are active, which I highly recommend to everyone, you'll need at least one pair for the gym/running. You should also have a pair of casual athletic shoes. Depending on your job, you may have to wear your Oxfords all week, but you should have a pair of athletic for the weekend when you want to dress nice while running errands. I must note though, you should not be wearing your work out shoes are your casual shoes. Keep each pair of shoes for their own task. 
3. Beach - Boat shoes are very much in style this summer. Flip-flops are nice for the beach, but if you'd like something that lets your feet breathe on those 90+ degree days, I recommend a nice pair of Dockers or Sperry's.
4. Protective - All men should have at least one pair of boots. I'm not in love with the boots I have, but I'm very glad I bought them. I live in Ohio. So on those crazy days where it goes from being 50 degrees to a snow storm the next day, it's nice to have shoes that won't get ruined/damaged in the tundra.

Like I said earlier, it's nice to have variation, but the four above are the only necessities in my opinion. What do you think? Is there a style I left out? Let me know in the comments. 

From the Ground Up: Intro

I was watching something on my DVR the other day and for some reason I didn't fast forward through a set of commercials for some unknown reason, but it happened to play into my favor. A commercial came on with a women who wandered the streets talking to men about their attire. Now that I think about it, I should go back through my DVR and see who she was. Any who, she was interviewing away and she asked "Does the man make the clothes? Or do the clothes make the man?" and the man chuckled and responded "The man makes the clothes." So with out further to do, I am kicking of a series called "From the ground up!"

The goal of these posts are to teach men how to build outfits and do so with class. I will be breaking down the importance of each piece of wardrobe and explaining their strengths in outfits from the perspective. I have seen far too many people walking around in pajama buttoms. The new trend in men's fashion is to dress up a bit before you step out of the house. That way no matter where you happen to go that day, you'll never be under dress. As I have stated before, it also makes you feel more confident about yourself. Feel free to subscribe and follow us on Facebook / Twitter to keep up with the posts. Also leave us a comment telling us the foundations for your outfit building.