As you get older and more comfortable with who you are, your outward appearance should reflect these changes. Things get serious in this decade and can define the trajectory of the rest of your life. You either accelerate or stagnate in your career. You can attract a high quality mate and start a family, or bounce around, not quite finding the right person. Your health and fitness can continue to improve, or you can fall into the trap of letting yourself go like so many do. We’ll discuss how to dress in your 30s to show the world you are heading in the right direction.
Below are the biggest keys for how to dress in your 30s. Your appearance should reflect your growing influence in the world, as well as your confidence to reach your potential as a man. Women and colleagues will show more respect towards a more maturely dressed man, and your opportunities for love, career, and wealth will multiply.
- Lose the juvenile clothing
- Stay in shape
- Master the style basics
- Invest in high quality pieces that will last
- Define your own sense of style
Lose the juvenile clothing
Addition by subtraction. This is the biggest key for how to dress in your 30s. It’s time to ditch the ratty old hoodies and sweatpants, sports jerseys, graphic tees, and overly trendy attire. Doesn’t mean you need to be boring. You simply should mature your look to exude class, so others take you seriously.
For instance, instead of wearing your team’s jersey on game day (a little weird for a grown man to wear another man’s name on his back), you can wear a simple team polo or t-shirt with your team’s logo. Or you can throw on your team’s hat or scarf with normal casual attire. Both of these options still show your support for your team, while giving off a more grown up vibe.
You can replace your old hoodies and sweatpants with cleaner plain crewnecks and sleek joggers, or a good bomber jacket or shirt jacket. These are perfect for lounging at home, running some quick errands, or even working from home (along with these work from home style upgrades). And graphic tees with movies, or video games, oversized designer logos, or “funny” sayings should all be replaced by clean, plain, well-fitting t-shirts.
Even if you style your hoodie decently, like the man below on the left, it still does not come across as cleanly as the more grown up look on the right.
As for the trendiness of your wardrobe, you should start transitioning to things that have stood the test of time to look good. Anything you know will look dumb in 5-10 years should go into the donation bin.
Taking these steps shows maturity, which means others will more easily trust you with more responsibility. This translates to better jobs, dating opportunities, and other life upgrades.
Stay in shape
A fit man in well-fitting jeans and a t-shirt will look better than an overweight or skinny fat man wearing a designer outfit or a custom-made suit. Your physique makes the best fashion statement, because you can’t buy it. You have to earn it. And when you can start pairing some more fashionable clothes with a good build, that’s where the magic happens. Being fit and well-dressed is a cheat code, even with just a t-shirt and jeans.
As you may have already discovered, staying in shape in your 20s is much easier than doing so in your 30s. And looking fit in your 30s is a game changer, since the number of people who are fit in this age range gets smaller and smaller each year. It’s much easier to never lose your fitness, than to lose it and try to get it back.
So if you’re still in decent shape, make sure you’re working out efficiently at least 3-4 times per week and are eating healthy 80% of the time to maintain what you have. If you are out of shape, you’ll need to work even harder in this decade to get it back, but it is doable and the rewards are well worth it – for your health, style, and the standards you set for yourself.
Strapped for time because you’re building your life? That’s great, but it’s not excuse to let your health decline. Here is a good resource for a workout plan and a simple recipe plan if you are busy. Your physique is an underrated key for how to dress well in your 30s.
Master the style basics
Showing your mastery of the style basics gives off the impression of a competent, self-aware, and intelligent man. You should strive to associate yourself with these attributes as a more mature man.
The first key is to avoid basic fashion mistakes. Make sure your clothes fit (try things one size down to see if it looks better, and take your suits, blazers, and dress shirts to a good tailor). Your pants shouldn’t be skin tight nor super baggy. Don’t skimp on grooming, and don’t overcomplicate simple outfits by combining too many colors or textures (keep it to one bold item per outfit).
Moving to the next level, you should know how to match colors with each other (this article explains it well). To keep it very simple, one major piece of your outfit should be a neutral (black, white, grey, navy, or brown/khaki), and the others can be a different colored neutral or ONE basic color (red, blue, green, yellow). For example, grey pants, white shirt, navy sport coat, brown loafers. Or a grey polo, olive green shorts, white sneakers. Or a red shirt, navy pants, and brown chukka boots. It’s hard to go wrong with this framework.
Once you master these basic color combos, you can start trying to incorporate different tones and more color into your outfits.
Nothing stands out like shoes – they are often the first thing people notice about your style. Make sure to own these five pairs of shoes. The dressiness of your shoes should match your outfit, which should match the occasion. Ditch the ratty old sneakers. If you’re used to wearing running shoes with everything, you should switch to a clean pair of plain white sneakers or basic chukka boots with your casual attire. Work in different styles from there.
Invest in high quality pieces that will last
By this time in your life, you should have some disposable income. If so, you should start to invest in some higher quality pieces that will last years.
You shouldn’t blow all your money on only super expensive clothes. The items worth spending money on are: shoes, outerwear, suits, sport coats, a nice watch, and sweaters. A nice travel bag is a bonus if you travel a lot. Classic versions of these pieces tend to stay in style longer.
The types of pieces you invest in will depend on your lifestyle. If you work from home and wear a suit once or twice a year, you should splurge on the more casual pieces, such as versatile footwear (a nice pair of casual boots), a casual piece of outerwear (a pea coat or a patterned overcoat), a nice pair of dark jeans, and a really good neutral colored sweater.
If you work in a more traditional career that requires business or business casual attire, like legal or finance, the pieces you’ll invest in will be much different. You should probably get a couple of made to measure work clothes and higher-end shoes. These items can double up for dressier occasions (i.e. weddings), and you can invest in some good casual attire as your budget allows (and based on how much you wear casual clothing).
These higher quality pieces look better, are more comfortable, last longer, and send off a subtle signal about your high standards in life. These are all keys for how to dress in your 30s.
You don’t have to go overboard on the spending – just get the best you can afford with your budget. And stay away from overly branded items that serve more as a temporary status symbol than a quality piece of clothing.
Define your own sense of style
Once you are comfortable with your evolving sense of style, you can put your own spin on it. Learn the rules before you break them. And you should break some of them to develop your own sense of style. That’s what we commonly refer to as swagger or sauce.
No one can tell you how exactly you should do this, you must learn for yourself. And true sauce comes from within first. That’s the best part about your 30s – you become more comfortable and self-aware, enabling you to let your personality shine.
Use the foundation from the rest of this article and experiment with some different pieces, combinations, accessories, and colors. See what works and what doesn’t, and keep building from there as you learn how to dress in your 30s.
Maybe a certain aesthetic works better with your lifestyle and career. If you like outdoorsy activities, your casual attire can reflect this – workwear boots, flannels, and high-quality denim are great choices. Like going out on the town for drinks and fancy dinners? Some dressy casual attire, like a couple of nice sport coats, some patterned button-downs, and nice dress shoes would make sense. Choose your own adventure.
Your 30s represent a time when you come into your own as a man. Your attire should reflect this increased level of confidence, resources, and self-awareness.