April 2007

Cuff-links have over the past few years experienced a democratisation of sorts. Where they used to be seen only on the shirts of the business elite, they’re now very often seen straddling the wrists of the office clerk.They still look good but they have seen an increasing trend of over-use and I have noticed this in some of the orders my tailored shirt business has been receiving.

A key part of men’s style is wearing the appropriate garment for an occasion. In short, casual shirts and french cuffs do not work. This isn’t just a ‘rule’. They simply don’t look good together.

Also, French cuffs are inconvenient if you engage in frequent typing or writing. Because they stick out further than button cuffs, they will get dirtier, easier. If in a job that requires either of these tasks, stick to the buttons! Button cuffs still look good and for the casual shirts, the sleeve can be rolled up (handy for a casual look.)

They’re de rigeur in formal settings, accepted in business and a no for casual.

Cuff-links don’t make a bad shirt better. Part of the democratisation has been due to business and casual shirts entering the market at lower prices. You can have the nicest pair of links in the world but if combined with a dodgy shirt you will lose style points.

Looking for cuff-links? Benjamin Cuff Links may be a good place to start your search with a pretty large range of decently priced cuff links. There’s no affiliate links there.

This is one a lot of men get wrong. This is for when you are standing. Seated, you should always have all buttons undone.

So, when standing:

Two button suit: Top button always, bottom button never.

Three button suit: Top button sometimes (my preference is undone), middle button always, bottom button never.

Four button suit: Throw it out. Now.

There’s a good reason to do this and that’s because suit manufacturers specifically design their clothes with this in mind. When I worked in this industry, I spent some time with a maker of tailored suits and he showed me just how big the difference is on a well-tailored suit. If you bottom the bottom button on an expensive suit, you’ll see that ripples emerge around the hip area on either side. The button tugs at the fabric and causes the suit to lose its form.

If you bottom the button one and nothing changes, you either have a crappy suit or one that doesn’t fit. Either way, that’s a big problem.

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Something that’s quite common amongst people my age is a strict, almost fanatical adherence to their certain set of music tastes.

Nearly everyone when asked the question “what do you like?” will say “oh, everything really.” When you spend enough time with them you’ll see that’s not really the case.

I’ve been thinking about this a bit since hanging out with friends and a store and an Artic Monkeys song came on. I really like the Arctic Monkeys and think that they’re a bunch of geniuses, especially the teenage lead singer and song-writer. The reaction of my friends was something different. One even showed a slightly hysterical or fearful reaction.

My response was “name one RnB song that has changed the world.”

As we know, none exist. I thought this was a good argument and happily settled back into my comfortable position.

I’ve always prided myself on open-mindedness but still have quite a strong reaction to ghetto-type music. Rejecting any style of music carte blanche is without doubt a closed-minded position although heavy metal would take a lot of convincing for me to hear the tune behind it.

So this is the official announcement on MatNewton.com. I will be open-minded to the any other ghetto-music type. I’m not open to advocates of violence and extreme sexism though. Should be interesting to see after these two categories are eliminated if there’s any artists left! Hehe