Inspiration to improve your style often comes from unexpected sources.
A group of stylish Italian men on a night out in Rome.
Watching a movie with a lead actor whose clothing sets the tone for the whole movie.
Coffee with an acquaintance who has discovered the art of classic style and owns it.
Personal style inspiration can come from travel, food, architecture, art, celebrities…..and clothing companies.
Yeah – brands are an often overlooked source for carefully curated inspiration.
Have you ever used a clothing brand to lift your style game?
What if you could find a brand that inspires you?
One that suits your lifestyle, your build and gets you moving out of your comfort zone and into the realm of inspiring style?
Once you identify an inspiring brand, the process of building an interchangeable wardrobe is simpler, saving you money while elevating your style.
Based out of Richmond Virginia, Ledbury started out making shirts and now has a range of sports jackets, ties, trousers, sweaters, and other menswear pieces.
Click here to grab Ledbury’s free catalog (basically a style magazine delivered to your door at no cost!)
The three tips below will help you select the right company to build your personal style.
#1 Finding A Vision For Your Style – Use Catalogs For Stylish Clothing Ideas
Permanent change occurs when both the emotional and logical circuitry in your brain is rewired.
Making a logical commitment alone is not enough to build great style. You want to fire your emotional circuits to achieve your big goals in life. Emotions drive our actions.
A blank slate is hardly fodder to drive your emotions. Using images, on the other hand can create powerful emotions that gets you moving in a positive direction.
Using images, build a vision for your style.
Picture in your mind what you want to look like.
Two decades ago – you would have to create a vision board by tearing out pictures from magazine. Modern technology has made it simpler to access and store images on your phone and laptop.
Pick up a copy of a men’s style magazine like Rake, Esquire, GQ or Details – tear out the pictures that inspire you and store them some place where you have quick and easy access to them.
A lot of brands offer a free catalog – either in a physical form or a soft copy available for download. Click here to grab Ledbury’s catalog – a great source of inspiration.
Find a brand that projects an image that suits you.
It could be a rugged image, a leisurely one with a guy sailing a boat or a corporate image with a businessman in a tailored suit… find a brand where you can relate to the images.
A lookbook or catalog helps you get a sense of what the brand stands for as well as how to create a stylish outfit using various clothing items from the current collection.
Browsing through catalogs from quality brands is the simplest and easiest step to improving your style.
Try to identify how clothes and accessories are worn by the models. Are the sleeves rolled, are the pants cut slim at the heel, are trendy men preferring to go sockless?
The images feed directly into your subconscious, where they are stored and come to the fore when you go shopping.
Suddenly, you notice your eye turns to stylish outfits that would have escaped your attention before.
When you choose an outfit or a look that catches your attention- break it down piece by piece and then find similar pieces on your own to replicate the look.
Repeat the process until you feel that the outfit reflects your personality. Get rid of any changes that don’t fit until you are fully satisfied with the look.
You’ll begin to notice patterns and new color combinations that compliment each other. Plus, you’ll be full of ideas for new outfit combinations.
If you want to collect photos from a company that has an inspiring vision – Ledburyis a great place to start. They offer a hard copy catalog, delivered direct to your doorstep. Their Pinterest and Instagram pages are excellent resources for discovering your personal style through visuals.
#2 Take The Plunge – Use A Brand To Create Several Stylish Outfits
Start by assembling a few outfits from a brand that is visually appealing.
There are a couple of obvious advantages to sticking with a single brand to build your wardrobe.
- Most of their outfits complements each other. Start to piece together individual clothing items to form outfits that are seamlessly in sync.
The beauty of sticking with a single brand is that you are assured the individual items fit into the overall image of the brand. - Brands have standard sizes. Far too many men wear clothing that isn’t the right size for them. The quality of the clothes are irrelevant if the fit is wrong.What looks good on someone else may not look good on you. The key factors that assure appropriateness for you are your skin tone, face shape and your body type. Sticking with a brand you have already tested gives you the added confidence that the clothes will fit you and suit your lifestyle.
#3 Double Down Or Move On – Advantages Of Finding A Quality Brand That Suits Your Lifestyle
Find a brand that is focused on quality, not quantity.
Quantity is often the focus, driving the cost of clothes lower, but affecting the quality to the point where clothes start to fall apart easily.
Choose a brand with a philosophy that you agree with. If the origins of the brand are strongly focused on always delivering high quality – you’re on the right path.
Once you find a quality brand that is appeals to your emotions and fits you right,double down – buy a few items from the same brand. A few shirts, a jacket, a pair of trousers and put together a versatile outfit.
Finding A Brand That Works On You
- Pick a brand that offers quality. You want your clothes to last long and look great. Focus on a brand that assures quality. Spending a little extra for quality is going to work in your favor in the long run.
- Pick a brand that fits your lifestyle. Price and quality shouldn’t be your only concerns. You need to enjoy the clothes you wear and they need to be appropriate to your lifestyle. Otherwise, you’re never going to wear the pieces you buy.
Make sure that in some of your choices – you’re stepping out of your comfort zone. Pick a brand you haven’t tried before but whose look you are drawn to. This is a great time to explore some new options and give your old favorite stores a break.
You are constantly evolving as an individual. Finding new sources of inspiration and brands that suit your current lifestyle is an exercise that is best repeated every 7 years (the duration of a development cycle).
Walk into stores and pick out outfits that you would never picture yourself wearing… then try them on.
Take pictures using your phone in the dressing room so you can decide later which aspect of the outfit suits your build and lifestyle. Photos are also a great way to get instant feedback from others.
Do this exercise often enough and your idea of what is you will change (for the better). In the process, you end up discovering a ton of new looks and move closer to the ideal of a more stylish you.
Attention to detail is the essence of great style.
Practice paying attention to the details in style.
The more you practice creatively working the details of any look – the more you’ll enjoy the nuances that create your own signature style.
Based out of Richmond Virginia, Ledbury started out making shirts and now has a range of sports jackets, ties, trousers, sweaters, and other menswear pieces. REALMENREALSTYLE.COM · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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