Style

Pins as lapel pins

Do you like suits and using accessories like pocket squares, ties and lapel pins to spice them up a bit? Here is a quick tip, you don’t need to buy special lapel pins, you can use whatever pin you want. This may seem obvious, but I don’t see many people use “ordinary” pins on their suit jackets. It may be because they want to look classy, but if you want to be more relaxed and maybe a bit geeky, why not use something that stands out? I for one have a couple of Nintendo pins and a couple of cat pins that I often use, and they usually get more positive response with them then with a nice flower.

But then again, I do socialize with some pretty geeky people.

Never iron shirts again

I really (I mean really!) hate ironing button up shirts, so much that I actually rather use an unironed shirt than spend the time ironing it. At least for an ordinary day at the office.

This is of course a bit of a problem as I do love wearing button up shirts, a lot! I actually use a button up shirt almost every day. So how do I manage you might ask, the reason is because I have come up with the best life hack I know of.

After every time I’ve washed my shirts I hang them in my small bathroom, place my humidifier in there, set it to max and close the door. After a couple of hours I turn of the humidifier and usually let the shirts hang there to dry until the next morning. Essentially I’ve built my own “steam closet” and even if ironing still does a better job, this makes the shirts perfectly fine for everyday use. I still iron my shirts for more special occasions, if I have the time that is. Otherwise I actually think the result from the steam closet is good enough even for those occasions.

If you don’t have a humidifier you can instead take a long and very hot shower with the door closed to build up steam. I would however recommend a humidifier as I have never gotten as good results that way.

One geeky detail

For those who don’t know, I’m a bit of a geek, and by “a bit” I mean a huge geek, in many different ways. I also like to show that to people, but as I mostly use button up shirts and love classic style I “can’t” use geeky t-shirts. Instead I’m always on the hunt for small, geeky accessories that I can use with suits. The most common ones are of course cufflinks, pocket squares, pins and ties. Even though I think a geeky tie often is a bit too much. Using a geeky detail also takes of the edge of it all and makes it look less corporate.

My favorite detail is this pair of Darth Vader cufflinks with the Imperial emblem on the other side. Do you have any favorite geeky accessory?

Color matching accessories

I love color, especially vibrant colors. In spite of that my wardrobe actually mostly consists of black/blue suits and white shirts. The reason for this is that even if I love color it can be a bit much with a pink suit (but yes, I do own one of those!) and my wardrobe would need to be HUGE if I wanted clothes in strong colors and still be able to mix and match a bit. Especially when you think about all the different shades of every color that doesn't match with other shades of the same color. And to be fair, who has the space for suits in 50 shades of gray?

Instead I try to pick up a lot of accessories in all different colors. these aren't to expensive and they don't take much space at home. It is also super fun to color match all the different accessories with each other to get a colorful outfit even with white shirts and black suits.

This is why I always try to pick up new ties, pocket squares and cufflinks when I find one that I like, and after that the hunt begins! The hunt for other accessories that can be matched with the one I just bought that is. Sometimes I also try to bring my new accessory with me in case I get the time to go into a store and look for things that match, it's always a lot easier to find something that matches when you actually can compare the colors. 

Pattern matching (if you don't look to closely).

Of course it is even nicer if I can find something that not only color matches another accessory but also can be matched with something else. One example is to mismatch colors but instead focus on patterns, but there are many different ways to match. I just happen to love color matching a bit more than all other ways of matching. 

One of my latest idiotic ideas is to also try to match the ink in my pen to the colors I wear haha!