Editor’s Letter: April 2016
Our April issue, featuring cover star Henry Cavill, hits newsstands today.
One of my goals for this year was to step out of my style comfort zone. While it’s part of my job description to dress well, lately I’ve noticed that I’ve settled into a thirtysomething’s status quo: I listen to mournful, white-person folk rock, work out to Foo Fighters, and I like V-neck sweaters and dark slacks (denim or chinos, because I’m wild like that). Recently, I bought some noticeably different trousers. People did, in fact, notice.
These pants are grey with a large blue window check. The first time I wore them to the office, I paired them with a Coca-Cola-can red sweater halfway between my typical V-neck and a shawl collar. Ironically, I felt pretty good about the outfit until people complimented it. The comments seemed like the polite observations you make about a friend’s new haircut when you don’t want to be too honest or lie outright. Hey, someone got a haircut!
The red sweater might have been too much.
We talk a lot about style being an outward expression of one’s personality; that the only rule you need when dressing yourself is whether you feel comfortable and confident. These maxims have value, but they aren’t entirely true. A man can feel comfortable and confident in a boxy suit (with the back vent inexplicably still sewn shut) and squared-toe shoes. That outfit, too, might accurately reflect that man’s personality, but that doesn’t justify dressing for a job interview at a telecom company in the 1990s.
My new pants made me realize there is an element of faith in personal style. We shouldn’t be satisfied with a wardrobe that reflects who we are now: we should dress for who we want to be. But faith, at least when it comes to fashion, isn’t the same as delusion. The men with the best style also happen to have a pretty healthy, and accurate, sense of self. They understand the balance between who they can be and who they want to be.
Think of our spring style issue as a way of seeing what kind of man you want to be. We’ll show you how that man dresses, whether it’s Superman or The Punisher, or the Devil himself. Chances are you’ll be able to pull it off. And if you can’t right now, exercise a little faith. But, you know, not too much. I love my new pants, I just had to find the right top to go with them. Something a bit more down-to-earth.
Greg Hudson
Editor-in-Chief
