Stagnation is the gravest enemy to a great man. Likewise, your Style needs to periodically be invigorated. Wearing the same things day in and day out is exhaustingly boring. Trends come about all the time as an answer to this predicament. However, they’re just a short fix. Sometimes you need a completely new start. Here’s our primer on reinventing your style for the better.

Reinventing Your Style

Out with the Old

There’s a lot of junk in your closet. I bet there are plenty of Clothes that you can’t remember the last time you wore. Before you can get started on reinventing your style, you need to get rid of all of the stuff that put you in this rut in the first place.

Identify these clothes and be brutal with your purging. Keep only things with sentimental value or basic pieces that can be incorporated into your new look. Out with the old so you can make way for the new.

Finding Inspiration

So you know you need a change but maybe you don’t know what to. Finding inspiration is easier than ever. With Instagram, celebrities, and great fashion sites (like ours), there are plenty of places to look.

Instead of imagining your clothes, first picture how you want your new style to make you feel. With that in mind, seek out other guys with that air about them. What are they wearing?

Before choosing a new style, you must also consider your lifestyle. You might want to wear Hawaiian shirts every day but your job might confine you to the traditional suit and tie. Just because you want to look a certain way, doesn’t necessarily mean you have the environment to support it. Think of ways of tweaking your style so you can try something new without breaking the confines of what’s reasonable for your lifestyle.

Start Small

Before throwing all your old clothes in a burning pile and dancing to their destruction (or if you’re boring, donating them), test the waters. Start small by experimenting with subtle changes. A new pair of sunglasses or picking up some men’s jewelry might give you what you’re looking for.

Build Up

Changing your style begs for an understanding of what the new one will be. This is a process. While you become an expert in your new look, it’s wise to build up. Start with the basic pieces of that style. Think of changes like switching to a Breton shirt or to a pair of camo sneakers.

These simple additions provide a solid base from which to expand, while still being easy enough to incorporate into your current wardrobe.

Invest Wisely

Reinventing your style can be a costly affair. Budget and pace yourself. Poor spending habits probably led you to your current wardrobe fatigue. Instead of buying anything in the realm of your new style, choose items specifically that will work together. Cohesion in your wardrobe will maximize every piece in it, ultimately making the most out of your money. A couple of synergistic pieces are always better than a host of mixed-matched ones.

Budgeting is especially important if you’re upgrading to a more costly look. Save where you can and invest in the statement items. Meaning you should opt for cheaper t-shirts while saving your money up for a quality blazer or jacket. Your new style will probably depend more on these pieces.

Time to be Bold

Once you have a grasp on your new style, it’s time to be bold. Playing it safe with your sartorial reinvention is defeating the purpose. Get out of your comfort zone and get noticed.

Playing it too safe will burn you out on your new look in no time. Fashion is meant to be fun so go have some fun with it.

Consider a Different Brand

Whether we mean to or not, we often gravitate towards the same stores over and over again. It makes sense when you think about it. If that store had one thing you liked, chances are you’ll find something else there that fits your aesthetic.

While that’s great when you’re happy with your wardrobe, it’s a problem when you want to branch out. Finding a whole new place to shop can give you a whole litany of new style options. Diversifying where you shop is crucial to keeping things fresh.

If you’re in need of some examples, check out the comprehensive list of our favorite places to shop, here.

Beyond the Clothes

Reinventing your style doesn’t have to be limited to clothes. Here are some ways you can reinvent your self beyond the fabric.

Choose a New Hair Style

Most guys pick a hairstyle as a kid and stick to that pretty much their whole lives. If I’m describing you, then you’re missing out on a fantastic way of reinventing your style. There are tons of men’s hairstyles out there, from slicked-back to buzzcuts, there are plenty of reasons to do something different.

When choosing your hairstyle, you should be factoring that into how it plays with the rest of your reinvented style. For instance, if you’re going for a more fashion-forward look, a faux hawk is one to consider while if you’re aiming for something more professional, you can’t go wrong with a quiff.

That best part about reinventing your style through your hair is that if you don’t like it, it’ll just grow back.

Changing your Grooming Game

Another super easy way to reinvent your style is through grooming. If you’ve been traditionally clean shaving, growing out facial hair into a Van Dyke or sporting a Chevron mustache can completely change up your look. On the other hand, if you’ve had a beard so long that you can remember what your face looked like without one, maybe its time to revisit your baby-faced days and go clean-shaven.

Don’t forget to build a grooming routine that you can stick to.

A New Body Through Exercise

Your body is the outfit you can’t take off. Therefore, it should be obvious that improving your physique will massively change your look. The shape that you’re in, directly correlates to how your clothes fit. If you start maintaining a healthy routine, you might find that those clothes you were ready to get rid of, now are exactly what you were wanting in the first place.

Go get Started

Reinventing your style is daunting but there’s no better time to start than the present. With these tips in mind, building a better look is easier than ever.

Let us know where you want your style to improve. We’ll provide our expert advice below!

The post Reinventing Your Style: A Unbeatable Guide for Starting Over appeared first on The GentleManual | A Handbook for Gentlemen & Scoundrels.