Being well dressed does pay off!

I have this reputation of being a sharp dresser and until recently I hadn't given it much thought. Call me boastful or a prude but that is the truth and most of you readers who haven't met me in person might think the same. Both my parents are reasonably good dressers and perhaps I imbibed my dress sense from them. Perhaps it was the fact that I was involved in the fashion industry back home in India in my teens. But what really inspires me to put effort into my dressing is the fact that it makes me feel good about myself. It brings on more confidence and I feel I can take on the world (apart from dressing it's thinking of my fiancé that does that too).

What prompted me to post this article on my blog was the fact that a lot of people (while complimenting me on my dress sense) have always remarked that Indians aren't the best of dressers and I for one resent that. I know a lot of Indians who've got very good taste in clothes and accessories. Of course there are a few people who need a makeover desperately but for the most part I think it isn’t that they don't know how to dress, they're just fixed on an era that was theirs and got stuck to the clothes at the time.

Here are a couple of tips for guys who work in the office and outside either in sales or business development.

Invest in three good suits. They don't have to be designer suits just well cut suits in solid colors or thin pin stripes if you're on the heavier side of the weighing scale. Since we're approaching summer go for one solid cream or beige suit. Your accompanying shits with this one could be a crisp white, pink or light blue. Your second pick should be a blue suit; not dark blue, not navy blue, just plain blue. For shirts you could use plain or pastel colors or even stripes but if they're formal shirts the stripes should be in one single dark color. And no loud ties with these shirts just plain solid or striped ones will do just fine. Leave checkered shirts for weekends and outings with your fashionably challenged friends.

While you'll wear these two suits to everyday meetings with clients, the third one should be a dark grey or black one that you will reserve for your meetings with high level officials or when you attend a big event. You could also wear this one to formal events and dinner parties. Make sure you wear a crisp white shirt if it's a formal event and the ties for these night time soirees should be in solid and dark colors.

What about accessories you might ask? Timepieces are very important and are very representative of who you are so leave all your Casio Digitals in your drawer at home and stick to analogues. Ideally you should have one dress watch either a steel or leather strap while the other can be for those casual meetings or evening coffee-shop appointments with friends.

Shoes should always be well polished and you could try carrying one of those little shoe-sponges in your car's glove compartment for those times you're forced to park in a sand-patch and walk to a modern building for about 100 yards before getting to your appointment. Remember your belt always matches your shoes so if you're wearing black crocodile leather shoes make sure you're wearing a black belt and so on and so forth.

Speaking of shoes another big faux pas I've seen guys make is wear white socks on suits or formal trousers. Let's face it dudes, break-dancing doesn't pay a lot unless you're insanely talented so make sure your socks either match the color of your trousers or are a shade darker. Pointy white shoes are for Cuban drug lords, Lou Bega and Jitender so they're definitely out of style unless you really want to make a point (pun intended).

I think I have done my part here so I'll leave it at that. For those of you who have these kind of clothes in your wardrobe, good for you. For those of you who don't, I think it's time you went shopping. And to those of you who think I'm being an ass and don't want to take my suggestions.......just get a subscription to GQ! ;-)