As a teenager, I welcomed school uniform. White button down, navy blue dockers, a logo-clad navy sweater – my daily outfit choices were slim on weekdays, meaning there was one less thing to worry about when getting ready. Like most boys, I wasn’t too concerned with my appearance, so the navy trousers would make their way into my weekend and summers outfits, my t-shirts chosen only by the hilarity of the prints they bore. Fashion was always an after-thought.
In my first year of university, it was much of the same. I wore the unofficial uniform of the engineering student: a poorly fitting shirt, generally a bit too large, otherwise a bit too small, tucked into a pair of slim-fit jeans. My go-to sunglasses were the same bright-yellow pair I was handed by intoxicated members of the rowing association during intro week.
It took well into my second year of university for me to start to prioritise working on my sense of fashion.
I took inspiration from where I could and have developed some sense of style since then. I’ve been known to exhibit the occasional drip, but still, something was missing. I felt I was lacking the fundamental knowledge of a true fashion icon.
I needed to take my style to the next level.
My google search of “how to dress better” offered only magazines or wikiHow articles that were exclusively for women. Adding “…as a man” to the query soon led me to a multitude of listicles, but the issue was, and this is the most important thing when learning anything: I wasn’t having any fun.
To help me alleviate this throbbing listicle headache I asked a professional to help me out: Sandra Zdanowska. She works as a professional stylist and model and is running her own streetwear brand called Triple Two Society.
My training consisted of a multiple hour swag-search-session through the vintage stores of Brick Lane in East London. Upon suggesting to meet there, Sandra dropped her first nugget of wisdom: “I personally don’t rate the vintage shops here on Brick Lane – charity shops are way better and more authentic,” but as we were constrained with time, we met there anyways.
The most important thing to consider, Sandra tells me, is that you need to be comfortable and happy in your clothing. There is no point in wearing something that might look insane but makes you feel insecure and that you’re not able to wear with confidence.
In other words: The software on which your swag will run on is comfort. Comfort leads to confidence, which leads to swag. Without any confidence there is no swag. Think about that person that really wears the most fire fits. Think about how confidently they wore that fit and how you wished you could be them. You can be. But not without comfort and the confidence that it brings.
“I don’t really like to change people’s style completely,” she says, “unless it’s really, really bad. That‘s never happened with anyone I styled.”
So be aware of your insecurities and then work around them. Sometimes it’s possible to overcome them, Sandra says, but sometimes it isn’t – and that’s okay.
“I was styling this singer,” she says, “and she did not like this whole look with the short skirt and the like, thin heels. It turned out that she was not happy with how thick her thighs and legs looked.”
“Because I personally cannot change what’s in her mind,” Sandra continued, “we had to change the look to something she was comfortable with. In the end, we found some high boots that slimmed down her legs and she was happy with the look.”
Before we met, Sandra instructed me to create a mood board, so I scoured the world wide web for men whose drip blasted them into the swagosphere, and came up with the following:
It is mostly populated by drip-master Albert Muzquiz (@edgyalbert on Instagram) who consistently destroys on the swag spectrum with simple, yet incredibly stylish well-fitting outfits. Most other pictures are some of my favourite outfits I’ve worn in the past.
Style Sensei Sandra says the style I displayed on my mood board seemed to be best described as ‘Brad Pitt in his 20s’ and that I seem to like the kind of ‘old money rich boy’ look.
“It seems like you want to look fashionable,” she continued, “but you don’t want to stand out too much. I don’t know if that’s something you want to change?”
It was.
Up until now I had mostly been wearing muted colours and keeping my outfits on the safer side. I am now ready to leave my comfort zone and wear some clothes that stand out more.
When using mood boards, Sandra said: “I’ll style them in something their idol has worn and when they try it they already love it because it’s something they’ve seen in the past and they know it looks good.”
Sandra suggests making incremental adjustments to your already existing outfits, rather than making radical changes. “Before I got into fashion,” she says, “I was more into the blacks and the greys because I wasn’t 100 percent sure about the colours.”
“You kind of have to ease into the more colourful pieces,” she told me.
She had me try on several brighter colours, first with multiple different short-sleeved shirts and later these almost white, loose trousers, which I loved so much I immediately had to buy. I was also looking to get some linen trousers but none of the shops had any. Sandra’s recommendation here was to go to Vinted for any items that are super popular.
“I speak to the person I’m styling,” she tells me “and see what they’re comfortable with. Once I find that, then I go just a little bit out of that comfort zone, but not too much.”
Trends can be a nice way of trying out different looks that you may not be used to, but Style Sensei Sandra says it’s very important to not be following them blindly “I try to look a little bit different,” she tells me, “and not stick with the trends completely.”
She points at her red adidas indoor-football shoes, “I know that the trend is to have that slip shoe look,” she says, “but I don’t really want to be that person that wears gazelles and the sambas, so I wear these ones that are similar but not exactly the same.”
Following the summery trend right now, I got myself a pair of loafers, but to stick with Sandra’s advice, I made sure they looked just a bit different than the standard black ones.
Swag is not something you’re born with, it is a skill that can be learned. Internalise that, then make sure that you feel comfortable in the clothes you’re wearing, because comfort gives you confidence, which is key to having swag.
To help find your style, identify people whose outfits you like and collect them on a mood board. Once you’ve found your idols it’s best to start from a place of comfort and then changing your outfits only slightly bit by bit, rather than making drastic changes to your wardrobe that may not work out.
Trends can be a nice way to shake up your wardrobe, but make sure you give the trend your own twist to avoid the risk of being boring and wearing something you’re not comfortable with. Finally, having considered all these points, remember that rules are made to be broken and that you should be absurd and express yourself at any opportunity.
Sandra and I finished the day of vintage shopping with a bag each in our hands. Mine contained my new jacket and trousers and hers contained nothing – she wants to style the bag with different outfits in the future.
I felt like my eyes had been opened and I had reached a new level of dressing dope. After the shops had closed, Style Sensei Sandra and I spent a while sitting on the curb of a bustling Spitalfields pub, honing my newly learned skills by viciously critiquing the outfits of people passing by.
Pictures: Pius Bentgens
Designs: Pius Bentgens