Tag Archives: Men’s Fashion

How Do My Military Boots Look?

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Harley Davidson boots may look very masculine and bulky, but they should only be worn by the 40-year old bald Americans in the Harley Davidson club.

Wellington boots or wellies or gumboots were a style statement in the early 19th century. Today, they are an essential for the rainy season worn by workers and travellers.

Brogue originated from the word brók meaning leg covering. Compared to other types of boots, these are still passable and won’t make the ladies hate you.

The Elvis Presley boots are a BIG no-no. Leather, eagle print, knee-high with a pointed front and heels are the biggest turn-offs for women.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How To Win Any Job!

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You will need some new clothes
Six out of every ten bosses admit that they won’t even listen to what you have to say because they think they can tell everything they need to know about you from your clothes. There is a way to play them at their own game, though – wear blue. A US study proved that men wearing something in this colour to interviews are instantly considered competent. Also, make sure your jacket makes your shoulders bigger. Scientists found that the bigger your top half looks, the more likely you are to get the job. Then do the following based on which industry you want to work in:

A New Suit..

The outfit: The Posh Businessman
Go for a double-breasted suit with a pale blue/white shirt, but don’t choose a tie until you’ve seen our scientific tie guide (right).

The outfit: The Arty Type
The hard part here is dressing up without outshining the scruffy bastard interviewing you. So wear a nice jacket (but not one taken off a suit as it won’t go) with a casual shirt or round-neck T-shirt. Then lie like a bastard about how brilliant you are.

The outfit: The Awesome All-Rounder
If you’d rather circumcise yourself with a chainsaw than work in an arty environment, this one’s for you. Buy a slim-fitting Italian-style suit from a retail store that tends to rip off insanely expensive designer versions. Then – top tip – pay a local darzi to tailor it closely to your body shape. It’ll come back looking like a bespoke suit you’ve paid thousands for.

 

 

Five Man-Books Every Bloke Should Ask For This Christmas

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Manly literature needn’t just mean Andy McNabb and Chris Ryan. So what are the criteria for good bloke-lit? Well, for starters, if you’d kill to go on the lash with the author, you should probably read his books. Here are five classics to get stuck into this Christmas…

(5) Ernest Hemingway – The First 49 Stories

Adventurer, boozer, war hero. Hemingway defined old-school, hairy-chested masculinity. Blessed with a seemingly indestructible liver, his passion for booze was matched only by his love of shooting things.

Oh, and he could write too. If you’re after a novel, The Old Man And The Sea is a classic and you can get through it in a couple of nights. But nothing tops this collection of his early short stories, which can be snacked on when you’re feeling hungry for some cigar-chomping, whiskey-slamming guy-lit.

(4) Hunter S. Thompson – Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas

Like Hemingway, you’d like to go on a night out Thompson, but you definitely wouldn’t leave him in charge of your goldfish for the weekend.

The gonzo pioneer’s explorations of American culture (and his own threshold of narcotic self-destruction) offer a brand of journalism that’s never been matched.

This classic follows fictionalised versions of Thompson and his attorney on a hallucinogenic ride to Las Vegas “in search of the American dream.” A ride that principally involved taking lots and lots of drugs.

(3) Jack Kerouac – On The Road

This was recently made into a film. Just how they managed that is a slight mystery – there’s not really a plot, and it’s basically just Kerouac and his buddies travelling, getting in trouble and going to parties.

Yet somehow it’s an engrossing and inspirational travelogue that should inspire you to quit the 9-5 drudgery for a life of jazz, booze, girls and poetry (and more booze). Or at least to roll into work 15 minutes late just to stick it to the man.

Oh, and if you wonder where all the full stops are, there aren’t many. This is basically because he wrote the whole thing in two weeks on one giant sheet of paper. We suspect some, erm, “chemical assistance” was involved.

(2) Mikhail Yurevich Lermontov – A Hero Of Our Time

Dip your toe into the ice-cold pool of Russian literature with this short, funny novel containing duals, horse theft, romance, deception and one of the greatest central characters ever created.

Lermontov’s Pechorin is handsome, arrogant, bored, and a total bastard. Which somehow won’t stop you rooting for him as he effortlessly outwits his pompous comrades and tricks women he doesn’t care about into loving him.

If there’s a “right way” to be an arsehole, this is the definitive handbook.

(1) Lee Child – One Shot

OK, so Lee Child may be a mass-market thriller writer who supports Villa, not a troubled genius who defined a generation. But his Jack Reacher novels are just about the most addictive page-turners currently on the shelves.

This one – our pick of the bunch – follows the hulking, homeless, ex-military cop Reacher as he roams from town to town. Like any great hero, he does this with the subtle mixture of Sherlock-esque deduction skills and brutal violence.

The movie adaptation, improbably starring Tom Cruise in the role of the six foot five, 250-pound hero, is sure to see Reacher gain recognition beyond his hardcore fanbase, so make sure you read the book before the creepy Scientologist ruins it for everyone.

- Dan Jude

 

 

 

 

 

The Golden Rules Of Colour

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Colour-blocking a no-no

Good style is all about looking like you’re not trying – as the saying goes, you should wear your clothes, they shouldn’t wear you. It’s important to appear natural and comfortable, whether in an interview or on a date. Colour blocking – wearing loads of one colour – screams, “I thought about this outfit for bloody ages,” which isn’t a good thing. Rather than donning colour like a uniform (see above), follow our simple rules and mix things up to pull off effortless cool.

Accessory matching

Always match your shoes and belt. You should definitely match when it comes to formal wear – black leather shoes with a black leather belt. Wear a brown belt with black shoes to work and you’ll be the laughing stock of your peers. Probably.

When should I match?

There are lots of matching myths – but how many of them actually stand up? FHM investigates…

Matching Myth #1
Red and green should never be seen Correct. See colour theory rule 4.

Matching Myth #2
Black and blue will never do
This one’s debatable. Get your tones right and you can make it work, but it’s
a tough one. Not to be attempted by colour novices.

Matching Myth #3
Black and brown will make you frown There’s no hard and fast rule, but if you’re wearing a suit, stick to black shoes to
be safe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make The Perfect Pasta

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Stuffed Pasta (Ravioli, Cannelloni, etc.)
1 Requires a gentler boil than plain pasta
2 On the other hand, frozen stuffed pasta should be placed from the freezer directly into the boiling water as it requires 1 to 2 minutes longer to cook.

Lasagne*
1 Defrost in the refrigerator overnight.
2 Bake at 350˚F for 15-20 minutes (400 gram) or 25-30 minutes (1 kg) until it’s heated throughout and the top is golden brown.
3 Let it stand for 5-7 minutes to set the cheese and provide for easier cutting and serving.
(*Wide, flat pasta)

Sauces
1 For best results, place the sauce in a small saucepan at low heat and stir occasionally until the sauce is warm.
2 Do not let the sauce boil for too long as it may alter the flavour of the ingredients, especially those sauces that contain fresh herbs (like pesto).
3 Always finish off the pasta with fresh herbs.

Simple Cappellini* Capresse
1 Heat a pan and add half a cup of Tuscan Italian dressing.
2 Add 3 tablespoon of chopped onion followed by half a tablespoon of chopped garlic and stir for a minute.
3 Now add halves of cherry tomatoes and stir.
4 Add the strained Cappellini and toss and pour it in a serving dish.
5 Sprinkle chiffonade of fresh basil and a generous amount of shredded mozzarella and serve hot.
(*The thinnest type of long pasta)

Penne* Tuscana with wilted Spinach
1 Heat olive oil, garlic cloves and rosemary in a large deep skillet, stirring occasionally, over medium heat, until the garlic is golden brown on all sides. Remove the pan from heat.
2 In another pan, stir mushrooms in olive oil until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Add pasta and red onion to skillet. Cook and stir 3 to 4 minutes.
3 Add the spinach and parsley and cook while stirring until the spinach is wilted. Remove from heat.
4 Add butter, pine nuts, cheese and the golden garlic. Toss gently to combine.
(*Cylinder-shaped pasta)

Tips to cook
Add salt to the boiling water as it gives flavour to the pasta and helps to create a well-seasoned dish.
Cook the pasta to an al-dente stage, which is tender, but still having a slight bite to it. Overcooking will cause the pasta to go limp and mushy.
Fresh pasta cooks very quickly, so start checking it as soon as the pasta begins to rise to the surface of the water.
When making sauces and pastas that call for butter, replace it with olive oil.
When making cream sauce and cheese sauce, use skim or low-fat milk instead of cream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FHM 6-Pack Challenge Week 4: Slip Ups, Sore Throats And Salad

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I am now officially at the half way point in my quest to go from dough-bellied degenerate to 6-packed gym-bunny.

For 28 days, I’ve been training every day and living on the diet of an anorexic caveman. Has it been as hard – physically and mentally – as I’d feared? In short, yes.

Getting out of bed at 630am every morning to put your body and mind through hell is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.

And yet, it’s also totally brilliant. I feel more energetic than ever before, I’ve already lost over half a stone, and I look about five years younger.

Most surprising of all, I find myself oddly addicted to training, in a kind of sado-masochistic way. I know it will be torture, and yet I can’t stay away. In fact, I don’t even want to stay away.

Here’s five things I’ve discovered about training (and myself) over the last fortnight:

(1) It gets easier (sort of)

Let me explain: the weights get heavier, and the sessions longer. So in that regard, it definitely doesn’t get easier the more you workout.

Yet as I’ve started to approach healthy leves of fitness, it becomes hard in a different way. Yes, it’s physically exhausting and often painful, but it doesn’t hurt in the same way it used to. It feels like a good pain now. Or at least a less pathetic pain.

(2) It’s not just about ‘show muscles’

Go to your local gym and you’ll find 80% of men wearing vests and doing bicep curls in the mirror.

Well, they’re wrong. While it’s important to spend some time on what are known as the ‘show muscles’ (chest, biceps, stomach), the real weightloss comes from using bigger muscle groups that really get your heart-rate going.

This means lots of leg-work. Which means squats, lunges and sledding. These are, without question, the most horrific parts of the routine. Relentless, exhausting, never-ending. But they bloody work.

(3) There’s no room for slip-ups

Last weekend I was a very naughty boy. For the first (and only) time since my programme started, I had a drink. Or more precisely, A LOT of drinks.

Not only did it give me a hangover 4,000% worse than when drinking every other day was the norm, it also stunted my weightloss, making week three my slowest week of progress so far.

The lesson: if you want to lose weight fast, do not drink. At all.

(4) Exercise makes you vain

As a chubby funster, I would avoid mirrors wherever possible.

But as you see the weight fall off and muscles begin to sprout up in places you didn’t even know muscles could grow, you find yourself becoming unsettlingly narcissistic.

(5) (Too much) exercise makes you ill

Two weeks ago I got a cold. The cold went. Then it came back. Then it went. Then it came back again. It’s still here. It doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

I have ulcers on my throat. Ulcers on my tongue. Regular headaches.

Basically, if you go from never exercising to exercising every day, your body freaks out, and doesn’t know what to do with itself.

I’m told this will pass in time…

- Dan Jude