I’m in line at Target last week. Sophie’s pulling on my pants leg and Jackson’s arguing about whether Almond Joys or Snickers are superior when the cashier—some kid that’s gotta be twenty-two at the oldest—looks down at my outfit and deadpans, “Trying the LeBron thing on today?”
I look down at myself. Navy chinos, gray henley, navy blazer on top. Nothing wild, nothing that “cost more than five dollars at the store” expensive, but for whatever reason it reminded him of LeBron James wearing something similar while sitting courtside.
Truth be told? He wasn’t totally wrong. I’d seen LeBron wear some iteration of that outfit during some interview and had mentally catalogued it under “possibly work for suburban dad” back when I first saw it. Which got me thinking, how often are my style inspirations really compliments of random dudes I don’t know? And most days, probably without me even realizing it.
Let me explain. When you’re trying to look decent off four hours of sleep and on a budget that assumes small children will tear every article of clothing you own, you look for inspiration where you can find it. And honestly, some of the best inspiration comes from the most surprising places. Pro athletes who have to look presentable on camera twenty hours a day. Rockstars who realize that how you look affects how people listen to you. Politicians who know their constituents will judge them every time they leave the house.
Hell, even if you never steal a thing they’re wearing, just borrowing from what makes their wardrobes work and adapting it to your everyday life can massively upgrade your dad game. Specifically.
I learned most of what I know about dressing dad-approved from athletes. Lesson number one, ripped straight from the NBA playbook: wear clothes that fit your actual body.
Too many guys try to wear clothes that fit their 22-year-old body. Or hell, their university-football-playing-athlete body. But those days are gone, and feeding yourself ice cream every time you’re stressed out won’t help you fit into those shirts you used to wear. (And yes, I’m speaking from experience.)
I’ll never forget looking up at Victor Cruz on TV once and realizing that his clothes actually fit him. Dude’s shoulders span a NFL tackle but rather than layer him under clothes that make him look smaller, his shirts actually accentuated his frame. Meanwhile I’m squeezing into medium shirts that should’ve been extra larges when I was in high school. Lauren finally put my foot down after Sophie’s birthday party when she showed me pictures. “Honey,” she said, pointing at my chest on screen, “did you know you could fit an entire store inside your shirt?” No, Lauren, that’s not what I was going for.
Humiliated, I begrudgingly had myself sized for shirts, pants, you name it. Guess what? Medium wasn’t cutting it anymore. Every item of clothing I owned was too small. I spent the last three years telling myself I was still a medium even though I was technically a large. It’s crazy how much we cling to our high school clothes sizes. Admitting you’ve graduated to larger shirts is like admitting defeat.
But once I started dressing for the body I have today—not the body I used to have or will someday have when I start going to the gym—I instantly looked better.
Had to learn that lesson from athletes. And while we’re at it: they wear what works for their bodies consistently. Look at Russ. Baller mogul? Yes. But you know someone’s probably gonna take that same exact trench coat he wore last week and rewear it next week. Because A. It fits his insane body perfectly and B. It works with his general vibe. He has an aesthetic and almost everything he wears is easily identifiable as “something Russ would wear.”
Most of us think style means buying clothes from certain brands or wearing certain trendy pieces. Newsflash: it doesn’t. Style means having a point of view and being consistent with that point of view. For me, that’s blazers.
Whether I’m running errands or dropping Jackson off at soccer practice, I’ll throw on an unstructured blazer over whatever else I’m wearing. Blazes became my thing because I was always stuffing my hands in pockets to have somewhere to hold my phone, wallet, keys, and whatever kids tried to give me when I wasn’t looking. Enough that Lauren’s friends will text her whenever they see blazers on sale “because it’s so Patrick.” But by having that one piece that I know I can consistently wear with anything, it actually makes getting dressed that much easier.
I learned how to use proportions from musicians. Disclaimer: this isn’t as fancy as it sounds. Proportion just means looking at how the tops and bottoms of your outfits interact with each other instead of looking at each piece as its own standalone element. Sure John Mayer has gone through roughly eight million style phases, but everything he wears works because the top and bottom halves of his outfits are always spoken for.
How did I learn this? Fuckups. Stupid, avoidable fuckups. I got really into the whole baggy clothing trend after years of wearing clothes that were too damn tight. Started wearing baggy pants with baggy shirts. Shoulder season goofball pajamas. Except…I didn’t look chill and “with it.” I looked like I raided my grandpa’s closet before going to the grocery store. Jackson even asked if I was sick because I “looked so droopy.”
Solution? If I wear relaxed clothing on the bottom, I keep my top half more fitted with either tucked in shirts or my trusty blazers. If I’m going to wear something more relaxed on top, I balance it out with fitted jeans or chinos. Contrasting your proportions instead of wearing every single piece of clothing as its own silo is another trick I picked up from musicians.
Hell, I even learned how to pick clothes appropriately from politicians. We live in a VERY polarized political climate so I know what you’re thinking: why the hell would I want to dress like politicians? Here’s the thing though, the best ones know how to dress for any occasion and subtly upgrade their wardrobe little by little.
Think about how Obama’s style evolved throughout his presidency. Same general uniform worn almost daily but the fit got better, the fabrics got nicer. They found ways to slim his look and added subtle details that he could pull off because of his…unique body-type. Before you know it, he went from looking like your awesome neighbor dad to the president of the United States without trying to hard.
All of this became crystal clear to me when I started doing more video calls for work. I had to step my “business casual from home” game up because it turns out wearing the same three polo shirts on rotation didn’t wow clients during presentations. Instead of buying a bunch of new stuff that all basically looked the same, I invested in fewer better quality pieces. Bought two really nice button downs instead of five that I only kinda liked. Same outfits I was already wearing, I just looked <a href=”https://www.sartorialhim.com/beyond-basic-taking-standard-american-casual-to-the-next-level/”>put together</a>.
Lesson learned from politicians: build a wardrobe that evolves and improves slightly every few months, don’t try to change it up entirely with every season’s new trends. But most importantly, wear clothes that fit the occasion. I can’t tell you how many guys show up to something too casual or too dressy because they wear the same thing every day regardless of where they’re going.
School drop-off/pickup is prime example. Guys will show up in full-on work suits and ties to drop their kids off at school thinking “hey, I’m going to work soon, might as well dress the part.” Or wear their gym clothes and sneakers to PTA meetings because “that’s good enough for weekends.” Wear pants on weekends, but not jeans? Have some variety in your rotation so you’re not wearing the exact same thing to drop your kids off and then work.
Athletes, musicians, politicians. What do all of these people have in common? They all wear what they’re wearing. Hell yes they pray about it and make sure.fits perfectly and they feel confident in it, but half the battle of dressing well is acting like you belong in whatever you’re wearing.
Propped up my heels at Lauren’s work holiday party last year and felt really self conscious about how I looked. I wore this olive green suit that I love but wasn’t super “dad” like. Nothing crazy, olive just wasn’t technically black or navy most people would be wearing that night. Felt really off until one of her managers complimented me on it and realized that my insecurities were making me stand weird and screw up my whole look. Walked taller, stood up straight, and suddenly nobody cared what I was wearing.
With that being said, there’s plenty of things athletes/musicians/politicians wear that will never fly with Dad mode. Never showing up to Jackson’s parent teacher conference in a suit. Way too much for anywhere outside of the White House. Musicians outfits on stage are costumes. Seriously guys wear costumes on stage. And while athlete’s Olympic/swag and politician’s full military regiments are funny as fuck, that doesn’t work for the everyday dad.
It’s all about knowing what you can learn from these people and what you should leave in therafting lesson: borrow from their wardrobe philosophy, not their actual wardrobe.
From athletes I borrowed fitting clothing that matches my body and having one staple piece that I know I can always reach for when I’m getting dressed. (Currently blazers.) From musicians I learned how to balance out my outfit’s proportions and really look at how my tops and bottoms work together. From politicians I took that no matter where you’re going you should always dress appropriately and that it’s better to upgrade your wardrobe little by little.
My friend Mike could care less about fashion but he’s literally done this his whole life. Steps into some store, sees a famous guy wearing a cool outfit and immediately breaks down what he likes about it. “Love how his jacket hits right at his belt line.” or “Those three colors go together because they’re all neutrals.” He’s picking out the building blocks of what he likes and incorporating that into his own style. Best part? He never feels like he has to wear anything that’s on those celebs because he’s too busy dapping himself up.
The bigger point I’m trying to make with all this is you’re sending a message with how you dress whether you realize it or not. Athletes dress to seem more put together and professional. Rockstars dress to remind people they have personality and creativity. Politicians dress to not distract from what they’re saying.
So what’s your clothes saying about you? For me, I want them to say “yeah this guy clearly has kids but he takes care of himself.” “He’s practical but he doesn’t embarrass his wife.” “Dad who remembered to shower today and put enough effort in to look like he wanted to be here.”
It doesn’t cost much to send that message. Hell, most men will never know what it’s like to have a stylist or a clothing budget that dwarfs our country’s spending on military defense. But we can all approach getting dressed with the same mentality as those that do. Figure out what you’re telling people when you put on that shirt and make sure it’s something you want sending out into the world.
And if that means rocking a henley under a blazer because LeBron made you feel cool about doing the same? Don’t sweat it. Well, unless you’re getting called out by a 22 year old cashier. Just smile and let him think you got ripped off Anderson Silva’s wrestling dummy.
