What’s hot doesn’t stay hot for long, and what’s not hot may eventually come back around. This is the reality of fashion. It always has been, and it always will be. It’s the reason that you refresh your wardrobe, and it’s also the reason you come to websites like ours for advice on what you should be buying to replace what you’ve thrown away. We’re happy to give that advice, and you’ll find plenty of it here, but in this article, we’d like to spend less time focusing on what you should own and more time focusing on what you should be getting rid of.
In truth, 2020 has been something of a dead loss for fashion. You probably didn’t need to buy any new statement outfits because you had nowhere to go to make a statement. If you did make a few fashion purchases at the start of the year, you’ve probably not had the chance to show them off yet. If that’s the case, keep them. They’ll still look fresh in 2021! Look beyond those recent acquisitions, though, and pay more attention to what’s lurking at the back of your wardrobe. We bet there are a few dated fashion faux-pas there, and it’s those garments that need to be sent to thrift stores or otherwise disposed of.
If you own any of the items we’re about to mention, we invite you to give serious thought about whether you need them and whether the space they’re taking up in your wardrobe might be better used for something else:
Bomber Jackets
We get it. Pilots are cool. “Top Gun” was cool. There’s a new “Top Gun” movie coming out in 2021, and that will make it even cooler. That still doesn’t make a bomber jacket a great fashion choice, though. Unless you really are an Air Force pilot—which we imagine is a description that applies to very few of you—they have a habit of looking very grungy…
Grunge was a great look for its time, but its time was somewhere around 2005. Aside from not really going with anything, they have a habit of looking battered and worn very quickly, and the ‘distressed’ look is no longer chic. There are so many great jackets out there for men these days, so there’s no need to hang on to a bomber jacket you’ll probably never wear again.
Anything Neon
For most of the past thirty years, the 1980s have been seen as something of a fashion disaster of a decade, and deservedly so. For some reason, for about six hot months a year or two ago, elements of 80s fashion worked themselves back into the fashion mainstream. We don’t know who signed off on that, but it wasn’t us…
Wearing neon clothes is like walking around with an exclamation mark painted on your chest and while dressing to get noticed isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s possible to get noticed in a negative way. Wearing clothes that are so bright that the people around you need to wear sunglasses is a sure way to get the wrong sort of attention. They’re exactly the sort of thing that will make people laugh at you when they see pictures of you wearing them ten years from now, so avoid the shame before it happens by ditching them today.
If you deep in your heart love neon, consider accessorizing with it instead. Wear a neon beanie or wear a neon pink lipstick on your next date night.
Plaid Shirts
Just as we said you’re not a pilot, you’re also not a lumberjack (except, of course, if you are—in which case go you). That means you should probably avoid plaid because it’s become the default choice of every middle-aged man. If you don’t want to believe that, here’s a little experiment for you.
First, check out this range of plaid shirts for men that’s being marketed for early 2021. Then go on Google, and search for British comedian Dave Gorman. You’ll note that Dave, as amusing as he is, is about as unashamedly unfashionable as it gets. You’ll also note that he exclusively wears shirts that look exactly like what you’ve just seen in that collection. We rest our case, and we expect the jury to make the right decision.
Big Sneakers
Everybody appears to have forgotten that sneakers were originally made as sports shoes. They’re supposed to be sleek, lightweight, and easy to move around in. Making them huge and chunky defeats the whole point. Over the past few years, sneakers have started to get deeper and thicker, to the point where they now look enormous even if you have comparatively small feet. We’ve heard of people living in apartments smaller than some of the trainers we’ve seen for sale online! Aside from taking up way too much space, they also make your legs look like golf clubs, no matter whether you make a point of never skipping leg day at the gym or not. If nothing else, they’ll take all the attention away from the rest of your outfit—and we doubt that was ever seriously your intention.
Your Old Tuxedo
Tuxedos looked the same for decades, and then suddenly they changed. Perhaps that’s because they’re associated with casinos, and casinos have changed. People are far more likely to do their gambling at online slots websites today than they are at traditional casinos. You might even be familiar with the concept yourself.
If you can play one of the most popular online slots like Fishing Frenzy on any device that has an internet connection and a screen—which you can—why would you dress up and go outside to do it? If you don’t need to dress up and go outside to a casino, what do you need your old tuxedo for? That dinner party you’re never going to get invited to? That wedding that’s never going to insist on it? Just as online slots websites have forced casino companies to re-think the way they go about their business, lifestyle changes have forced tuxedos to change their style. They’re now sleeker, lighter, and more stylish. If you feel like you have to own one, get a new one that has those modern elements.
Taking all these things together, you should be able to clear out enough storage space for some exciting new additions and new looks. To find out what to fill it with, look elsewhere on our website for our latest guides on what to buy!
