The Art of Manliness - #241： Easy Ways to Upgrade Your Style With Aaron Marino

00:00:00.000 Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the art of manliness podcast so many of you

00:00:19.380 have probably seen today's guest on YouTube his name is Aaron Marino and he's made a name for

00:00:24.220 himself as a men's style expert with his often zany videos geared towards helping men look and

00:00:29.980 feel their best and also he's got this under his belt he's a two-time contestant on Shark Tank

00:00:35.820 anyways today on the show Aaron and I discuss how an early business setback in the fitness industry

00:00:41.240 led him to creating an online empire in the realm of men's style and then we get into the nitty-gritty

00:00:46.660 of men's style by discussing the common style mistakes that men make and easy and cheap fixes

00:00:52.320 that will help you look like a million bucks this podcast is filled with actionable stats you can

00:00:57.140 start implementing today to look more stylish and to make a better impression wherever you go

00:01:01.120 so after the show's over check out the show notes at aom.is slash marino that's m-a-r-i-n-o

00:01:08.000 for links to resources where you can delve deeper into this topic

00:01:11.400 all right Aaron Marino welcome to the show you've got an interesting career you are a style consultant

00:01:21.840 own some grooming products you are a popular youtube men's lifestyle guy I mean you have like

00:01:27.580 1.75 million youtube subscribers uh two-time shark tank contestant um so I'm questions like what's

00:01:35.380 your story how did you get to this point where you were creating these you know sometimes zany videos

00:01:40.080 on youtube showing guys how to look and feel better about themselves zany is a good word Brett yeah 1.00

00:01:46.140 uh well it see it all sort of started when I was when I was young um you know there are sort of a

00:01:52.740 few different facets to my life that I really can identify as pivotal moments in how I got to where

00:01:59.520 I am one of which is I grew up fairly poor we didn't have a lot of money and this is you know the time

00:02:05.580 of your life where you're really focused and and fixated on fitting in and so one of the things that

00:02:11.880 I learned to do very early on was stretch a dollar all my clothes came from a thrift store and so it

00:02:18.880 forced me to get very creative with shopping and style and looking outside of the box and so this

00:02:26.920 was something that sort of I still to this day really enjoy doing is going to thrift stores and

00:02:31.880 looking around even though financially I can afford you know not to go to thrift stores it's still

00:02:37.180 sort of in my dna um combine that with my love of fitness which sort of started at the age of I

00:02:44.520 would say 13 um I had uh two stepfathers that weren't exactly the greatest uh but my mother was

00:02:52.760 incredibly supportive and and one of the gifts that she gave me is the thing the gift that I feel

00:02:58.840 changed my life more than anything which was a fitness membership no matter how bad my home life was

00:03:05.980 or how upset I was at home when I went to that gym I felt incredible I felt like a king and it's where

00:03:13.680 I really felt like my confidence was was was developed and for those listeners out there that that exercise

00:03:20.040 and take care of themselves physically you know how dramatically it impacts everything else in your

00:03:26.220 life when you feel good about yourself that's really ultimately what what what pushes you forward in

00:03:32.680 in in many different ways in many different areas of your life and so at the age of 13 I knew what I

00:03:38.560 wanted to do for the rest of my life which was own a fitness center and so everything I did up into up

00:03:44.160 through graduating college was geared towards owning a fitness center it was the only dream I had

00:03:50.820 from the age of 13 um my senior project when I was at West Virginia University was I started a

00:03:57.680 fitness center and you know I was so excited I moved to Atlanta I I knew that I didn't want to stay in

00:04:03.760 Philadelphia all my friends were selling cars and and I knew that I was I was destined for fitness

00:04:09.300 greatness and so I moved to Atlanta I met a guy I was working at the time as a personal trainer at a

00:04:16.920 fitness center at a Bally's I met a guy he said hey I want to open a nutrition store I got a guy who's

00:04:22.100 willing to give me forty thousand dollars are you in I said absolutely it wasn't a fitness center but

00:04:27.520 it was a business and I really feel that at the at my core I'm an entrepreneur I love business and so

00:04:33.700 it was my first opportunity and uh went there it was great we expanded to two locations within the year

00:04:40.720 but um we ultimately or I ultimately decided that it wasn't something I wanted to stay with long term

00:04:47.120 because the gentleman that I was I was in business with was actually selling drugs out of the back

00:04:51.900 and um I I knew that I'd be popular in prison but I would not thrive in prison and so I decided to

00:04:59.780 leave and that was a very difficult decision um and I ultimately ended up going back to personal

00:05:06.960 training at a fitness center well during the time that I was at the nutrition store I met a woman and

00:05:12.460 helped her lose a hundred pounds um she came to me one day when I was at the fitness center and said hey 0.85

00:05:19.500 I didn't tell you this but I actually got certified as a personal trainer sort of behind your back

00:05:24.600 and I want to open a fitness center the woman was older she was established she was a technical writer 1.00

00:05:29.960 named Linda and she now had this new found passion and wanted to help other people like I helped her and so 0.60

00:05:39.360 um we signed the lease to our location to open a personal training studio on September 11th as in the

00:05:46.760 September 11th and that should have been an omen as to how our business was going to unfold but we um we

00:05:54.720 we tried making making it work we we thought we were going to expand and and create this this line of

00:06:01.280 fitness centers for parents and children and and all sorts of great things we raised money there were all

00:06:07.200 sorts of legal issues between one of our business partners and my partner Linda and um ultimately we

00:06:13.780 ended up having to shut down the business but something interesting happened when we were there

00:06:19.020 I met a guy who was one of my clients who was getting ready for a date and he's like hey I don't

00:06:24.640 know what to wear what what should I do and I said well why don't I just come over to your place and

00:06:29.560 we'll take a look at what you have see what you need go shopping by the way your nose hairs are crazy 1.00

00:06:34.600 we got to take care of that and a week later his co-worker called me and said hey I love what you

00:06:40.860 did with Steve can you take my husband shopping I said absolutely it was a lot of fun and then she

00:06:45.960 asked me that that that question where it was sort of that light bulb moment she said well how much do

00:06:50.380 you charge and it's like wait a second maybe there's a market for this at the time my fitness center was

00:06:56.220 exploding I had to file bankruptcy I didn't have a plan b though um as an entrepreneur and as as sort of

00:07:04.940 just the way that I am I never have a plan b I'm so focused on plan a that I never stopped to think

00:07:12.580 well what if this doesn't work out that it's never an option for me and so at the time that I had to

00:07:18.320 file bankruptcy I I was um driving a beer cart on weekends just so that I could eat and uh put put gas

00:07:25.500 in my car uh but that was the point at which I had to decide okay what's next and I had done a few of

00:07:33.500 these little mini makeovers on these people and I thought you know maybe there's a market this was

00:07:38.620 back in 2006 and so I did a little bit of looking online and really found that there were zero

00:07:44.100 resources for regular average guys like me my dad my friends just to get basic solid style advice

00:07:51.860 and so sure there was GQ magazine and Esquire but this wasn't my reality and this wasn't the reality of

00:07:58.260 most of the guys I knew and so I decided to start an image consulting business and cater exclusively to

00:08:04.620 regular guys um 2008 got a video camera long story shorter um the rest is kind of history

00:08:12.880 right you created the I am it's I am alpha m yeah the youtube channel is uh alpha m alpha m yeah and

00:08:18.640 the website is I am alpha m.com so yeah so you you've basically taken this the style of consulting

00:08:23.880 and you brought it online to millions of of men across the country and across the world

00:08:29.320 um so let's talk about style um so I think it's something that just it boggles the mind of a lot

00:08:35.360 of average guys they're just like I don't know what to wear or like what things go together um so let's

00:08:40.760 start big picture first what's your overall approach or philosophy to style in terms of style you really

00:08:47.020 just need to find what works for you and when I say what works it's sort of it sounds so simple

00:08:52.740 but it's what what you feel good and what makes you feel sexy um and I know that you know what

00:08:59.060 what do you hear most regular guys hear the term sexy it's like well wait a second that's for women 1.00

00:09:03.940 well it is but you can still feel great about yourself um you know you'd never want to push

00:09:09.980 your boundaries too far to where you feel uncomfortable but when you get dressed you should

00:09:14.640 dress with purpose and everything you put on you should feel great wearing it should fit you

00:09:20.720 flawlessly as flawlessly as you know you can find or as you can have tailored without being overly

00:09:27.920 tight but you really need to feel comfortable and own what you're wearing gotcha and so I mean like

00:09:32.720 that reason is an interesting question the guys sort of that rejection or that knee-jerk reaction is like

00:09:37.540 I don't want to why should I care like why should I care how I look right yeah so why should men

00:09:41.680 care about how they look because it has never been more competitive

00:09:45.740 out there in terms of professional professionally it's never been more competitive personally

00:09:52.500 relationships if your competition is paying attention you can't afford not to and it doesn't

00:09:59.380 take that long to pay attention to the clothing that you're wearing just making sure that it fits you

00:10:05.300 well that it's not worn out that it doesn't have stains that it's iron that it's pressed it's about

00:10:10.940 personal packaging you know everything has a brand and we as as individuals we have a brand

00:10:17.300 and your image your style that's sort of letting the world know who you are and how you feel about

00:10:23.720 yourself and if you're presenting a confident successful package then the world is going to see

00:10:29.880 that and as a result you're going to be rewarded both professionally and and personally all right

00:10:35.580 so you've you're kind of your bread and butter these makeovers you've um done you know you do that

00:10:40.160 one-on-one with people but you also do these makeovers where you film them where you take just

00:10:43.540 regular dudes and i've watched these yeah they're like they're regular dudes like they're guys who

00:10:47.840 just they're working it jobs they just they look like a normal joe and then you do these makeovers um

00:10:54.560 can you share a story or two of some of the men you've worked with on how upgrading their personal

00:10:58.820 style just just totally transformed and improved all facets of their life you know it really boils down to

00:11:04.660 confidence and that's the big takeaway it's i've worked with so many hundreds thousands of guys

00:11:13.040 they're all pretty much doing the same thing wrong um and they they don't really have a firm grasp on what

00:11:21.520 works for them what doesn't work for them but it is amazing to see the transformation in their eyes and in

00:11:27.580 their confidence in their body language when all of a sudden at the end of a makeover you turn them around

00:11:33.120 you let them see themselves in the mirror and they finally for the first time feel incredible about

00:11:38.780 themselves and the way that they actually are projecting and presenting themselves um in terms of

00:11:45.020 one or two there's so many it's it's men when you feel better about yourself when you like the person you

00:11:53.120 see looking back at yourself in the mirror everything gets better you're you're you're you're a better boss

00:11:59.000 you're a better husband you're a better father you are friendlier you make eye contact more you engage

00:12:04.920 more but it all boils down to feeling good about yourself and so i joke with people that it's actually

00:12:09.880 confidence that we're changing from the outside in but sometimes if that's all it takes then that you

00:12:16.620 know go with what works but um i don't know if that answers your question no yeah what i love about

00:12:22.740 it because like i used to be like when i was in college and i'd have a lot of free time i'd watch with

00:12:26.940 my wife what not to wear yeah on tlc and i was like i enjoy it i mean it's primarily women but

00:12:31.800 for some reason i enjoyed it because it was always great to see the story like see how these people's

00:12:35.420 lives got better once they did that final makeover i was like man i wish there's something like this

00:12:39.020 for dudes and lo and behold there you go you've got it i mean that's the thing it's just like that yeah

00:12:43.560 i think what's happening is you're revealing like they also they talk about what not to wear like

00:12:47.160 you're revealing like the actual self like your best you that's inside of you whenever you start

00:12:51.480 dressing the way you should i love that i think i'm gonna steal that was that that was that clinton

00:12:55.900 stacy i think it was clinton stacy it was clinton stacy that you should steal it i don't think i

00:13:00.380 don't have a trademark on it so okay you mentioned uh with these makeovers you've seen um sort of the

00:13:05.940 same mistakes that guys make um you mentioned that uh it's just like not knowing what works for them

00:13:11.060 but what are some of the other more common style or personal presentation mistakes you see men make

00:13:16.280 a lot of men pretty much when i work with somebody there there are a few things that right away you

00:13:22.340 can change that make a dramatic difference in the way that you actually look and that is wearing

00:13:28.600 clothes that fit you better now everybody hears that and it's like oh well of course i'm going to

00:13:32.540 wear clothes that fit yeah guys are a little bit hesitant they hear fitted and they think tight

00:13:39.600 if you simply go from a regular fit shirt that is cut square like a box and you put somebody in

00:13:47.200 something that is a little bit more tailored or tapered or contoured to the body all of a sudden

00:13:52.140 they look three inches taller and 20 pounds lighter the same thing goes for pants regular rise

00:13:58.980 regular width pants are something that you can modify that automatically make somebody look taller

00:14:06.280 their chest wider their shoulders broader they look incredible by simply changing the cut of the shirt

00:14:13.420 and the pants that they're wearing and this goes for their their business casual clothing this goes

00:14:19.240 for their casual clothing jeans shorts shirts t-shirts everything you can modify and enhance

00:14:27.500 somebody's look immediately right i love that because i think a lot of guys you're right they either they

00:14:32.000 just they don't know they can modify their clothing i think okay i buy on buy it off the rack that's how i

00:14:36.640 gotta take it that's how it's presented to me i gotta wear it like that um but they also don't uh

00:14:42.420 where's i gonna go is they don't realize that uh you can change these things absolutely and that's

00:14:47.300 the other thing is is you've got guys that have a wardrobe a lot of professional successful men

00:14:53.680 i go into their wardrobe and they've got you know thousands of dollars worth of incredible clothes but

00:14:59.380 all they need to do instead of throwing out everything is take the key items that you love

00:15:04.720 and have them modified or altered take the shirts to the tailor they'll put a few darts in it

00:15:09.640 they'll contour it a little bit better and all of a sudden you've got an amazing new wardrobe that fits

00:15:14.460 you flawlessly um they can do that with pants they can do that with pretty much anything right and i 0.86

00:15:19.980 think a lot of too a lot of men prefer the baggier stuff because they feel like it's hiding you know

00:15:25.420 maybe that the belly they might have but actually just accentuates it in a weird way absolutely no a lot of

00:15:33.020 men confuse comfort with roomy and they also think that by wearing larger clothes it's going to make

00:15:40.400 them look smaller when in reality it does the polar opposite it makes them look heavier it makes them

00:15:46.700 look sloppy and dumpy when all they need to do is wear clothes that are tailored a bit more to their

00:15:52.580 body and that's the other thing brett is that shirts guys that have a belly or that are you know

00:15:57.940 have a little bit of extra you know going on they think that they need to wear bigger in order to

00:16:04.240 camouflage and hide and they are still they still should be wearing tailored clothing and wearing

00:16:11.680 clothes that are that are fitted as opposed to just just regular and uh big and baggy right and so

00:16:17.740 it just goes to my next question like easy upgrade this is an incredibly easy upgrade all you

00:16:21.320 gotta do is just take your shirts find a tailor there's tons of them probably in your city

00:16:25.020 dry cleaners i mean dry cleaners your mother i mean there are a lot of people your wife i mean

00:16:30.640 if somebody knows how to use a sewing machine you can pretty much modify a shirt right at the sides

00:16:36.640 and nobody can tell uh but yeah i mean find somebody that can do it now on some of the more complex

00:16:42.460 garments pants jackets those are ones that you're probably not going to just take to your dry cleaner

00:16:48.780 who who says yeah i can do that but a straight hem on a pan if you want to make that pan a little

00:16:54.620 bit shorter you know no problem but the more complex i would try and look for somebody who is

00:17:00.160 a little bit more of a tailor or well or more well versed in the art of clothing construction right

00:17:06.880 and it's not very expensive either i mean you're like five ten bucks that's it that's it and and the

00:17:12.780 look oh my goodness brett i'm telling you it's like it brings tears to my eye when i see these guys

00:17:17.880 and i'll not like really but it's so incredible just simple little modifications like having your

00:17:24.240 shirt tailored makes all the difference in the world in the way that somebody looks right so yeah

00:17:29.220 i buy most of my dress shirts from jc pennies like the stafford oxford shirt but like the thing i do is

00:17:33.980 i go find a tailor right away and have them tailor and it just a million times better i mean it looks

00:17:38.740 like a like a custom shirt you spent you know 100 200 on even though it's a 36 jc penny shirt

00:17:44.360 that's it and and i i say this time and time again you give me somebody give me a 20 shirt and

00:17:51.500 have it tailored that fits somebody incredibly versus somebody who spent 200 on a shirt the guy

00:17:57.080 who spent 20 looks better 90 100 of the time as opposed to somebody who's wearing something that

00:18:03.540 is ill-fitting right so that's an easy style upgrade what's another upgrade that guys can make

00:18:08.220 that have you know an immediate high roi jeans invest in a great pair of jeans dark wash denim

00:18:15.640 it doesn't get any better than that and it's probably the most versatile pair of pants that you own

00:18:20.520 you can dress them up you can dress them down you can throw a sport coat and a button-down shirt on

00:18:25.500 a sweater vest but you can throw on a simple plain pocket tee and look incredible a pair of boots

00:18:32.500 oh my goodness it's perfect it you're it it's like james dean and um it it's uh it's such a simple

00:18:40.060 simple thing but yeah finding a great pair of jeans that is super high roi right yeah i i love i got a

00:18:47.240 great pair of jeans there where it's dark denim yeah you're right i wear it all the time t-shirts

00:18:50.540 picking up the kids with boots what about the boots too right yeah you gotta do it but then you can

00:18:56.280 wear like i've gone to you know a nice steakhouse uh when i've you know entertained clients here i just

00:19:02.040 throw on a white shirt and a sport coat and i look fantastic exactly incredibly versatile timeless

00:19:07.620 it's always going to be in style and that's the other thing brett is that you know you really need

00:19:12.920 to invest in clothing that is going to be stylish now as well as in five years from now talk about roi

00:19:20.300 i see guys that buy trendy items or things that are very just now and i i think to myself oh my

00:19:27.900 goodness that's just money wasted because next year you're not going to be able to wear that and so

00:19:33.140 a key takeaway to the listeners out there is invest in timeless styles don't go crazy with nuts

00:19:41.200 patterns stick to the basics build your wardrobe from there that should be your foundation now if you

00:19:47.080 want to experiment step a little bit outside of your box and invest in a few other things and go with

00:19:52.300 some of the more trendy items that's fine do that but just know that it's probably going to be out of

00:19:57.820 style in a year and so invest in the in the classics and you'll never go wrong well i think that raises

00:20:03.620 a great point because i think a lot of guys particularly are leery of style because i think

00:20:07.700 oh geez it's gonna be so expensive i have to buy stuff all the time but you don't if you just buy a

00:20:12.900 few good pieces it's gonna last you three four five sometimes 10 years and so like that you know

00:20:18.200 two hundred dollar you know shirt around i wouldn't spend time that you know four hundred dollar suit

00:20:22.780 you bought that looks great i mean by the time you know five years later it's been like pennies a day

00:20:28.020 like that cost per use that no absolutely and that's that's one of the the ways that i justify

00:20:33.620 purchases um like a leather jacket you know i had this this i i went to buy a new leather jacket two

00:20:40.740 years ago and it was a little bit more expensive than my budget and when i really sat down and did the

00:20:46.840 math i can wear this jacket because it's a it's just a brown you know motorcycle inspired jacket

00:20:53.560 small little collar it's nothing outlandish or crazy with a lot of zippers or anything

00:20:58.000 i can wear it now almost every day throughout the winter spring and fall i can wear it for 10 years

00:21:05.960 it's gonna look better in 10 years because it's broken in when you break it down to a per cost wear

00:21:12.620 it's it's it's pennies as opposed to that one item that one jacket that you buy that you only wear six

00:21:19.180 times that even it may be you know a third of the cost but it's much more expensive when you actually

00:21:25.540 calculate and do the math that way all right so aaron we've talked about some of the wardrobe

00:21:30.660 essentials i think a guy's guy could have a pair of dark washed jeans is one of them any other wardrobe

00:21:36.140 essentials like sort of build the foundation of a of a man's wardrobe sure i think that um investing in

00:21:42.740 a great pair of brown slip-on loafers is is a great option something that is dressy that you can wear

00:21:50.480 with jeans but you also could wear with um with the suit a great pair of boots you know boots are one

00:21:56.320 of those things that that make a guy feel good when you put on a great pair of boots you just stand a

00:22:02.480 little bit taller it gives you a little bit of height i'm a short guy and so every inch absolutely

00:22:07.900 helps um you know some other things is a great navy suit you know nothing with peak lapels just your

00:22:14.200 standard notched lapel navy suit you can wear it to weddings you can wear it to funerals you can wear

00:22:20.300 it to interviews you can wear it to business meetings um your tailored white dress shirt another

00:22:25.080 staple um i also would say hey if you're going to get a white dress shirt get a a a light blue dress

00:22:31.640 shirt as well it's a little bit more color it's a little bit more playful but it's still professional

00:22:36.800 and you can wear it with a pair of jeans by itself roll those sleeves up you look great um and i would

00:22:44.400 say a leather jacket i am a big fan of leather jackets just kind of they're sort of the the perfect

00:22:50.100 counterbalance to a great pair of boots where they just make you feel good when you're wearing it and

00:22:55.660 and women find it attractive and so that's a bonus as well find a track steve mcqueen there it is 0.52

00:23:01.320 so here's a question we've had people on the podcast and we've written a lot about sort of

00:23:04.920 formal style like i think you know this people got that down like okay i need a suit that fits well

00:23:10.480 i dress shirt that that fits well it's iron or whatever but like i think the thing a lot of guys

00:23:16.660 have trouble with is like how to look good in a casual setting whether it's at the office because

00:23:21.820 like there's so many like your options just explode for casual wear right with with a suit like it's just

00:23:27.540 like you wear a suit and dress shirt and a tie that's you know that's it you know i mean many

00:23:31.280 choices so how can a man dress sharp in a casual setting when they have so many choices to to choose

00:23:37.640 from you know it it does boil down to you know make sure that the pants that you're wearing fit you

00:23:43.420 know all pleated cat all khaki pants were not created equal it really boils down to you selecting

00:23:49.660 better fitting better styled items i would say that invest in a few great pairs of chinos um you know

00:23:57.280 one of one of my favorite pairs of pants is a gray pair of chinos they're incredibly versatile you can

00:24:03.480 dress it up with a button down or throw on a great you know lightweight v-neck sweater or crew neck

00:24:10.420 sweater um wear wear some a sport coat with it wear with a pair of loafers or a pair of boots it's

00:24:16.880 incredibly versatile um you know pay attention to the details layer sweater vests are i i still think

00:24:24.700 sweater vests are really cool um and it's a great way to just add another level of of depth and

00:24:31.140 dimension to an outfit um you know a lot of guys are just doing the basic slacks with a button down

00:24:36.860 shirt that's it throw a sweater vest on top of it or if you want to a lightweight v-neck sweater is a

00:24:42.900 great option um just to like i said add that next level of dimension to an outfit but then pay

00:24:50.020 attention to the details the belt the socks the shoes your watch all these little details that

00:24:57.860 make a big difference when you collectively put them together um you know and and it really is going

00:25:04.380 to determine be determined by the corporate culture that you're you're immersed in and what is

00:25:09.880 acceptable and what's not um if you're wearing say polo shirts if polo shirts are acceptable for

00:25:15.560 business casual you can put away those peaked cotton polo shirts and invest in something that

00:25:21.580 has a little bit nicer fabric maybe a a nice microfiber um you know banana republic ministry

00:25:27.800 of supply there are a lot of great polos that are a little bit dressier they're going to hold their

00:25:31.780 shape a little bit better than some of the standard quote-unquote polo shirts or or cotton polos you're

00:25:37.940 going to get at old navy or the gap gotcha so um that's that's an interesting question we can go

00:25:42.640 they're like are there places or stores that are your go-tos that you can go there and you'll always

00:25:47.620 find something that will look great yeah absolutely um you know as as men we don't have

00:25:55.240 the the the quantity and the options that that are our female counterparts do you know when you go 1.00

00:26:02.440 into a shoe store like a dsw look at the men's section look at the woman's section the men get like

00:26:08.080 a row the women get 37 rows right um for men they're really only a few options in terms of

00:26:15.380 stylish clothes um and and from the casual department you're looking at you know the gap

00:26:21.120 j crew you know banana republic that's sort of the the the you know more expensive version of the gap

00:26:28.480 but you know that if you're going to these places that the clothing is going to be stylish

00:26:32.880 and it's not going to be too over the top or outlandish um some of the boutique stores and

00:26:39.060 some department stores will have sections that are a little bit outside of the the box but i know

00:26:44.680 that if i'm looking for a great outfit that's going to be nice quality the fabric's going to be good and

00:26:50.020 the fit is going to be more on the tailored side as opposed to the bigger baggier side i like the

00:26:56.180 banana republic um but the downside to banana republic is it is a little bit pricey

00:27:01.780 uh compared to sort of it's you know more casual counterpart the gap but i am a big fan of the

00:27:09.100 gap for casual clothes um but department stores you mentioned jc penny earlier great option macy's

00:27:16.320 incredible there are a lot of department stores that i absolutely love because you can find different

00:27:23.440 styles and different price points within one store and so macy's is probably my one go-to store

00:27:30.960 just because it does have different levels and you can find something for everybody

00:27:35.380 gotcha so no aero postale

00:27:36.780 not at this age sir

00:27:39.680 not at this okay all right all right

00:27:41.460 yeah that abercrombie there are a lot of the general rule of thumb is when you walk in

00:27:47.080 if everybody there could be your child then probably are in the wrong store for your demographic

00:27:52.980 right yeah one that i forgot about i was for some reason i remembered it was american eagle

00:27:57.480 remember american eagle yeah american see and here's the thing american eagle is

00:28:02.160 is still like you can find some some good stuff even that would be age appropriate for guys in in

00:28:09.180 their late 20s 30s 40s um you know as long as you don't have big logos you can find some some decent

00:28:16.800 standards and um that actually american eagle has some good good prices on just regular denim and you

00:28:23.960 can find items but you have to know what you're looking gotta know what you're looking for all

00:28:27.480 right so let's uh talk style for like uh specific body types you mentioned you're a shorter guy 0.93

00:28:32.020 um any advice on sharp dressing for for shorter men out there absolutely you need to make sure that you

00:28:38.880 are wearing clothes i mean fit is even more important on a short guy than than anyone else just because

00:28:45.780 it does make such a difference um the mid-rise pant is going to be much better than a standard rise

00:28:52.760 um just because you want to accentuate and elongate your legs and another way that you do that is make

00:28:58.980 sure that the leg the pant leg isn't too wide um shoes you want shoes that have a little bit more of

00:29:05.800 an elongated toe box as opposed to something that is a little bit rounder and bulky sort of like you

00:29:12.020 think doc martens all right um shoes also have a visual can give the visual illusion of somebody being a

00:29:20.740 little bit taller than they are um shirts also fitted um monochromatic is good um for short guys

00:29:28.760 you know there you really can't go wrong with with you know vertical stripes you don't want patterns

00:29:34.940 that are too big just because it's going to make you look this proportionally small if your pattern is

00:29:43.240 really big stick with tighter patterns like small checks you know small window pane there there

00:29:48.040 definitely some smaller tighter patterns that you should be gravitating towards gotcha and like i've

00:29:53.620 i've seen this in action guys i've seen aaron in person didn't even really notice the height issue

00:29:58.380 like he was super confident looked great and it was awesome yeah and that's the thing and that's one of

00:30:04.380 the i get asked a lot about being short and about height and and a lot of guys are super self-conscious

00:30:11.580 oh yeah i mean like they they treat it like it's this like devastating handicap and um there's a good

00:30:18.860 friend of mine brock who owns a a men's style blog called the modest man he caters exclusively to men

00:30:26.220 of modest height or under five foot eight and i was on a podcast with him and and tanner guzzy who

00:30:32.740 is another great podcaster who and a vlogger that does masculine style and uh brock said that um

00:30:40.600 tanner was asking us about being short in style and uh brock said well aaron nobody's told him that

00:30:46.860 he's short yet and it it it made me laugh but it was a very incredible compliment honestly because

00:30:54.440 you know being short is just it's it's like having brown hair it's like having brown eyes are you going

00:30:59.440 to miss out on opportunities of course is it because of your your short well if you're trying to date a

00:31:04.880 six foot two amazon you know it could potentially you know affect that but men need to really just 0.97

00:31:12.380 focus on they're all the amazing things that they are as opposed to what they're not they're not six

00:31:19.660 feet tall it's okay you just need to basically be as confident as you possibly can dress to look tall

00:31:25.680 and just don't let that be an excuse right well so uh on the flip side um another thing that a lot

00:31:32.580 are self-conscious about is their weight so you know guys who are larger um style tips for them

00:31:38.380 yeah dark clothes monochromatic looks um you know it depending on what's larger some guys will have

00:31:45.560 and most most typically are going to have a larger midsection and so what i would recommend in order to

00:31:52.280 balance i would go dark on the top and then a little bit lighter color on on the bottom uh the dark

00:31:58.700 is going to make you look smaller the the lighter like a light tan a light gray is going to make your 0.94

00:32:04.180 your lower half appear a little bit larger but it's going to offset the the upper body um you know

00:32:11.740 once again not super big bold colors not super big bold patterns you want to make sure that it's it's

00:32:18.280 subtle and subdued um you know fit once again is going to be is going to be king if you are wearing

00:32:25.760 big baggy pants and you're a bigger dude you're going to look bigger heavier shorter and dumpier

00:32:31.520 than you actually are so it does boil down to fit as well but dark colors clothing that's fitted small

00:32:38.140 patterns okay great advice there so let's move away from clothes let's talk about grooming because this

00:32:43.480 is something um you've done a lot of content about and in fact you own two men's grooming companies you

00:32:49.200 have pete and pedro the the hair product company and then uh what's the new the name of your new

00:32:52.900 skincare product yeah it's uh it's called tige hanley tige hanley yeah well let's talk about

00:32:57.580 grooming so i mean where do most men skimp on their grooming routine that they should be spending more

00:33:03.660 time on you know it's funny right because well groomed is so all over the board what well groomed

00:33:10.280 means to me is not what it means to my father um you know but but the one thing that a lot of guys

00:33:16.680 don't pay attention to is is the is is neck hair and chest hair coming out of their shirt um and i'm

00:33:24.920 not saying that you should remove your chest hair i'm not saying that you should you know remove your

00:33:29.880 back hair if that's your thing but you know make sure that you take a little bit of the length down

00:33:35.980 if it is curling outside of your shirt um another thing is is ear hair and nose hair it blows my mind

00:33:42.620 that with all of the all of the jokes all of the the information that is out there um that guy still

00:33:50.000 it's like hey if i don't see it looking directly in the mirror then it's not there um and if i had a

00:33:56.580 dollar for every for every guy who had super long ear hair i would uh i would be a rich man those are

00:34:03.100 those are two areas ear and nose hair that that guys really kind of skimp on and um eyebrows are another

00:34:10.080 thing you don't need to shape them like a woman but as we age the hair on our eyebrows starts to get

00:34:16.760 exponentially longer and so just trimming them up um when you go in to get a haircut if you are going

00:34:23.000 to a a good barber or a good stylist they should take a look around and help you out and trim those

00:34:29.600 those crazy strays as well right i can attest to the nose hair in your hair thing it's like i've

00:34:35.980 suddenly like it's in my consciousness now my wife because i remember like i've checked that i

00:34:40.140 never had a problem because i was younger but now i'm in my mid-30s like they're starting to peek out

00:34:44.360 like a grandpa it's absolutely insane my wife's like you need to get an ear and nose trimmer and so 1.00

00:34:50.380 like i've had to buy one on amazon and yeah it makes the world of difference absolutely yeah um

00:34:57.500 and on the chest hair man i like the tom sellick look i no no no tom no i'm saying no here's the thing

00:35:03.900 you're no chest hair is fantastic it's amazing it's just when it peeks out of a crew neck shirt

00:35:12.600 and it moves out that's what i'm talking about um no chest hair go for it all right everybody who's

00:35:19.560 listening to this i think absolutely you've got the audience brett guys that come to me a lot of

00:35:25.820 them are are uh are younger guys that are still trying to be abercrombie models i've given up on that

00:35:33.140 exactly i'm done i think another thing that a lot of guys skimp on is uh nails oh yeah yeah feet

00:35:40.880 feet especially feet oh my goodness yes if i oh lord there is nothing that is more repulsive than

00:35:48.540 looking down at a guy wearing flip-flops or sandals and the nails are incredibly overgrown

00:35:55.220 or discolored i mean you need to take care of those feet i'm not saying to go get a pedicure

00:36:00.220 but pay attention when you trim your fingernails trim your toenails and i'll tell you too like

00:36:05.640 women don't like to have a man claw foot scrape them in the middle of the night and when i got 1.00

00:36:12.380 married my wife is like good night like she's like you scratched me with your hideous big toenail 1.00

00:36:17.880 so i was like okay i gotta pay attention to this stuff now um any other places i mean like skincare i

00:36:23.800 think that's a lot of like guys i don't even like don't really think about that but you got the

00:36:27.120 skincare product but i mean why should guys care about their skin yeah because it once again it

00:36:34.000 boils down to wanting to age gracefully and there's nothing wrong with wanting to look good there's

00:36:40.340 nothing wrong with wanting to age well um you know the sun is incredibly hard on our skin um it's why

00:36:47.460 i wear sunglasses outside it's why i put an spf moisturizer um you know i've had loved ones that

00:36:53.900 have had skin cancer you need to take care of your skin um you know drink plenty of water it's it goes

00:37:00.400 beyond just applying eye cream it's just about using a moisturizer cleaning your face you know once or

00:37:08.060 twice a day to remove those that that dead skin exfoliate um the the the grime the grit you want to 0.99

00:37:15.220 make sure that you're bringing that new fresh healthy skin up to the surface and reducing the amount of

00:37:21.460 blackheads and blemishes due to excess oil and all the nastiness that builds up it's just about you 1.00

00:37:28.300 know looking good and feeling great and so um i don't know if that answers the question like the

00:37:34.180 thing is you don't have to be fastidious about this right i think a lot of guys feel like they avoid it

00:37:38.380 because they're like oh it's just like i gotta be like girly about this but you don't have to

00:37:42.060 no absolutely not there are many products out there that that have a nice masculine odor scent

00:37:47.780 they're grooming companies and that sell skincare exclusively for men um and it's something where i

00:37:54.940 think our grandfathers might not have done it but i think using just a daily moisturizer is becoming a

00:38:00.840 bit more it's becoming a bit more mainstream and um you know it's it's it's definitely something that

00:38:08.140 a lot of a lot more men are are being more conscious and diligent about you didn't honor all right so uh

00:38:13.900 let's let's shift gears we talked about personal presentation as far as grooming and style um i'd

00:38:19.680 like to get your insights in this because you i think have some really great insights you are a

00:38:23.200 two-time shark tank contestant and this is one of the most intense pitches a person can ever make

00:38:29.900 you're in front of it doesn't get any worse you're in front of mark cuban you're in front of uh

00:38:34.620 what's his name mr wonderful you know damon williams what i'll be named with damon sean what i'll

00:38:39.940 whatever and then like close close yeah i got it i messed up he's gonna if he listens to it he's

00:38:44.760 gonna bamboozle me but um he doesn't listen to it i know that um but then like it's on front of a

00:38:50.240 million you know millions of people watching on this on tv so super intense how do you prepare

00:38:55.240 for a pitch like that oh man you i but i joke with people by the time i actually walk out of those

00:39:03.020 doors and the one thing that shark tank is such a great show people think that there are cuts and takes

00:39:09.520 there's not if you screw up you screw up they leave it in and you keep going there is no cutting

00:39:16.040 when you actually go out there and pitch the other issue is that you're out there for much longer than

00:39:21.820 you see um the second time i was out there for an hour and a half and they cut it to like 12 minutes

00:39:27.260 but i joke with people that by the time i go out there i've been in that room 6 000 times and it

00:39:35.220 really comes down to for me i'm a big fan of visualization and practice um i could i could

00:39:42.640 recite my pitch in my sleep backwards in latin i practiced and practiced and what i would actually do

00:39:50.940 is um i would try and get myself nervous when i would practice i would get myself so amped up and

00:39:58.420 just put myself in there as as as much as i could that i would sort of try to simulate or duplicate

00:40:06.920 the anxiety that would come along with actually doing that um you know the one thing that i i

00:40:12.940 wanted to make sure is that i could just recite it that it was almost like the alphabet i didn't have

00:40:16.640 to think about it because i knew that i was going to be dealing with a lot of other things um funny

00:40:21.560 story the first time i go out and i'm getting ready and when you when you go out there to pitch to make

00:40:27.300 get even more just intense when you walk out there's a little x on that oriental carpet and 0.98

00:40:34.320 they say okay you're going to walk out and you're going to stand there and then you're going to stare

00:40:38.260 down the sharks for 30 seconds in complete silence and so everybody is out there and you go out and

00:40:45.160 you stand there and you're just looking at these people nobody's talking and then all of a sudden you

00:40:50.740 hear a voice come over the you know loudspeaker says and pitch and you go right into it but the first

00:40:56.960 time i was on there i'm standing there getting ready to pitch i'm super nervous butterflies are

00:41:01.300 crazy all of a sudden barbara looks over to robert and says oh my gosh look at his ears 0.84

00:41:06.420 and so all of a sudden this woman is making fun of my ears because they are a bit spock-like

00:41:12.780 and uh i'm thinking to myself you gotta be kidding me i'm about to pitch for my life and you're making

00:41:18.380 fun of my ears awesome but uh but yeah so just practice practice practice practice practice

00:41:24.540 practice and know your stuff for the questions that's the other thing that blows my mind about

00:41:29.620 shark tank people come out there and that you know what questions they're going to ask brett you've

00:41:33.540 never been on but you know what questions i know exactly what they're going to ask every single time

00:41:38.200 what's the revenue for a month you know what's profit what's this and like there's people just

00:41:42.520 like i don't know exactly know your numbers shark tank 101 so yeah so any pitch uh practice practice

00:41:51.360 practice visualize visualize and then uh just know your stuff know your numbers everything inside and

00:41:57.320 out well hey aaron this has been a great conversation um and i i love i wish we could

00:42:03.500 continue there's a lot more we could dig into but where can people find out more about your work

00:42:07.240 yeah um my website iamalpham.com is where all my videos are or you can just search in youtube

00:42:13.840 alpha m m as in mail and find more than you more than you wanted to um i i talk about pretty much

00:42:22.160 anything nothing's off limits and um i just have a lot of fun and uh yeah youtube is is probably where

00:42:29.400 i'd be most proud of people people went check me out there that's awesome and he does get into

00:42:33.580 everything there's some questions that you wouldn't you would be surprised he'd be he will

00:42:38.300 address it in his youtube video but but i do it as diplomatically right you do a good job and you

00:42:44.820 keep it fun thank you thank you i'm i'm like blue cheese at first you might not like me but if you

00:42:50.320 watch a few more i may grow on you a bit so well aaron marino thank you so much for your time it's been

00:42:55.920 a pleasure brett mckay absolutely and thank you my guest today was aaron marino he is a men's style

00:43:01.680 consultant style expert and owner of several businesses you can check out his amazing style

00:43:06.640 content at iamalpham.com or just go to youtube and google i am out or search i am alpha m you'll find

00:43:12.820 his stuff also check out the show notes at aom.is slash marino for links to resources where you can

00:43:18.100 delve deeper into this topic well that wraps up another edition of the art of manliness podcast

00:43:32.780 for more manly tips and advice make sure to check out the art of manliness website at

00:43:36.060 artofmanliness.com our show is edited by creative audio lab here in tulsa oklahoma if you have any

00:43:41.460 audio editing needs or production needs they're the place to go you can find out more information

00:43:45.940 about them at creativeaudiolab.com as always i appreciate your community support and until

00:43:50.640 next time this is brett mckay telling you to stay manly

The Art of Manliness - October 09, 2016

#241： Easy Ways to Upgrade Your Style With Aaron Marino

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