I’m standing in line at Target last week. Sophie’’s pulling on my trousers leg and Jackson’’s trying to convince me that Almond Joys are better than Snickers when the cashier – who, like most retail employees these days, must be twenty-two years old at the absolute oldest – takes one look down at my outfit and says matter-of-factly, “Trying the LeBron thing on today?” I glance down at myself. Navy chinos, grey henley, navy blazer on top.
Nothing too wild, nothing that “cost more than five dollars at the store” like he said, but apparently it reminded him of LeBron James rocking a similar look while sitting courtside. Guilty. Truth be told?
He couldn’t have been more right. I had actually seen LeBron wearing some iteration of that exact outfit during an interview weeks prior and had mentally tucked it away under “may or may not work for suburban dad” when I first saw it.
Which then led me down the rabbit hole of thinking about how often are my style inspirations really compliments of strangers I’ll never meet?
Even on most days, probably without me realising it. Let me explain. When you’re wearing enough clothes to not look homeless while also looking decent off four hours of sleep and on a budget that’s been stretched to its limits by small children ripping every article of clothing you own, you look to see where you can get inspiration.
And honestly, some of the best inspiration comes from the last people you’d think. Pro athletes that have to look like they don’t need a robe and sweatpants twenty hours a day on TV. Rockstars that know your appearance affects how people listen to you.
Politicians that realise people judge them any time they step foot outside their house. Hell, even if you’ll never steal one thing they’re wearing, feeling inspired by what makes their wardrobe work and how you can adapt that into your own life can greatly improve your game. Dad game specifically.
I learned a lot of my style tips and tricks from athletes. Lesson number one: wear clothes that fit your actual body. This one was ripped straight from the NBA playbook.
Too many dudes try to wear clothes that fit their body from when they were 22. Or hell, fit their university-football-playing athlete body. But we’re old now, and eating ice cream every time you’re feeling down will not help you fit into your skinny jeans from college.
Trust. I remember seeing Victor Cruz on TV once and realising that his clothes actually FIT him. Dude is rocking a frame that could probably compete in NFL competitions for shoulder size but rather than him wearing clothes that drown him out and make him look smaller, his shirts actually help define his shape.
Me on the other hand? Still trying to fit into medium shirts that should’ve been extra larges my senior year of high school. Lauren finally put my big baby foot down when she showed me pictures of me from Sophie’’s birthday party. “Honey,” she said, motioning my chest on screen, “did you know you could fit an entire Costco in there?” “No,” I said. “Lauren that’isn’t what I was going for.” Embarrassed, I paid to have myself properly sized for shirts, trousers, heck, anything we could find that I would actually wear.
Guess what guys? Medium shirts didn’t feel snug around my armits anymore. NONE of my clothes did.
I spent the last however many years lying to myself that I was still a medium, just on the small side. Why is it we cling to our high school clothing sizes for so long? Admitting you outgrew your old shirts is like admitting you’ve lost.
But once I started buying clothes that fit my body nowadays – not how I used to look or will someday look when I start taking trips to the gym – I instantly looked better. Had to learn that one from professional athletes. Lesson number two: they wear what works for THEIR body, all damn day.
Look at Russ. Is he a baller? Yes.
Mogul? Hell yes. Buy everything he wears?
Absolutely not. But you know what I’ll probably do someday? Rock that same exact trench coat he wore last week on TV next week as well.
Why? A. It looks insane on his body and B.
It matches his vibe. He has an outfit theme and nine times out of 10 everything he wears you can easily tell is “something Russ would wear.” We as dudes try to think styling means wearing clothes from certain brands or wearing trendy pieces. Newsflash: it doesn’t.
Style means putting together outfits that match YOUR vibe and wearing those similar outfits CONSISTENTLY. For me? Blazers.
Didn’t matter if I was running errands or dropping Jackson off at football practise, I could always throw on an unstructured blazer over whatever else I was wearing. Blazers became my thing because I found myself always stuffing my hands into my pockets for somewhere to hold my phone, wallet, keys, and whatever else the kids try and sneak you when you’ aren’t looking. Became such a habit that Lauren’’s friends will text her whenever they see blazers on sale “because it’’s so Patrick.” But by having that one staple piece I know I can wear with anything in my closet, it actually makes getting ready that much easier.
Lesson number two and a half I learned from professional athletes: find your staple piece and wear it CONSTANTLY. Learned how to have an outfit theme and stick with it from musicians. OK, disclaimer.
This isn’t nearly as pretentious as it sounds. I’m not saying copy your favourite bands style or anything crazy like that. I’m talking about proportions.
Looking at how the tops and bottoms of your outfits play off of each other instead of viewing each article of clothing as its own separate piece. Look at John Mayer, he’’s gone through about eight thousand style phases that all suck except? You can wear whatever on top as long as your trousers look good.
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Or shirt looks good? Doesn’t matter. His proportions always match and everything he wears is always taken care of.
How did I learn this? By doing a lot of screwing up. Stupid, easily avoided screw ups.
Got really into wearing overly baggy clothing because I spent years doing the opposite and wearing our clothes that were too dang tight. Started wearing oversized trousers with oversized shirts. Dad season wearing pyjamas to the grocery store.
Except…I didn’t look laid back and “cool like I didn’ care.” I looked unkempt. Jackson even asked if I was sick because I “looked so droopy.” So I did what any red blooded American would do. I messed around with my tops until I found a happy medium.
If I’m going to wear baggy trousers, I keep my shirt more fitted with either half or full tucked in shirts or my go-to blazers. If I’m wearing something more baggy on top, I pair it with skinny jeans or chinos to even out the look. Playing with your outfit’s proportions rather than boring bland pieces that match perfectly is something I picked up from musicians.
Hell, I even learned how to pick appropriate outfits from politicians. I know what you’re thinking. We live in a INCREDIBLY polarized world these days so how could I POSSIBLY think dressing like politicians would be a good idea?
Hear me out. The BEST politicians out there know how to dress for ANY occasion and subtly upgrade their wardrobe a little bit at a time. Observe how Obama’’s style changed throughout his entire presidency.
Same damn uniform pretty much worn almost everyday but the cuts got slimmer, the fabric became higher quality. They found ways to slim his waist and add little extra details that he could pull off because lets face it, Obama can pull off pretty much anything. Before you knew it, he went from your cool neighbourhood dad to the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES withouttrying twice hard.
This all clicked when I started doing more video calls for work. Was basically told I had to step my “business casual from home” if I wanted to keep my job. Yeah, turns out wearing the same three polo shirts on rotation didn’t exactly wow my clients during presentations.
So instead of buying a ton of new stuff all with similar materials and cuts, I upscaled where I was shopping. Bought two amazing button downs instead of five cheap ones I kinda liked. Same exact outfits I was wearing before, I just looked put together.
Lesson learned from politicians: upscale your wardrobe slowly every few months instead of overhauling your whole style every season the stores tell you to. But above all, wear outfits that fit the occasion you’’re going to. I literally cannot tell you how many guys I see showing up to places too casual or too nice because they wear the same thing to drop their kids at school as they do to work.
Doesn’t matter if you’’re going straight to work after drop off. Baseball caps at the PTA meeting? Workout clothes to run around the bases with your kid?
Wear trousers on the weekends. Not jeans, but trousers. Have some variety in your rotation so when you wear that nice blazer to drop your kids off you’re not stuck wearing that same exact thing to work.
Athletes taught me how to fit my body and have a staple piece I know I’’m comfortable in. Musicians helped me identify my outfit theme and understand how to manage my proportions. Politicians showed me how to wear clothes that fit the occasion I’m going to and that I should invest in my wardrobe.
There’’s plenty of things my idols above wear that I’ll never fit into Dad mode. I will never show up to Jackson’’s parent teacher conference in a suit. Way too much.
And while musicians outfits on stage are basically costumes I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing in public. Athletes jerseys and trainers with Olympic/ramerica adornments and politicians…full military gear? Haha okay funny as hell guys but I couldn’ pull that shit off to drop my kids at school.
It’s all about finding what you can FROM these people and leave THEIR actual wardrobe in the trash. From athletes I learned how to fit my body and have one staple piece I know I can always wear. (Currently blazers.) From musicians I figured out my outfit theme and how to manage my outfit’s proportions. From politicians I learned that anytime you go anywhere you should wear something that fits that occasion and it’’s better to invest in your wardrobe than buy all clothes at once.
My friend Mike couldn’ care less about style or fashion but he does one thing that’’s genius. Walks into a store, sees a celebrity wearing an awesome outfit and mentally breaks down what he likes about their outfit. “Love how his jacket stops right at his belt line.” Or “those three colours work because they’’re all neutral.” He takes mental notes of what he likes and incorporates that into his own style. Best part?
He never feels the need to wear anything these celebs are wearing because he’s too busy high fiving himself.
Moral of the story is you’re telling yourself a story whenever you get dressed. Athletes tell themselves they need to look professional at all times.
Rockstars tell themselves they need to look out of this world because they’’re artists. Politicians tell themselves they need to distract from what they’’re saying. What story are YOU telling yourself when you put your clothes on?
For me, I want people to look at my outfit and think “yeah this guy has kids but he keeps himself together.” “Must be practical with his money but doesn’ make his wife embarrassed.” “Dad that took the time to actually shower today and wear clothes that fit.” It doesn’ take much to tell that story. Hell, most men will never know what it’’s like to have a stylist or a clothing budget that’’s bigger than our countries military defence budget. But we can all open our closet doors with the same mindset as them.
Figure out what story you’’re telling the world whenever you put that shirt on and make sure you’’re happy with that story. And if that story happens to be you wore a henley under a blazer because LeBron made you think it’’s dope? ROCK THE FUCK OUT dude.
Well, unless you’’re being Called out by a cashier think you stole it from Anderson Silva’’s wrestling dummy.
