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I read a lot about rules for men, specifically on how to dress. There are some solid guidelines but in general they come across as more than moderately pedantic. It seems like it’s becoming this arms race to see who has the coolest gear and who has the best tailor. 

All of these rules and absurd calls for authenticity are getting out of hand. Like every college kid stunting on the quads in a soft shoulder cotton jacket is living like an Italian heir? Or the kids in Redwings and 400 oz. denim aren’t walking to get iced coffees but actually on their way to backbreaking and soul destroying work in factories that would make Upton Sinclair shudder? On some level, in this modern day and age, it all is dress up.

I don’t get the growing seriousness of the menswear set these days. I know most of it is in jest and we have FYMW to keep us all in check. (You best protect your neck…tie?) I mean, tailored clothing is just as aspirational as workwear is nostalgic. Wearing a jacket with handset shoulders, two inch cuff trousers, and the most Neapolitan of Neapolitan spread collars to go to class with girls in juicy sweatpants doesn’t really make much more sense than wearing workboots and denim to sit in a cubicle all day. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.

You wear it because you like it. Because you like the way you feel when you slip that soft shoulder on and pull the silk around your neck. You like the feel of the leather that’s been breaking in over the course of years as you pull your boots on. And you like that the fades, tears, and patches on your jeans are from your life. Whether the tear is from the time you narrowly avoided getting crushed by a diabolical primitive booby trap to pilfer a priceless artifact or you just clumsily walked too close to the door jam and snagged your pants on it. 

So no tips on how to be a man and no more pedantic lists of what every man should own or how every man should dress.