Thursday, May 27, 2010

How To Be A Well Dressed Man

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Every well dressed man needs at least one suit. Many guys today don't even own a suit at all. We live in a very casual society. There were places that men once wore suits pretty much all the time, whether it was at the office or at church. Now unless it's required, many men would rather not have to dress up. It's not just men though because there are plenty of women as well who dress down these days. It is wonderful though to be able to dress up whenever you want or need to do it.

I know we aren't going back to the days of the Rat Pack, but it's still a good thing to dress well. While you aren't going to need or want to wear a suit all the time, it is nice to have at least one in your closet. You're going to look better in the eyes of both men and women if you don't look like a bum all the time.

You never know when you'll need a suit. It might be something you don't generally think about. A suit might not be practical or feasible to wear at your job. I have a blue collar job, so it wouldn't make a lot of sense for me to wear a suit to work. There probably will be, however, special times in your life when it's necessary to have a suit. It will be better to have one handy than to try to run out to get one at the last minute.

Now the ideal thing would be to have a suit tailor made for you, but that's probably highly unlikely. Whether due to cost, time, availability, etc., most men will be buying a ready to wear suit. That means most men will be visiting their local department store or men's store. You don't want to look like you're wearing a cheap suit that doesn't really fit you. You want to look like a million bucks even if you didn't pay an arm or a leg for your suit.

There are a few things you need to know when buying a suit off the rack. Check out this video (embedding was disabled) from
GQ on buying a suit. It gives a lot of great tips. Also, please read this article from The New York Times. It also offers helpful suggestions on what goes into picking out the right suit for you. Please check out those links after you finish reading this post. Thanks.

I know I could use all this advice myself. I enjoy throwing on a t-shirt and sweat pants as much as the next person. There are times though, whether it's a date, job interview, church service, dinner party, etc, when a suit is either needed or at least wanted. Even when you are wearing more casual clothing, it's still a good thing to look nice. The Rat Pack still looked sharp even when dressed more casually. Distinguish yourself from the unwashed masses out there today.

If you're a guy who wants to be treated like a gentleman, then you need to dress and act like one. You need to dress and act like one if you expect others to treat you that way. While our modern society has many advantages, we've also declined in so many ways. We have become sloppy in our clothes, manners & so much more.

Not all of us men are going to look as good as Sean Connery as James Bond in Goldfinger, but we can do the best with what Mother Nature gave us. There are no excuses for all of us to look like bums. We'll respect ourselves more if we try to look better. Plus we'll gain the respect and admiration of others as well. I'd love to hear your feedback on this post. Let me know what you think.


Monday, May 24, 2010

Maxwell Is Dressed To Entertain

I had posted about Maxwell before up here, but I wanted to share these April 2010 GQ photos with you. Maxwell is one of my favorite singers. He returned to the music scene last year with the fantastic album BLACKsummers'night. I really love all the outfits that Maxwell is wearing in these photos. Which is your favorite? I really like the first and third ones. I'm also posting the video for his song Bad Habits. Enjoy!

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Photos by Ben Watts


Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Shia LaBeouf Takes On Wall Street

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Shia LaBeouf appeared on the cover and posed for an editorial in a recent issue of
GQ. Since I was on my blogging hiatus at the time, I didn't get a chance to do a post on these photos. I'm sure many of you have probably seen these by now, but I still wanted to post them here in case you hadn't.

He's definitely had quite the career the last few years. I'll always remember first seeing him on the Disney show Even Stevens. He's certainly grown up since then. His film credits include Disturbia, the two Transformers movies, Eagle Eye & Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Shia will next be seen in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, where he gets a chance to test his acting chops opposite Oscar winner Michael Douglas. His styling choices have to be top notch on and off the screen. I'm not necessarily the biggest fan of Shia, but I really love the photos. I think his clothes have sort of an Italian flair to them. What do you think of these pictures? Personally my favorite is the second one.

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Photos by Nathaniel Goldberg

Here is the trailer for the sequel to Wall Street. I loved the original film from back in 1987. That movie won Michael Douglas an Oscar for his incredible performance as Gordon Gekko. I'm really hoping this new movie will be on par with that one.




Monday, May 17, 2010

Coolness Is Timeless Is Back In Action

It's been quite some time since I've posted on my blog. I'm finally ready to start back blogging. While I did enjoy my time away, I have missed blogging and all my friends here. I did need the rest and the time to concentrate on certain goals I wanted to accomplish. I have been able to achieve some of the things I wanted to do during my hiatus. Some of the other items I am still currently working on.

When I took my break, I wasn't really sure how long I would be away. I had figured at most that I might be gone for six weeks to two months. I never would have imagined I would have been away this long. I heard from quite a lot of people who did miss this blog, as well as my Sugar & Spice blog, and wondered when I was coming back. I was never quite sure. I think I got burned out and overwhelmed with my blogs. It got to be where it felt like a job. It just got to a point where I felt stressed out.

There are going to be some changes. One of the biggest changes will be in the amount of postings I do. Before I was doing a post every weekday, but I won't be doing that this time around. One thing is that I don't want to feel the stress and tension I felt before. Plus I no longer have internet access at my house. I don't have the time and so forth these days to do that many posts. I plan to do around two posts per week. They will generally be posted on Mondays and Wednesdays. They will probably be posted around 9AM Eastern Standard Time. Some weeks I might only do one post on this blog, while other weeks I might do three. Two will be the normal amount for this blog though. The same goes for my other blog as well.

While my blog originally focused on Dean Martin and the Rat Pack, I plan to mix it up this time around. You've noticed that I'm now calling this blog Coolness Is Timeless. That was always part of the previous title, The Dino Lounge: Coolness Is Timeless. I did do posts back then that focused on other men I admire from both the past and present. I covered everybody from Cary Grant to Fonzworth Bentley. I want to do more of that. I plan to still cover Dino and those cool cats this time around, but I want to expand the blog out to share some of my other interests. That's the main reason why I didn't feel it was right to continue to keep the previous title since the main focus would no longer be on Dean Martin. I'll continue to do posts on him and the Rat Pack, but there is so much more I want to post about now. Coolness is truly timeless. It never goes out of style. I have a lot of retro interests, but I also embrace the best of our modern times as well. I want to try to find the right balance between the past and the present.

This blog is a work in progress. This is a time of evolution for this blog. I'm really excited about the future here. I've got some great ideas about what I want to do here. I can't wait to start having fun again. I do hope that all my readers from before will return to read my blog. I've missed all of you. I am sorry for going away so long. I also hope that you will enjoy what I do with this blog. I know things are going to be different now, but I do hope you will stick around. Thanks for all your support, encouragement, friendship, etc. I have appreciated all of it so much. Cheers!

P.S. I hope that you will link to my blog. If you add a new link, please let me know so I can add a link to your blog as well. If you already linked to my blog, please change the title of the link to Coolness Is Timeless instead of The Dino Lounge. Thanks.



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