Some guys may think that accessorizing dress shirts is a “woman’s thing,” but they are definitely limiting their look by looking down on this fashion trend.  If you’re trying to look fashionable and smart, add more flair to your image with a sexy scarf, a trendy watch, a funky tie, or even some hot new shades.  The secret about looking fashionable is taking a trend, and evolving it to match your unique personality so that you are really expressing yourself.  This shows the world that you are confident, and that you have substance and character. 

 this cool pic is heralded from NicoleL.

Dress up your dress shirt and professional outfits with a sweet pair of sunglasses.  They may seem inappropriate to wear in the colder weather, but that’s not true at all.  Even though the days aren’t warm, the sun can still be very strong in the winter and no one looks professional when they’re squinting their eyes while walking down the street.  A nice pair of stylish aviators like the ones seen above can really enhance your look by making you appear extremely bold and confident. 

 We have SmittenkittenOrig to thank for this one

Scarves are very in right now, not only because it is winter, but also because they make a professional outfit look really trendy.  Find a scarf that brings out some of your personality.  If you like wearing white dress shirts, wear a bold forest green scarf.  If you enjoy stripe patterned dress shirts try to match your scarf to some of the stripe’s colors.  For a bolder look try a fringed long scarf, instead of just a comfy knit. The more creative you get with customizing your dress shirt online, the more creative you can get with your scarf choices. This will give you character and personality, making people want to get to know the great looking guy behind the scarf.

 Kudos to Jayjay402 for this

One thing that many men overestimate is how much a watch says about them.  A man’s watch is his staple accessory for expression.  It’s a very subtle way to learn all about a man.  Just think about it, not only can you tell a lot about how much money people have - probably the least important indication of self-worth, but you can also tell all about their personality.  If they are bold, their watch will most likely be an odd chunky shape or metal.  If they are more conservative they will most likely try to project this image by wearing a very trendy named watch, something expensive and standard that shows they stay in that conservative box.  Wear your watch to show people how confident you are about your appearance.

For more style tips, see our dress shirt style guide.

Dsquared2

Amidst the strictly fashion-forward crowd that inhabit Milan during fashion week, Dsquared2 brought confidence and style to their collection with a mixture of different looks and perspectives meshed together, topped off with their signature-cut jeans. 

Leather, studs, and a splash of color brought together a glam/punk theme for Dsquared2’s collection. Male models strutted something manly on the Dsquared2 runway with class and sophistication to rival all of Dsquared2’s previous collections. Imagine if you will, fit men somewhat taller than the average guy who just happen to be extras on a sequel to Fight Club complete with the black eyes and fat lips – this is the 2010 collection for Dsquared2. 

My favorite look for the collection:

One of my favorite looks was a black overcoat with lining on the collar. The pants were classically cut and creased at the top. This is in addition to what looks like to have been a v-neck sweater that was more than a little transparent, slightly covered a black slim tie. A basic white shirt and black pointy-toed shoes topped off the look. Together, the ensemble glittered and screamed, “I was on a date with a married woman and her husband found us just as she was unbuttoning my overcoat!”

Prada

Prada is classic. Since its inception, Prada has made the man look as elegant as possible – but every now and then, like the man – Prada deviates from the script adding the element of surprise and intrigue. This was the case during Milan Fashion Week when Prada premiered its latest collection. 

This collection, ironically – showed more colors than Prada’s spring collection. Purple, yellow, and a vivid magenta took to the runway nestled in overcoats, blazers, suits, and cardigans to accentuate, while trying not to intimidate. Everyman doesn’t necessarily look good in every color. Still, Prada does a good job of bringing together their collection of color amidst their trademark gray, blue, and black. This year, khaki made a guest appearance that was just enough to tease the fashion senses without dulling them. 

My favorite look for the collection:

One of the things that I liked the most about this collection was the appearance of brighter colors. The collection comes off as a fresh perspective. My favorite piece epitomizes the feel for the men’s element of the Prada show. A light-tan overcoat with buttons impeccably placed on the breast and torso of the coat along with black/blue slim slacks dominated the model who also wore a yellow/brown sweater underneath with a basic blue shirt. I will say that Prada did a horrid job of choosing the model, which looked absolutely sickly in the look. Just the same, the perspective was strong and well-stated.

James R Sanders is a Guest Blogger and Fashion Muse for Blank Label's co-creation blog. You can also find his thoughts on Fashion and Brands at James Sanders at Large.

Ever since I got involved with this custom men's dress shirts company, my friends consider me an expert on men's dress shirts. Not just styling, but how to iron them, how to fold them, even how to care for them. I wish we had all the answers. But my answer is probably just as good as their's.

But here are 7 humorous ways how NOT to wash men's dress shirts:

1. Spray it with Febreeze and hope that funky smell will go away so you can wear it again without anyone noticing. I don't even recommend this in emergencies.

2. Applying a bleach pen to stains, and then just wearing the shirt again because it's odorless and now without visible stains. Come on man, throw it in the washer!

3. Only handwashing that one part of your dress shirt where you spilled spaghetti to get the color and smell out. If you're going to go through the trouble of washing one part of your dress shirt, wash the rest of it while you're at it!

4. Dunking it a few times in hot or warm water mixed with deodorant soap. First of all, please use laundry detergent if you're really going to handwash for clothes. I've seen men make this mistake this before. It's sad how many guys I know who don't know how to properly do laundry.

5. Excessively steaming it instead of just throwing it in the wash or taking it to the dry cleaners. Sure, the dry cleaners puts harsh chemicals on your shirt and can damage the shirt overtime, but steaming your men's dress shirt is not a proper way to clean it.

6. Washing it with your other favorite dress shirts. This is a HUGE faux pas. It's true that your dress shirts get jealous of each other. You never know which shirts will come out of the wash, and which will never return (no, I'm just kidding about this one).

7. Waiting until the last minute when you run out of dress shirts, and clothes for that matter, to hit the laundromat.

 courtesy of dobenjamin

Anyone else have funny recommendations for how NOT to wash your men's dress shirts?

Suggestions for how to properly wash a dress shirt? Might be an idea for a follow-up post.

This dress shirts article was written by Danny Wong for the co-creation blog.

This growing trend in denim wear is getting hot, but is it for you?  A lot of girls are already accustomed to turning up their jeans for a collared denim look when wearing flats, or sneakers.  However, does this look translate well for men?  

 one classic example of what we're talking about thanks to lostwithoutwords

Men’s magazines such as GQ are offering this look as the new single-man sheik.  So what’s the issue?  Well to be completely honest, although this new style can take your denim to a new sexy extreme, it can also make you look shorter, like you don’t have enough jean to cover your legs, or just plain like a tool.  Men who value their fashion and sex appeal should be daring to try this turned up jean style, but be careful to follow a few steps.

1. Don’t get too anal.  If you’re usually OCD about a lot of things, this style may not be for you.  Think about how many times you would have to fix your pant leg if one side was folded up higher than the other as you walk around town.  This style is meant to give you a laid back, careless fashion, so don’t worry about the neatness of the cuff. 
2. Don’t over-fold.  One cuff is enough.  If you start multiple layers of cuffs by folding the pant over and over, your look will become cheap and overworked.  Chill with the folds.
3. Don’t show your bare skin.  I’m sure your ankles are very manly and sexy, but no one wants the make their jeans look two sizes too small…helloooo redneck.  Make your look fresh and buy pants that you can fold once without baring skin.

In the next 5 years, we're looking to make co-created custom men's dress shirts as popular as custom t-shirts are today. We're certainly not sure if co-created dress shirts will ever be as big an industry as custom tees, but heck, we're going to try.

But if that doesn't work out, maybe we'll move onto pants, suits (again), or even men's underwear. If it does work out, we're still going to look at how we can continue to revolutionize men's fashion through co-creation.

The purpose of our existence (aside from making money, which certainly is not our main goal) is to change the way men consume. First, we're starting off with men's dress shirts online by using our dress shirt design app to put the power in YOUR hands to create and design something that you wanted, something individually made, tailored with the exact details you wanted.

At Blank Label, we're hoping to revolutionize the men's fashion and retail industry. Maybe we won't be the company that is the be-all and end-all of co-creation, but we still envision a world in which consumers have an actual say in what retailers are creating. I'm personally tired of shopping for things that I want, and never being able to find the product that fits my exact specifications. Isn't it also incredibly frustrating when that awesome dress shirt you bought, which you thought was totally unique and funky, was bought by 70 other guys in your town? I experience this a lot in my hometown of NYC, where 8 million people live and where many others travel to. I'm very likely to pass by strangers wearing clothes that I have in my wardrobe. Sometimes, I see guys wearing the same thing that I'm wearing that day!

That's part of the reason why I love Blank Label, because the clothes that I wear were created by me, designed to my exact specifications, and were made only for me. Therefore, out of the 6+ billion people in this world, I'm the only one with my individually made custom dress shirt.

Since mass-production and mainstream retail have failed consumers by providing product that is one-size-fits-all and one-style suits many, uniqueness and creativity are out of the question, so we're leading a revolt!

We're fighting against mass-production, lack of individuality, and being a slave to the all-mighty retailer. We're fighting for co-creation, personalization, and consumer empowerment.

Here are several ways for you to join the revolution:

1. Tweet this post and mention @blanklabel

2. Share this post with your friends on Facebook

3. Spread the word about co-creation and convince people to turn away from big retailers if there's some company out there that can provide product you're looking for that you can personalize and is affordable too (we're not in the best economic situation, I know)

4. Email a link to this post to your friends to get the word out

5. Link to us and this post on your blogs, tumblr posts, websites, etc.

6. Consider buying any co-created products, perhaps a co-created men's dress shirt (if you're female you can snag a shirt for a male friend or family member), to support companies looking to be a little disruptive to mainstream retail. For other co-creation companies, see my post on mass-customization, co-creation and fashion 2.0

We'd appreciate your support of this movement. We're not entirely looking for you to give us money so we can make you dress shirts (naturally we're not against the idea either). That's definitely not our biggest motivation. We're looking to really push the co-creation movement. Regardless of if we're the bigger co-creation company in the next 5 years or not, we just hope to convince traditional retail to adopt co-creation or to support co-creation companies in their initiative to crush the stubborn traditional retailers. But the only way that can happen is if YOU the consumer adopt and support co-creation too.

This post was written by Lead Evangelist Danny Wong, pushing the co-creation movement each and every day on the co-creation blog.

So we get a lot of customers and visitors to our website noting their concern that because we sell our custom men's dress shirts online only, they don't have much of a chance to try on our dress shirts like they would do at normal retail stores to see if the fit is right and if it even looks good on them. Personally, I love shopping and trying on clothes to see if they fit me right and look good, as well as if I might have any other clothes that would go well with them.

Things like this make us think about if we had physical stores in all the premium locations within the urban cities across the country, but frankly, we're a startup and we don't have the capital to pay for rent at most metropolitan cities, nevermind build the store and stock it with shelves of inventory. But that's not our style either.

If the customer can't try on his dress shirt, how can we make sure that the guy who's normally a Medium because he's slender, will have a dress shirt that's long enough to cover the top half of his 6'2" body? What about the guy that likes to hit the gym - so he has broad shoulders and an iron-plate chest who unfortunately has disproportionately shorter arms but needs the chest size of a Large?

This other guy also has a problem that we have to address that most men probably have as well, which is, most men's dress shirts you buy off-the-rack always have a baggy waist that doesn't compliment your truly slim figure. It even makes you look like you have a silly muffin-top when you tuck your shirt in even though you're only 160lbs of fit male.

Again, we only operate online, and we sometimes do wish we had a hot retail location in the heart of Soho, NYC, but since we only sell dress shirts online, we've had to figure out a way to satisfy our customer to make sure his dress shirt fits the first time around. Again, many men are hesitant to buy shirts online because of their lack of confidence in the shirt's fit, but luckily, because all our shirts are individually made custom dress shirts, we give you the flexibility to tell us how we should cut your shirt so it fits right the first time. No need to flip through racks of clothing at Express or Zara to see if your dress shirt size is in stock.

For those who have already played with our dress shirt design configurator, you've noticed that the first thing we do for sizing is ask your body type (for the guys that fall under 'circle,' please do not be offended, we promise we can cut you a dress shirt that fits so well that it compliments your figure), then we ask your normal standard size, height and weight, and then your fit preferences to give you the dress shirt that you want, without compromising a smaller collar for a shirt that fits everywhere else, or a longer sleeves just because you needed to go a size up since your chest can't fit a Medium.

We also have our 'Perfect Shirt Guarantee' which means you can return your dress shirt for any reason and get a full refund, or if it doesn't fit, you can exchange it (which is similar to returning it) for a better size. You just tell us what was wrong with the first dress shirt and we'll make sure those problems are resolved the second time around.

How else can we make your dress shirt shopping experience better so that you can support the co-created dress shirts movement, and so we can better serve you with a dress shirt that you want and one that fits too?

Drop a comment or mail sayhi (at) blank-label.com

Danny Wong is the Lead Online Advocate for Blank Label. Don't be afraid to tweet him either @dannywong1190. Also, feel free to read more of his musings on the Co-Creation Blog.

courtesy of one dustin diaz

Charcoal is scorching all other fabrics to be named the color of the season.  As white is to summer, charcoal is to winter- the perfect blank canvas to dress up an outfit while still looking uncomplicated. If you’re willing to try this fresh new trend then check out a charcoal men's dress shirt that is guaranteed satisfy any appetite for fashion. 

The Charcoal fabric looks fresh against black suit jackets or blazers.  It will keep your paler, winter skin-tones stand out, unlike brighter tones that will wash you out.  It also makes a great seasonal piece because the solid charcoal fabric is dressy without overdoing it, which means you can wear it on many occasions.  You can wear it to that dull family get-together, and still look fresh when you leave for the bar afterword.  It will give you a look that we’re calling sophisticated casual.  Because it’s a shade below full-on black, it doesn’t overwhelm your outfit into the category of “over-dressy.” 

Another great thing about owning a charcoal button-down is that it’s a chameleon piece, meaning it looks great with many different outfits.   A charcoal dress shirt makes a mean combo with a pair of blank dress pants and black tie.  The subtle contrast makes your outfit seem more sophisticated and put-together but in a very minimal effort kind of way.  Pairing it with a colorful scarf makes the scarf and shirt show off in their contrast.

Pick out a fabric that best matches your personality.  If you’re more of a bold, take life by the horns kind of guy then make a statement with what you wear and go with a really deep charcoal fabric for this season.  Try this shirt with a pair of really dark-wash dress jeans or black dress pants, and dress it up with a black matte tie.  But if you’re more of a subdued fashion enthusiast try out a pale charcoal that still makes a statement under a black blazer but won’t give you an overstated look.  The pale charcoal looks great under a black or even dark brown leather jacket.  With leather huge this season, it shouldn’t be too hard to find one that looks great when paired with your charcoal dress shirt.

If you want to experiment even more with custom men's dress shirts, try out my personal favorite: a dark charcoal shirt with black collar and cuffs for a funky, stylish look.  

This is article number two from fresh new Blank Label Marketing Intern and our Co-Creation Blog fashionista, Danielle Bentz. Any feedback for her, she says she can take it ;)

What better way to feel confident than in uniform?  Military inspired fashion trends have faded in and out in the past few decades but more recently, designers seem to be in this trend for keeps.  And did we mention chicks dig a man in uniform?!!

1. Of course, due to this economy, companies are armoring their customers with combat inspired boots.  One boot that keeps on fighting the good fight is the Wolverine Burton Boot seen below. 

 Also Found in Brown

These combat boots definitely make a statement; especially coming from the same company that manufactured the “World-War I 1000 mille boots” made to endure a lot of walking mileage.  You can be sure these boots will get you through any season’s wear and tear.  They look especially sharp with a pair of dark-wash jeans and a dark blazer or even military inspired jacket.  You can find these boots in any Neiman Marcus department store for around $250.00. 

2. To dress up your shiny new boots you should scan the perimeter for a great deal on a military inspired blazer.  There’s always a problem in Men’s Fashion with changing the look of your every-day, black blazer without dressing down your outfit.  Why not add some brass buttons and military décor to promote your blazer to a higher rank. Don an awesome blazer over any stylish dress shirt and get ready to own the world.

3. If you want a more casual look you should check out this Levis Men Military inspired jacket.  It’s rugged and worn-in looking which gives it that “ready for anything” look we love.  Pair it with a casual t-shirt, some of your favorite worn in jeans and some brown Wolverine Burton boots and everyone will drop and give you 20.

This article is the first by Blank Label's hottest new Marketing Intern, co-creator of custom men's dress shirts, and kickass writer for our Co-Creation Blog, Danielle Bentz. Woot Woot! 

Ever wonder why your gifts suck? That’s because you take too much time thinking about buying your friends and family that expensive cruise to the Bahamas, that new iPod that everyone else already has, that $450 watch he’s only going to wear once in his life.

This year, your gift giving will be at its peak!

Why?

   1. Because the economy’s in a downturn so now, instead of thinking about a higher price tag for a luxury product, you’re going to think more about something really meaningful, not just something that costs a lot of money.
   2. Because it’s the Holiday season! And you’re going to do anything to top last year’s gift-giving efforts.
   3. Because you absolutely love your friends and family and want to give them the sweetest and nicest gift you can think about.
   4. Because Blank Label launched its men's dress shirt customizer on Halloween day, which allows you to create a one-of-a-kind gift (a custom men's dress shirt you designed).
   5. Because “money’s not an issue” but oh, it really is, so we’re giving you $10 off your next purchase (valid until 12/31/09) with this special promocode (10disc).

Now go ahead and start creating your custom dress shirt gift for that friend that you really love. Don’t forget to monogram his name on the dress shirt. That way he’ll know it was specially made for him.

Happy Dress Shirt Designing.

-the Blank Label team

This post was written by Danny Wong, the Lead Web Strategist for Blank Label and a guest blogger for our Co-Creation Blog.