For the 15th anniversary of Vogue.com noted fashion designer Tom Ford made a list of 15 things that every man should have, which are as follow:
- A sense of humour.
- A daily read of a newspaper.
- A sport that you love and are good at.
- Tweezers.
- A good cologne that becomes a signature.
- A well cut dark suit.
- A pair of classic black lace up shoes.
- A smart blazer.
- The perfect pair of dark denim jeans.
- Lots of crisp white cotton shirts.
- Always new socks and underwear, throw away the old ones every 6 months.
- A classic tuxedo.
- A beautiful day watch with a metal band.
- The perfect sunglasses.
- Perfect teeth. If you don’t have them, save up and get them fixed.
A pretty good list, though I would replace the newspaper with Circa, and I must confess I’m not sure sure what #4 the tweezers are for.
If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the sport you like and more important you’re good at? Just curious. 🙂
After Tom Ford’s tip #4 (“Don’t be pretentious[…]”), tip #5 is ironically “A man should never wear shorts in the city.”
Matt – the tweezers are a good idea. Get a nice pair of Rubis tweezers (Swiss of course) for next level male grooming.
Um. Tweezers for manscaping..unibrow?
Wait until your eyebrow hairs revolt, you’ll be happy to have #4 at the ready.
I’d agree with the tweezers against unibrow … or nose hair … or a misfortune after some wood work (some men are carpenters) 😉 … what’s the word? Splinters?!
Or if you know a (german) person who “has all the answers” / “a sharp tongue”
bc the idiom then is “has hair on the teeth” 🙂
Is there such a list for women too?
I should make one!
Except it will have absolutely no credibility since even though I am of the female persuasion, I used to wear pj’s to work (scrubs) so I might not be the best person. But I do love lists…..
The tweezers are likely primarily to prevent the unibrow situation, or other weird stray face hairs. Men aren’t expcted to have eyebrows that are groomed quite to the extent that many women groom them, but there is really no excuse for your eyebrows to amalgamate into the singular, or become so indistinct that they are merely general regions of above-eye hair.
Fine detail work often comes up, and not just self-grooming! Tweezers allow control to smaller scales, your hands can already cover the big stuff!
Re #4, some of us needed to wait until we got older and you have hair growing out of strange places like ears and the outside of our nose.
Re #11 I would say don’t throw out underwear & socks, donate them to Goodwill or a homeless shelter. The homeless are always in need of underwear & socks, most people don’t donate them.
Tweezers are also for pulling out little pieces of wood that get stuck in your skin when you work without gloves – can be as simple as manning the fireplace & stoking the fire.
Good thought on donating instead of throwing away. What happened to recycling?
I don’t think the metal band is a true requirement, leather is classy.
Hiking/Outdoor/Work Boots aswell. What would you do ‘manly’ outdoor chores in? Cutting wood, watering flowers, DIY; goodbye crisp black shoes!
How come a belt missed the list? That is one of the most important fashion stuff.
RE:#4 I would venture to say that nail clippers should be more important for a man to have than tweezers. Unkempt fingernails and poor cuticle care are much more noticeable and can easily cause even the most sophisticated man to appear unrefined.
Never pluck nose hair, always trim. You can get a hell of an infection from plucking nose hair.
Heh. Wait until you get a bit older, Matt. You’ll be glad for the tweezers when you’re 40.
I think the list is a little to clothing heavy. Of course Ford is a fashion pro so he’d lean that way, but… a watch with a (specifically) metal band? Everyone should have this? (That being said, I like the ones about good white shirts, and getting rid of old underwear.)
I suppose I’d better go learn a sport. (Does singing count? No? Darn.)
Also notable, Robert Heinlein’s version:
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
#1 is a must. Can’t take life so serious that you forget to joke and laugh!
I’m kind of annoyed that I have one of those fifteen things. Two, if you count the tweezers that are in my house as “mine”, even though they were not bought for me specifically.
Perfect teeth? On an already frivolous list, perfect teeth eat the cake. The list got off to a strong start but I think it ended with humor, too.
I would expand on #4 a man also needs a good toothbrush, dental floss, a razor, good shaving cream, fingernail clippers, toenail clippers, nose hair trimmers, and a small pair of scissors. If the man is not well kept, you can skip the blazer, the suit, and the tuxedo, because it would be like putting lipstick on a pig.
I’ve got #1, #2, and I’ll count #14-sunglasses, though mine won’t be as perfect as Ford’s. Three down, 12 to go.
I am definitely with Tom Ford on #9. I think dark jeans are under appreciated.
Watches–man jewelry and status marker! At a point in my 20’s when I worked and played hard (oil rigs, mountain biking for starters…) I was killing a watch a month and I just stopped wearing them. Once I got past the twitch of glancing at my wrist for the time, I never looked back. Now with devices and an acute sense of time, I’m not sure I’ll ever wear a watch again.