A coat is a coat is a coat...

Men's fashion should always be about simplicity and class. It's not that the er... darker sex (darker, fairer... what have you, you know what I mean) should automatically be deprived of the fancy shenanigans that sometimes blight women's fashion, but if you can pull off a great outfit tastefully, why not? I've always liked my men to dress like men - it sounds simple, but does require some effort.

Coats are a big thing for me. It's not something that's terribly difficult to carry off with style and if you already have a good outfit, a coat enhances the look (better still if you've got a bit of height about you). There's just something about a good-looking man in a coat that makes the heart skip a beat, but it has got to be the right coat with the right outfit. I'll demonstrate why.

Hwanhee has spruced up good for 7th jib (after the horror of 6th jib, one has to be grateful for small things) and midway through Fly to the Sky's promotional activities, he started sporting a coat for his performances. He's got a good height and physique, so a coat will usually look good on him.


Here, Hwanhee is in a dark grey coat with a t-shirt and jeans. It's not a high-brow classy look, so everything is kept to the minimum, but he pulls it off with ease, exuding a very understated, casual charm. I may be a tad biased because I have a coat similar to that (mine's got more buttons, heh), but I think he looks really good here. The key was that he kept the colours simple - white and black for the t-shirt, dark blue for jeans and dark grey for coat. The colours are complementary and easy on the eye, which is good because the coat is supposed to enhance the outfit, not clash with it.

But just keeping the colours simple isn't always enough if the coat itself doesn't look right. And t-shirts, to be honest, don't always go with coats. Hwanhee pulled it off in the above picture, but below, he looks as if he's seen better days:



One tip: don't button a coat unless you have to. Here, our boy looks like he doesn't know what hit him. The coat is plain, which is fine, but the brown is awful and it doesn't go with his round-neck t-shirt. His pinched expression doesn't help. He looks as if the coat has pecked him alive. If he had worn a collared shirt, it might have helped jazz up the look.

An example of how a collared shirt and the right coat can do wonders:


A classy look which I like very much. The colours are in harmony and easy on the eye, the beige shirt goes very well with the dark brown coat. Keeping the tie loose is a nice touch. Hwanhee looks really handsome here, which goes to prove that even in simplicity, there is beauty. If you're already a handsome stud, you don't need to go all out to prove that you look good. You just need to know what makes you stand out, and keeping it simple and tasteful usually does the trick.

le jun