The Proper Blog

Fancy yourself a pretty cool bloke?  Consider yourself on the bleeding edge of fashion?  Think you have the confidence to pull off the truly original?  Then, maybe you’ve considered wearing your watch on the outside of your cuff?

Ridiculous right?  Well, apparently some people think it’s cool.  According to fashion guru the Sartorialist, this is

“…still extremely pervasive on Italian Sartorialists…”

Really?  Who are these Italians?  We want to meet them.

A bit closer to home, the Natty Banker says”

“It’s more a specialized, advanced, and interesting thing to do. But certainly not dominant or necessary! Also the occasion matters. I think it’s best saved for going out to dinner or having cocktails, as opposed to when attending a graduation, for instance, or just going to work.”

Ok, we want to meet that guy too.

In the photo above is Gianni Agnelli, the inspiration for any man that wears his watch on the outside of his cuff.  You may ask: who is this Gianni clown?  Well, he’s passed away now, but in his time he was a super successful Italian business man.  As the head of Fiat,  he controlled 4.4% of Italy’s GNP.  He’s also known for having impeccable style, a beautiful wife and for “allegedly” sleeping with Jacqueline Kennedy.  Basically what we now refer to as a Master of the Universe.

In this case, we suggest you think twice before copying trends from the uber successful.  There’s a lot we can learn from them, but there are also certain things they can get away with that us mere mortals cannot.  For example, while we strongly advocate dressing more like Brad Pitt, we also suggest you think twice before copying his new moustache.

So, in conclusion, no matter how gutsy and fashionable you are, we suggest you take Daphne Galizia’s advice:

“Watch – strictly to be worn BENEATH your shirt-cuff; when you wish to know the time, push up your cuff; this can also be used as a signal that a meeting is over and you wish the annoying person sitting across from you to be on his way.”

Stay Proper.

2009 is coming.  Next Thursday actually. Yes, we are celebrating.

What you should wear on New Years Eve depends entirely on where you’re going and what you’re doing.  Here are some ideas.

Lying Low – Nice Dinner (Not Our Plan)

If your NYE plans are to simply take your girlfriend out to dinner.  NY Magazine suggests a nice black suit, white shirt and red tie.  Very presidential really.  We like this advice.  If you’re going some place nice expect everyone to there to be looking their best and you need to make your date proud.  Even if you didn’t twist your brokers arm to get you a table at Jean Gorges it won’t hurt to be looking extra sharp.

Lying REALLY Low – The Couch (Also Not Our Plan)

If you can’t be bothered to get out of the house for New Years Eve and are planning on staying at home alone (or with other miserable people), then it doesn’t really matter what you wear.  We suggest either nudity, or a comfortable pair of sweat pants and white t-shirt.

Something Outside (Also Not Our Plan)

If you’re planning on going to Times Square to watch the ball drop with the mob your friends, About.com suggests you wear plenty of warm layers (hats, scarves, jackets) and comfortable shoes and socks.  The last couple days it has been warm(er) in NY, but it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen next week.  Don’t worry about looking good as much as being comfortable.  Bonus tip: DO NOT let your girlfriend wear heels or you will be hearing about it all night.

The Scene (Also Not Our Plan)

You’ve already booked your table at the club.  You’re planning on going through several bottles of Dom Perignon and Grey Goose.  Justin Timberlake, Paris Hilton, or (insert celebrity) might be there and it’s going to be the best party ever.  You’re not taking a date, but you have coordinated with several girl “friends” to be at the same club – anything could happen.  If you’re prepping for this sort of scene you want to look the part.  We suggest following Askmen.com’s advice and going with a leather jacket over a blue or eggplant dress shirt.  Ignore their advice to wear leather pants though.  Stick to a good fitting pair of slacks or consider a nice pair of dark washed designer jeans.

The Loft Private Cocktail Party (Yes, This is Our Plan)

Either a friend, a friend of a friend, or a friend of a friend of a friend has an apartment that can comfortably accommodate 50+ people and they’ve agreed to host a party.  This could range from a catered all you can drink cocktail bar with professional DJ to a keg in the corner and someone’s IPod hooked up to a stereo. Regardless it will be fun.  As the party varies so does the dress code, so be aware of what you’re getting into.  Most likely your outfit should be somewhere between fancy dinner attire and the over-the-top-night-club.  A good host will lay out guidelines in advance – like “black tie” to help their guests – so be respectful and dress according to the suggestions.  Just do it better than everyone else.  You will certainly want to wear a dress shirt.  Possibly a jacket and or tie.  The lighting will be better than at the club and you’re probably going to take your jacket off, so make sure your dress shirt fits you right and makes you look your best.  We also suggest wearing a nice pair of shiny leather shoes.  They won’t get destroyed as badly as they would in a club and people will notice.

Ok – now that you got the “what to wear” problem solved – move onto the much more important “who to kiss” problem.  Sorry Proper Cloth can’t help you there – but we wish you luck.

Have any other plans, or know of any good parties?  Let us know.

Stay Proper.

Are you an aspiring “entrepreneur, investor, executive, or technologist making waves in the New York digital business community” with no idea what to wear to the next networking event?

Suppose you’re an “entrepreneur” headed to the next New York Tech Meetup.  As you get dressed, you’re torn.  You’re supposed to be a young, independent, creative entrepreneur.  You want to  channel Kevin Rose with his baseball cap or Marc Zuckerberg with his fleece and sandals.  On the other hand, you think: “This is New York!  Gordon Gecko! Appearances matter!” – and you start reaching for the suit and tie.

If you had been a banker you wouldn’t have this problem… (no – you’d have much bigger problems)  but don’t panic – Proper Cloth has answers.

Thanks to a statistical analysis of the the glamor shots of the winners of the 2008 Silicon Alley 100, we can tell you definitively what outfits work on the New York technology/entrepreneur/investor scene, and which ones don’t.

Tie vs. No Tie

It seems that the SAI100 favor the cool and casual look of no-tie 62% vs. 38%.  When you consider that people might actually dress up for their glamor shots, this probably becomes even more distinguished.

Jacket vs. No Jacket

This one partially depends on the weather, but putting a nice suit jacket or blazer over your shirt definitely takes you up a notch on the casual-formal barometer.  62% chose to wear a jacket with their outfit while 38% wore a shirt by itself.

Outfit Summary

Putting it all together, we’ve broken down your choices into six options (only considering the top part of your outfit): A dress shirt by itself, a dress shirt with a jacket, a dress shirt with a jacket and a tie, a t-shirt, a tuxedo, and finally a polo shirt. As you can see, 35% of SAI100 winners sported the formal dress shirt, jacket and tie combo.  Second most popular was the dress shirt and jacket (sans tie) with 27%, and third most popular was the simple button down dress shirt top with 26%.

It’s important to note that those aren’t your only options.  Clearly you really can wear whatever you want as 8% rocked the Rose/Zuckerberg t-shirt look.

So, our biggest take away is that a good dress shirt can significantly increase your odds of becoming a successful technologist, entrepreneur or investor in New York (technologists: spare us the causality vs. correlation lesson).

Dress Shirt Collar Type For Entrepreneurs, Investors and Technologists

It’s one thing to dress well enough to fit in.  Now, it’s another to win the prize.  Over 80% of the SAI100 wear dress shirts.  How do you rise above the noise?  While most people think you actually have to be a big time venture capitalist or proven entrepreneur, Proper Cloth’s analysis proves that it’s actually how you dress that determines if you are in the top or bottom half of the SAI 100.  As you can see, while the top 50 favor the point collar dress shirts, the bottom 50 favor the spread collar dress shirts.

For the ambitous New York entrepreneurs, Proper Cloth has a straight point collar shirt worthy of the SAI100.  We also offer tailored dress shirts in various other styles – perfect for any occasion.  To learn more about the subtlties of dress shirt design, try designing your own dress shirt now.

At Proper Cloth, we get asked a lot of questions about dress shirts.  We keep reminding ourselves that there’s no such thing as a stupid question – just stupid answers – or stupid people – or something like that.  Anyways – here’s the latest from our virtual mail-room.

What is the Correct Men’s Dress Shirt Sleeve Length?

Sorry this is not a simple answer – but life is not simple either – get used to it. If the cuff of the shirt is unbuttoned, when your arms are hanging straight at your sides, the sleeve should just reach the pinch of your thumb and hand.  If the cuff is buttoned, the sleeve should hang just to the base of your hand.  The purpose of the cuff is to prevent the sleeve from going up over your hand.  The purpose of the extra couple inches is so you can put your hands on the conference table without your sleeves sliding up your forearms.

Can a Tailor Make Dress Shirts Shorter?  Slimmer?

Yes.  Tailors can shorten a dress shirt you’ve already purchased.  This is simple and easy.  They can also taper the midsection/waist area of your shirt.  This can be done by sewing darts in the back, or by unstitching the seams on the side of the shirt and then sewing the seams back together so that the shirt is slightly narrower.  There’s a small chance he totally screws your shirt up and it should cost you $10-$20.  You could also buy a dress shirt that fits right the first time.

Should  You Leave the Plastic Tabs in Collared Shirts?

First of all, some vocabulary.  You blokes in the UK, might call them tabs, but in NY we call them collar stays.  They are there to keep your collar straight and you do not dispose of them.  However, you will want to remove your collar stays prior to washing, dry-cleaning, or ironing your dress shirt.  Just be sure to put them back in.  If your shirt does not have removable collar stays, or does not have collar stays, then it is either a cheap piece of crap, or it is a casual shirt not suitable for formal or business occasions.

Should Dress Shirts Be Hung Buttoned All the Way Up?

Yes of course.  While you’re at it, get rid of those cheap metal hangers you got from your grandma and get some nice wider, cedar hangers that curve to the shape of the shirts yoke.

How Much Cloth Do You Need to Tailor a Shirt?

Unless you’re Shaquille O’Neil, it shouldn’t take more than 2.5 yards of fabric to make a shirt.  If the fabric you’re using is 58″-59″ wide, you can probably get away with 2 yards.  If you’re buying fabric retail and taking it to a tailor to make the shirt- you will end up spending a lot.  Proper Cloth let’s you effectively do the same thing without having to go to a fabric store or have a strange tailor feel you up.

Should Men’s Dress Shirts Be Tucked In?

It depends.  If you are in high school, dress shirts should not be tucked in.  You are both awkward and a rebel.  You defy convention and don’t care how you look.  On the other hand, if you graduated high school, then abso-f@*king-lutely your dress shirt should be tucked in.  Unless you like being single – and unemployed.  Some people think tucking their dress shirt in looks dorky.  This could very well be true.  We recommend you consider how well your dress shirt fits.  A properly fitting dress shirt will always look better tucked in then un-tucked.

So that’s all the Q&A we have time for now.  Have a question – leave it it the comments below, or contact us.

We’re not sure if Brad Pitt deserves the credit for how well he dresses, but (at least on screen) the guy can make an outfit work.  One of our favorites is Mr. and Mrs. Smith – where he demonstrates how to really wear the men’s dress shirt with style.  Here we’re going to examine what it is exactly that makes the outfit work – and how you too can get the right look.

Stick to Simple Colors

The first thing to notice is the color of the shirt.  It is white.  For most of the film it is just simple, plain old, boring white.  There are a few scenes where he’s got some thin black stripes on the shirt, but for the most part the color and pattern is extremely simple. This is so important and often overlooked.  So many guys will look through hundreds of fabric patterns and not see anything they like – as if some strange combination of pink and blue stripes is going to make them much more attractive.  Truth is, for most guys, the more simple the color and pattern of the shirt the better you’ll look.  Classic plain white pinpoint will never fail you.  Ever.

But you say – “White is so boring – how will I stand out?”

Get the Perfect Fit

What’s really critical to looking good in a dress shirt is getting the right fit. In the top picture, you can see that with a tie on the collar fits perfectly around his neck – not squeezing at all, but not too loose either.  This looks comfortable and effortless.

In the second picture you can really see how well the shirt fits in the arms and shoulders. The yoke of the shirt goes right to the edge of his shoulder but not past it at all.  Most off the rack shirts you buy will have a yoke that is too wide – and it will come over the edge of your shoulder.  The width of the sleeves is also important. Here you can see that it doesn’t cinch around his arm, but doesn’t have a lot of extra fabric either.  The length of the sleeves is also perfect.  Even with his arms extended in front of him the sleeves come just to the base of his hand.

Insist on High Quality of Construction

The key to a nice dress shirt is the quality of the construction.  Probably the most visible way of telling a shirts quality is looking at the collar.  A high quality shirt collar will be smooth, fairly sturdy and have a round curve around the neck.  Cheap, mass-produced shirts usually don’t get this right because it needs to be done by hand and takes some time.  Look at the collars in the two pictures above.  The curve of the collar flows smoothly and the points are crisp.  You don’t see an imprint of the collar stays, and the tips don’t flair out at all.

Proper Cloth offers high quality dress shirts with a perfect fit.  We offer the most advanced online system to purchase shirts and all shirts are made in the US from Italian textiles.  See what our customers are saying here and get Brad’s style next time you buy one.

Here at Proper Cloth, we like to think we’re pretty fashionable.  Even if we don’t actually dress super trendy, we try to pay attention to what’s going on.  Sometimes we really like the trends we see – and other times we’re just left scratching our heads.

Like for example, the current Prada ad campaign where the man is wearing two collars at the same time.

We’re not sure how to interpret this.  Is the bottom one the actual shirt collar and the top one a necklace?  Should Proper Cloth begin offering dress shirt collars as jewelry for men?

Or, is Prada trying to show off the selection of collars they offer?  Is this a brilliant way to save advertising dollars.  Instead of paying for two pictures (or two advertisements) to display your selection of shirt options, you put them all on the same model at the same time?

Another thought we had was that Prada collars are now removable (according to the experts: in the old (really old) days this was the norm).  Why would Prada switch to removable collars?  It’s not really a stylistic move – you can’t tell a collar is removable when the person is wearing the shirt. Wait – unless you wear two at a time!

Actually, looking at this picture a little closer, it seems there are no front buttons or placket.  Now we’re on to something… This is the new dress shirt design that is impossible to put on or take off by yourself.  Clearly a luxury item: it requires a butler in the morning and french maid at night.  It has the added advantage of preventing any lewd behavior – like unbuttoning the top two buttons of your shirt.

Currently, Proper Cloth custom dress shirts do not come with the no-buttons-in-the-front option (what’s life without lewd behavior?) or the take-your-collar-off-and-wear-it-as-a-necklace option.  But we do have a lot to choose from.  We offer a variety of collars and cuffs and are constantly adding more fabrics so you can match your shirt to your style.  All that and something Prada would never dream of offering – custom fit.