M. Evan Wolkenstein

This post follows my recent feature in Lifehacker’s “Ask an Expert” series. It serves as a deeper dive into some of the great questions that readers submitted. An eye for style involves a zillion tiny calculations, many of which are subconscious. You have a “feeling” about what will work, and what won’t. But good news! Like every other skill set, when you’re new to it, you’re in a great place because the learning curve is steep! Even a small effort can net you big results. Yo

For those not in the know, just take my word for it; It’s weird and sweet and evocative and sort of grody and, well, forever. Sort of like life. Yesterday, Gabi and I got engaged. She looked beautiful. I was wearing a fantastic suit. There was a lot of crying and laughing and a guest appearance by local San Francisco celebrity weather pattern, Karl The Fog. This engagement was a long time coming. Gabi and I built our bridge towards each other step by step, over a span (no pun

Before David Letterman, there was THE Letterman. My own history with varsity style involves a lot of very un-varsity moments. I would eventually experience great disappointment in discovering that the only part of this movie that applied to my freshman year at college was the nerdiness. First, when I was a little kid, there was varsity-superhero Letter Man, a favorite regular on the PBS show, Electric Company. His sport: ripping the letter from his sweater and applying it to

Today, if a man wears a suit and the sleeves end inches from the wrist, if the pants reveal three inches of shin – if he wears a bow tie and clunky shoes – he’s a disciple of designer Thom Browne. The cropped suit, the checkers, the bow-ties: the look has swept the fashion world from haute couture to suburban mall to First Lady Michelle Obama. 30 years ago, if a man wore a suit and the sleeves end inches from the wrist, if the pants revealed three inches of shin – if he wore 

You just got home from a long day at work and can’t wait to get out of your office clothes. Tie = oppressive. You’re going to a flea market to buy a semi-functional pinball machine. Tie = impractical. You’re going to a swimming pool. Tie = out of place. You’re going to a toddler’s birthday party. Tie = death by strangling. You could throw on a t-shirt, but why do that if you can wear a great polo? If you’d had to wear something this starchy and hot to do something athletic, y