THE MATH OF MAKING YOUR CLOTHES LOOK GOOD

Over the past few years, I’ve become a fan of the famed Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (If you’re curious, you should read this book) after hearing his name enough from much brighter people than myself.

Feynman rumouredly had a lesson called "Math in Four Pages."

The lesson walked students from a starting point of counting on their fingers all the way up through calculus with clear logical steps and jumps between levels.

The lecture created a concise look at how math works from something basic to something high-level, all by creating clarity around a typically confusing topic.

I find that, for many men, style is as confusing as looking at high-level math problems. Trying to figure out how to improve your wardrobe and what you should wear can look like a messy mix of numbers and letters you don’t know how to solve.

Fortunately, style, like math, has some basic principles and logical steps to help you solve those problems. If you don’t know addition, you won’t do well in calculus. Unfortunately, most men don’t want to learn the foundation. Instead, they spin their wheels, going in circles, basically trying to guess their way to an answer.

Style bloggers and fashion Tik Tok gurus don’t help in this department. Social media is saturated with people telling men their favorite style "hacks", their new tricks, and to try whatever trend sprung up that afternoon.

Math doesn’t require memorizing a hack, a trick, or a trend. Instead, it requires you to have a fundamental understanding of the basics and to progress from there. Style is the same way.

So what are those fundamental principles? After almost a decade of working with men, I’ve seen what those basics are. Every style problem you have can be slotted in to one of these categories. I call these the four Pivot Pillars, which I focus on with clients:

1) Fit & Sizing. Getting the correct size and correct fit in relation to your body.

2) Color. Getting the right colors to suit your natural coloring and knowing how to pair them together.

3) Style. That the style/theme/feel of the clothing feels like an extension of your personality, and it’s congruent. That it’s something you enjoy wearing and that it works together.

4) Execution. You know how to go out and get these things in the right size, color, and style.


Fit + Color + Style + Execution = Style Nirvana


What you should try and do with this information is figure out where you are weak.

Maybe you understand how things should fit you, and you’ve tailored your clothing and shopped the correct sizes to ensure it, but you have no idea what colors look good on you.

Find out where you’re lacking and try to get an education around that point. This will help you build a solid foundation.

Furthermore, when you sense something gone wrong with your outfit, something that just feels "off", try to slot it into one of those buckets. It can help you diagnose what is going wrong in the style equation so you can solve the problem rather than throwing your hands up in the air, thinking it’s all too hard.

And this is exactly what I help guys with - building that foundation, both with the knowledge (what colors work well for you, what fits your body, and what your personal style is), but also the execution, actually getting you the clothing that works well for you so you have a wardrobe you love.

So if you dig that, schedule a call with me one on one here; it’s free.

Hope that helps.

x Patrick