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Small Style Details As Conversation Starters - Men's Accessories & Flair
Iím Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style. And today, weíre going to
be talking about small style details and how theyíre great conversation starters.
All right. If you havenít, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel. By doing that, these
videos will come right to you. In addition, if you would like the video down below. By
doing so, I know to create more videos like this. And if you want to learn more about
what Iím talking about here in the video, go ahead and go to the article which I linked
to right down here. And thatíll take you to a great article which is going to expand
on the ideas weíre talking about today.
Okay. So, small style details ñhow to use those as conversation starters. And, you know,
why first would you even want to do this? Well, small conversations lead to big conversations.
So, whether or not youíre a salesman and youíre wanting to, you know, find more prospects,
or youíre an artist and youíre wanting to get your works in front of the right people,
into the right museum, bought by the right person. You need to have conversations. And
sometimes, itís really hard to get those going. And you donít ñ because a lot of
us feel a bit strange, kind of pitching ourselves.
But let me give you the story of a guy ñ a gentleman named Joe Navarro. And heís a
former FBI counter-intelligence. So, he knows a lot about non-visuals and that was his specialty.
And he talks about this example, how he wears a puzzle piece on ñ over here on one of his
lapel holes. And heíll be in a meeting ñ a lot of guys are talking and stuff. And someone
will always notice that heís got this small puzzle piece and theyíre going to ask him
about it. And perhaps he hasnít been dominating the conversation. Heís been polite, listening
to other people.
But this is his cue to jump in and to basically explain to people he wears the puzzle piece
because it represents his business, which his business is going into companies and looking
at all the different pieces and problems and bringing them together, so that he can solve
that problem and help the company reach a solution. And so, in a very quick manner and
without really, you know, feeling like heís barging upon them or pressing himself, heís
able to pitch what he does. And itís a very ñ itís a very memorable pitch because people
ñ they have a visual and then he explains that visual.
Another example is, you know, I actually used it all the time. So, on ñ Iíve got a blue
sports jacket, which actually has a butt or the pocket over here on the right breast.
Almost all jackets out there have the pocket on the left breast. I did this on the right
breast because I wanted it to be a conversation starter. I wanted it to, you know, invoke
a bit of curiosity for men who pay attention to the details. Because usually, men who pay
attention to the details are the type of men I want to be interacting with.
So, another small thing is youíll notice that this side of my jacket lapel is different
than this side. And thatís another conversation starter. I donít, you know, itís built into
my clothing and itís something that men who are interested in clothing will pick up on
a lot of times. And all of a sudden, weíve got something to talk about. And I can talk
about what I do, which Iím a custom clothier. So, thereís another example.
And, you know, how can you use this though? I mean, think of ñ there are so many ways
that a guy can bring this in. I mean, just use the pin example. If youíre an artist,
perhaps youíve got a piece of art that you wear there on your pin. Perhaps, you know,
you want to do it with a pocket square, you know. I mean, so many men do not rock a pocket
square. And when you wear one, oftentimes, if youíre in a networking event or youíre
in some place, somebody is going to mention it and that ñ you can use that to bridge
that to another conversation.
Regimental ties, those have been used for a long time over in the U.K. and you need
to be careful if, you know, you donít know the whole code or anything. But those are
from units and from clubs, so obviously, from regiments within the military where they get
their name. But there are also club ties and it used to be ñ I mean, itís not like this
anymore but over in the U.K., you know, maybe 70, 50 years ago, the ties that a man wore,
where he only wore ties that represented the clubs and the military units that he was a
part of.
So, you could actually they played and have a whole lot of ñ a wide variety of ties.
Now, weíre not limited by this anymore but you can see how that was like a secret symbol
and a great way if you walk into a room to recognize, you know, where somebody came from.
Now, I went to the University of Texas, I can actually get a really cool little tie.
Itís got little longhorns on it. And most people arenít going to notice, you know,
those small patterns in there but those that do, itís like a great conversation starter.
And then I get to point out, ìWell, yeah, I did go to UT and I went to the McCombs School
of Business. Now, Iím not trying to brag or anything but all of a sudden people know
that hey, this guy went to a respectable business school. And I get to bring that to the conversation
without pushing it myself.
Iíve seen other men use ñ actually, another thingÖ
I wear Western boots and thatís a great conversation starter. But Iíve seen some men wear shoes
that really stand out. And theyíre not clownish but they are something. Itís like, ìWow,î
you know, ìthatís interesting. Where did you get those shoes?î And all of a sudden,
they get to talk about, ìWell, you know, Iím in consulting and I travel quite a bit
to London,î or ìI travel quite a bit to Paris and this is where I picked this up at.î
Another option, you know, especially for those of you that donít wear jackets, is perhaps
you wear glasses. Well, pay a little bit more attention and get actually a very stylish
pair of glasses or ones that are a little bit off the beaten path, which cause people
to remember you, you know. And itís ñ we want to all be remembered for who are as a
person. But guess what, most of the time. People donít have time to get to know you
as a person. And sometimes itís these very superficial things, which help cement and
allow you to eventually form those deeper relationships.
A couple other options Iím thinking ñ you could pay ñ you know, maybe do something
fun with your socks. Wear cuff links, perhaps, especially if you donít wear a jacket. Maybe
you want to wear French cuffs and cufflinks shirts. You know, hereís not necessarily
super stylish, but I think itís a great conversation starter with me is I see a lot of older gentlemen
wearing hats that symbolize ñ hey, Iím a Vietnam War veteran or Iím World War II war
vet. Or I was on this particular type of shipper submarine. I can tell you that as a military
guy, I hone in on that. And I see an older guy sitting and heís ñ you know, no one
has talked with him. Iíve got time to kill. Iíll go up and talk to the guy and start
talking about ñ I want to hear his stories about, you know, all the time he spent on
whatever ship it was. And Iíve met some really interesting people that way.
But I go up and I approach them because theyíve ñ theyíre sending out that signal with the
clothing that theyíre wearing. And, you know, pay attention to these small ñ because theyíre
not small non-visuals.
And Iíll leave you with the last one. Itís going to be the story of Nudie Cohn. And heís
a Ukrainian immigrant who came to Las Vegas and he built an entire business on building
really outlandish outfits. So, you know the rhinestone jumpsuits and stuff that Elvis
wore. I mean, Elvis probably didnít need that to get peopleís attention, but we remember
that. And he did this for a lot of artists. He created clothing which just ñ wow, it
was something you just didnít forget when you saw that person. And when you saw that
person in ñ itís like [0:07:35] in person. But Nudieís big quote was, ìItís better
to be looked over than overlooked.î
And so, the challenge Iím going to throw to you is what are you doing to dress in a
manner, so that youíre not overlooked? So that ñ whatís your one little style option
or style piece that people pick up on?
All right. This has been Antonio Centeno with Real Men Real Style. AndÖ