Fashionable Fellas Tend to Get Overlooked in the Laserlike Focus on Female Fashion. Style Maven Lloyd Boston Offers Up Tips for Stressfree Style, Plus FT Picks the Fall Must-Haves. FASHIONTRIBES FASHION BLOG

In a recent piece on AOL.com, Lloyd Boston - the Today Show's on-air fashionista, and author of Men of Color and Before You Put That On - offers up this fundamental piece of advice for fellas in search of personal style: spend the bulk of your money and time of classic pieces, and add pizazz with some trendy items. The result? High style with a minimum of effort.

Some tips from Lloyd Boston on becoming stylish:

• UNIFORM STYLING "I think when you understand what your investment pieces are, meaning your classics, which should be about 80 percent of your wardrobe, and what your trending pieces are, meaning your more trendy or seasonal items, that balance can make it so that you don't spend as much energy and effort getting dressed," Boston explains. "The man that knows the power of a tailored suit, whether he can afford a $200 suit or a $2,000 suit, he can invest in that and update it any season with interesting trends like a V-neck sweater or funk it up with a track jacket after a day in the boardroom."

• STUDY CELEB STYLING, NOT THEIR CLOTHING LINES While many celebs have jumped on the fashion bandwagon and come out  with an eponymous label, Boston is not impressed. "Being a fashion designer or creating a clothing brand isn't something you do on the side. It isn't a part time job. If it were, Ralph Lauren would be starring in films and also recording an album." (Boston does however like Mark Ecko's secondary line, as well as Sean John.)  Instead, use celebs' appearances on  the red carpet and at press events as a guideline - chances are, they were professionally styled for these events, and their outfits are a bonafide source of fashion inspiration.

• THE HIP HOP CONNECTION From Kanye West to uber-peacock Andre 3000, hip hop undeniably sets new fashion directions and trends.  “I think Kanye West has been instrumental in allowing men to feel more comfortable expressing themselves through color and unexpected trends, but you can’t rule out Andre 3000 either. I think he was ahead of Kanye in showing you can mix traditionally feminine colors with classic men’s sportswear. Even some of the more hard core rappers like CamRon who wore pink, made guys in Harlem or the Bronx feel confident enough to do the same thing,”

Fashiontribes Picks the Top Five Must-Haves for the Style-Minded Male:

A classic trench from Dior Homme.

Pinstripes are always a classic fashion "do" & this Etro suit gets it right.

A fun & funky shoe for a necessary touch of trendiness - the Jack by Todd Welsh.

Because everyone's crazy 'bout a well groomed guy - Monaco Shaving Set with a silvertip badger hair brush by Hommage.

Gucci Pour Homme is unabashedly sexy...just like you.

- Lesley Scott

(photo from IAmPrettyNYC.com)

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