During my years as a trend chaser, like many men with the help influence of the media, I allowed myself to believe that “expensive clothing” equated to being a well dressed man; therefore, as a result I ONLY purchased the “popular brands” at the time.  I remember vividly how I used to rather spend two times, three times, or even four times more for an item just to have the label even if the quality was the same.

The irony of it all was that the people I was trying to impress with my “expensive clothing” didn’t even identify (no compliments) with the brands that I was wearing, which means those splurges were in vain.  It wasn’t until I went broke that I realized that the price of the clothing did not automatically make it look better.  I know we can all attest to a time when we saw the most expensive items look like they came straight from The Santee Alley merely because the overall presentation was poorly executed.

The purpose of this post is not to criticize those with “expensive taste” because that would only make me a hypocrite, I simply just want men (people) to get out of the habit of buying things solely because of the price/label, and understand that you can achieve a great look without worrying about labels (refer to @sethbrundle, he has mastered this concept).

Which reminds me of the time when I purchased my GAP Chambray shirt last July during one of their infamous “buy 1 get 1 free” promotions.  The crazy thing about this was that I actually owned a RRL Chambray shirt (which I immediately returned) that was a spitting image of the shirts I purchased from GAP, however it is also four times more than the two shirts I bought together.  

The countdown begins now…EXACTLY one week from today my girlfriend and I will boarding a plane to New York for a much needed summer business vacation.  By this being my first official time visiting the “concrete jungle where dreams are made of” (a couple years ago I went to NJ and ended up in NY by accident…long-story short, I was only in NY long enough to get on the correct train), I am really looking forward to the trip!

Since my girlfriend lived there for a short period of time, she is well acquainted with the city and has been preparing me on what to expect of this trip.  ”You’re going to love the food! Artichoke pizza, oh and Cafeteria. And the shopping is amazing in SoHo, and all of the entertainment on Broadway…and everythings open late.”  One thing she has constantly emphasized on is the humidity of the weather during the summer “make sure you wear short sleeves”.

For the last few weeks I have been compiling MY essential pieces to have for the trip that would be comfortable enough to wear in the sticky weather while still achieving a great look.  Below is the style guide that I created of the essential pieces that I will be taking to New York and how they will be worn.

*click on image to enlarge*

-LD-

My name is Lorenzo Diggins.  Before we get started I want you to know that I am fairly new to the blogging world, so please bare with me.  This site is not an attempt to reinvent the wheel, nor would I consider it innovative, this is simply MY take on life and how it is translated through style.  For those of you who will be joining me on this journey,  WELCOME as I present to you The Essential Man.

For years I was a ¹ trend chaser until I began to realize that every time a trend would change, I had to change along with it; as a result I accumulated a lot of items that I no longer had the need/use/desire for.  After seasons of splurging on valueless items, I made a vow to myself that I was no longer going to spend waste money on things just to say “I have it” or as Dr. West would say “…you ain’t up on this”!  From that point on, I applied the common mantras “less is more” or “quality over quantity” to my lifeSTYLE and that was the birth of The Essential Man.  On this journey I will be navigating through the world of what I consider to be the essential pieces that every man should possess from garments, eyewear,  to even stationery.  WELCOME.

¹ Trend Chaser, someone who tries to “Keep up with the Joneses” and buy things even if they do not like them but does because of the name and/ or price; the sole motivation is acceptance.