File: How do the best build and evolve their style?

The ability of some people to wear very basic clothes while still having style is impressive.

Take the type we all have around us. Let's say that his basic physique helps a little, but not more than anyone else: he is rather tall, rather handsome, but nothing extraordinary either.

Three hundred and sixty-five days a year he wears the same white boat-neck t-shirt under the same chambray shirt, with the same raw jeans worn a little over tired ankle boots.

But then, why does it work ?

The balance to find your style

This is the characteristic of people who have style: this ability to wear, it seems, anything and everything with astonishing naturalness . 

The kind of guy you meet in the street, who catches the slightly trained eye with an envious comment: “Nice boots!”

These people are divided into two categories:

• Those who know exactly what suits them , for whom it is the result of calculated effort, errors and experimentation,

• Those who do it unconsciously, one day coming across a piece that suited them perfectly and who carry it around for years, until death ensues.

Better to join the first category, that way at least we are sure of knowing where we are going.

What is style?

The style of an outfit is, most of the time, synonymous with balance between the pieces in order to achieve a state of mind where each element, simple, responds to another in a subtle and refined way, without making unnecessary waves.

It's all in the way you manage contrasts in cuts, materials and colors. Layer two or three strong pieces without looking like a harlequin, wear just enough accessories to look like a rocker and not a hair salon coat rack.

One of the masters of this art is Johnny Depp, undoubtedly one of the most stylish actors of his generation.

The only one, in any case, to have such a unique style, based on round Dita glasses with polarized lenses, Borsalino hats and mafia costumes from the thirties, with scarves and necklaces tied just about anywhere and anyhow ... ostensibly.

Like Justin Timberlakeʼs recent metamorphosis for Suit & Tie , you can see, if you happen to look at his looks over the years, how much he has evolved. A retarded teenager with permed hair, wearing denim suits around fifteen years ago, he became the ultra smart man we know today.

In a more discreet genre, the musician John Mayer is known for going to Japan once a year and following, for a week, the teachings of Hiroki Nakamura, creator of the Visvim brand for whom he dresses almost exclusively. It was converted by Eric Clapton, and more and more personalities are following in their wake.

Visvim is a brand whose DNA is the very essence of this Japanese spirit of balance: a subtle mix of well-digested influences, between the farmers' outfits of the Tokugawa era and the Americana uniforms of the conquest of the West (notably on the latest collection).

Mastering fashion katas, a long apprenticeship

We can think of fashion as a form of martial art, where we can only reach the summit - always provisionally - by having learned and unlearned all the techniques necessary to climb it.

The best example in martial arts is Masutatsu Oyama. Next to him, Chuck Norris would pass for a nice boy scout...

Who was Masutatsu Oyama?

Masutatsu Oyama, the founder of the Kyokushinkai school – “the school of Ultimate Truth” – and one of the greatest karatekas of the second half of the 20th century.

He began as a simple Korean immigrant - a zainichi - despised and considered at best a lousy member of a sub-race.

He decided to challenge all the karatekas in Japan one by one, down to the last one.

Its goal ? Prove to them that he was better than them, and that the culture of his country was at least as good as that of that of the Rising Sun, including even in an art that is part of national pride.

To do this, he began by ingesting all the traditional forms of judo and karate in the dojo until he became a master. But it wasn't enough .

The solution ? Forget everything you know

He then turned to ancient forms of hyunmudo , the traditional Korean martial art, based on the internal knowledge of the anatomy of the human body and the mastery of ki , the spiritual energy that emanates from it.

Still insufficient.

So he exiled himself to the top of a mountain and there, for three years, he set out to unlearn everything he had learned in real combat, returning to a much more brutal and primitive form of struggle: his body against nature. Training against tree trunks, climbing frozen cliffs with bare hands, meditating in a smock (blouse with sleeves, editor's note) at minus ten degrees in the snow.

When he came down from his mountain, he embarked clandestinely to Japan and methodically challenged all the most illustrious representatives of all the schools of karate one by one. Until the last one.

The men's style scale

The men you pass in the street for whom you instinctively say “what a style!” followed this same initiatory process (minus the mountain climbs in traditional skirts).

• They started by acquiring the common basics of fashion : body shapes, cuts, colors associated with the complexion, materials...

• Then the balance between the different pieces : what can be worn with what and, more difficult, with what else?

• Finally, they questioned everything they had learned, in order to go beyond these well-established codes to create a strong “style”: a general attitude, more than a look, which defines and precedes them.

That's when you realize that there are certain rules for learning to dress that, after a certain point, no longer mean anything!

If we wanted to schematize a stylistic rise, it could be this way:

• Novice : lost in the jungle of ready-to-wear, often recommended by people who shouldn't be.

• Aspirant : mastery of neutral colors in an outfit (light blue or navy, brown, light gray and anthracite, white); know how to choose clothes approximately in your size; recognize good jeans ; start to move towards purchases thinking about “quality” more than “quantity”.

• Cadet : mastery of more advanced colors (burgundy, midnight blue, petrol blue, wine red, cognac, etc.); immediately recognize what is your size and what is not; only buy pieces that suit you perfectly, both in terms of color and cut.

• Padawan : mix materials (chambray and waxed canvas for example); cuts (unstructured t-shirt over low-cut sweatpants and a long shawl collar cardigan, for example); colors (make subtle shades like mouse gray, heather, anthracite and petroleum blue); recognize the specificities of a designer and, therefore, know exactly where to turn when looking for a particular type.

• Master Yoda : Hiroki Nakamura, creator of Visvim ; Jona, head of InAisce; Stefano Pilati, ex-designer of Saint Laurent; Gianni Agnelli, main shareholder of Fiat and undisputed master of Italian elegance for four decades; Doug Bihlmaier, the boss of Ralph Lauren Vintage...

All these characters have a unique and completely personal style, the fruit of years of sartorial and artistic refinement, completely different and yet masters of their home.

And then, how do you improve your style?

After a while, you will find that you know everything about a given aspect of fashion like jeans or suits, for example.

Two scenarios:

• Either you move to the next stage because you want to build a powerful and personal style,

• Either you are interested in another field (speech, hair, fashion history, or even a completely different passion like Himalayan pottery) because mission done . This is also a good option, which indicates that you are adequately dressed and do not need more.

But if you want to take it to the next level, take five minutes. Sit down and reflect on yourself.

Because when we come to ask ourselves these questions, we are no longer simply “well dressed”, nor even “Padawan”, but rather at a stage where clothing is integrated into a whole which is you, in an attitude towards life , a way of thinking and conceiving of existence.

In short, clothing has become the most visible extension of your personality . Socrates said “The more I learn, the more I realize the extent of my ignorance”. Lao Tzu said “The more I know, the less I understand”.

In short, if you start to look favorably on Lumen Et Umbra pants or a Lad Musician coat - or any other ultra cutting-edge and particular designer - then it is time to ask yourself the question of taking your discoveries to the ultimate stage, or to be interested in something else...

Male Style Jedi Master Chart

Style does not systematically seek consensus: once again, it becomes an extension of your personality .

Staying curious and open to everything allows you to find inspiration, sometimes even where you never thought you would find it.

We will therefore end this article with a small anthology of well-styled men, in their own way.

Beyond what they exude, look at the coherence of their outfits and how well each piece responds to the others.

Douglas Bihlmaier

Late afternoon, exit from the Chanel fashion show. Jackets with scalpel-cut notches, endless heels and obtrusive sunglasses.

A tramp, a short 1.70 meter tall, sucking on a cigarette, his eyes elsewhere under the shadow of a patched cap.

He's not a tramp but Doug Bihlmaier, officially director of Ralph Lauren Vintage, at the origin of RRL , the RL line directly inspired by the Wild West.

Special signs : rarely responds to interviews, even less often allows himself to be photographed; has a wardrobe made up almost exclusively of second-hand pieces, collected from thrift stores, garage sales or museums - some are almost two centuries old - and repaired from all sides to give them a second life, a second identity.

Bihlmaier's style speaks for itself and his craft:

• Wide pants in heavy canvas or wool twill,

• Thick sweaters layered on top of each other,

• Faded denim shirts,

• Leather and patched canvas bags,

• Confederate army caps falling apart over a shaggy beard, and bright eyes behind the round glasses of an Ivy League intellectual.

He might as well have taken a time machine to escape from a Civil War battlefield.

Americana style in all its splendor, and yet, shibui in the extreme: measured, calculated, simple and relatively discreet.

He is the incarnation of the Tatterdemalion , this mythical archetype of the Wild West wanderer in rags, always between the straw of a cattle car on its way to the West and the calloused saddle of the Pony Express.

Takahiro Miyashita

The walking incarnation of the Japanese yūgen aesthetic which is, like most Shinto concepts, untranslatable exactly into Western language.

Yūgen refers to something as deep as it is mysterious, beyond words but nevertheless well inscribed in our reality: the ineffable beauty that can only be evoked, and not described.

Something defined by Zeami Motokiyo , an aesthete and playwright from the beginning of the Muromachi era (15th century):

Yūgen is the vision of the sun sinking behind a flowering hill.

Adventure in a deep forest without thinking of returning.

The contemplation on a shore of a boat disappearing behind the offshore islands.

The soaring of a flock of wild geese among the clouds.

And, also, the faint shadow of the bamboos on the bamboos.

Many Japanese brands are created based on this concept, starting with A Bathing Ape (BAPE - whose first brand was called Nowhere , in a deserted street in the Harajuku district of Tokyo) or The Soloist , Miyashita's own brand , built from his own designs and his very particular daily sartorial moods...

Outfits made with asymmetrical cuts, unique modifications of classic pieces (cut jeans in honeycomb, or wearing shopping nets - yes, grandmother's shopping bags - as gaiters).

Nick Wooster

IF you pay any attention to the world of street style, Nick Wooster is omnipresent, to the point that it has earned him a legion of haters who vaguely consider him a menswear equivalent of Kim Kardashian.

Boss of the men's department of the legendary New York stores Bergdorf Goodman, he is invited to all the men's fashion shows on the planet and stands out for his absolutely unique look.

Reminiscence at a time:

• From the corridors of Sandhurst, the British officers' academy, by his haircut and his improbable mustache,

• GI uniforms from the Second World War for its shirts with epaulets and ties tucked into the buttonhole (often the same shade as the shirt),

• Great boutiques on Savile Row for its impeccably cut suits,

• All combined with muscular arms covered in Irezumi- style tattoos.

Wooster is also known for wearing prints or absolutely unabashedly adventurous pieces: a pair of canary yellow derbies with a black suit, or even embroidered shorts with a blazer and leopard slippers.

And the best part is that he manages to look perfectly badass whatever the outfit.

Stefano Pilati

In one of the most fascinating interviews given to VICE Magazine in 2008, entitled The Death of Elegance , Stefano Pilati, then head of Saint Laurent, explains with his usual frankness his relationship to fashion and style, notably in these terms :

My idea of ​​elegance, and this goes for women as well as men, is that a person becomes elegant when they show that they know what suits them, when they show a sense of naturalness and self-esteem. Not when she dresses to show off or show off.

Elegance means wanting to give an optimistic representation of oneself, even if it means getting lost in the frivolity of style. Today, no one cares about wanting to be elegant or chic. If you do it, you do it for yourself, because itʼs the way you are.

You're on the right path when you don't say to yourself “this thing is fashionable” and you don't buy clothes to send specific messages. If the fashion is low waisted and you have a big ass, well, forget the skinny jeans. You're going to look ridiculous. You should definitely dress in black.

Pilati's style can be summed up in a few words: timeless, extremely marked by a sartorial aesthetic.

• Many American costumes from the post-war period,

• Limited color palette (gray, brown, blue) in dominant clothing, often with a touch of bright color to enhance everything (he sometimes appears with an orange coat),

• Retro cuts, fitted but comfortable, baggy pleated pants, loose and long coats with very marked shoulder pads, etc.,

• Noble and “old-fashioned” materials (cashmere, virgin wool, Egyptian cotton).

Hiroki Nakamura

The creator of Visvim corresponds roughly to the idea we have of the timeless adventurer, his brand is in his image.

One day in 2008, he flew to Italy to learn the art of shoemaking from a master shoemaker; the following season in Lapland, hunting reindeer and diversifying his knowledge of shoemaking by studying Lappish sewing techniques.

Nakamura stands out from most of his colleagues by the variety of his inspirations. Where more traditional houses often revisit the classics of Western elegance, Visvim ostensibly pays homage to the Navajo cultures (Native Americans of Utah and Colorado), the Sami of Northern Finland or the working and agricultural classes of medieval Japan.

Without forgetting many French materials, such as Arpin wool or Breton knits.

Her look is a subtle mix of these influences. There are rustic materials:

• Denim, wild linen, bogolan (coarse cotton canvas from Mali), tussor (wild silk from India),

• Loose cuts taken from traditional workwear (whether Japanese from the Tokugawa era or American from the conquest of the West),

• Simple colors (natural shades, earth, gray, indigo) combined with ethnic patterns and pieces (Mapuche necklaces, Peruvian ponchos, etc.).

These choices are based on a single shibui idea, at the heart of Visvim: forgetting modern manufacturing techniques and designing old-fashioned, durable and timeless clothing (which also explains the brand's high prices).

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You will have understood, the path of style is endless: nothing is immutable, and inspiration is everywhere. And you, where are you located? Who are the figures that inspire you? Share your experiences in the comments 😉