Introduction

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The first, most crucial step towards improving your looks is to pay attention. Not just to yourself or your friends, but to other people as well. To movies, to magazines, it doesn't really matter. Just start noticing how people look and what clothes do for them. Absorb as much knowledge as you possibly can and build a visual reference book in your head (or on your computer if you're that sort of person). Notice the shapes, lines, colors, proportions of what you see. Don't worry if you don't have the vocabulary and can't explain what you're looking at or even why you like it; that's secondary to the main goal of just paying attention to the details.


Now that you've paid attention, you can move into the next step: be honest. Firstly, about yourself: are you tall? Do you have broad hips? Do you have a short torso? Is your frame lean? Are your shoulders defined? Then make the same honest appraisal of other people you see. Is he stocky? Are her legs really long? Does he have really built arms? Does she have a less curvy frame?


If you've thoroughly paid attention and then been honest, then you'll start to notice patterns. Tall people tend to wear a lot of "fashion" things (drop crotch pants or what have you) more easily. Some types of sleeves (cap sleeves, raglan sleeves) don't flatter people with rounder shoulders. A defined waist tends to make everyone look thinner. Fine woven wool garments tend to make outfits more dressy. And then you'll easily see how some of these patterns can apply to your body.


Now here's why I think people should think of this is in the abstract—this categorical analysis of dressing avoids any mention of rules, anything about spending money, anything about how "X" ought to fit in such a "Y" way because "Z" is totally hipster/brah/ prep/ etc. I'm not saying you will necessarily have to read fashion magazines all the time or that you need to open up a card at Barneys; that's not the point. The goal isn't to conform to someone else's sense of style, but to develop your own. Whether you had never tried dressing yourself before or if you're some super brand conscious person, you are ultimately rewarded for all this work with complete autonomy and self—control over fashion. You stop wearing what you think you ought to wear and you begin wearing what you know you should be wearing.