India is a country where taking care of your looks and beauty was considered feminine. Because of this most men simply do not care about their looks and kept making big fashion mistakes. Thankfully this mindset is changing for the better and now our fellow Indian men have started to realize the importance of fashion and looks. Your fashion sense can have a huge impact on your personality and confidence. If you have a good fashion sense you will feel more confident about yourself and that’s what the ultimate goal is.
Although we are heading towards the direction of fashion literate India still there are a few style mistakes that we are making which absolutely ruins our style and makes us look way less attractive than what we could have looked.
1. Not Wearing the right footwear
Almost every fashionable men know the importance of footwear. It has the power to make or break the outfit completely but sadly that is something that most Indian men do not understand.
Footwear in itself is a huge topic and we would do a separate article explaining different types of footwear for men. In this article let’s just have a look at a few common footwear mistakes Indian men make.
wearing slippers(chappals)
I mean I get it chappals are extremely comfortable especially in those hot summer days but trust me it’s an instant turn-off for every single woman out there. It gives a reflection to others that you just don’t care about your looks which is definitely not good. Now I am not saying stop wearing slippers, you can wear them at home or to some nearby places like shopping complexes. But please stop wearing them when going out. when you are traveling in the metro or going somewhere casual opt for some sneakers or espadrilles instead of slippers or sandals.
wearing sport shoes
Sports shoes are great but they are meant to be worn while playing some sport. But for some reason, people are wearing them everywhere. Words cannot express how bad they make you look when worn with formal trousers or even with casual outfits.
just stop wearing sports shoes instead wear some sneakers with jeans or casual outfits and formal shoes with trousers and you will look a hundred times better.
wearing tacky shoes:
For some reason men in our country are obsessed with wearing tacky shoes, be it shiny colorful shoes or pointy formal shoes. These shoes are not stylish at all, so please just stop wearing them and go for something simple and timeless.
2. Not using Deodorant
Deodorants are used to make you sweat less and to cover up the odor that comes from sweating. In a country like India which has an extremely hot and humid climate deodorant becomes an absolute necessity. No matter how well you are dressed or how expensive clothes you put on if you smell bad everything is ruined.
Most Indian men either don’t wear deodorant or wear some cheap bad-smelling deodorant both of which are big style mistakes.
Deodorants are not meant to make you smell good they don’t project scents like perfumes. Deodorants just prevent you from smelling bad by neutralizing the body odor but most of the popular deodorants have fragrances. so what you should do is, look for some deodorant with a mild and soothing smell instead of some harsh and chemical-like scent.
Recommendations:
Roll-on deodorants are much more effective than sprays. Most of the sprays available in India smell bad and defeats the purpose of deo. There are many good options available in the market ranging from brands like CK, dove to some really affordable ones like Nivea and cinthol deo sticks which are all amazing.
When using perfume?
Now some people might say that they use perfumes so they don’t need a deo. As already mentioned deo is not for projecting scent but to actually hide the body odour. So it is advised to wear a deo even if you are wearing perfume to avoid the scent getting mixed with your body odour.
3. Wearing wrong pieces of clothing
Not dressing according to the occasion:
Most men don’t understand that not all article of clothing is meant to be worn at all occasions and not all articles can be worn together.
Let’s understand this with examples,
A most common mistake is wearing casual clothing to formal occasions or wearing formal clothing to very casual events. Many people wear t-shirts, jeans or sneakers to some formal events like weddings or farewells etc. T-shirts, jeans, sneakers all these are amazing in itself but they should be worn casually like on some day out with friends or while going to college.
when you are going to a somewhat formal event you should wear something more formal like a formal shirt & trouser or suit depending on the occasion if its extremely formal like some corporate event you should wear suit, if its a bit less formal like a wedding reception you can skip the suit and go with a nice formal shirt and pair it up with a trouser or chino and complete the outfit with some good formal shoes.
similarly, if its a casual occasion avoid wearing formal clothing like suits or even formal shirts & trousers, instead of these go with t-shirts or casual shirt and jeans or chinos and pair them with some good sneakers or you can also go with boots if you want to dress it up just a little bit.
Matching formal and casual clothing together:
Another mistake that most men make is that they match formal and casual clothing together and just end up looking bad.
for example wearing t-shirts with trousers, a formal shirt with jeans, formal shoes with distressed jeans etc.
when pairing different pieces of clothing together make sure you pair casual clothes with other casual clothes and the same goes for formal clothes.
There are a few pieces that can be worn both casually and formally for example chinos and loafers.
Experimenting with your style is a really good thing to improve your style but do keep this mistake in mind while trying something new next time.
4.Wearing the wrong colours
This might not sound like a big mistake or even a mistake to most of you but it definitely is a big mistake and can ruin your style completely.
colours can affect how people perceive you wearing the right colours can make you look younger, taller and more stylish. Colour science is a huge topic and I would recommend you do some research on it and we’ll be putting out a detailed article on it soon.
Wearing too many colours:
One mistake that many Indian men make is wearing too many colours or too bright colours.
Topwear:
As a basic rule your t-shirt or shirt should not have more than 3 colours one base colour and the other for the pattern if it has more than 2-3 colours then it is just going to make you look weird. And as far as bright colours go you should just stay away from them instead stick to classic colours like black, white, navy blue, maroon and earth tones, these colours are extremely versatile so you can pair them up with almost any other colour and will make you look stylish.
If you are trying to build a wardrobe start with solid pieces of clothing like black/white shirt and t-shirts. Once you have them then move to colours like navy blue, maroon, olive after you have these basic colours then you can start experimenting with other colours and see what suits your style. You can try blue, red, pink etc but keep in mind these are really bright colours so get them in really light shades or in undersaturated shades.
Bottom wear:
When it comes to pants start your wardrobe with black, navy, khaki colours and then built on from there and try to avoid bright colours like red, green, yellow and other saturated colours.
Wearing the wrong colours together:
Another mistake most men make is matching the wrong colours together, basically, avoid wearing two bright colours together like a green shirt with maroon chinos.
If you are wearing a colourful piece of clothing, pair it up with some neutral colour like black, grey, white or navy to neutralise the overall look.
Avoid wearing the same coloured shirt or t-shirt and pants as most often than not it will look awkward except in case of black which is quite easy to pull off and actually looks really good.
when it comes to matching shoes with outfit try to match shoes with the colour of pattern on your shirt or with the colour of your accessories, avoid matching shoe colour with pant(except black).
5. Not grooming properly
grooming is a huge part of your style and most Indian men make mistakes in it. It is not about going to fancy salons or doing makeup but just some basic grooming routine that will make you 10 times stylish than what you already are.
Firstly get a fresh haircut with nice short sides once every 3 weeks. Even if you want to grow your hair long keep your sides and back short. For facial hair, if you can grow decent beard then keep it trimmed and shape it nicely especially around the neckline and if you can’t grow a full beard then its better to just shave it off, clean shaved face looks far better than unkept patchy facial hair and finally either have clean shaved face or full beard don’t keep just the moustache, it just doesn’t look good.
Other than that keep your body hair trimmed, including the nose and ear hairs. Cut your nails every week or once in 2 weeks depending on how fast it grows. And most importantly keep your eyebrows shaped well and avoid unibrows at all cost, don’t shave it instead pluck the hairs of unibrows which makes it look more natural.
6. Wearing the wrong fit
This is an extremely common mistake and for some reason, Indian men don’t give priority to the fit and end up looking out of shape and unstylish. If the fit is good literally any outfit will look good but if the fit is not good everything will look bad on you.
Most of the clothing you buy from stores come in strict sizes and almost all of them needs some tailoring to be done on them, so go out and find a good tailor first.
When it comes to fit there are just a few basic rules that you need to follow and you are good to go.
Firstly lets talk about shirts or t-shirts, the most important thing is there should not be extra fabric present, the shirt should fit you completely. If its half sleeved then the sleeve should be about the size of your biceps and the length should be right above your tricep this will make your arms look bigger, in the midsection the shirt should fit your chest snuggly without any extra fabric floating around but make sure its not too tight and you should be able to move freely in it.
For a full sleeved shirt, the midsection should be same and the sleeve should fit your arms but should be loose enough to easily roll them.
For pants, again there should not be any extra fabric, it should be tapered nicely and the length should be right above your ankle such that the fabric does not collect at the bottom but it should not be too short as well.
Its a little difficult to find the perfect fit, sometimes your clothes will be too tight, sometime they’ll be too loose but once you figure out the right fit for your body your style game will change completely.
7. Not taking care of your clothes and shoes
Another mistake that men make is they just don’t take care of their clothes and shoes. Clothes and shoes are not cheap at all, we spend a big amount of money on buying them but for some reason, most of us just don’t care about them after purchase.
Proper maintenance of your clothes and shoes will not only increase their lifetime but will make sure that they look like new for a much longer period of time.
Clothing
For clothing make sure you read the washing and drying directions written on the label and do follow them. Other than that if you hand wash your clothes don’t use brush they are extremely harsh and ruins your clothes so avoid them.
Try using soft detergents instead of the normal ones.
while drying them don’t squeeze them and avoid drying coloured clothing in direct sunlight it will fade the colour out.
and lastly just don’t wash them too much, your jeans can go without a wash for about 2-3 weeks if you have worn a shirt or t-shirt for 1-2 hours and you haven’t sweat much then you can wear it again after a few days without washing.
Shoes
When it comes to shoes the most basic thing you can do is clean them up when you reach home, be it your sneakers or formal shoes as soon as you reach home wipe them off with a clean cloth.
secondly, always wear socks with shoes. Even if you are going for the sockless look wear no-show socks.
And lastly, avoid wearing your leather shoes or sneakers during rains the water will ruin your shoes. Wear some old shoes during rains or buy some cheap boots or sneakers for the rainy season.
8. Accessories
No accessories are not a style mistake. But wearing the wrong ones or wearing too many or too little of them is surely one hell of a mistake.
Not Wearing accessories: If you don’t have accessories at all then you are missing out on a chance of stepping up your style game. wearing or carrying the right accessories can up your looks instantly.
In case you are new to accessories start with basics like bags and wallets. If you are a student you must be carrying your backpack a lot. A bad backpack can ruin your style so get a good quality bag preferably a leather one that will last you for a long time and will make you look mature. But if you don’t want a leather bag for some reason then go for some branded backpack and make sure to avoid flashy colours or designs. Same goes for wallet, prefer leather(either brown or black) wallet over everything else. If you don’t want a leather wallet for some reason then again make sure to stay away from fancy designs or bright colours.
Wearing too many accessories: If you are the guy who wears tons of accessories like necklaces, fancy belts, bracelets earrings etc then you should probably cut them down.
First of all, get rid of the earings they just don’t look stylish and definitely make people perceive you in a wrong way in our society so it is better to avoid them.
Then necklaces and bracelets are fine if they are of good quality and design but should not be big and flashy.
Don’t wear those bands with brands or movie franchise logos on them and avoid big huge chains and necklaces. Many Indian men buy belts with huge buckles and with crazy patterns which make them look really bad so avoid wearing these kinds of belts and get a good quality leather belt (black or brown) and after that, you might also get a fabric belt for casual outfits.
And for the love of god stop wearing sunglasses when not in sun, sunglasses are meant to be worn in harsh sunlight but for some reason, many men in India wear them everywhere be it metro station or shopping mall which makes them look stupid, so to avoid this mistake.
Best accessories: Now lets talk about the best accessories that every man should have, first is a good perfume, it will make you way sexier, way more stylish. Most Indian men don’t give a damn about how they smell so wearing perfume will give you an extra edge over everyone else, so do invest in a good quality perfume. And second is a good watch, now this is probably the best accessory men can carry, a good watch can elevate your whole outfit and will make you more stylish and not only that it will make you more productive. when you have a watch on you, your brain always gets reminded that the time is going away and as a result, you avoid wasting of time on unnecessary stuff so its an accessory that every man should be carrying.
9. Being unfit and out of shape
Most of you might think how being unfit a style or fashion mistake but it actually is. If you live an unhealthy lifestyle, eat unhealthy food all the time, and are out of shape then you definitely look way worse then what you could have looked like. Eating unhealthy makes your skin oily and causes acne and makes you gain fat all of which makes you unattractive.
In India, most people just don’t care about their health, and that is the reason most Indian men are out of shape which not only makes them unstylish but causes many health-related issues in future.
what can you do for it?
the answer is simple to start doing some sort of physical activity be it sports or weight training or anything else. Your best option would be to get a gym membership, most of us have time issues so it is better to just assign 1 hour for gym from your day.
Also, doing weight training and cardio are probably the best and fastest ways to achieve your fitness goals. Go to the gym for about an hour, 3-6 times a week depending on how busy your schedule is. Talk to the trainer and discuss your fitness goals with them.
Another important thing is to get on a good diet. Avoid eating junk food and packaged food, eat whole food and balance your macros(protein, carbohydrates and fats) your trainer might help you out with it or you can find thousands of videos on youtube on making a diet plan.
Try this healthy lifestyle for at least 3-4 months and I assure you that you will look ten times better than before and will surely look far more stylish than most of the other men.
10. Wearing copies
Replicas have become a huge market and is expanding very rapidly in India. You can see people wearing first copies everywhere.
Indian society is extremely brand conscious people treat you differently based on what brand you are wearing and that doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon and that is the exact reason I prefer wearing clothes and shoes which does not have brands logos on them.
If you are wearing expensive brands people will perceive you as a showoff and if you are wearing some relatively affordable brands people will think of you as poor. Because of this many people who can not afford big brands tend to go for first copy items which come at a fraction of the price of the original.
The problem with copies is that they are made of cheap quality materials and are sold for pretty high prices, for that price you can easily get good quality products from other brands. Secondly wearing stuff with big brand logos makes people perceive you as a showoff. And most of the people are actually able to tell the difference between copies and originals. Finally selling of these copies are not legal so this market is actually operated through illegal means which means your money goes into funding illegal stuff and promotes crimes indirectly.
These cheap quality copies start to look awful after a couple of wears and make you look very unstylish. So, avoid wearing first or downright copies of big brands and instead spend the same amount of money to get products from other brands with much higher quality.