Properly Restrained, the White Collar Worker Can Become a Tidy Company Man

Tacked, Barred and Chained: If you’re a white collar worker and male, at some point in your career you will probably be given a symbol of your employer’s appreciation for your years of service: a tie tack, bar or chain with the corporate seal or trademark soldered on top.

Of course, you’d probably prefer the cash, but if you end up getting the tie restraint, you may as well try it.

One of the great mistakes when wearing a tack/bar/chain is to mount it too high, allowing the bottom of the tie to drift into dangerous areas such as soup bowls.

“Tie restraints serve an important purpose,” says John Berges of Berges Mens Wear in San Clemente. “With an expensive tie, you need to have something to keep it close to your shirt.”

Attach your tie ornament about two-thirds down the tie from the knot, just above the top button of a single-breasted jacket. (If you prefer going freestyle without a restraint, you can try the new trend of tucking your tie into your shirt or waistband if you’re worried about it getting soiled.)

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Well Heeled: Back when flared-leg pants had their last gasp and the Police were just catching on, women found a way to dress up their newly bought designer jeans--with high heels. It was a look that caught on quickly, then died as jeans regained their casual status.

So why are so many women still wearing high heels with blue jeans?

“There’s a risque element about that combination,” says clothing buyer Jean Sherman of Fullerton. “It can still look good with a blazer.”

Wearing a blazer with jeans and heels adds a respectable quality to the outfit, and shorter heels provide a more modern look; that is, unless you’re headed to a Sting concert.

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White’s Not Right: The emphasis in urban street wear is on reality: loose-fitting shirts and pants, muted colors, a few tears here and there. The image you’re trying to project is that you’ve survived the streets.

Street-wise wanna-bes can be easily spotted by the condition of their footwear. The blinding white reflection of new tennis or basketball shoes is a sure sign of a poser.

“You want to have shoes that are scuffed up a little,” says Steve Howe of Becker Surf & Sport in Lake Forest. “They don’t look right just after you’ve pulled them from the box.”

There is, unfortunately, a difficult conundrum to be kicked around with street shoes. How can a person, after possibly shelling out more than $100 for a pair, purposely scuff and “wear in” a pair to make them look right?

If you can’t wear them out hiking through the desert, or you’re tired of trying to kick every rock and tin can you come across, try beating them against a rock for awhile, then rub mud into the grain.

For good measure, run over them a few times with the car.

And, if the color of the upper clashes with the color you’re wearing, add gray duct tape.