10 MASCULINE

STYLE ESSENTIALS
INTRODUCTION

10 MASCULINE STYLE
ESSENTIALS
This information is for men who want to use their clothing and appearance
as a means to improving other aspects of their lives.

It is for men who will treat their appearance like an investment. An

investment that will continue to accrue value and pay off dividends for
years and years to come.

Unlike most style essentials, the list included in this book does not consist
of particular articles of clothing. Rather, it contains ten essential approaches
necessary to establishing a healthy relationship with appearance and how it
can be used to benefit a man’s life.

Before diving in, I do want to share the most fundamental tip I can right
from the get go.

Dress Intentionally

There should be nothing haphazard about a man’s approach to any aspect

of his life, and this includes his dress and grooming habits. Intentionality
doesn’t require a whole lot of time, but it does require some upfront
investment.

All ten essentials build off each other and work independently. Read them
one at a time, start to finish, or in any order you like. Just be sure to apply
them.
 WRITTEN BY

TANNER GUZY
1ST EDITION, JUNE 2015
COPYRIGHT 2015 MASCULINE STYLE

ii
WHO IS TANNER GUZY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

My name is Tanner Guzy and I want you to dress better.
I grew up in a family where a reputation mattered. It came with the territory
of having a unique name and, whether I liked it or not, the way I dressed
affected my reputation.

When I was in junior high I made sure that all my T-shirts were from the
BMX companies whose parts I owned or the punk bands whose shows I
attended. As I got older, I learned that my clothing reflected more than just
my status within my chosen hobbies and I had to adjust it accordingly.

Now I wear a suit and tie to work every day. I’ve done so for more than 12
years and it’s as comfortable to me as the cargo pants and baggy UGP T’s I
wore as a punk kid. The suit just better reflects who I am.

For many men seeking to improve their station in life, one of the first things
they acknowledge is not knowing how to dress well. On top of not knowing
how to dress well, they don’t know how to start doing so. It is a blow to
their pride to admit they don’t have the knowledge to do something. It’s
why they hesitate to ask for directions. But when they push through that
humiliation with a man they can trust as a mentor, they not only accomplish
the thing they set out to do, they learn how to do so for themselves.

My goal is to be that mentor. My services are not to simply tell you what to
wear and how to wear it, but also to teach you “why” so you can become
as fluent in style as you are in your native tongue. I want to teach you the
rules of dressing yourself just like you learn grammatical rules. The end goal
is to have you be as comfortable using your appearance to communicate
your worth and status as you are using your words.

iii
ESSENTIAL #1
AN UNDERSTANDING OF
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A
MAN
While this book is available for everyone, its primary audience is men.
We as men distinguish ourselves from two other groups of people -
women and children.
This is not to say that either women or children should be
distinguished from because they are inferior. Far from it. However,
distinctions are necessary. Men, women, and children are biologically
and socially suited to different tasks and proclivities. There are
exceptions but sometimes painting in broad strokes is necessary for
establishing the necessary foundation.
One of the ways we can and should separate ourselves from women
is in our appearance. Nature does this biologically through secondary
sexual characteristics such as body and facial hair, muscle and fat
composition, and others. These differences serve as more than just a
visual distinction, but that doesn’t mitigate the validity of visual
recognition.
Socially men have been separated from women and children by their
appearance as well. The vast majority of human cultures have had
different forms of dress and grooming standards for men.
We primarily use our clothing as a way to communicate status within
our given groups. We wear suits to communicate a level of respect for
ourselves and our colleagues as we conduct business, military men
wear symbols of rank on their uniforms as a quick reference to the
hierarchy within the system. Throughout time and across cultures, a
man’s appearance was primarily centered around the perception of
other men.
Most cultures have used one form of visual recognition or another as
a way to indicate the status of the males. Some Native American
tribes would wear different feathers on their bodies as a way of
demonstrating acts of bravery or skill in battle or on the hunt.
In the 21st century, masculinity is considered to be an outdated and
unnecessary relic from a rougher time (at best) or an outright threat to
the peace and prosperity many believe only women are capable of
leading civilization towards (at worst). And, while men have always
been concerned about what it is that makes them worthy to be called
men, there currently seems to be an earnestness to that concern that
didn’t exist a decade ago.
To truly better understand what it means to be a man, information
should be taken from two great resources, Brett McKay and Jack
Donovan.
Brett is the author of the Art of Manliness - a website that explores all
facets of modern masculinity and how to be a man in the modern
world. His series on the 3 P’s of masculinity is a great primer on his
underlying philosophy.
Jack Donovan is the author of The Way of Men, a book centered on
the distinction between being a good man and being good at being a
man.
Both of these men do an excellent job of delineating the core
concepts of masculinity and their works are worth reading.
With an understanding of what it is to be a man and how we are
different from women and children, we are better able approach the
topic of aesthetics and style with the correct goals in mind.
ESSENTIAL #2
style are all tools that other people use to better assess who we are as
A PROPER AND POSITIVE men. We can actively avoid using those instruments, only use them to
their bare minimum, or choose to master them like we attempt to
RELATIONSHIP WITH master any other tool in the belt of masculinity.

CLOTHING Having a positive

relationship with
In the 21st century, the majority of men have either a negative or clothing is having
neutral relationship with their clothing. an understanding
that this tool, like
Those who have a neutral relationship don’t think much about it. They all others is amoral.
understand that their appearance matters and they dress It is an instrument
appropriately for work or other functions, while happily throwing on a that doesn’t have
pair of jeans and a T-shirt when not required to dress any better. For to merely prevent
these men, the purpose of clothing is almost entirely utilitarian. It negative
needs to protect them from the elements, cover their nakedness, and consequences, but
be socially acceptable in a way that avoids any attention. They dress can actively build
to fit in. positive results.

Then there are men who have a negative relationship with clothing.
They believe that any concern with a man’s appearance is either
effeminate or flamboyant - that a real man has more to occupy his
mind and time than trivial matters like appearance. Or they are men
who believe that any concern with aesthetics is shallow and
meaningless - that only internal beauty or strength are necessary or
valid in determining the worth and value of other human beings.
Ironically the men with a negative relationship with clothing end up
giving aesthetics more power and more credence than those with a
neutral relationship.
Both miss the opportunity to use clothing and appearance to help
accomplish their goals.
To properly use appearance and clothing as a tool, it must be
considered appropriately. Many men, once they’ve realized the
positive results that come from an intentional approach to improving
their style, can overcorrect and be overly focused on their
appearance. Just as a hammer isn’t the only effective tool in building
a home - clothing isn’t the only effective tool in building a man.
There is a saying that “clothes make the man.” It is a statement with
which I disagree wholeheartedly. There are plenty of good men in the
world who wear bad clothing. Equally so, there are myriad bad men in
the world who wear dress well. Our goal should be to become good
men who dress well.

Our appearance - the clothes we wear, our grooming, our sense of

ESSENTIAL #3
either hire him himself, or help him establish connections with other
A WILLINGNESS TO companies in the field. Our fictional man would be communicating to
his neighbor that he is lazy, not detail oriented, and unconcerned with
EMBRACE THE NEED FOR the impact his actions have on others. He may instead be incredibly

OTHER PEOPLE busy, hyper-focused, and concerned with internal, rather than external
details, but he is not perceived as having these qualities when his
No man is an island - nor should he be. appearance comes at the cost of his focus.

Other than the rare hermit who is able to safely ensconce himself in
the woods, away from all other human beings, the vast majority of
men in the world are reliant on other people. We have family, friends,
co-workers, neighbors, acquaintances, and numerous other
connections.
Clothing is used to signal tribe, status, success, morals, intentions
and more. All of these signals matter because they are only truly
signals when they are interpreted by another person. Without other
people to make assessments of us, based on our appearance, we
would only wear functional clothing.

Many of these relationships are shallow and simple, while others are
deep and complex. However, each of the people in our lives has some
way of being able to affect us.

A man may have a neighbor who runs a small start-up and is looking
for new help. When they see each other mowing the lawn they may
give a friendly wave with a brief “good morning” and leave it at that.
However, when the man is looking for a new job in his neighbor’s
industry, that connection could quickly deepen and the nature of the
relationship could drastically change.

We never know who will have a solid impact on our lives. This doesn’t
mean a mans should by hypersensitive to the way all people around
him perceive him, but it does mean he’s always aware that others can
help or hinder him in accomplishing his goals.

With simple acquaintances and deep friendships, a man’s appearance

can and does matter. If the neighbor who owns the startup were to
perceive our fictional man as a slovenly bum who had no concern for
his own appearance or that of his yard, he would be less inclined to
ESSENTIAL #4
A WILLINGNESS TO
EMBRACE TRUTH
The human brain is designed around the concept of efficiency. We
take in so much information each day that having to thoroughly
process all of it would overwhelm our minds to complete exhaustion.
As a result, the brain creates as many shortcuts and patterns as it
can.
Clothing and appearance are huge triggers for these shortcuts.
Whether we like it or not, people judge us based on our clothing. We
can always supersede of override the shortcuts created by the brain,
but it’s much simpler and more effective to trigger them in our favor. A
man can either complain about this reality, or use it to his advantage.
Men are different from women. Regardless of how much the current
culture of academia wants us to believe otherwise, human beings are
a sexually dimorphic species. Men and women different in ways that
are determined by primary and secondary sexual characteristics,
physical attributes and proclivities, along with social channels. There
are always exceptions to the rules, but - for the vast majority of
people - the differences between men and women are traceable.
Along with embracing the realities of appearance mattering and a
man’s goals being different from a woman’s, many men chaff at the
idea that improving one’s appearance takes effort. The modern man
wants things to be easy, effortless, and free of any pain or pressure.
Dressing appropriately is very cheap and very simple. However,
dressing well takes time, practice, patience and risk.
Most men are not properly taught how to effectively use their
appearance, and it can be embarrassing or humbling to admit this.
Our egos are (rightfully… to some extent) invested in our ability to
excel in as many areas as possible. Admitting to not knowing how to
dress well, especially when putting on clothing is something humans
do since birth, is difficult and threatens the ego. Sadly most men will
instead attack the merits of appearance and its usefulness as a tool to
get ahead, rather than admit it’s one they’re not familiar with wielding
properly.
These and many other frustrating truths will never go away. Rather
than focusing time and energy resenting them, men are better off
embracing these realities and using them to our advantage.

Because of this difference in nature, men and women have evolved to

use the shortcuts of appearance to accomplish varying goals. For the
most part, women dress primarily to build attraction while men dress
primarily to establish respect. From makeup and high heels to suit
lapels and ties, men and women use our clothing to accomplish
different purposes and trigger different brain shortcuts. It behooves a
man to understand this and build his wardrobe accordingly.
ESSENTIAL #5
A HUNGER FOR SELF
IMPROVEMENT
An improved wardrobe signals an attempt to improve one’s life, and
often comes as part of another major life change. It may be a result of
getting in better shape, a new job, or a new opportunity to date. If a
man is not ready to improve his life in other arenas, a change in his
wardrobe will create cognitive dissonance and he will eventually go
back to dressing the way he did.
I have a acquaintance whom I did a consultation for a few years ago.
He had recently come in to a bit of money and his current wardrobe
was quite literally full of holes. His pants were so bad that they were
barely staying together.
We spent two days and a decent amount of money investing in some
new clothing that would improve his overall appearance. What we
found worked for his personality, suited his coloring and contrast, and
made him look great. The compliments he received from family and
friends felt almost as good for me to hear as they did for him.
Unfortunately this same acquaintance is one without much ambition.
He is in his 30’s with no job, no solid place to call home, no
relationships, and no real desire to accomplish any of that.
Over time he eventually stopped wearing the clothes we chose for
him. The way people saw and treated him while wearing those clothes
didn’t match the way he saw himself. What he was telling people was
that he was a man who didn’t seek too much attention but wanted to
carve out his own place in the world. What he really is is a guy who’s
checked out of society and simply wants to be left alone.
The dissonance between what he portrayed and what he was forced
him to go back to his old, ratty clothing.
That doesn’t have to be the result. Rather than fighting against the
dissonance, he could have used it as a catalyst to improve himself in
other areas. The discomfort he felt from increased expectations from
those around him could have helped him accept more responsibilities
and challenges in his life.
The saying is to “dress for the job you want, not the one you have.”
The key is here is to make sure the job you’re dressing for is actually
the one you want because once he starts dressing the part, more
doors will open up for a man to live the part than would have
otherwise.
ESSENTIAL #6
A WILLINGNESS TO
EMBRACE SOCIAL RISK
Once a man decides to make life changes, many of the people around
him will chafe at his desire to improve himself. It shines a light on their
own failure to do so. Many men experience negative reactions from
friends, family, and co-workers.
More often than not these negative reactions are no more than good-
natured teasing. A change in appearance is often so easy and so
drastic that a man’s loved ones can’t help but have a little fun at his
expense. This should be embraced as part of the process and, sooner
rather than later, these same people will begin to see his
improvements as the new default. It’s a small discomfort with a large
payoff.
On the other hand, other people genuinely resent a man for making
improvements and try to drag him back down to his previous level.
They are crabs in a bucket and don’t want anyone else to escape the
same fate they believe they are destined to experience. If any person
in a man’s life has a genuinely negative reaction to him dressing
better, this person should be abandoned for the dead weight he is.
On top of the social risk that comes from friends and family, success
in dressing well will lead to positive attention from co-workers,
acquaintances, and complete strangers. I get approached daily by
both men and women who have some sort of comment to make on
what I’m wearing. Most will just pay a compliment or ask me where I
found a particular piece. Others have even asked to take pictures of
or with me (thankfully that’s the very rare exception and not the rule).
Embracing this new level of attention can be a challenge. Many of us
are content to mind our own business. However, as stated in Essential
3, no man is an island, and I have made many great business and
personal connections form people who have approached me because
of what I’m wearing.
Balancing out the positive attention that comes from successfully
dressing well, failure in appearance will lead to negative attention.
We’ve all seen the man who looks like he’s trying to hard too fit in with
a particular group. Terms like “poser” and “try-hard” get thrown
around fairly easily when a man overdoes the appearance
improvement - especially when it’s not an improvement.
Unfortunately it’s impossible to avoid these mistakes, and it’s often
the negative feedback we receive from others that allows us to
recalibrate and improve on the new changes.
Many men are uncomfortable with new levels of attention being paid
to them. This is especially true for men with a neutral relationship with
clothing. They’d rather go unnoticed than have any real positive
attention, and worst of all is receiving negative attention. However, the
unremarkable man is also more likely to go unnoticed when it comes
time for dates, promotions, new friendships, etc.
It is essential that a man be willing to take the social risks, both
positive and negative, that come from improving his wardrobe and
use these risks to calibrate his improvements so they help accomplish
his purposes.
ESSENTIAL #7
to hold his protege accountable, and is able to apply the right balance
A MENTOR between pressure and encouragement to ensure the success of his
student.

There is no need to reinvent the wheel when it has already been fine-
tuned.

There are dozens of men who run sites and businesses dedicated to
helping men improve their appearance. I know many of these men
and can vouch for their desire to genuinely help the men with whom
they work.

The following list is a group of blogs, YouTube channels, and online

magazines whose proprietors have proven themselves experts in
helping men improve their appearance.

The Effortless Gent

Primer Magazine
Gentleman’s Gazette
The Modest Man
Real Men Real Style
I Am Alpha M
Articles of Style
Ryan Magin

Having a mentor can help interpret mistakes and successes so the

former can be avoided more and the latter can be built upon. A good
mentor will also push his protege when he is unwilling to push himself.

The mentor/protege relationship has a proven track record across all

industries. From finance to fitness, business to boxing, all men can
stand to learn from a man who has walked the walk before, is willing
ESSENTIAL #8
A WILLINGNESS TO MAKE
MISTAKES
Making mistakes in inevitable. It doesn’t matter what endeavors a
man pursues, he will be incapable of executing them perfectly at the
beginning. Small men use this an excuse to avoid attempting anything
new. Great men embrace the discomfort that comes from making
mistakes and become uneasy when they find themselves going too
many weeks without committing an error.
Sartorial errors are no different. Many men will attempt to improve
their wardrobes after seeing a character on a TV show, a spread in a
magazine, or a well-dressed friend wearing something they like.
However, through a lack of experience and understanding, their
attempts to replicate the idealized style will fall short and, often, look
worse than had they not tried to approve their appearance at all.
Finally, after a solid eight months without a haircut, my hair was
getting long enough I could start to pull it back and treat it like the
long, viking locks I was going for. Sadly, after only three weeks of
wearing my hair this way, I saw a picture of myself from an upscale
event and realized my long hair and beard brought my whole
appearance down. I looked sloppy instead of rugged. The contrast
between my grooming and my clothing was too strong and looked
awful. So, I cut my hair and went back to a length that was more
consistent with my sense of style and how I saw myself as a man.
It was an irritating mistake because I sunk almost an entire year into a
look that ultimately didn’t work. I was frustrated, but am grateful to
have learned that long hair won’t work for me. I’ve scratched that itch
and can move forward with confidence. Lesson learned.
Dressing well is more of an art than a science. There are rules and
techniques, just like there are with painting or composing a song, but
truly dressing well requires mastering techniques, learning the rules,
and making mistake after mistake after mistake.

Rather than letting this discourage him from improving his

appearance, the deliberate man will push through, learn from his
mistakes and improve on them.

As a man gets better at dressing well, he will continue to make

mistakes. In late 2014 I decided I wanted to grow my hair and beard
out longer than I’ve ever had them. Wearing a suit and tie every day,
but not working in a corporate environment, I believed the contrast
between the rugged barbarian on top and the rakish gentleman below
would be a great look. For months I endured the awful “in-between”
stage required to grow one’s hair out. I hated it. There was never any
consistency to how my hair looked and I often had to scramble for
something that would look appropriate for events like weddings and
family pictures.
ESSENTIAL #9
man that isn’t true and is incongruent with the way in which he
THE ABILITY TO DISTINGUISH interacts with the world. It is flashy and attention seeking while the
man wearing it is one who prefers to simply dress well. It
BETWEEN DISCOMFORT AND communicates an aversion to the rules of social convention while the

UNFAMILIARITY man wearing it may be a stickler for manners and decorum.

As a man starts to dress better his clothing will feel different. It may be
tighter in some places and looser in others. It follows his natural
movements differently and can feel completely foreign.
Along these same lines, as a man starts to dress better he will start to
see himself differently. His posture may change, as might his self-
respect, his confidence, and the authority in his voice.
For an outgoing extrovert, a dark-polo-with-neutral-khakis uniform is
equally as unfamiliar and uncomfortable. It also communicates
something about the man that isn’t true and is incongruent with the
way in which he interacts with the world. It says he is comfortable
flying under the radar when he would rather be at the center of
attention. It communicates that he is willing to embrace the uniform of
a safe, unoffensive side of society that he may actively rebel against.

As a man starts to dress better people will start to treat him differently. Finding the distinction between discomfort and unfamiliarity is the
Attractive people are perceived as more successful, kinder, and more sweet spot between improving one’s appearance without his
intelligent. wardrobe becoming a costume.

All of these changes are unfamiliar at first. Both the social and
physical differences associated with dressing well take some time to
adapt to. Rather than resisting the unfamiliarity that comes with these
changes and claiming discomfort, it benefits a man to push through
the unfamiliarity until it becomes familiar.

Eventually that better-fitting shirt will feel like a second skin, the
improved posture will become second nature, and the increased
receptiveness from other people will be welcomed - not avoided.

However, it is easy for a man to push beyond unfamiliar into

uncomfortable or inconsistent territory. This is where understanding
the communicative value of clothing becomes so crucial.

For a shy introvert, an overly gaudy peacocking style is both

unfamiliar and uncomfortable. It communicates something about the
ESSENTIAL #10

A SENSE OF SELF

Dressing well is ultimately about a man knowing who he is, what he

wants from the world, and what he can provide to those around him.
He dresses in a way that communicates all of these values and virtues
so people can quickly and accurately assess him for the man he is.

All of the nine previous essentials hinge on this final piece. A man
cannot willingly embrace risk and mistake, submit himself to a mentor,
learn to accept unfamiliarity, or even know what he wants to
communicate as a man if he doesn’t have a sense of self.

A man of Masculine Style is one who lives and dresses in a way that is
both deliberate and intentional. Neither of which is possible if the man
doesn’t know who he is, where is roots are from, and the destination
to which his goals will ultimately lead him.
CONCLUSION
fall more into secondary or tertiary priority.
FINAL WORDS FROM
It’s a fantastic guide and a key step in the next part of your journey to
TANNER becoming better dressed- and better overall. Head on over HERE to
check it out.
I hope you enjoyed reading these essentials as much as I enjoyed
writing them.
Thanks again!

The main point I hope you take away from all of this is that putting a
little bit of thought and effort into establishing your wardrobe will yield
significantly better results than a half-hearted attempt to pick up a few
staples.

This is a process and should be enjoyed as such. Great results don’t

happen overnight and you shouldn’t be discouraged by the fact that it
may take some effort and a few errors to really dial things in. Enjoy the
process of it and then take the same eagerness to learn and
willingness to make mistakes and apply them to other areas of self
improvement.

My own journey has led me to want to get in better shape, sleep

better, eat better, learn another language - even be a better friend,
husband, and father. My clothing didn’t make these changes, but my
deliberate and intentional approach to it is a huge factor in my own
pursuit of perpetual improvement.

The next step from here is to learn the 30 Staples that every man
should have in his wardrobe. These are a great start to implementing
all of the principles outlined in this guide and deserve a place in the
wardrobe of every well-dressed man.

The great thing about these 30 Staples is how well they all mix with
each other, along with looking great with articles of clothing that