So this is a continuation of my series about doing the total transformation “from head to toe.” You can check the first part, the head, here. So let’s get back into it!
The thing about the upper body is that like the head, it’s going to be one of the more prominent things that someone will notice about you. He looks muscular/in-shape. Does he workout? Is he wearing a nice shirt/jacket? What does his chain say? It looks interesting. That watch is cool – I wonder where he got that?
These are just some of the questions that people will think about when they see you walking down the street or into a room. Of course, you want them to ask these things in a good way. Hell, maybe you'd like them to actually approach and talk to you. Well here are some tips that can get you to looking your best.
Before I go into clothing and accessories, one thing is universal. You must involve yourself in some type of physical activity. Workout, play basketball, go running, anything. In order to look healthy, you must make the effort to actually be healthy. I am not talking about changing your entire nutrition and start eating only vegetables and fruits. I mean, eating some can help but that’s not the point. We all have these excuses about why we can’t do something. Get that out of your head and make a game plan of some sort. If you’re looking to lose weight, then go running, eat better food and do some stretching and exercises. If you’re looking to gain weight (mostly muscle), eat “power” foods, lift weights, do some running and lift more weights. If you like how you look, then you already know what you did to get you there. Just commit to yourself to maintain your look. Theirs is nothing less attractive than a man who cannot take care of himself. Even worse if he can’t maintain his look.
After you get that part under your belt, you should determine what body style you have and adapt your clothing to that. There are three pretty general body types that you could categorize yourself under: Muscular, Heavier and Trim. Of course there are in-betweens but if you look more like one than the other, you should just stick to that category. You either do that or workout your way into the category that you want.
Let me just preface again by saying I am not an expert but will help you with what I know. If anyone has anything to contribute, please be my guest to add comments.
Muscular – if you have a more muscular upper body, clearly you can opt to show it off or hide it and leave it as a surprise for the ladies later on. Either way, you’re going to want to do it right. For muscular guys you are going to want clothing that fits you on the tighter side, I’m not talking Under Armour here. But because you have the muscular build, your body will fill out the shirts much more, accentuating your body. If you wear bigger clothes you’re body is going to get washed out and you’ll look like you’re literally swimming in your shirts.
T-Shirts and Graphic Tees will be your best friend because you can pull it off the best. If you’re looking for some good tees, check out PleaseDressMe. It’s a great search engine for any kind of tee you want. Guaranteed, you’ll find something there.
For great button downs, there are plenty of places you can go. AskMen.com has some great reviews on some trendy button-downs. In fact, here's a good article that I think is worth looking at. I personally have been going to Express Men and they have some great shirts that can look good on almost anyone.
You also have the luxury of wearing tight-fitting shirts. Sometimes when done the wrong way, it can look pretty stupid so if you are jacked, don’t wear a shirt two sizes too small. You’ll look like my buddy at Halloween when he wore a Spider-Man costume – in Medium (Child). You have to realize that it’s not attractive. But on the same note, having a tighter-fitting shirt that looks like you didn’t have help putting it on makes you look good. If you’re going to do that, it would be preferable to wear darker colors.
Trim – if you are a lean guy then you can pull of some of the best outfits out there, in my opinion. There are so many options and looks for you that you can’t really go wrong with many of them. Normally I wouldn’t suggest wearing slim-fitting clothing but I’ve been really thinking that it actually looks good for some people. I wouldn’t go Under Armour tight but slim fit is the way to be. Shirts, tee and button downs – slim fit. But the thing is, you almost have to wear things that are slim because anything bigger and you’ll easily look like you’re swimming. American Eagle, Gap, J.Crew, Urban Outfitters and again, PleaseDressMe are great places to check out for great looking slim fit tops.
Heavier – If you are a heavier guy, you’re going to want to stay away from slim fit and tight fitting anything AT ALL COSTS! Since I am not a bigger guy, I wouldn’t know what really works but I do know that for some of my uncles who are ridiculously tall, Casual Male is their store of choice.
Now for accessories, wouldn't recommend going out, trying to look like Mystery (a great PUA and a pioneer at that - much respect), with the big top hat and goggles, the rings, the boa and all that stuff – I feel like only HE can pull it off and it works for him - exceptionally well. Just find some cool things that you’d like to wear. And it just doesn’t include those things. It includes things that you would actually be interested in, like watches, sport coats, jackets, sunglasses and those things that you might find everyday use in. I’ll briefly break it down for you.
For watches, if you can afford it, have two watches. One to wear during the day and one to rock out at night. If you can afford a third, make that third a very special one that you pull out for VERY special events.
For chains or necklaces, find one and stick with it. Wear it all the time. Find one that associates you will your identity. Mine is a silver pendant with the infinity symbol engraved on it. People grab it all the time and it’s a nice center focus to your chest. If you can find meaning in a piece of jewelry, you already have a conversation and a bigger chance of connection with whom you’re talking to.
Sport jackets and coats are givens. Have a few of each and in a variety of colors. I would probably go with a black, a navy and a more outstand color like white or a more reserved like brown. Same thing goes for coats. Go for a pea coat, a leather jacket and something crazy like a suede jacket or a cashmere pullover. With these items, you want to use them to encourage people touching you. You’ll be surprised how many people love touching things – just an excuse to touch you.
As for hats, wristbands, rings and all that, you are going to want to keep that stuff to a minimum. I would personally leave it to just one accessory per limb. But if you think you can pull it off, then by all means go for it. Find out what works for you.
Now, I am going to be honest. Because of my lack of knowledge with fashion, I found it perfectly acceptable to ask people who work in the stores you shop in to help you out. They will give you honest opinions and make you look good. And when you try clothes on, go out of the dressing room and ask people what they think about your clothes. They’ll give you honest opinions. These are the kinds of random people you are going to meet anyway so why not see what kind of first impression you give?
This is all for the best and making you look for best. In the next installment, we are going to do the lower body and figure out what kinds of stuff you should get.
Potential has no limit.
The thing about the upper body is that like the head, it’s going to be one of the more prominent things that someone will notice about you. He looks muscular/in-shape. Does he workout? Is he wearing a nice shirt/jacket? What does his chain say? It looks interesting. That watch is cool – I wonder where he got that?
These are just some of the questions that people will think about when they see you walking down the street or into a room. Of course, you want them to ask these things in a good way. Hell, maybe you'd like them to actually approach and talk to you. Well here are some tips that can get you to looking your best.
Before I go into clothing and accessories, one thing is universal. You must involve yourself in some type of physical activity. Workout, play basketball, go running, anything. In order to look healthy, you must make the effort to actually be healthy. I am not talking about changing your entire nutrition and start eating only vegetables and fruits. I mean, eating some can help but that’s not the point. We all have these excuses about why we can’t do something. Get that out of your head and make a game plan of some sort. If you’re looking to lose weight, then go running, eat better food and do some stretching and exercises. If you’re looking to gain weight (mostly muscle), eat “power” foods, lift weights, do some running and lift more weights. If you like how you look, then you already know what you did to get you there. Just commit to yourself to maintain your look. Theirs is nothing less attractive than a man who cannot take care of himself. Even worse if he can’t maintain his look.After you get that part under your belt, you should determine what body style you have and adapt your clothing to that. There are three pretty general body types that you could categorize yourself under: Muscular, Heavier and Trim. Of course there are in-betweens but if you look more like one than the other, you should just stick to that category. You either do that or workout your way into the category that you want.
Let me just preface again by saying I am not an expert but will help you with what I know. If anyone has anything to contribute, please be my guest to add comments.
Muscular – if you have a more muscular upper body, clearly you can opt to show it off or hide it and leave it as a surprise for the ladies later on. Either way, you’re going to want to do it right. For muscular guys you are going to want clothing that fits you on the tighter side, I’m not talking Under Armour here. But because you have the muscular build, your body will fill out the shirts much more, accentuating your body. If you wear bigger clothes you’re body is going to get washed out and you’ll look like you’re literally swimming in your shirts.T-Shirts and Graphic Tees will be your best friend because you can pull it off the best. If you’re looking for some good tees, check out PleaseDressMe. It’s a great search engine for any kind of tee you want. Guaranteed, you’ll find something there.
For great button downs, there are plenty of places you can go. AskMen.com has some great reviews on some trendy button-downs. In fact, here's a good article that I think is worth looking at. I personally have been going to Express Men and they have some great shirts that can look good on almost anyone.
You also have the luxury of wearing tight-fitting shirts. Sometimes when done the wrong way, it can look pretty stupid so if you are jacked, don’t wear a shirt two sizes too small. You’ll look like my buddy at Halloween when he wore a Spider-Man costume – in Medium (Child). You have to realize that it’s not attractive. But on the same note, having a tighter-fitting shirt that looks like you didn’t have help putting it on makes you look good. If you’re going to do that, it would be preferable to wear darker colors.
Trim – if you are a lean guy then you can pull of some of the best outfits out there, in my opinion. There are so many options and looks for you that you can’t really go wrong with many of them. Normally I wouldn’t suggest wearing slim-fitting clothing but I’ve been really thinking that it actually looks good for some people. I wouldn’t go Under Armour tight but slim fit is the way to be. Shirts, tee and button downs – slim fit. But the thing is, you almost have to wear things that are slim because anything bigger and you’ll easily look like you’re swimming. American Eagle, Gap, J.Crew, Urban Outfitters and again, PleaseDressMe are great places to check out for great looking slim fit tops.
Heavier – If you are a heavier guy, you’re going to want to stay away from slim fit and tight fitting anything AT ALL COSTS! Since I am not a bigger guy, I wouldn’t know what really works but I do know that for some of my uncles who are ridiculously tall, Casual Male is their store of choice.
Now for accessories, wouldn't recommend going out, trying to look like Mystery (a great PUA and a pioneer at that - much respect), with the big top hat and goggles, the rings, the boa and all that stuff – I feel like only HE can pull it off and it works for him - exceptionally well. Just find some cool things that you’d like to wear. And it just doesn’t include those things. It includes things that you would actually be interested in, like watches, sport coats, jackets, sunglasses and those things that you might find everyday use in. I’ll briefly break it down for you.For watches, if you can afford it, have two watches. One to wear during the day and one to rock out at night. If you can afford a third, make that third a very special one that you pull out for VERY special events.
For chains or necklaces, find one and stick with it. Wear it all the time. Find one that associates you will your identity. Mine is a silver pendant with the infinity symbol engraved on it. People grab it all the time and it’s a nice center focus to your chest. If you can find meaning in a piece of jewelry, you already have a conversation and a bigger chance of connection with whom you’re talking to.
Sport jackets and coats are givens. Have a few of each and in a variety of colors. I would probably go with a black, a navy and a more outstand color like white or a more reserved like brown. Same thing goes for coats. Go for a pea coat, a leather jacket and something crazy like a suede jacket or a cashmere pullover. With these items, you want to use them to encourage people touching you. You’ll be surprised how many people love touching things – just an excuse to touch you.
As for hats, wristbands, rings and all that, you are going to want to keep that stuff to a minimum. I would personally leave it to just one accessory per limb. But if you think you can pull it off, then by all means go for it. Find out what works for you.Now, I am going to be honest. Because of my lack of knowledge with fashion, I found it perfectly acceptable to ask people who work in the stores you shop in to help you out. They will give you honest opinions and make you look good. And when you try clothes on, go out of the dressing room and ask people what they think about your clothes. They’ll give you honest opinions. These are the kinds of random people you are going to meet anyway so why not see what kind of first impression you give?
This is all for the best and making you look for best. In the next installment, we are going to do the lower body and figure out what kinds of stuff you should get.
Potential has no limit.