men’s wear wednesday: cufflinks

Posted on September 19, 2012 by chelseahenderson

There is little that raises the swoon factor more than a well-dressed man wearing cufflinks. Maybe it’s the extra difficulty in rolling up sleeves fastened by a piece of jewelry (especially since you guys don’t carry around a purse to put your accessories in if you need to take them off) but I don’t see a lot of French cuffs in the summer. But now it’s close to officially being fall and hopefully your reluctance to wear the ultimate in men’s shirts is about to change. Gentlemen, if you don’t own a shirt with French cuffs, go buy yourself one. Now. And don’t reserve this look for the office. A guy wearing dark wash denim (i.e. no dad jeans) with a blazer and a French cuffed shirt presents just as nicely as a man wearing such a shirt with a well-tailored suit.

(On a related note, if you need some guidance on how to mix and match patterned ties and shirts, hop on over to my friend Rosana’s blog for her recent shopping advice on this very topic.)

When it comes to buying cufflinks, my advice is to not be too literal with your choices. You don’t need to wear your heart, I mean, college team on your sleeve unless maybe you are head of the Booster Club. (But even then, you only get a pass on game day.) The same goes for your favorite football team, baseball team or political party. We all know which teams you support. Your cufflinks should otherwise be reflective of your personality and can complement your tie-shirt ensemble. If you tend more toward the daring, your can choose a bold or hip cufflink. If you are more conservative, there are plenty of very standard yet elegant options. Do you have a particular hobby you are passionate about? They probably make a cufflink that connects. Some of my favorites are pictured here, but I recognize this is about you not me.

It’s not about me at all.

men’s wear wednesday: an alternative to suits

Posted on June 20, 2012 by chelseahenderson

I don’t really have a solution to offer, but wanted to make sure I express my sympathy for all the men I saw (and the many more I didn’t personally see) slugging to work through the heat and humidity on this brutal first day of summer. While I did not see a single woman wearing a dress or blouse with any hint of a sleeve, all the men I saw were already melting in their long-sleeved work shirts, even before donning jacket and tie.

There are many times that I thank the stars I am a woman, no more so than this time of year. Our professional wardrobe options are so much more vast. Let’s be honest, most men can’t carry off the seersucker suit with Trent Lott aplomb. (I think you have to be a fifth generation southern gentleman to really own it.) Lightweight wool? Sounds like an oxymoron to me, but even though I know what is meant by the term, it still sounds dreadful on a day expected to be in the mid-90s. Even if your suit is indeed of a lightweight fabric like poplin, you still have to tie a noose around your neck from 9 to 5, Monday thru Friday.

I don’t have any great ideas for changing up what professional options you have for this time of year (khakis are not the answer). But I do have an idea that is worth consideration. Since we’re never going to get a “heat day” off from work in the summer the way we get snow days in the winter, perhaps the federal government could institute a policy of “no jacket and tie days.” It could be the summer equivalent to “liberal leave” during inclement weather in the winter.

Until that time, hang your shirt, jacket and tie on a hanger and wear something light and airy for your walk to work or walk from the metro or your car. Just don’t do what the guy I saw this morning did. He had said hanger with office attire on it, but opted to walk to work in his wife-beater. And while I feel bad for all you overdressed men out there, no woman wants to see a sweaty man in a tank top.

men’s wear wednesday: chivalry

Posted on June 13, 2012 by chelseahenderson

Is there anything hotter than a chivalrous man?

Well, it depends.

Chivalry is only attractive when it comes naturally. It’ shouldn’t feel forced or put on. That is, don’t make a big deal about opening the door for me. Don’t make a sweeping gesture when pulling out my chair or letting me enter the room first. A polite, “after you” is fine, but that’s all that is necessary. Just do these things because they are nice. I promise I won’t be offended and think you think I’m not strong enough to open my own door, adept enough to pull out my own chair or that you want to check out my ass. (Well, I might think the latter, and I might catch you doing it, but you should still let me walk into or out of a room ahead of you.)

These gestures are polite. They don’t make me feel inferior or incapable or like I’m a member of the weaker sex. (After all, it’s clear which gender keeps the world moving.) But I know most of us women have encountered a man who has come across more jerky, less knightly in his chivalrous approach.

As it is, we live in a society where manners seem to fall by the wayside. We text through meetings, averting our eyes from the person we are meeting with. We take phone calls during dinner. And let’s not forget my all time least favorite technological advancement: call waiting. I always waive it as an option for my home phone, and if on my iPhone I have a call coming in while I’m already talking to someone else, I end that call or let the incoming one go to voice mail.

So, when it comes to simple courtesies that are thoughtful, I’m not going to take offense.

In fact, extra points for draping your cape over a puddle so I don’t get my Prada shoes wet.

men’s wear wednesday: the ties that bind

Posted on May 23, 2012 by chelseahenderson

It has been some time since I’ve had the occasion to buy a man a tie. However, I do like to walk around the tie section of a high-end department store. I love how ties are organized according to their place on the color wheel. I love feeling the different textures and fabrics. I love imagining the possible suit-plus-shirt combinations a tie has to offer.

(Maybe all this tie buying love stems from the fact that I love helping a man take off his tie.)

A recent trip to Nordstrom in search of a birthday gift led me to my own little tie epiphany. Ties only come in three pattern options: solid, stripes or paisley. And within those pattern options, ties are either bold, safe (some might say boring) or ugly.

A tie is the man’s way to distinguish his outfit. It’s his shoes, jewelry, scarf and purse all in one. (Melt my heart if he has a corresponding sock.) The right tie gives a man his opportunity to present himself as more sophisticate, less prep school boy. It’s the one element that can pull together the professional man’s outfit. It’s a chance to be unique. Much like I don’t like to walk into an elevator and run into a woman with the exact same outfit on, I assume a man doesn’t like looking around a conference table and realizing he has on a variation of the same tie every other man in the room is wearing.

I personally like a man who can pull off a bold tie, but I recognize it isn’t in everyone’s comfort zone. If you are in the market for a tie and need some direction, my simple rules are: no skinny ties unless you are a dedicated hipster; no ties that require sunglasses to comfortably look at; and, I’m just going to say it, don’t bother with Vineyard Vines ties. They all look alike.

Oh and one more rule. Please, if you get a grease spot on your tie that won’t come out, you must retire it, no matter how much you paid for it or how much you love it.

men’s wear wednesday: just say no to dad jeans

Posted on May 16, 2012 by chelseahenderson

I have two hot girlfriends who recently went on dates with guys who showed up in what I refer to as dad jeans. You know exactly what they look like. They’re a lighter wash. They’re high-waisted. They’re unflattering. They might as well have a tapered leg. Oh wait, sometimes they do.

I want to let men in on a secret: we like to check out your asses as much as you check out ours. I’m not saying that you have to go invest hundreds of dollars in designer jeans if that isn’t in your comfort zone or budget. I get it. You see jeans as being something you wear to kick around in, do yard work, coach little league. But I’d just like to make a few suggestions.

Stay away from colored denim. Unless you have a comfortable hipster swagger, skinny jeans are probably not for you. When you are going out on a date, try wearing jeans of a darker hue like this very budget friendly pair from the Gap. When you buy them, don’t get them baggy already because denim stretches. It stretches a lot. A trip to the Denim Bar, even if you don’t end up buying anything there, can be very enlightening. But I can almost promise you that if you do go to the Denim Bar, you will walk out with something in your bag.

If you don’t believe me, check out how amazing my friend’s husband looks from behind in his designer jeans. Imagine throwing a blazer on over this look for casual Friday at the office (or everyday at the office if you work in that type of environment). Envision yourself going out to a bar or dinner with your date in these. You will most assuredly turn some heads, and not just of the woman on your arm.

men’s wear wednesday: the custom suit (guest author)

Posted on May 9, 2012 by chelseahenderson

Last week when I launched my new weekly menswear column, I did it with a sense of panic. Do I know enough about what men (and the women who dress them) want in their closets to be informative to my readers? With that spirit in mind, I turn my blog over this week to my dad, to let him detail a wardrobe encounter I haven’t and probably won’t ever have: ordering custom-made suits.

My Custom Suit Fitting

by Bruce Henderson

Hong Kong tailors have long been famous for their custom-made suits. And now it turns out you don’t have to travel halfway around the world to have one made.

A recent article in the New York Times about a Hong Kong tailor who barnstorms the U.S. thrice a year conducting fittings and taking orders for custom suits reminded me how much I have always wanted one. I went on Empire International Tailors website (empiretailors.com) and booked a fitting in late April in San Francisco.

I knew I would take my wife with me, as Laura is the classiest dresser I know and a connoisseur of fabrics. However, a few days before my fitting, I addressed a concern. “Honey, I want your help picking out fabrics, but I don’t want you there for my fitting. A man and his tailor, well, it’s kinda like a woman and her gynecologist.”

“I understand,” said my understanding wife. “I’ll bring my Kindle.”

When we arrived for the fitting, the living room of the penthouse at the Marriott Marquis had been transformed into a large fitting room with long tables displaying hundreds of small swatches of fabric.

The fabric selection came first. There were four priced tiers of fabric in various colors and patterns. We went from lowest-to-highest cost. The first two suits I ordered were easy. A black suit (highest tier) made of the finest Italian wool that I’ll keep in my closet “a lifetime,” said the tailor’s twenty-something son, Mark Asaf, dressed in his own smart suit. “Yes,” I agreed, “and maybe beyond.” Next came a Loro Piana navy (2nd highest tier). Both these jackets can be worn as blazers, so I picked out fabric for extra trousers (deep tan and darkish gray). For my third suit, we settled on a gray with subtle, narrow white pinstripes (2nd highest tier). All are to be two-button, ventless, with cuffed pants. Then I ordered nine custom shirts, including two tuxedo shirts (in white and black, lay-down collar, nonpleated); a couple with band collars and the rest classic straight collars, with a mix of French and button cuffs.

Now it was time for the head tailor and the face of Empire International since it opened in 1983, Anthony Asaf, and his assistant to have their way with me. For the next hour I stood as still as a Rodin as copious measurements were taken and retaken. Eventually, a crudely-sewn cotton suit form was placed around me, and it was pinned and tweaked to fit. As the tailors pawed me in a most ethical manner, I occasionally tried to fill in awkward lulls in the conversation. Given all this intimacy, it seemed we should at least be talking.

“Do you know the first U.S. president to wear a brown suit?” I asked.

The head tailor did not know.

“Ronald Reagan. Started a whole new trend in Washington, a town filled mostly with grays and blues.”

I actually had a second presidential-suit trivia question.

“Know the first president to wear a two-button suit?”

My tailor shook his head as he deftly brought his measuring strap down my zipper from my belt buckle, under my crotch, and up to my belt line in the back.

“JFK,” I announced brightly. “Before that, all three-button.”

A word about prices: Empire International does not sell the least-expensive suits or make them from the cheapest fabric. Prices for a custom-made suit from a Hong Kong tailor are similar to prices for an off-the-rack suit from a U.S. department store, ranging from $250 to $2,500. Only they will fit much better.

A DHL package from Hong Kong will soon hit my porch. Inside it will be one of my custom suits and one shirt. I am to try them on, and email final approval for the rest to be completed. If any adjustments are necessary, Empire International assures me it will taken care of.

My only nagging regret is that I didn’t order a brown suit for my next trip to Washington.

My father is the author of many bestselling books, including his latest, HERO FOUND: The Greatest POW Escape of the Vietnam War, for which he appeared on

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

men’s wear wednesday

Posted on May 2, 2012 by chelseahenderson

Gentlemen, are you tired of reading or rather, skimming my blog for tidbits of juiciness like the words nude or milf? Do you wish I didn’t spend so much time on women’s fashion, my dress dilemmas and don’t wears that clearly have no relevance to you unless you are willing to share them with the woman in your life?

Fret no more.

In an attempt to continue my effort to make the world (or our little slice of it in DC) a more fashionable place, I have advice for you too. And dearest female readers, don’t avoid Wednesdays just because they will be tailored to the guys. I know you’ve had the experience of dressing up for an event, looking at what your husband or boyfriend was wearing, and cringing inside because his ensemble looked like it came from the (dirty) laundry basket not from an actual hanger in his closet. Or maybe you’re tired of the khaki-pants-blue-button-down uniform so omnipresent in DC. At the next BBQ, perhaps you can get him to wear something other than cargo shorts and a t-shirt from college (a note to the guys: just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s vintage).

Ideally, just like my women readers do, my male readers/skimmers will reach out to me with a wardrobe dilemma. Since I didn’t decide on this post until last night, today’s advice for those guys who hate to shop or don’t know what to look for is this: hire some help. A personal stylist such as DC Style Factory (who will start by auditing your closet and compiling a style profile) is well worth the investment. Or did you know that you can call (or email) Nordstrom, tell them what you need, your size and your price range and they will make an appointment for you to come in to a dressing room already full of items for you to try? No scouring the racks for outfits you don’t know how to put together or searching to find what section of the store carries the items you need. By the way, this service is free.

And so is my advice, so take it or leave it, but if you leave it, don’t say I didn’t tell you so the next time your significant other looks you up and down and lets out a heavy sigh. It might be because she can’t wait for you to get those clothes off, but not for the reason you think.

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