Save Money and Time With a Wadrobe Refresh!
Hey everybody. I'm Mary. I have a store here in Phoenix called Q. Contrary. I help men and women find clothes that fit and look good. I custom make suits, shirts, jackets. I tailor clothing, I do alterations, and I sell a handful of things here in the store. So my background is men's design. I studied in New York at fit. I spent about 15 years there at designing. And I've learned what it takes to help men and women be effective in business. So come to my store here in Phoenix. I help build a wardrobe for you to help you make the right first impression.
I want to talk about a simple way that you can take an old suit or jacket in your wardrobe and modernize it, right? So nowadays we all talking about reuse and re-purpose, which I think is so important because if you have good clothing in your closet that fits, you just have worn it so many times. You're kind of sick of it. I want to show you a couple of ways to kind of modernize it, right?
So with women, they can take a basic black dress, change the heels, the handbag, her hair, her makeup, and all sorts of ways to make a simple back dress more modern or fun or stylize men. You can do the same thing. So here on the table I have is just a basic blue suit. Yes, it's a little brighter, but it is just a blue suit. So if you have a blue suit in your closet, even a gray suit in your closet, I want to show you a handful of accessories to add to your look just to kind of give it a little more life, right? So as you can see, white shirt, blue suit, classic, simple. This is just a classic men's tie. Micropattern. Blue. It's a great look cause it ties the jacket and matches the shirt ties all the colors together.
If you've had ties in your closet for over five, six years, you might want to recycle them or donate them and add a fresh new one. So if you're going to a wedding or you're going to a party or a vendor, even business and you want to add a little more style, add a little bit more color in your neck where, okay, so here's the pink again, it has a little bit of blue in it, which ties into the jacket and to the shirt with the white. Here's a great simple way to add a lot of color in life. Love this tie. Another option is go very simple and classic, just straight blue here, right? Very tonal, very chic.
A lot of celebrities wear this look especially to black tie events or award ceremonies or on the red carpet. So keep picking a tonal look here. Now when you're picking a tie what I tell my clients is the width of the lapel should be proportion with the width of your neck where so if your lapel is wider, go with the wider tie. Your lapel is more narrow go with more of a narrow tie. Like, I wouldn't suggest the gentleman with a really wide Tom Ford like lapel to pick a skinny tie. I think the proportions look kind of off. The proportionate classic, gorgeous, you know, modernize your look.
My favorite ones is this floral print.
Again, it's total in dark, subtle, not super scary but simple.Okay. Little bit of pattern. Livermore interests, five things. When you're looking for ties that nobody else has, right? Everybody has this sort of look. Add color, you know, pattern. Something a little different. It'll totally change the look of your suit or your sport coat with your tie. Okay? Love these. Another option you can do is switch the shirt. Okay. So I'm gonna take this white one off. So all this is is a blue purple check. Okay?
The purple is a little brighter, the blue is more pronounced, but this sort look totally changed the look of the outfit. It is a little more casual. These checks a little bit more traditional, a little bit more casual. But this, you pair this, look with jeans, the pair will work with the whole suit. Here's a great classic men's wear look and you can wear forever.
Okay. The way this is more updated as a plaid is more saturated, more modern, the colors a little bit happier and bright versus something more washed out and dated. Another option is this collar. This is more of a six inch spread wide collars, more of a spread collar. My one of my favorite colors, it's classic. But again, because it's a little bit more smaller, micro, a little bit more spread.
And also this fusing on the collar, it's a brand new shirt. So if you look in your wardrobe and you have this shirt but you've had it for five years and the collar looks a little bit more dated, a little bit more worn out, it's time to recycle it. So the collar of your shirt is the focal point of your shirt it's where everybody looks. So if this is, you know, lettucy or crinkled, or not looking so hot, it's time to, it's time to get rid of it. Okay, love this again. You pair it with a nice blue tie? Classic. Awesome. Love this. Okay. Another simple thing you can do is add a pocket square.
So here I put the white shirt back in. And another way if you did not want to do a tie is to add a pocket square. So here's a great pocket square.
One more color. Again, it has a blue that picks up the blue in the suit. It doesn't have to be matchy matchy this isn't prom. When you went to prom, you matched your date, you matched the flowers, it was all matchy-matchy. Your best match nowadays as we're adults, no matchy-matchy. Okay, so I love this sort of look folded. Can look on Pinterest for a bunch of ideas and how to fold. You can check out my website. I have a great idea on how to hold a pocket square. Life color, exciting. And if you go to an event and no one's wearing a pocket squares and it's much more casual, then take the pocket square out.
Simple but still stylized.Another one I like is just classic white. Okay, I fold this. This one has gray.
You can do something with blue on it. You can find a pocket square with like multicolor stick it in here. This sorta look nice and clean. Subtle details with men. Less is more sometimes. So just a simple pocket. Square ties the whole look and evolves and updates the look.
Okay, so another way to update your look is with accessories, like the shoes you're gonna wear. Okay, so here is a nice Brown shoe. The reason it's a little different than what you might have in your wardrobe, it has this monk strap. Okay, everyone should have a pair of Brown shoes, pair of black shoes. You stop watching this video and go get those right now. Start with a great pair of wear it. See how you like it when you've worn the brown shoes or black shoes in your closet.
They've got stitching down the center you might want to recycle. Those are a little dated. More of a square toed, you know, think of like, you know those shoes look like "time to go" here. Lot more cleaner. Sleek. I love the brown how it's a little redder. Our shoes are becoming a little bit more trendy. If you want to think seasonally, darker browns, fall, winter, lighter brown, spring, summer, and don't forget matching belt.
When you buy a pair of shoes, especially in more of like a unique color buy a belt with it, that matches save you time and energy, usually stores sell them together or they'll have a belt section with their shoe section. Just do yourself a favor, get it new done. They should match. Okay. Another trend that's happening and it's been popular the last couple of years is this leather shoe. Okay? With the white insoles here it's dressier.
I love that the laces are the same color as the leather shoe. So these are Cole Haans. They're making these for a while. You can find other versions where the white is a little bit more narrow from other brands. So if this kind of scares you find a sole, which is a little bit more narrow. But here the blue shoes with your blue shoes, you could do brown shoes with this look, you can do black shoes with this look.
Men it's so comfortable. Or many times with a dress you might hurt by the end of the day, this you'll want to wear all day long. You can also pair these with jeans and a bunch of other stuff in your closet, but do some a favor. If you're getting a new pair of shoes this season, this should be the one for you. If you're scared of the blue, get another color.
Now for you that have had these shoes in your closet for awhile, I talked to some shoe designers and manufacturers at the collective show in Chicago and they say the new thing is is the sole can be a lot more tonal and closer to the color of the shoes. Keep an eye out for that. All right? But this sort of, look, if you watch sports gentlemen arriving to games and announcers talking about the games, anybody, this sort of dressy look is what they're all wearing. Love this.
And another simple way you can do is if you're afraid of any of that, it's just fun socks. Men today with colored socks when they sit down, they see their personality. Very, very simple. These, you can rotate in so many different ways. These are simple blue stripes. You can do more pattern color. So it's kind of whatever you like, which suits you. I hope you love this. I hope you found this insightful. Take a look messaged me or call me if I can help in any way with your wardrobe.
-Mary Zarob