I want to try to explain why I created this blog. Not only explain it to you, but explain it to myself. This will be a post that differs a bit from the rest, so feel free to hop to another post if you’re not interested in the story behind this blog.
For the last years I have written different kinds of texts on the internet. I have written on Twitter, had a Substack and written more than 30 articles on Medium. But something didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel like I had found my place. And this is where this blog comes along.
This blog will be the place where I can share what I learn, my mistakes and my passions. Menswear is a passion for me. Even though I, for the first 23 years of my life, didn’t know that I had this passion for clothing, it was there all along. It just hadn’t had the chance to find its way through to the surface.
Half a year ago, I saw a Netflix episode about Jamie Oliver on “Chef’s Table: Legends”. And he said something that I still think about regularly. Here’s what he said:
I was so focused on creating these moments, these thunderclaps, documentaries, campaigns, these splashes. And I never realized that it was all about the ripples. If I give a recipe or a little hack or a little tip, that could have positive ripples in your home for years and years and years. But actually, more than that, it might make you shop differently. It might make you hang out with a different group of people. One small thing can make beautiful things happen. I had a job and a purpose to guide as many people towards the joy of food and cooking. And my voice, our voice, can make positive change. – Jamie Oliver
This is beautiful, and not only beautiful but also very true. In the same way Oliver thinks about food recipes, I think about menswear. The goal isn’t to get you to throw out all the clothes you have from before. The goal is to give you inspiration and some knowledge so that you can get the confidence to dress in the way that makes you feel the best.
In the same way that a little food recipe can create ripples in your life for a long time, so can a small clothing advice. Maybe you learn to use neutral colours in your outfits, and then manage to secure a date with your future wife because she liked your outfit when you approached her on the street. Maybe your clothes can give you the confidence to smile at the person you meet on the bus, and that person really needed that smile.
This quote from Michael Oliver, weirdly and fascinatingly, describes some of the essence behind this blog. Yes, on paper, this blog is about menswear. But in reality, it’s about more than that. It is about choices, possibilities, life, death and individuality. This is why in the coming years, I will try to share stories together with my clothing tips. Stories will not only make the posts feel more authentic, but they will also differentiate my blog post from the ever-increasing amount of AI content on the internet. Not because the most important intention is to differentiate myself from AI, but because I need to share what is true to me. I want to share my passions, interests and the true version of me, and I believe this is best shared with real stories.
I can’t promise that I will be able to share beautiful stories about clothing in every article. But I will try my best. Try my best to become a better writer, storyteller, friend and person every day. Be a gentleman every day. This blog, the everyday gentleman, is almost as much about a mindset as it is about clothing. A gentleman is someone who meets people with a smile and an open heart. And although many of us are interested in the clothes we wear ourselves, we should not judge other people by what they are wearing. As Derek Guy often says: I firmly believe that you can’t determine a person’s real character by his or her clothing. And with this, I agree. A true gentleman doesn’t discriminate based on clothing.
I hope that this blog doesn’t come across as a know-it-all kind of blog. Because that isn’t true even in the slightest. But on the other hand, it is possible that my huge interest in menswear has taught me something that other people also could find interesting and valuable.
While I sit here writing, I start wondering about the difference between self-improvement and trying to dress better. Right now, I don’t know if I have a great answer. One similarity must be that, both on a self-improvement and menswear journey, the key is to try to find out what is true to you. What do you believe?. What clothes make you smile when you put them on? What kind of outfits make you have that little extra spring in your step? This is what we are all after. Together. And I emphasise the word together, because this blog is more than just a blog about becoming a better man. It’s about companionship; you don’t grow as a man in isolation, you grow in connection with the people and things that surround you.
Warm regards, The Everyday Gentleman.
