Hue Got That Right

CEBU, Philippines - Generally speaking, fashion does not come that naturally to guys as much as it does for girls. A lot of guys I know frankly do not give a damn about clothing. It’s not that they don’t want to waste their times mulling around in boutiques and checking out sales, but a book I read a few years back said that it’s practically a vestigial trait among men since the time Australopithecus roamed the earth. Women dressed to attract. Men, all in the name of protecting their fams, dressed to scare.

However, the rise of the metrosexuals and of women who would rather spend time with a really classy gent than a caveman is slowly starting to change that. The operative is slowly, by the way, as some guys just can’t help but revert to their hunter-gatherer days. For those who have chosen to travel the fashionable path—without necessarily looking emasculated.

Here’s a little something for the gents who wish to channel this season’s hottest hues en route to a fashion evolution. We’ll take this nice and slow by picking on fashion pieces later on. Hehe…

There are two hot colors this season for men and both are, by the way, tres, tres tricky to pull off so the gents may require a little help from their more fashion forward gal pals. However, in case you might fall a little short in that department too, I’ll throw in some tips just to get the ball rolling.

One kind of color is a spectrum of shades in itself. This year, the klieg lights aren’t just on any kind of blue—not turquoise, indigo, navy, or lapis lazuli—but it’s on a special, deeply heavenly kind of blue: cerulean. The color is a rather lively, instead of gloomy, kind of blue so the color just naturally pops. Cerulean can definitely give you a very cool, androgynous look considering that blue, generally speaking, has long been identified with the boys. To pull off this look, it’s imperative that you consider not wearing the coloring from head to foot unless you are attending a costume party and planning to look like a Smurf.

Throw in just one cerulean piece—an overcoat maybe, a scarf, or a vest—and make it the focal point of your get up so you’ll stand out from that sea of T-shirts-and-porontong- wearing gents. 

The gold rush isn’t over. It’s just getting stronger and stronger and spilling over to men’s fashion thanks to Louis Vuitton, Commes de Garcon, Gucci, and Converse. Just like cerulean, gold is a statement in itself so less is definitely more. The more conservative gents may want to go for the more muted versions of gold first before going shining shimmering splendid.

Gold is a great way to channel a grunge-slash-rock star vibe so a pair of gold chucks in a street ensemble of jeans (not the loose variety please) and a statement shirt will be a great start. If the shoes strike you as something that’s too bold a move, you probably might want to take it slower by donning a T-shirt with gold prints. 

Avoid decking yourself in too many gold pieces all at once otherwise it might seem as if King Midas laid a hand on you.