Unlocking the Appeal of Men's Vintage Jeans

The vintage jeans market is one that is very fluid, with trends continually changing. New styles grow quickly in popularity while last year's designs rapidly fall into the un-cool category (only to re-find a new audience several years later no doubt). It is also a market that generates huge revenues for the major brands, with powerful clothing companies, adding a jeans range almost by default to take advantage. Hence jeans may be simple, but they are big business.

If you don't believe me, let's assume the average price of a pair of medium quality jeans in today's money is £35 and now multiply that by the number of pairs of jeans you can find in your home at the moment. You can very easily arrive at a figure of several hundreds of pounds and that's not taking into account any jeans you have previously discarded, passed onto friends or sold on. That figure may surprise or even worry you. What may also surprise you is that all that expenditure does not have to be lost cash because the second-hand market for pre-owned jeans is also very vibrant and your wardrobe of un-loved jeans, whatever their style, could be sold onto new owners, generating useful funds for your next pair of denim delights.

Denim jeans vary wildly in colour, although the classic "blue jean" variety of the original Levi's is still dominant. But there were phases when very light blue colours were the norm, or stone-washed mottled fabrics were big hits. In today's stores the dark blue selvage denims from Japan's premium factories are highly desirable. These high quality denim fabrics are designed never to be washed by the owner for fear of spoiling their unique look. That makes them almost treasured items, only to be worn on the most important occasions. Of course that by definition means that more than one pair is required and other, less vulnerable, jeans are required for casual wear. All good news for those selling jeans on the high street and equally good news for those that rely on a steady flow of extra product into the vintage market.

So when you are next on the high street take a look in all the different types of shops that include denim jeans on their inventory. You will find traders of many different types, keeping their own particular slice of this varied jeans range but the selection doesn't stop there though. Venture online and you'll find that an equally diverse range of traders are supplying jeans to the internet shopper. Jeans, jeans jeans, when will ever have enough of them.

It appears that our love of men's vintage jeans will go on forever with vintage clothing stores always stocking a full range. Sue looks at the history and trends that seem to recycle in this part of the fashion business

Top Urban Men's Clothing Styles You Must Know

Urban males see clothing as a form of self expression and they tend to stick to what works. In some cases, the occupation of a man can determine his fashion but there are trends in urban fashion that are worthy of note.

In the hip-hop urban male scene, complex graphic T-shirts, dark or muted colored hoodies, baseball caps and baggy jeans dominate the scene. In addition to this, athletic sneakers, tracksuits and sports jerseys are still trendy and if you are looking for nice outer wears, leather or puffy jackets are very much perfect.

For an urban male hipster, skinny jeans, a nice blazer and a faux-hawk, will do the magic. You can add plaid fedora, a 5 o'clock shadow, an '80 throwback T-shirt and thick-rimmed glasses so that you can add a sense of panache to your fashion.

Moreover, majority of urban dwellers are the attorneys, bankers, traders, and so on, whose daily wears are the suit and tie. The classic black and gray for the two-piece are favored by most urban men while white color is preferred for the shirt and monotone colors or conservative designs for the tie. Individuality cannot be ruled out in this ensemble as bright, full colored dress shirts are used by those who prefer them.

In the urban jungle, the popular clothing you will find there are torn jeans, high boots, worn leather, spiky metal accessories and ratty tees. However, in today's world, the qualities of punk clothing are higher than what we used to have in the past. The clothing are also flexible as you can get an old or new material and once you just tear it up or wear it out, it is qualified for the jungle. To cap it up all, a knit beanie, a mohawk or shaved head, piercings and tattoos will close the deal.

Urban males also fancy assorted necklaces as well as bracelets and they can go to any length to get them. There are even predictions that demand for drop-crotch jeans and color turquoise will go up among urban men. These trends and others should be watched out for because they may soon find their ways into the urban fashion world. Quality urban clothing should be purchased from the right source so that there will be assurance of excellence because there are those who are only interested in what they are going to gain and not quality.

Evergreen White

Do you see white in your future? No, I'm not referring to a wedding but rather your summer wardrobe. Nothing spells summer like white. While the temperature rises you can stay cool and look fantastic in white. White will add impact to your summer wardrobe and will keep you looking fresh and inviting. To get the most from wearing white I have a few suggestions.

#  White reflects light so wherever you wear it you will bring attention. Having said that, if you have any body parts you don't want to appear larger don't accentuate that area by adorning it in white and wearing a dark color next to it. What you can do is wear white from head- to- toe so no particular area has focus. For example, if you have large hips don't wear white bottoms with a dark top because the eye will be drawn to the bottom. Instead, wear a white top and white pants and use accessories to take the focus away from the problem area. Or wear white on top and black on the bottom.

#  Wear black and white combinations with accessories to create impact. Wear a white skirt with a black top, black shoes, white handbag, and a black/white necklace. Handbags and scarves that have a black and white pattern will also bring some pizzazz. Experiment.

# To change your look, wear white with bright colors such as pink and green. Again, choose accessories that will add interest. A pink or green bag, pink jewelry, pink shoes etc. You can also try 3 color combinations such as pink/black/white green/black/white or red/black/white.

#  Wear white only until the end of the summer season and don't wear white to a wedding unless you are the bride.

#  Wear white T-shirts with jeans and choose a finer fabric to wear with suits for a more professional look. When you wear whites pay attention to your undergarments - avoid lacy bras - choose to wear nudes, they will not show under white.

How to Dress for the Business World

# Treat your business clothing as an investment and choose wisely. Make sure you buy classic styles that suit your body shape, are comfortable, have quality workmanship and quality material. This is no time to try the latest fads. Take your time and shop around for the best price and the best service. Be aware of the return policy and if possible purchase your wardrobe items at a store that can do professional alternations if necessary.

# For business situations match your handbag, shoes and belt. Black shoes should be matched with a black handbag. This is not a time to get creative with your accessories or to wear colored shoes.

# Do not neglect your outerwear. Purchase a good quality coat that can be worn with either pants or a skirt. For cooler weather don't neglect your outdoor footwear. For skirts choose long knee-high boots.

# Keep shoes and boots in a good state of repair. Scuffed shoes with worn heels will ruin the look of your outfit.

# To complete your look choose soft leather gloves that will add a nice touch as well as keep your hands from getting chapped.

# Choose clothing material that reflects the season. Heavy fabrics and tweeds are best for Fall and Winter and will look out of place during Summer, as light linen fabrics will look out of place during Winter.

# Always wear a belt where there are belt loops. Choose a good quality leather belt and don't be tempted to wear a flashy or plastic belt. If you don't like belts choose pants without loops.

How Get The Perfect Shoes

Every man should know the mens dress shoes details before even considering buying their dress shoes. It is important to understand that these details define the quality in the shoes.

Instead of repeated spending on replacing damaged dress shoes, it pays to have a few quality ones that can last for years. The high quality mens dress shoes are eventually going to be more cost efficient than the cheap poor quality ones that are not made to last.

Mens dress shoes details are the foundation in building and shaping the dress shoes. It provides the comfort and firmness within that men are always sensitive about. Let us begin going through the mens dress shoes details:

* * Leather * *

Most mens dress shoes are made of leather. It is important to know what constitutes good leather since this material covers about 80 - 90% of the dress shoe.

Leather quality is graded from 1 to 5 with 1 being the highest quality. However, we can never find these grading on the dress shoes and neither would the sales personnel at the shoe department know.

Generally, base on laymen's sight and touch, we focus on a smooth with consistent fine grain on the leather for mens dress shoes details. The leather should feel rich and supple.

A good example of good quality leather would be napa, a type of calfskin. Calfskin are fine leather from skin of young calf or even lambs. These hides have fine grains and shines with high polish.

All leather hides naturally have blemishes or scars on them. The high quality leather will have little scars on it and hence the higher price. The difference in durability for high and low quality leather is small in variation so it is not a determinant in the pricing for leather mens dress shoes.

Blemishes on leather dress shoes can be hidden by using sealant products. It smoothens the leather and cover-up the blemishes. Therefore, if the leather itself has less polished finishing (i.e. glassy finish) or as naked as it is, it represents lesser possible concealment of blemishes.

One of the most important mens dress shoes details lies on having high quality leather that has minimum blemishes and also barely touched-up with any artificial sealants.

Still it is difficult for any layman to assess the quality of leather unless you really know leather very well. Instead of trying to assess the leather itself, the focus should be more on the construction of the mens dress shoes.

Mens dress shoes details start from the inside since dress shoes are made from inside out. Blemishes and faulty workmanship are usually concealed on the outside. So focusing on the inside will allow us to find difficult areas of cover-ups.

An important point of focus is the insole. High quality mens dress shoes have insoles made from leather rather than layers of cardboards. These leather insoles are durable and prevents unnecessary foot odor because it allows the foot to breathe and absorb perspiration.

It can also be easily replaced when worn out as well as helps in shaping the bottom of the dress shoes which are not possible with cardboard insoles.

* * Lining * *

Leather is still the focus here. High quality leather should still be used to work on the lining. A good example of such leather would be calfskin.

Make sure that the lining is smooth at the folds around the seams and edges. Fine stitch is important along the lining because a fine binding and clean finishing defines the workmanship of the mens dress shoes details.

* * Stitching * * 

Stitching is something that is not usually noticed among mens dress shoes details. We would recommend careful inspection of it.

Good quality stitching on mens dress shoes should be as inconspicuous as possible. It should be concealed from the top to the bottom of the dress shoes.

Remember to ensure that the inside of mens dress shoes do not have any exposed knots because these can cause a lot of discomfort for the wearer.

On the sole, a welt finishing involves stitching the leather in between the edge of the sole and the turned-in edge of the upper. These stitching should be hidden within the leather and should not have any loose ends revealed.

* * Soles * * 

Soles are the foundation of mens dress shoes details. It is the easiest to wear out from walking.

A good investment for mens dress shoes would be having leather soles. One good point about leather soles is that it is definitely more formal and refined looking than rubber soles.

Leather soles are usually tanned to make it more lasting. The light tanned hue on the sole avoids possible cover-up of blemishes and scars.

It also avoids exposed stitching. The stitching along the soles should be well-hidden under the channels cut within the soles. These represents the quality required for mens dress shoes details.

The soles can be made into various layers, from single to three, and it all depends one's personal choice, or to fit the formal dressing.

Make sure these soles are shaped as closely as possible to the foot to assure comfort for the wearer. Dress shoes soles should never be glued to the shoe. We should expect stitching around this area. It allows possible changing of the soles when worn out but not for those with glued soles.

* * Heels * *

Another important aspect about mens dress shoes details is the heel. Leather comes into play again. The heels are actually layered with leather and nailed together with brass pins.

This creates a tight reinforcement for the leather layers to create a cushion effect as well as sustainable support around the heels.

Make sure the heels are not oversized as this disrupts the balance for the mens dress shoes and can make walking with such heels very uncomfortable. For added durability, some heels are further attached with brass tacks to the sole.

Top 10 Make Up Brands 2013

To look beautiful is the natural instinct of every individual. Human beings, particularly women, are inclined towards beautification of their beings and for this purpose they use different kinds of materials that could help them to remove dirt and keep their bodies as attractive as possible. Keeping in view this instinct of human beings, there are many companies which are producing cosmetic products and are highly popular in the international markets. These cosmetics brands produce a different and vast variety of products, such as perfumes, creams, lip liners and many more. Since there is abundance of such brands in the market, therefore an individual finds itself in trouble making a decision of selecting cosmetic brand. It is observed that these cosmetic brands do huge publicity in order to attract the customers towards their products. This article is an attempt to familiarize the people about the best cosmetic brands of the world. Following is the list of top 10 best cosmetic brands in 2013. This list is categorized on the base of popularity of these brands among the general public. The views of public have also been considered while making this list

10. Clinique

Clinique is one of the most widely used cosmetic brands of the world. Clinique holds the distinction to be regarded as the first ever cosmetic brand that is allergy tested. The products of Clinique are recommended by the dermatologists that further attracts a great number of customers towards this brand. Moreover, it is interesting to note that the products of Clinique are produced differently in different countries, depending on the local climate conditions and skin features of the inhabitants

9. MAC

MAC stands for make-up art cosmetics. It was founded by Frank Toscan and Frank Angelo. MAC produces a great collection of cosmetics products. It does not only address the needs of some particular class, rather the products of this brand are produced for different customers keeping in view the needs of all classes. MAC is world's 9th best cosmetics brand in 2013

8. Maybelline

Maybelline in another one of the best cosmetics brands of the world. The products of this brand are widely popular in all parts of the world. Women, particularly while getting ready for some parties, always prefer to use the cosmetic products of this brand. These products help them to look pretty and make them attractive in presence of different kinds of people.

7. Urban Decay

Urban Decay is an American based brand which was established in 1996. It is interesting to note that owing to its very useful products, Urban Decay has captured a large share of market in very short period of time. The most widely known products of this brand are Glide On Eye, Shadow Pencils and Naked collection which comprises of palettes.

6. Oriflame

Oriflame was founded in 1967 by two Swedish brothers and now it has become 6th best cosmetics brands in the world. The best feature of this famous brand is skin-care products. The cosmetic products of this brand are used in more than 60 countries and because of which it holds a larger share in international market. Despite of their professional endeavors, this brand has also associated it to various charity programs as well.

5. Cover Girl

Cover Girl is another American based cosmetics brand that is highly popular all over the world. It is interesting to note that Cover Girl invests a great amount of money on advertisement. The famous models such as Tyra Banks and Christie Brinkley are hired for the publicity purposes. The cosmetics products of this brand are used not only by general people but also by the famous celebrities.

4. Avon

Avon is another one of the best cosmetics brands in 2013. It holds the distinction to be regarded as the 2nd largest direct selling company of the world. Moreover, Avon is also the 5th largest beauty company which sells its products in more than 140 countries. The strategy door-to-door selling has paid Avon in great deal in enhancing the sales of its products.

3. Revlon

Revlon is one of the oldest beauty companies of the world which is largely known for manufacturing lips-stick and other make-up products. The skin care products of this brand further add to the popularity of it and customers put great trust in buying its products.

2. Etude

Etude is basically a South Korean based brand which has emerged on the scene in very short period of time. The products of this great cosmetics brand are mostly known for their affordability, reliability and trustworthiness. The huge and wide range of color collections attracts a great number of customers to buy the products of this highly famous brand.

1. L’Oreal Group

L’Oreal Group is another one of the best cosmetic brands in 2013. This brand started its business from manufacturing the hair color related products, but gradually expanded its horizon as the time passed. The cleansing and beauty products of L’Oreal Group are regarded as second to none. This cosmetic brand has more than 500 products related to perfumes, skin care, hair color, and many more. This brand of cosmetics is the best in the world and has been considered as one of the most popular brands in 2013.

The Best Clothing Accessories For Men

Most men hate shopping; at least for clothes. It is pure torture. So we have no resistance to someone making those episodes far and few in between. Your female counterpart, who loves to shop, has much frustration trying to get you to liven up your wardrobe. However, following one simple rule can give both of you satisfaction in the shopping arena. That rule is: less is more. It is widely known within fashion circles that the best way to revitalize a look is with accessories. A man's closet can benefit from those minuscule wonders as well as a woman's. Follow along as we work together to give your wardrobe a facelift.

The first step in deciding what to include with this makeover is who are you dressing for. If it is just for your personal satisfaction, it calls for one way. If you are trying to impress others, you may want to try something totally different. Right out of the gate, you want to spend some time reviewing your clothing inventory. It is not out of the way to take each item out of the closet and lay it on the bed or hang it on something to get a better picture of what you are working with. You may find that mixing tops and bottoms from different outfits create a look that is pleasing. Once that is done, you can go about choosing your accessories.

Start with your most popular dress style. If you are a casual kind of guy, then look for accessories that enhance that look. Something as small as a lapel pin on the collar of your shirt will make a huge impact. Men wearing ear rings is widely accepted now. Most designs don't blend with the skin tone. In order to stand out they contrast the gem and metal color. Likewise, a lapel pin with a bright stone or metal against a soft color will bring newness to any basic shirt. Another item is a tie. Yes, the tie is carving a strong presence in the casual world. There are ties that are made just for such wardrobes. In keeping with the leisure look, you don't want to cinch it up to your neck as you would with a suit. You want to let it hang just below second button. If you find it difficult to let it all hang loose like that with your ties, then consider investing an ascot. It is the grandfather of ties, but it easily lends itself to the casual scene. The best for you is that it can be worn close to the neck just how you like it. It is also worn as a scarf.

Speaking of scarves, the old air plane pilot style of draping a scarf over your shoulders with one hanging to the front on one side while the other hangs toward the back on the other side never went out of style. Though it is not seen much, it doesn't cause stares when it is seen. Don't forget about handkerchiefs. They are no longer reserved just for blowing your nose and then returned to your pocket. Believe it or not, some bold souls are using them as shoe laces in their hi tops and flats. With the gender boundaries being challenged and erased, it opening up new styling cues. A less daring but equally stylish move it letting corner of the handkerchief hang out of your pocket about four inches. Who knew that insignificant items like ties, lapel pins, scarves and handkerchiefs could do so much in the way of bringing life back into a drab dress code.

Tim Taylor specializes in writing articles in a style designed to help empower the general public in making wise choices when deciding how to spend their time and money. He works diligently to inform the masses of their options in every day matters.