Style Profile: The Obama Effect

President Obama's sense of style is back on the front burner - at least in DC.

The Washington Examiner newspaper recently noted a fashion trend among the influential and political. They want to look like Barrack Obama. More specifically, they want to dress like him.

While the classic dark two-button suit is about as de rigueur as you can get in the Nation's Capitol, many men don't seem to do it very well. Those who do tend to retain the services of a custom tailor and it is these gentlemen who are spilling the beans. Tony and powerful clients, from A-list lobbyists to committee chairs, ambassadors to diplomats, all seem to be heading in the same sartorial direction. And that path leads to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

According to Anthony Asaf of Empire International Custom Tailors, many of his political clients are asking for slimmer suits, trim pant legs and a more natural shoulder with less padding. Asaf, who regularly travels to Washington from Hong Kong and whose suits can run north of $4,000, says that Obama’s influence is being felt more and more in the fitting room.

FIT & BODY TYPE
One reason that President Obama is having such an impact on the suited world is that unlike many of us, he always seems to look good in a suit. Yes, they tend to be conservative, dark, two-button suits paired with white shirts and reassuring ties. But that is to be expected. He is, after all, the President of the United States and it is incumbent on him to project a solid and secure image. But what gets the attention is how Obama wears his suits; and the key there is that they fit well and they fit his body type.



Just by addressing these two factors, fit and body type, most men could improve their appearance ten-fold. One of the classic keys to looking good is knowing your body type and buying clothes that flatter your real body – not the one you wish or think you have. This is true for men of all shapes and sizes. Last year I wrote a column about one the country’s top stores for shorter men in which this exact issue was addressed.

The president is tall, over six feet, and in excellent shape. As he tends to opt for cardiovascular workouts, basketball for example, he is lean rather than bulky. His suits therefore have longer and narrower proportions. However, they do not cling to him – they are cut to provide a degree of movement and form that also balance his height and avoid a skinny, gangly appearance. The result is the now familiar trim and slightly athletic silhouette.

DETAILS
The president’s classic two-button jackets are proportionally tailored to match the longer scale of his torso – proper scale being a benefit of custom suiting that any man would appreciate. Men with similar physiques should also avoid suits that are too tight or overly fitted as they can accentuate the wearer’s skinny frame. What makes the president’s suits look so good on him is that they are fitted but not too much so.



His trousers have a trimness that still allows for fluid movement while avoiding a stick figure effect. They also tend to incorporate a generous break which provides the visual reference of grounding his legs. If he wore them with little or no break, attention would be drawn to the leg and likely give the impression of wearing “high waters”. He also appears to favor a slight tapering on the pant leg which also deemphasizes the leg’s “swing” – another problem faced by men with longer legs.

PRESENTATION
On a more philosophical level, Obama’s clothes match his persona. The clean and elegant lines of his suits, and frankly his casual wear, blend naturally with his overall demeanor.

Mr. Obama has a unique style that is new to the White House. This president is urban and urbane, intellectual and in a way quite professorial; but he is not bookish per se. Still new to the job, he is young but not immature and though he possesses echoes of John F. Kennedy’s “new vigah”, it is (to me) without any blatant imitation.



His pared down but detailed wardrobe reflects these traits. Verging on monochromatic though still fresh, elegant but sparing; his clothes reflect well on the man in a simple and straightforward manner.

Style Guide: Casual is not Sloppy

Way back in the ‘80s getting dressed for the office, assuming you worked at an office, was fairly easy. It was a suit. Not a good suit mind you, but a suit. Boring shirt, forgettable tie and cap toe shoes.

More often than not the whole outfit was forgettable because so little personality was evident. Even the leading men’s fashion book of the time, the landmark “Dress For Success” essentially encouraged its readers to dress like everyone else, but perhaps in a finer cut of suit.

It was a stifling period of time that helped lend fuel to the dot-com boom of the 1990s which, among other things, turned the world of work clothing on its head. At its apex, the rules that governed the very concept of business attire and professional decorum were being tossed out the window wholesale. In formally formal workplaces casual Fridays were adopted and the predictable erosion of style ensued.

The work world devolved into a sea of pleated khakis and denim shirts.

Fast forward to today. Men’s clothing is back with a vengeance. There are many factors that went into this sea change – much of a backlash against the hyper casual-cum-sloppy look which had become annoyingly prevalent by the early ‘90s. After the economic collapse of 2008, many companies began reinstating some form of dress code and all this coincided with a resurgence of interest in men’s fashion. What’s different now is that personal style is the rule rather than the exception.

THE NEW COOL
Men are finally taking back what they gave up decades ago – good taste, style, and a sense of swagger. If the “Decade of Gap” gave us anything sartorially useful, it is the realization that guys do, in fact, have a real desire to feel good about how they look. It also gave the menswear industry the chance to essentially reinvent itself.

Dressing well is the new cool and a key aspect to the new cool is taking classics and reinterpreting them. Designers like Michael Bastian, Zanone (part of Slowear) and Billy Reid are injecting new life and a fresh perspective into classic menswear and making it feel new again.


Zanone's clean lines (also at top) & Michael Bastian's updated Americana

And it’s definitely not all about suit anymore. In fact, for a lot of men a suit is simply another option in the wardrobe; not a sacred stand-alone piece reserved for special occasions. The middle ground of of dressy casual, or business casual in office speak, is where many guys live Monday through Friday and much of the growth in the menswear market is geared for just that.


Billy Reid's timeless yet casual look

Some companies like J. Crew are being called out (by some OTC readers to be sure) for overdoing it and making the classics look more like caricature. I don't disagree that for some brands the "new preppy" is being beaten into formulaic iteration.

But not to worry, dressing well - and on your own terms - is fairly simple if you remember a couple of rules.

DON’T BE A “LOOK”
First and foremost, be true to yourself. Know what kinds of clothes you like and what looks good on you. Always pay attention to style, fit, balance and purpose. The clothes you wear should match your style and personality, they need to fit you well, they need to work with each other, and they need to make sense.

A SUIT STILL MAKES ANY GUY LOOK GOOD
Wearing a suit every day makes life relatively easy – just find a shirt and tie that match.

Even if you aren’t leading a board meeting, you can still suit up in a dressed down way. Skip the tie altogether and toss on a patterned shirt with a shorter spread collar and high second button.

President Obama popularized this look on the campaign trail while sporting mainly solid white or blue shirts. George Clooney also makes this work; but then again he’s George Clooney.


Obama's popular open collar look



Clooney goes for an extra button

The main point is that you don’t want to look like you forgot your tie – you want to look like you don’t need one. To inject a little color into the outfit, pocket squares are a simple option.

When it comes to the suit, classic really is best: single breasted, notch lapel, two-button. If you want to personalize a little bit, try peaked lapels instead of notched and double vents instead of the standard American single vent.

If you really want the three-button jacket go for a “3/2 roll” which just means that the top button rolls with the lapel and gives the overall appearance of a two-button jacket. Try and avoid ventless jackets, they can seem dated and are frankly uncomfortable to wear.

If this is your first “good” suit classic grey or blue will be most versatile. Take some time and pick a shade that best suits your complexion and personality. You can always add patterns and striped later.


Ede and Ravenscroft of London - a very nice suit

Always keep in mind that depending where you are in the country, or world for that matter, regional traditions will always dictate what is appropriate. A sport coat and nice pants may be considered dressy in Las Vegas, but if you’re meeting in New York it should probably be coat and tie.

SANS THE SUIT
While dressing well doesn’t necessarily mean dressing up, that is no excuse to look like you’re taking out the trash.

Even when you’re not obligated to, try and go for a more polished look when heading off to the office. That means tailored clothing – stuff that both fits your style but also your body. Properly fitted clothes makes you look better, thinner and smart. The look below, from Hermes, is an excellent example of a casually stylish outfit that would look great on almost anyone.


Hermes: Fall 2009

A classic blue blazer, with or without brass buttons, is an exceedingly useful article of clothing. It’s the workhorse of your wardrobe and can cover you in most any situation. Pair it with dress pants and a cashmere sweater, beat up khakis and polo shirt, or your favorite jeans and Turnbull & Asser shirt; it works with everything.


Well fitting, classic separates

So, don’t be afraid to try something new and bring your work wardrobe into the 21st century. By updating classic cornerstones – the suit, the blazer, the dress shirt and the pocket square – you can give your own sense of style a grown up look without looking dated.

The Brand of You (Part 2)

In Part One of this essay, we discussed some of the recent and dramatic changes that have set the concept and practice of brand loyalty on a dramatically new course.

It’s still an ongoing shift, but the edges of the curve of the new pathway are becoming clearer.

In plain terms, what is changing, and by extension changing how companies market their wares, is that basic level of customer loyalty to a brand is becoming fragmented and layered. A simple statement like, “I like Ralph Lauren” is now more of an, “I like Ralph Lauren polo shirts, but I like J. Press oxfords. And I prefer vintage jeans.” The cache of a single brand defining a customer’s life is fast fading.

Combine that with a collapsed economy and gutted luxury market and you have a rapidly evolving landscape when it comes to telling all your potential customers exactly who you are and why you matter. And speaking of numbers, don’t expect to see the like of 2008 sales figures until at least 2012. From couture to watches and handbags to footwear, the overall luxury market has significantly retracted. And that directly affects the related mass luxury and aspirational markets.

Another factor is the quality issue. With purchases being scrutinized by customers like never before, those labels that grew at a global scale and licensed out all their branded accessories may face the wrath of buyers tired of sub-par quality for the sake of the name. It’s fair to say that smaller brands with tight controls on design, production and quality – and who actually make things people want to buy – will win out in the coming loyalty game. Luxury again is going to mean exclusivity.

ALL ABOUT THE GUYS
Not all is totally bleak, however. Menswear is faced with another, albeit happier, wrinkle. All those men who for generations did not care much about this season’s Pantone color or whether summer scarves are “in” are not only becoming active in their fashion choices but actually becoming market movers. Across the spectrum of retail, men are taking a more active role in outfitting their own wardrobes, carefully selecting accessories and fussing over things like quality and provenance. Retailers quickly took notice and have both broadened and deepened their menswear selections.

The reasons are myriad, but many men have shaken off the stale myth that they don’t care about style, fashion, luxury and looking good. When Off The Cuff hit the web way back in 2006, most of the sites now listed in OTC’s blog roll did not even exist. Today however, guys are looking for help and advice on all matters sartorial. Men now actively seek out information and feedback about products, brands and trends that interest them.

More to the point, they are also looking for validation and community about the brands that they like. The brand itself is not enough; they want to be part of a sartorial tribe, if you will. To be sure, there is also a strong desire to stand alone, to be unique. We all want the one thing that sets us apart from the herd – but not too far. Most of us want to stand out just enough to let the others know that we are our own man, but not be a jerk about it.

For example, I’ll be writing shortly about Kobold watches. The upstart high-end adventure watch company is now 10 years old but still a niche brand and many of its adherents like it that way. To them it adds a layer of respectable obscurity to something most men consider a key marker of status and personality. In a sense, its unique personality increases its value.

As the concept of what exactly a brand means and who decides if it’s worth something becomes more decentralized, defining who you are is becoming more personal and individual. And with men educating themselves about style, fashion, etiquette and luxury, brands that heretofore could consider themselves one-stop-shops will have to change their approach.

SHIFTING GEARS
Some large brands are trying to address this issue. J. Crew, a company that now intently focuses on its male customers, developed the Liquor Store men’s shop in New York’s SoHo to highlight limited edition wares. J. Crew also produces a regular men’s only catalog that stresses unique product collaborations with specialized partners.



This approach allows the overall brand to remain whole but provide customers with a sense of individuality and more importantly, the feeling that these specialized products meet a higher standard, like Red Wing boots for example.

It all boils down to a growing customer base that simply does not need to be told who they are or what they really want or what kind of life they should lead. They may read lots of fashion and style magazines and check out yours truly on blogger, but they are the ones who decide what their “look” is. The brands need to meet their approval.


The Panerai Marina

Let’s say I like Panerai watches (who doesn’t?), and maybe I want to buy one. I look through the company website, of course. But I also check out the blogosphere and look up feedback on specific models. Who’s tested and reviewed one, and if so which one? Any tweets? Where can I find one on the secondary market, and what does Watch Report or Hodinkee say? All this before I ever get close to a salesman or company representative.

IT'S ALL ABOUT ME (AND YOU)
In my own case, there are several brands that right off the bat fit my own self image: J. Crew, J. Press, Drakes London, Michael Bastain, Ralph Lauren and Slowear for example. But it’s not only clothing. When I think of my personal brand, I also think of Monocle magazine, Filson bags, my favorite Omas 360 pen, Moleskine notebooks or the sterling silver money clip from Tiffany that was a gift from my wife. Even the waxed cord from the hang tag on my Jack Spade bag connects me to that brand just a little bit more. I wear it on my wrist.

All of these outside brands are part of my own personal brand, but I am not a whole-cloth adherent to any one of them. Basically, I’m vetting the brand to see if it meets my standards and fits into my life.

Since people now have multiple sources to learn about style and fashion, history, culture, craftsmanship and etiquette – all the things that go into one’s sense of personal taste and style – a “brand” is now more about the customer than, well, the brand.

The brand needs to fit who I am, not the other way around.

Skinny Jeans!

Are just wrong.

At least for me. I don't understand the appeal of trying to pour myself into jeans that are going to be uncomfortable and, frankly, make me look like I'm wearing some girl's pants.

Jeans' inherent appeal is bound up in their utilitarian roots. Fashionable because of their very functionality, well-fitting jeans have made guys look cool and sexy - in a Marlon Brando/James Dean kind of way - for decades.

And yet, here we are again with the tight, skinny jeans thing. Just as overly baggy jeans tend to make the wearer look like a punk who needs a belt, wearing skinny, tight fitting jeans only highlights a blatant look of femininity. Now, if that's your goal than you're good to go. However, most men are probably trying to just look good, not like tween teen idol Zac Efron.

He can pull off that slightly effeminate look and get away with it. You, mister 30-something, mid-career professional, jeans and polo shirt on Friday, cannot. The Wall Street Journal even jumped into the skinny jeans debate today, CLICK HERE for the article.

I understand the vagaries of fashion and the various driving forces that seek to make consumers perpetually unsatisfied and look for the next "it" thing. I do not though, understand adopting what is to me a totally counter intuitive trend that isn't even comfortable. And as far as I'm concerned it is a trend in most classic way: fashionable but impractical, hip but uncomfortable and of course, emulating of celebrity.

This last point is always telling. Emulating George Clooney and his genuinely elegant/casual sense of monochromatic taste is one thing. It is actually usable in the real world and transferable to most guy's wardrobes.


Zac Efron's skinny jeans v. classic Levi's 505s

Trying to look like the latest cool kid on the block when you are even five years his senior is another thing all together. It doesn't really work. In addition to the age/fashion ratio (the younger you are the easier it is to pull off overly stylized looks), as we get older our bodies change and the ability to carry of age specific fashion tends to wane. Though I was never a skinny teen per se, I could probably have pulled off the skinny jean thing in high school had I even wanted to. Now, I'd look like a joke; even my one-year old would laugh at me.

Of course, skinny jeans were never my thing. My high school years were dominated by the ever fashionable parachute pant craze, so it was kind of the opposite issue. Baggy and cluttered was in, MC Hammer wasn't a reality TV dad, he was Hammer Time!


My dream pants in high school, still available on the web

Ultimately, it's a gut thing (pun not originally intended). Skinny jeans are awkward on men; they restrict movement and conform to the body in a way that is, for many observers of fashion, unappealing and off putting. Even former British prime minister Tony Blair was a fish out of water when he pulled on a pair overly tight pants on his first visit with then president George W. Bush. He could not even put his hands in his pockets: awkward.


The international tight-jeans incident

The upshot here is that I am not trying to act like Mr. Blackwell and pick on those who are simply trying to show a sense of personal style. I just want to point out that we all need to take a look in the mirror every now and then and see what's really there, not what we want ourselves to see.

Before anything else, jeans should be comfortable. Maybe that should be our collective starting point.

The Brand of You (Part 1)

Brand allegiance is a funny thing.

When it works well the customer clearly and deeply identifies with the brand. When it doesn’t work, more specifically when the brand lets the customer down in some way, the old loyalty can be almost impossible to win back.

In menswear, brand loyalty has historically been a deep seated thing. While women are still targeted by designer trends, men traditionally stick with a brand they like and trust. Over the past few years, designers and marketing departments have been working overtime to encourage men to think more like women – season to season, for example. Thankfully that tactic has not been too successful.

Ultimately though, that all matters less and less because of what happened during last year’s holiday shopping season. When the luxury retail economy collapsed along with everything else, the jig was up. In less than one year, the very concept of brand loyalty and even the basic thought process of how a consumer sees their favorite brand, logo or company had dramatically changed.

The Crash of Mass Couture
It all started with Saks Fifth Avenue.

There were already fears about economic problems in the months leading up to the 2008 holiday shopping season. But as Black Friday rolled around, the retailing earth shook when, without any pretense or warning Saks, the bastion of luxury retail, preemptively slashed prices on designer clothes by 70 percent.

This was unheard of; the designers from whom Saks Fifth Avenue purchased the high-end goods were caught totally off guard and other major luxury retailers were forced to quickly follow suit. Soon after, boutiques and then second tier retailers were forced to massively reduce prices.

A cardinal rule of luxury retail had been broken and overnight already skittish consumers were suddenly wondering if their Louis Vuitton bag or designer jeans were ever worth what they had paid only the day before. (The text of the original WSJ article on this fascinating story and reader commentary can be found here, courtesy of StyleZeitgiest.com)

What occurred next was nothing less than a reshaping of the luxury landscape. Saks had correctly surmised that this was the last hurrah of the luxury-for-all boom years and acted in an appropriately dramatic fashion to try and salvage what sales it could from a rapidly deteriorating market. The rest of the high-end retail universe soon saw the writing on the wall and slashed their already low holiday sales prices to the bone and prayed for the best. Then they slashed again.

For many consumers, the magic was gone; the spell of mass-market exclusivity broken. The value that customers saw in their luxury goods – clothing, accessories, watches and even automobiles – was now being questioned. What is the real worth of my Gucci briefcase?

It was bad enough that mass-luxury retailers like LVMH Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, Gucci, Coach, Prada and even Tiffany & Co., had diluted their luxury status by aggressively courting middle class consumers with mid-priced products to drive their incredible growth. Now, they were no longer luxury brands, they were more like luxury image brands.

In a race to capture aspirational money, these companies had targeted average folks who wanted to live slices of the high life by way of expensive accoutrements. In doing so, many left disillusioned the truly wealthy who had helped build up the brand’s cache to begin with.

When the bottom fell out of the retail market, all those teenagers and newly minted MBAs (e.g. those who acted wealthy because they could float a luxurious life on credit) vanished overnight. Just like that, the plastic powered cash cow of mass luxury stopped spending.

Then the other hand crafted cordovan slip-on dropped. As the economic tsunami kept on rolling it ultimately pulled under a formerly recession-proof demographic: truly wealthy people. They may not all be broke, but they sure stopped spending. When people who are actually rich stop buying things you know it’s bad.

As the dust continues to clear only one brand name luxury label remains relatively unscathed – Hermes. The company, while always appreciating and welcoming their less than moneyed customers, never changed its brand or marketing to exclusively attract them.


A brand that did not compromise

Hermes is unabashedly a luxury brand and has never apologized for it. This kind of loyalty to their primary customer base, those with disposable cash money, has helped the company remain relatively secure during this period of upheaval.

In fact, while its peers' profits are firmly in negative territory, Hermes first quarter sales have already grown by 3.2 percent. And the added benefit of Hermes never embracing “logoed” retailing is paying dividends because it is now considered unseemly, should you have the money, to flaunt designer brands. A Hermes bag, though prohibitively expensive, is luxuriously devoid of logos or even a nameplate.

Hermes, therefore, is able to thrive in this downturn because its obsessive focus on quality, honesty and value (at least to those who can afford its offerings) was always true to the brand. It never lost its mystique, the most valuable asset of a luxury firm.

For all those other brands that had heretofore defined the lives we all were supposed to want, everything had changed. They suddenly looked jaded and false, pretentious and gaudy. In the blink of an eye everyone realized that they had been living in someone else’s marketing plan.

Without those bands and their worlds to define us, how would we now define what brands meant to us?

All About “You”
It turns out that many smaller and specialized brands had been waiting for their shot at the brass ring. At the same time, people began to turn away from mega brands and finally think about what message they were telegraphing about themselves. As they looked around, they began to see other options in design, craftsmanship, cost, style and quality.

Those global brands, while still important, had lost much of their mystique. Luxury prices had been grossly out of whack if only because we kept paying them. No longer did we want the “it bag” or “it shirt” just because a glossy ad said we should. Simplicity as a value was taking hold.

Enduring style and expressing personal taste became cool. As consumers now look for the local and unique, for things with long lived value, craftsmanship is again becoming prized. And that goal of simplicity does not mean cheap or disposable; quite the opposite. At its core, the emerging argument is that if I’m going to buy something expensive and luxurious, I want it to be unique and hand crafted. Instead of five "luxury" off the rack suits, I want one or two custom suits that will last for years.

My things now need meaning and need to fit me, not the other way around.

With consumers taking over the job of promoting or dismissing luxury goods via blogs (like this one), twitter, rating sites and simply by communicating with each other and bypassing traditional advertising altogether, the definition of branding is changing as well.


Your personal style is now your logo

In fact, it seems that now we’re the brand. Designers and marketers are looking for ways to get their products associated with people. It’s not just about us wanting to live in their worlds, now they want to be worthy of our personal brands.

It’s now about the brand of You.

The second half of this essay will discuss how these changes have turned the concept of branding on its head. So stay tuned for part two.

To us here at OTC, this is an evolving analysis on the rapidly changing landscape of branding and retail, and the pendulum swing of influence from marketers to consumers. Please feel free to comment on this essay and add your own thoughts.

Filed Under "Wish I Could Make This"

Michael Williams, the maestro behind A Continuous Lean, without a doubt one of my favorite men's lifestyle blogs, is hosting a pop-up flea market in New York this weekend. It actually kicks off tomorrow, from 4-8 p.m., so get there early.

This is no ordinary flea market. With carefully selected items from great brands like leathermaker Billykirk, vintage finds from J. Crew's vault and handmade ball caps from Hatten, I only wish I had the spare time to zip up I-95 and check it all out.

Even the poster is awesome.

Hold On, I'll Be Right Back

As you may have noticed, it's been a tad quiet here on OTC for the last few days. However, on the other side of the keyboard it's actually been rather busy.

The combination of a big deadline, a wedding anniversary (Eight years - I am a very lucky man) and a big furniture move have led to a couple of days away from Off The Cuff.

But fear not, I'm very much here. In fact, as I gear up to start work on some new OTC posts, including the long awaited "Going Custom - Part Three", I also have a few exciting announcements.

First, I am wrapping up an agreement to provide exclusive fashion, lifestyle and grooming content to a major international corporate website. Second, I will be published in an upcoming issue of a highly acclaimed menswear magazine.

As both of these projects are still in their final phases, I must be appropriately, and annoyingly, vague. Once everything is ready to roll, I'll be able to provide a lot more detail, so please stay tuned.

In the meantime, I have a lot of interesting topics in the pipeline, but if you ever have any questions of your own, please feel free to drop me a line at offthecuffdc@comcast.net.

Repurposing: A Follow-Up

Just a quick note to point out that Off The Cuff made it to the big leagues, sort of.

We were quoted in today's Express newspaper's Blog Log (page 36). For non-locals, Express is the very popular DC commuter newspaper published by the Washington Post. So in my own little world, I like to think that, really, OTC was picked up by the Post.

Post staffers apparently appreciated my ingenuity when dealing with those too-short pants, outlined in the recent "repurposing" article. Thanks for the shout out, guys! The link above is for the interactive PDF issue, you can find the web site here.

And by the way, I read Express every day...not that other one.