This Is One Way to Ruin an Outift in Short Order

Fit to Be Tied?: Every guy who puts on a tie looks at it, looks at it again and asks: Is it too short? Is it too long?

“You basically want the tip of the point to hit your belt buckle,” says Jim Rodgers of Atkinson’s Mens Clothing in Newport Beach. “If it’s beyond that, or if it’s short of that mark, you’re going to look a little silly.”

Men who are 6 feet 4 inches or taller should look for special tall men’s ties, Rodgers said. If the tie is not long enough, the shorter side hangs only four or five inches from the knot.

Ideally, the shorter end should be long enough to tuck into the tie label (which, by the way, is OK to do).

Under Covered: Picture yourself walking into a nightclub looking stylish with a pair of black slacks and a $200 Armani silk shirt--with a white T-shirt underneath.

You may be so used to wearing an undershirt, you may not know it’s there, but others will.

“Unfortunately, the undershirt tends to pull the shirt on top out of your pants, making you look sloppy,” says James Bishop of Amici Gentlemen’s Fashions in Newport Beach. “A nice dress shirt isn’t designed to be worn over an undershirt. You’re better off without one, and you’ll be cooler, too.”

But what about the tank shirt, the kind that guys in the magazine ads wear? Same problem. Although it eliminates the collar, it will still do strange things to your top shirt. For those guys who wear undershirts to protect against perspiration stains, they’ll just have to choose one evil over the other.

Beauty and the Beep: Few things ruin the look of a nice ensemble more than a small, black beeper.

“It’s the first thing you often spot when you meet someone, and it tells people about the kind of person you are, which is something they may not interpret very well,” says shirt designer Brian Mayne of Mission Viejo. “A lot of men and women wear these ugly beepers like badges, right in front of them. They think it shows how important they are, but I think most people think of them as a way for your boss to intrude into your life.”

Is there a way to hide a beeper? When wearing a jacket, stick it on the back of your pants to make it less intrusive. Or, wear the kind of beepers that fit in your pocket and gently vibrate when the higher powers are calling.