This blog post is made for everyone who wants to look classy and stylish AND save some money while doing so. As you might already know, we at Classy Men Collection are all about affordable fashion. Saving money is always a smart choice, and that's why we are here to give you a bunch of useful tips for looking classy on a budget.
Being stylish and classy on a budget is possible
Being stylish is not just for rich people. No, you can't spend the same amount of money on your style as rich people can. No, you can't buy everything that's "hyped" at the moment. Yes, you can still look sharp and put together.
The best bet for looking stylish on a budget is to go with a classic style. It's all about collecting versatile, affordable and easily combined pieces, that fit you well and are timeless. You don't need designer clothes to be stylish or to look classy, and you definitely don't have to have all your clothes from the latest season's collections.
Focus on the basics
If you're on a budget, forget about short-term trends and focus on the classics. The good thing about a classy style is that it's timeless and will not change with the seasons. Suits, dress shirts, and accessories are all a big part of a classy style, and they will never go out of style.
Buying wisely and taking care of your garments are important when creating a wardrobe while saving money. When you're on a budget, avoid buying anything in bright colors since you might get bored of the color quickly and the trendy colors tend to change with seasons. Neutral colors, on the other hand, are timeless, easy to combine, and always on style.
Create a good core wardrobe
The core items are crucially important when creating an affordable and stylish wardrobe. They are the main pieces that you should invest in. The core wardrobe should at least consist of one well-fitting suit, a couple of dress shirts, a pair of trousers or chinos for business casual looks, a pair of classic jeans, a couple of t-shirts, a sweater and a jacket. The pieces of the core wardrobe should vary depending on where you live. If you live in a country with cold winters, it must include a good winter jacket, but if you live in a year-round warm place, then you can leave it out.
An example of what a good core wardrobe should include - pieces that are versatile, timeless, and of classic colors.
Some core pieces, like a good suit and a winter jacket, can cost quite a bit. Before you go and buy an expensive piece, make sure that the color and style is classic enough to be worn for years. You want all of your core pieces to match each other to make creating good-looking outfits as easy as possible. The color of your core pieces should be neutral and classic.
Take good care of your garments
There's nothing wrong with buying affordable clothes and accessories. Matter of fact, most affordable garments will stay good for years if taken care of properly. You can't expect clothes to stay as good as new if you treat them poorly, i.e. wash them in too high temperatures.
Keep things you own in good condition is the best way to save money. Think of it as a good investment. Once you've exchanged your money for something, you want to be able to enjoy it for as long as possible. Would you rather pay 20€ for a shirt that you can wear for a year, or for five years? Yeah, that's why you should take care of everything you own.
Fold your clothes after wearing them or use a hanger, don't leave them lying wrinkly on the floor. Wash only when necessary as washing tends to wear them out. Read care labels well before washing or ironing. When wearing fashion jewelry, avoid contact with water, sweat, and chemicals (if possible) to give them a longer life.
Wearing a dress shirt is always a great choice
When it comes to men's style, one thing is for sure; you can't go wrong with a dress shirt. Wearing a dress shirt is always a great choice since it makes you look good, classy and stylish with very little effort. Dress shirts are extremely versatile as you can wear one with a pair of jeans, chinos or dress pants, depending on how casual or formal you aim to look. You can wear one anywhere and on any occasion, to work, to school, to a party. As a plus, most women consider men wearing dress shirts hot, so wearing one is an easy way to impress a special someone.
If you don't own any dress shirts, just by purchasing two or three will get you started. You can find great, quality dress shirts at an affordable price with a little search. Start with a couple of versatile basics, a casual and a more formal one, and later you can extend your collection if you want. Most dress shirts are made of cotton, polyester or a blend of those two. They are both great choices, you just have to figure out which material suits you best.
We added a couple of good dress shirt options below for both casual and formal looks. The dress shirts are from our own collection, created with the desire to combine classy designs and high-quality materials while keeping the pricing as affordable as possible. To ensure that the dress shirts are available for all, we offer free worldwide shipping on all orders.
Casual dress shirts
Casual dress shirts are great for everyday wear. They can be worn with jeans, chinos or trousers and they don't need a jacket or a blazer. For a casual look, an oxford shirt or a patterned shirt with a chest pocket is an excellent choice.
Formal dress shirts
Formal dress shirts are designed to be worn with a suit or a blazer. They are great for all formal events that require you to look neat and dapper. For a formal look, try choosing a simple, neutral-colored dress shirt.
White and blue are good, classic dress shirt colors that look great combined with most suits, pants, and blazers. They are excellent colors for both casual and formal looks.
Whatever you're wearing, carry it right
The way you carry yourself is the key to looking good. A man that carries his 50€ outfit well looks a hundred times better than a man that carries his 5000€ outfit poorly. That's why focusing on your posture, confidence and carrying yourself right is extremely important. What makes it even better for people who want to save money, is that it is totally free!
People who are jealous of someone's style and fashionable clothes, often envy what the wearer represents instead of the clothes they wear. It might be hard to realize but it's true. The wearer can be a model, someone you met at a party or someone you saw on a photo. If you see a photo of, say a gentleman wearing a tailored suit and looking dapper as ever, you might think "oh what a suit, I wish I had one just like that". However, gentlemen generally portray confidence, class, manners, good social standing and wealth, and while you think you want the suit, you really might want all the qualities that the gentleman itself represents.
All of this is excellent news for people who want to look good on a budget since manners, confidence and all the other qualities can be learned and not bought. There are a lot of guides on the internet to help you get started. If you want to learn how to be a gentleman, we recommend you to read our guide How To Be A Gentleman - Easy Guide For Good Manners. It's a great read!
Style your core basics with accessories
Men have worn accessories throughout the ages. Watches, suit accessories and precious metal bracelets and necklaces have always been a symbol of style and wealth. Today, men's accessories are more popular than ever, and the trend seems to be growing even further. As nowadays jewelry doesn't have to be made of precious metals, and the watches don't have to cost a fortune, being stylish and wearing accessories is easily accessible to everyone.
Fashion accessories have taken a steady spot in trendy men's daily wardrobe, as you can easily notice by reading blogs or looking at Instagram's fashion accounts. When you have created your core wardrobe, a set of accessories is the only thing that you need to make your style unique. As with the core basics, when you're on a budget you should stick with neutral and classic colors.
Make sure that you have at least a well-fitting pair of sunglasses, a classic belt, a convenient wallet, a couple of bracelets, suit accessories (a tie, a pocket square, cufflinks, and a tie clip) and a simple watch. When you get comfortable with using accessories and feel like they are a part of your personal style, you can introduce rings and hats to your wardrobe as well.
An example of a classic, must-have set of accessories that every classy man should own. All the accessories above are affordable and can be found in our collection. Click here to shop.
There's a massive difference between an outfit without any accessories, and an outfit accessorized well. Even though the trend is huge, there are still a lot of men who don't wear accessories. That's why just by wearing accessories you immediately bounce into the most fashionable percentage of men.
Bracelets are the number one accessory
If you don't wear bracelets, now is the right time to start. If we must name just one must-have accessory for men, it would definitely be a bracelet. The popularity of bracelets has exploded during recent years, making them the number one accessory for any man who wants to look stylish. Bracelets fit well in a classy style, and with the amount of variety out there is, you can definitely find the perfect bracelets for your taste. You can start off by picking a couple of bracelets that you can mix and match. Beaded bracelets are perfect to begin with since you can wear them individually or as a stack.
Buy everything in easily combined colors
This has been said before but it can't be overemphasized: buy everything in colors that are easy to combine. As you have a limited amount of money to spend, you obviously want to benefit as much as possible of the items you buy and you want to be able to use them for as long as possible. When you're shopping, keep in mind that each and every piece of clothing you purchase should fit as many outfits as possible.
Let's say that purple was the trendiest color this season and at the moment every celebrity and fashion blogger would wear purple on a daily basis. You go to a store, find a perfectly fitting pair of pants and notice that they have it in purple. A great find, you think and picture yourself fitting in with all the trendy people. You buy the pants, wear them for the season and bam, the next season purple is out and a new color is in instead. You have to buy new pants because you feel like you can't wear purple anymore since everyone has moved to the next hot color. That's quite a short lifespan for newly bought pants.
No matter how hot and popular a certain color is at the moment, you should always think further. Bright colors are usually stylish only seasonally, but classic colors, like black, white, gray and navy blue, are always in style. If you had chosen a classic and timeless color instead of purple in the first place, the pants you bought would be in style forever and you'd be getting the best bang for your buck.
Stop comparing yourself to others
Last but not least, stop comparing yourself to others, it's a waste of time and energy. Other people might be wearing high-end brands and spending a lot of money on expensive trends, but you don't have to. You must remember that you have no idea what's going on in other peoples lives. They might be rich, but they might also be middle-class people who are addicted to shopping and end up buying everything on credit because they really can't afford all the expensive clothes they wear.
Thank you for reading this blog post. We hope it gave you good tips for being classy and stylish on a budget. If you'd like to read more articles like this, there's a couple of suggestions below.
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