The New Laws of Fashion‏

With more quality available to the American man than ever before, there are also more pitfalls. To help you navigate our expanding sartorial world, here are Esquire's 50 new laws of fashion. Commit them to memory. Break them if you like. (We'll tell you how.) Then go undaunted.

1. YOU WEAR THE CLOTHES, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

2. INVESTING IN QUALITY OFTEN MEANS INVESTING IN THE THINGS YOU CAN'T SEE. Like the movement inside a mechanical watch, the full hand-canvasing in a jacket, or the hand-stitched uppers of your shoes.

3. BLUE JEANS ARE GOOD; DARK-BLUE JEANS ARE BETTER. Leave the boot cuts to cowgirls and black denim to ex-cons.

4. CELEBRITIES LOOK GOOD IN CLOTHES FOR TWO REASONS: a) They're famous. b) They have someone whose full-time job is to dress them. Don't get discouraged. Get famous.

5. YOU SHOULD DRESS FOR AIR TRAVEL AS IF IT WERE STILL A PRIVILEGE. Start with a collared shirt and a tailored jacket. And if you can't bear wearing proper shoes, low-key leather sneakers will do. Ditch the sweatpants, though. You're not at the gym. How to break it: Flying private gives you sartorial carte blanche.

6. A WELL MADE AND PROPERLY KEPT SHOE WILL LAST YOU THREE DECADES. When shopping for your feet, remember to invest in leather soles and uppers and Goodyear-worthy welts. Remember, too, that all-leather shoes are easier to rebuild. How to break it: If it's obvious that your loafers are from the seventies, retire them.

7. WOODEN SHOE TREES ARE A GOOD IDEA. But you need only one pair. Put them in the shoes you've been wearing all day. The shoe, warmed and wet from your body heat and perspiration, will contract as it cools over the shape of the tree and return to its original form. Within an hour or two, the tree has done its job. 

8. THERE ARE TWO WAYS YOU SHOULD STORE YOUR TIE: 1) Lay it flat in a drawer. 2) Roll it up like a Swiss roll by folding it once and then rolling it from the narrow end. Both methods allow the tie to settle and regain its shape overnight.

9. BROADEN YOUR COLOR WHEEL. Colors that real men actually look good in, though they don't realize it (one item of clothing at a time, please): pink, turquoise, and coral.

10. IT'S BETTER TO BE OVERDRESSED THAN UNDERDRESSED. Being thought eccentric for wearing a tux to a swim meet is preferable to wearing a T-shirt and jeans to a wedding.

12. IN YOUR MEDICINE CABINET: one razor, one bar of shaving soap, a shaving brush, a comb, deodorant, nail clippers, hair gel, toothpaste, and a toothbrush. Done.

13. BUY THE SUIT THAT FITS, NOT THE ONE YOU WISH YOU COULD FIT INTO. A suit that's too tight will make you look fat. And while an oversized suit may seem more comfortable, in reality you'll just look like a ten-year-old playing dress-up. In between the two is the suit that fits.

14. WOMEN ARE SEXY WHEN WEARING ONE ITEM OF MEN'S CLOTHING. How to break it: Or nothing at all.

15. WATERPROOF AND WATER-RESISTANT: There's a big difference.

16. WET SHOES SHOULD BE DRIED IN A WARM PLACE NEAR AN OVEN (BUT NEVER IN ONE). But be careful: Rapid drying can irreversibly crack the leather.

17. "A WELL-TIED TIE IS THE FIRST SERIOUS STEP IN LIFE." -OSCAR WILDE

18. BE SUSPICIOUS OF THE GUY IN THE STATE U. SWEATSHIRT. Varsity sweatshirts are usually worn by people on whom the educational establishment in question had no lasting or useful impact at all or by people who paid for their kids to go there and would dearly like to advertise the fact. How to break it: Let go of suspicion if you live within twenty miles of a Big Ten school.

19. YOUR EYEGLASSES SHOULD CONTRAST, NOT MIMIC, THE SHAPE OF YOUR FACE. Here's a quick guide, courtesy of renowned eyeglass designer Richard Morgenthal.

Your shape: Heart
Your specs: A heart-shaped face already has a lot of definition. Since your head is top-heavy, go for a geometric frame that gives some width to the lower half of your face.

Your shape: Square
Your specs: Since a square face already has angles, go for a round or oval frame that shapes your cheekbones. A decorative frame with width will often do the trick.

Your shape: Round
Your specs: Avoid dark frames; they only make your face appear heavy. A round face needs direction, so opt for angular and narrow frames-never a square or a circle.

Your shape: Oval
Your specs: A modern rectangle is best for an oval face. Because your face is longer than it is wide, you'll need frames that provide width. If your face is wider than it is long, go the opposite way.

20. IN THE NEW JEANS-AND-A-SUIT-JACKET ENVIRONMENT, A POCKET SQUARE CAN STAND IN FOR A TIE. Here's how.

Astaire: To be done only with a silk handkerchief. Begin by spreading the material across a flat surface and pinching at the center, allowing the fabric to pillow around the pinch. Only an elegant pattern will do.

Churchill: Constructed in the same fashion as the Astaire pocket square but with the additional step of folding up the corners. This style is slightly more ragged in a very purposeful way. Must still be done with silk.

JFK: The structured nature of this style can be done with almost any material: silk, linen, or cotton. Very measured and exact, it calls for a quiet pattern on the hankie and is usually worn by men you'd trust to invest your money.

Bond, James: Straight out of the 1960s comes this straight-across approach. Donned by spies, news anchors, and heads of state, this style is simple and clean. It should be done with a white linen or cotton handkerchief.

21. ALWAYS CHECK MID HUES OF GREEN, BROWN, AND BLUE IN DAYLIGHT BEFORE PURCHASING. What's navy under fluorescent light can look purple in sunlight.

22. EVEN A WELL-FITTED TUX HAS ITS LIMITS. While a perfect-fitting tux makes even the average man resemble James Bond, it does not mean that he'll possess his sexual prowess.

24. LOOK YE NOT TO RUSSELL CROWE FOR STYLE INSPIRATION.

25. SHORT SOCKS ARE FOR ENGLISHMEN AND ITALIAN BUS DRIVERS. You are neither.

26. WHEN IT COMES TO WATCHES, YOU ARE ONE OF TWO TYPES: a quartz guy or a mechanical guy. A quartz watch is eternally accurate, like an atomic clock. A mechanical watch is a tiny metal beauty with hundreds of moving parts, built by Swiss elves. Buy quartz if you simply must know exactly what time it is. Buy mechanical if you like machines. How to break it: Or emulate American presidents and go digital with a rock-solid G-Shock.

27. NEVER BE RUSHED INTO PURCHASING UNCOMFORTABLE SHOES, NO MATTER HOW SHINY THE LEATHER. Beauty is not, at least in this case, pain.

28. LEAVE THE POCKETS OF YOUR SUIT JACKET SEALED, JUST THE WAY THEY CAME. Opening them up to put in cell phones and keys is the quickest way for your suit to lose its shape.
29. WEARING THE SAME SHOES DAY IN AND DAY OUT WILL DRASTICALLY SHORTEN THEIR LIFE SPAN.

30. YOUR TIE'S TIP SHOULD JUST REACH YOUR WAISTBAND.

31. WHILE YOU'RE AT IT, LEARN TO TIE A BOW TIE.

32. THE CLASSIEST COLOR FOR BLACK TIE IS BLACK. How to break it: If you're a maverick, you can try midnight blue or dark chocolate.

33. YOUR TIE KNOT SHOULD ALWAYS CONCEAL THE COLLAR BAND BEHIND IT. If it doesn't, it's tied too loose.

34. WITH A DOUBLE-BREASTED SUIT, IT'S ACCEPTABLE TO HAVE ONLY THE LOWER-RIGHT BUTTON UNDONE. All others should be fastened. If you're wanting to relax, just take the coat off altogether.

35. NEVER BUY ANYTHING YELLOW. How to break it: Unless it's a Lamborghini.

36. OPEN BUTTONHOLES ON THE CUFF OF A SUIT USED TO BE THE SIGN OF HANDMADE QUALITY. NO LONGER. Even low-end designers are using this styling trick to make their wares look better made than they really are. We know your suit is well made, so keep cuffs buttoned up.

37. NO ONE AT THE PARTY WILL EVER NOTICE IF YOU'VE LOST ONE OF YOUR CUFF LINKS. Leave the orphaned one in.

38. POLISH YOUR MID- AND DARK-BROWN SHOES WITH BLACK SHOE POLISH. This will create darker shades near the seams and gradually deepen the patina all over.

39. A MAN SHOULD NOT SHOP FOR MORE CLOTHES; HE SHOULD SHOP FOR BETTER ONES. How do you know what's "better"? Look in your closet, decide which clothes make you walk the tallest, and then up the ante by purchasing only the threads that will have you walking even taller.

40. SOME COLORS ARE MEANT TO BE TOGETHER. SOME ARE NOT.

41. WHEN IT COMES TO BUYING A SUIT, NO MATTER ITS PRICING, CHECK THE FOUR MAJOR ZONES TO SEE IF IT FITS.

1. The hem of your pants should cover the -laces of your shoes and slope slightly downward toward the heel, stopping about an inch above the welt. The front crease of your trouser leg should "break" slightly at mid-shin. If the crease is dead straight, your pants are too short.

2. Your correct waist measurement is not at your hips, as you've been trained to believe. Nor is it at your belly button, as women have been trained to believe. It's halfway in between. While your correct waist measurement may cause initial shock, knowing it will make the suit fit better.

3. The length of your jacket should not be noticeable. Avoid overly short or long cuts. As a general rule, with your hands at your sides, the hem of the jacket should just reach your knuckles. And the sleeve should rest a half inch below your wrist bone.

4. How your jacket fits at the shoulder is the first sign of whether a man knows his size. It fits properly if there's no overhang at the shoulder pad or, conversely, your shoulder does not bulge out at the top of the sleeve. A smooth curving line should fall from sleeve head to cuff.

42. WHEN IT COMES TO PATTERN IN YOUR CLOTHING, LESS IS MORE. However, if you decide to wear more than one pattern at a time, follow this simple rule: The pattern on your tie should be bolder than the one on your shirt.

43. YOUR SHIRT COLLAR FITS PROPERLY IF YOU CAN JUST GET ONE FINGER BETWEEN IT AND YOUR NECK. Any looser and you'll look like Krusty the Clown.

45. NOTHING SAYS "JACKASS" QUITE AS WELL AS A CELL PHONE ON A BELT CLIP. You know who you are.

46. YOU DON'T NEED TO BUTTON EVERY BUTTON. On a two-button suit, button only the top button. On a three-button suit, button only the middle one. On a one-button suit, well, you don't have much choice.

47. SUNGLASSES SHOULD BE WORN ONLY AS SUNGLASSES. And never at night.

48. CHECK YOUR FLY BEFORE ANSWERING THE DOOR.

49. DESPITE THE STYLE FOLLIES OF THE '80S, THEY DID GET A FEW THINGS RIGHT, LIKE THE POLO SHIRT. While the current consensus is to disdain the collar-up approach to this preppy standby, we say flip that polo-shirt collar up as far as it'll go.

50. WHEN IN DOUBT, ASK YOUR TAILOR. How to break it: Better yet