To hear a lot of guys tell it, real men don’t care about style. Where did this idea that men don’t care about their appearance come from, has it always been around, and is there validity to it?
My guest today argues against the idea that real men don’t care about clothes and lays out a case for style being a valid part of masculinity. His name is Tanner Guzy. He’s a stye coach and the author of The Appearance of Power: How Masculinity Is Expressed Through Aesthetics.
Today Tanner and I discuss why caring about how you dress is typically thought of as effeminate, why men should think of clothes as an amoral tool, and how that tool can be a valuable means towards accomplishing your desired ends. Tanner argues that rather than focusing on the mechanics of style, men need to figure out their larger goal in dressing better first, including which of 3 style archetypes they fall into. We also discuss the relationship between style and status and how to balance dressing in line with the particular tribe you belong to, with dressing for the wider world.
Show Highlights
- The history of the movement of men who say style and appearances shouldn’t matter
- How current trends in men’s style got to where they are
- The advent of the suit as the de facto men’s uniform
- What are the benefits of being intentional about what you wear
- How what you wear affects the way you think
- How what you wear affects how other people see you
- Why we naturally feel inauthentic when we first start dressing better
- Why defining your style now is harder than it was 100 years ago
- Balancing your style with fitting in with your tribe and society at large
- Conformity vs individuality and personal taste
- How style is connected to masculine virtues
- Style and power
- Understanding what looks good on you
- The 3 archetypes of personal taste, and how they intermingle
- The idea of sprezzatura
- How can you figure out your archetype? Your personal taste and style?
- Why dressing better is an easy win in bettering yourself
Resources/People/Articles Mentioned in Podcast
- AoM series on honor
- AoM’s style archives
- The lab coat effect
- The halo effect
- AoM series on status
- My interview with Jack Donovan
- In Praise of Sprezzatura
- Personal style archetype quiz
- What Not to Wear
Connect With Tanner
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The post Podcast #398: Should a Man Care About How He Dresses? appeared first on The Art of Manliness.
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