A key to dating is having a good wardrobe. Women look at our clothing and determine if we’re a good match by it. Not keeping tabs of fashion or wearing the same worn shoes or jeans to every date makes you less attractive to the opposite sex.

Women do a better job at maintaining their wardrobe than men. While I don’t get their need for having a million shoes and dresses, there is some method to the madness. Women often tweak their wardrobe, every so often the take a shopping trip to see what’s available and what they like. What I’ve learned from this is, I need to periodically visit my wardrobe and add to it. This applies to every aspect of my wardrobe, including my underwear.

If there’s any lesson my male readers should pay attention to, this is it!

Since my shopping trip with Laurie, I’ve done a piss poor job of maintaining my wardrobe. Just because I have a girlfriend, doesn’t mean I could slack on my appearance. Since shopping, I’ve managed to put a hole in one of my favorite jeans, and my new button down shirts, aren’t so new anymore. I have to face reality, my wardrobe needs some additions. The difference now is that I have a template to work with and I don’t need an expensive overhaul. The only thing I need to do is add to and replace old clothing. For instance, I have a few shirts that don’t fit too well, however if I head down to the Gap, I can get replacement shirts easy! If I did this with all aspects of my wardrobe more often (say every month adding or replacing some clothing), I won’t have to take long expensive trips purchasing completely new outfits at once.

Underwear, however, is a completely different story. Like most men, I’ve worn undershirts and underwear until their very last thread. When I need new ones, I end up throwing out the old, and put on the new, only to replace them in another million years. I’ve learned that men should be replacing our underwear every 3 – 4 months. If you’re too busy or can’t remember to do this, there’s a new website for you! Manpacks is a subscription service that sends you a fresh pair of t-shirts, underwear and socks (of your choosing), every three months. You just pay the quarterly fee and items are sent to your home. I rather head to the store and find a sale, but am tempted to try the service as the pricing is very affordable!

Maintaining your wardrobe doesn’t have to be an expensive process. I’ve learned that frequent trips to stores can help save money, you’ll know when the sales occur and find the deals as they occur. The more you perform small tweaks to your wardrobe, the less you have to handle large and expensive shopping trips. Most importantly, you’ll look better and more attractive in the process.

Photo By: 2Tales

Clubbing is the fast food version of dating. There often isn’t an opportunity to know a person with great detail; you’re often menu shopping. Most, if not all of the decisions about a person at a club is based on their looks, what they are wearing, and how they are acting. With the club crowds, we man tend to look the same as some styles become similar. There are some that stick out, and for better or worse they are: guys without a shirt, sexual innuendo shirt guy, dude whose ballin’, and guys with a collared shirt. Sounds somewhat boring, doesn’t it?

Clubbing is about looks, some work, some don’t. At the end of the night you’re going to be hot and sweaty anyway, so what ever you’re wearing is going to get messed up by the end of the night. You have to make sure your outfit grabs attention while in the club, and separates you from the boring classifications.

Don’t flossat the club. You think you’re showing off, but unless you’re in VIP and have a few bottles at your table, you’re not impressing anyone. The jewelry is going to get lost, stolen or broken. Massive amounts of bling doesn’t help attract women. While it says you may have some money, it doesn’t even your odds over someone who doesn’t have any jewelry. The only way you’re going to get attention from women at a club with shiny things hanging around your neck, is if you’re giving it away. Save them for the music videos that you’re never going to be in.

Choose your shirts carefully. I often recommend wearing a button shirt while clubbing, but a graphic tee could also work, but don’t get stupid. The “F.B.I. – Full Body Inspector” or “Choking Hazard” shirts makes you look like a tool. Women aren’t attracted to guys who show off their sexual prowess on a Hanes 100% cotton t-shirt.

On the subjects of attire, most clubs have a dress code, with often include no boots, t-shirts and often jeans. If you’re going to a club, know the dress code before you go, and stick to it for every other club you attend. This helps organize your wardrobe. You can have clothing that’s strictly for clubbing.

For specific outfits, I recommend keeping things casual, jeans, a button shirt or polo, some accessories, should work. If you sweat profusefly, try sticking with dark clothing, as you don’t want your sweat showing while on the dance floor. Find accessories that will separate you from the other men in the room: watches, wrist wear, finger wear, etc. Don’t underestimate a good belt buckle, while this may seem silly, something interesting at your waist will land tons of attention. For shoes, find a good pair of Sketchers. Something that looks casual, but is comfortable, you’re going to be in your feet, and you don’t want to look uncomfortable while dancing.

Often times, you’ll have one chance to make a good impression on a person. Don’t blow it with your looks.

Photo by: Jin’s diary 87

I was never comfortable with accessorizing (wearing rings, wrists straps, etc,) but after my shopping trip a month ago, I’ve become addicted (Laurie you have created a monster!) Over the past month I’ve sought different accessorizes (primarily rings and straps) that would match my new outfits. There’s plenty of ways a guy can accessorize, but it must fit within the boundaries of the style. An example: I’m following a layered casual look, this means scarves, wrist straps, and rings are all within my boundaries. Other styles may include arm straps, chains (which I frown on), and hats (i.e. Kangol’s.) Before deciding on which accessorizes to purchase, take a moment to browse though AskMen’s Fashion section (especially the seasonal fashion preview area) or a male fashion magazine. Pay attention to what people are wearing, the type clothing style and which style you feel the most comfortable. Once you have a style chosen, begin to determine the accessorizes that will compliment the style. In most cases, a ring and wrist wear are necessary; for the colder months, hats or scarfs.

Rings were the hardest for me to understand. My instinct was to get a “cool” looking ring instead of a basic ring that complimented my style. Rings are the male equivalent to women’s earrings, a different outfit will call for a different type of ring and ring color. I now have 4 rings, a silver ring that matches with a brown and blue outfit, and 3 black rings that match with separate black outfits. Silver rings are easy, a simple silver band will do, but this grooved gold plated titanium ring adds an extra flair without going overboard. Black rings are harder as I’m not a fan of plain black bands. I highly recommend a black ring with a small design on it that can used as a story piece. This black ring with Chinese Zodiac signs or this ring with a black dragon design would do the trick. You just have to come up with a story.

Wrist wear, includes watches, bracelets and straps. If there’s a watch you’ve already incorporated into the style, you’re in great shape and may not need any additional accessorizes. If your cellphone has replaced the need for a watch (like it has in my life), keep on reading. Wrist wear can get very complex and scary easily; unless goth is the style, stay away from studs, spikes, or any complex design. Wrist wear should be kept simple and match the outfit and its colors. Something generic like a leather wrist band will do the trick. For additional flair, this Kenneth Cole bracelet is simple and elegant enough to incorporate with many outfits. Remember, the wrist wear must match the outfit, thus a variety will be needed. When I’m not wearing black, I have a black and brown leather cord band like this one that matches nicely with many outfits, but this stainless steel bracelet would make an adequate replacement. For black outfits, gravitate towards simple black bracelets, like this leather woven bracelet or this black braided one.

During the colder months, you may be forced to wear additional clothing (i.e. hats, scarves, gloves.) The rules here are simple, color match. Black with black, brown with brown, etc. Don’t not introduce a third color, unless you know what you’re doing. I will note, I struggle with Navy Blue in the winter. While it may be easy to find matching gloves, scarves and hats, Navy Blue can act as a compliment color if wearing black in my outfit (i.e. black shoes or pants.) A navy blue jacket with black gloves, hats, and scarves would make the navy blue act as a highlight color.

However, if you’re trying the same technique with bright yellow and still single, you may need more fashion help than I can provide in this blog post… or hope you can return the jacket for black or brown one.

(Full Disclosure: Links to products in this post lead to Amazon.com thru the Amazon Associates program. Products were used to serve as examples.)

Image Credit: Frederic della Faille on Flickr

This week, the eFlirtExpert paid a visit to my home to take a look at my wardrobe. I was afraid a completely new wardrobe would be needed. Lucky me, it only required some tweaking opposed to a complete overhaul. Today I spent several hours shopping with Laurie over my shoulder adding these new pieces to my wardrobe. There were several lessons I’ve learned from this entire process, things that will not just help me on a first date but meeting people and attracting women overall.  Here are some of the basics that should help any guy:

1. Layering – I immediately thought of the Williamsburg Hipster when I was approached with this idea but warmed to it quickly. Layering is the combination of different pieces of clothing together to make one great outfit. Jeans, sweater, t-shirt, jacket combination does the trick here. Askmen has a good guide on Layering and eFlirtExpert has some quick tips on what men shouldn’t wear (helpful when layering.)
2. Accessorize – I hate this idea with a passion. However, accessorizing makes complete sense and is a key component to peacocking, which can help garner more attention from women. For us guys this means putting on writs straps, rings, and chains. If your not completely comfortable with this, a good wrist watch would help here. If you can pull it off, an ear stud can help, but there are rules to wearing them which you must find out.
3. Known your colors – Some colors match, others do not. Some colors are great alone and horrible together. Before shopping, known which colors look good on you and which colors go well together. If you need help try searching through some color palettes on colourlovers or use this helpful color scheme generator.
4. Go with a friend – I’m used to shopping with myself, for myself. When I go shopping with a friend, it’s usually a girl and for her clothing (I can’t tell you how many panty dates I’ve been on!) It wasn’t until this shopping trip I realized the benefit of having a friend to help you choose clothing. Going with a friend, who has some fashion sense is very helpful and I highly encourage it. Make sure your friend understands your taste and the direction your heading towards or you’ll end up regretting the trip!
5. Shop often – a lesson I’ve learned from my many female friends. A random trip to The Gap, H&M, or Macy’s isn’t a bad thing. You never know what your going to find and if there’s a sale. Even if your just window shopping it helps to know which styles are in season, what is available and what are the prices. This helps develop a sense of taste, looking at pieces and seeing how they fit is very helpful, it also prevents from having to make huge expensive shopping trips in the future.