Foosball

There is something called making your store interactive to offer more than just products to people who walk in. Jack & Jones has gone a step above from playing catchy music to make shoppers linger on longer at their store. This time their inspiration comes from one of time's best American sitcoms - Friends. The brand's stores now have Foosball tables for shoppers to have a good time with friends, while shopping. Here's a toast to more lifestyle sports, on and off the field.

Peek-a-boo

Going sock-less is a summer regular. Come warmer days and men all over Europe begin to leave their socks at home. And why shouldn't they! It's a nice bright sunny day, with barely any clouds in the sky, you've switched to your tees and shorts so don't shy to show your ankles off. The idea here is to play the childhood peek-a-boo game. Roll up your khakis and allow your ankles peek a little from under them. Slip on a pair of colorful espadrilles, boat shoes, loafers or car shoes and watch all eyes admire this new style of yours. Ah, here's the catch: your feet will need loads of extra care this summer. But who said fashion was painless!

Summer Must-Haves

Just as the weather begins to warm up, here are five things that will spunk up your wardrobe this season.

1.       Scarves: Summer is here and this year it brought with it an explosion of scarves. If you look around, you will not miss the scarves, practically in every colour and every brand. This season, go over the top and wild with your colour imaginations. But what you definitely should keep in mind while buying summer scarves is to look for breathable summer fabrics – cotton, linen. Double wrap them loosely around your neck and use it as an option to add some colour tones to your summer outfit.

2.       Coloured pants: Spring and summer are always the seasons to trade in your denims for lighter chinos. While the colours mostly remained the subtle dark blue, khaki and white, this year you have many more options. What used to be seen as ‘office-wear’ pants, now has its new avatar as your daily wear – be it casual or dress up. Try colours like lime green, sky blue and maybe even baby pink.  A good idea might be to roll up the bottom a bit and let your ankles peek out.

        Espadrilles: Team your rolled up summer pants with a pair of Espadrilles. What used to be shoes for the peasants has today become popular spring/summer footwear.  With jute inners and cotton or canvas tops, they feel as comfortable as walking on a rug. The best ones are made by local artisans in the South of France and in Spain and walking into a store that sells one might make it difficult for you to choose your pair. However, the plus point is they are as cheap as 15 euro and so you can buy more than just one.

4.     

            Shoppers: Manbags have been around for a while now and made its mark as an essential accessory for men. Now is the time for an evolution and this is the season to welcome the shoppers. Large and spacey, while a nice canvas shopper is great for a beach day, leather shoppers are not only practical but highly fashionable with your daywear, especially if you are in a habit of carrying a lot of stuff with you.

5.       Shorts: It goes without saying that shorts are must-haves for your summer wardrobe but what you need is a range of shorts for different occasions. Every needed to look a little dressed up, yet not wear dress pants? Try throwing on a pair of tennis shorts, a shirt and leather loafers. Want to stroll down to the beach, you need a pair of beach boxers and flip-flops.

Case Logic

Okay, you might just argue that you're the tech savvy man who wouldn't be caught dead with a laptop in this new age 'tablet' world. But, let's go back and think this over once again. While, the tablet is definitely a must have for every modern man, let's be true that the laptop is still what you carry to work and probably will until the tablet evolves a few more generations. Now, though the geeks out there at Apple, Compaq, Sony and what-have-you might definitely know how to make you the perfect laptop, let's leave the bags to the Shahani sisters. With their new Lord K collection, Karishma and Mahek Shahani are definitely on a mission to ensure that those oh-so-outdated, door-to-door salesman laptop bags soon become a thing of the past. Here's a huge applause to them for their latest collection of Lord K.

Burberry 2011

Colours may not really be a winter thing, but Burberry thinks otherwise. This British brand is back in the game, with their menswear Autumn/Winter 2011 collection indicating that they are definitely here to stay. Even if you miss their trademark checks, you will still want every piece of that collection. And if nothing else, the bags and accessories will definitely not fail. So when you watch the show, pay extra attention to the manbags.  

Watch the Burberry Prorsum Menswear Autumn/Winter 2011 show

Lanvin for H&M

So H&M does it once again! You will never know how this fast-fashion, value-for-money brand manages to get the best designers of the World create collections for them, but you will continue to look out for these surprises.
The Lanvin for H&M collection has the pizazz and sexiness of Lanvin, coupled with the fun and affordability of H&M. If you were smart enough, you would have queued up at the nearest H&M store to grab these limited edition pieces. But if you didn't make it on the opening day, go try your luck immediately. These are definitely pieces that you must have in your wardrobe. It's all about differentiating yourself from the crowd!

The Perfect Fit

There is something called following the hip-hop style and wearing loose fitting clothes, but that definitely is not synonymous with wearing ill fitting clothes. Nothing is more disgusting than seeing a man who has his shirt shoulders half way down his elbows, his trousers long enough to sweep the streets he walks by and with a fork so loose that it could store a doubly extra large package. Being well dressed on the whole also includes wearing clothes that are of the right size, clothes that fit you well, clothes that look like they were stitched for your, though they necessarily need not be made to order.
In India, there is a reason why children are dressed in ill fitting clothes. Blame it on our Indian mothers who were born and brought up to think 10 years ahead of time. Walk into any mall, department store, the movies, restaurants etc and look around you. Children will mostly be dressed in sweaters that are two sizes too big, dresses that ideally should be knee length but are ankle length, shirt sleeves folded up three times, so that the hands don’t get hidden behind cloth and trousers that can last till the boy is twice his size. Courtesy, “Beta, take a size larger, chotta ho jayega” or “ek baar dhone se shrink ho jayega, ek size bara lelo.” So through his childhood, the Indian kid is forever wearing clothes that will be worn irrespective of how much he grows, because his mother has made a wise investment, not wanting her child to run out of clothes ever. I sometimes wonder if they even realise that the multi-print shirt that is in vogue today may not be so fashionable a few years from now, or if it ever struck them that there will always be clothes to buy, irrespective of whether there is a war on in some part of the world or if the American market is going through its biggest recession.
Okay, hypothetically let’s forget and forgive the rotund, curtain cloth wearing mothers who believe in squeezing out every inch of the toothpaste tube and using oil till the last drop is out from the bottle. But what is highly unforgivable is when you see a well turned out bride, looking all bright and well made up on the best day of her life standing next to a man dressed in a sack. God, did he get his suit tailored hoping that he will gain weight? Or was he going to gift this suit to his soon to be pregnant wife as maternity overalls? I recently came across Mr. Baggy Pants, a classic example of the problem of oversized clothes. While shopping with him I learnt that Mr. Baggy Pants insists on wearing denims that are two sizes too large on the waist. Now this can be a serious issue and I am just hoping that no strong gush of wind takes his denims away, considering they don’t hold on to him tight enough. But what makes me wonder is what is so large in there that he needs denims that are two sizes big. Or is it that he is a strong follower of the thought that you should give your gun a large space to relax? Agreed. But that large? Mr. Baggy Pants surprises me further. While buying sweaters, he insists on a size in which his sleeve ends beyond the tips of his fingers. Now, which sane man, even in his insanity would want to do something like that? Agreed that sweaters are meant for layering, but wool is stretchable to a point! You don’t need to leave an extra space underneath, hoping that someday you will fill it up with layers of clothes. Unless you’d want to look like a live hanger.
Mr. Baggy Pants has a reason why he wears loose clothes. He believes that they help him hide his fat. Now, this is a problem that comes with many Indian men—large beer bellies, excess weight accumulated over the years as a result of unhealthy eating and loads of couch surfing. But if you are one of those, just to let you know, the answer lies not in wearing ill fitting clothes and making you look like a fool, but in hitting the gym, trimming down, getting fit and then dressing to the part.