Cotton was used by ancient Egiptians and was treasured especially to exchange while bartering.

Cotton and its properties

Cotton is gathered from the seeds of Gossypium and is widely known to be one of the most natural fibers. It is very resistant to stretching, and while it is wet it can increase its reliability up to 30%. Cotton is widely known from its steam-absorbing properties without the actually becoming wet. It is worth mentioning that cotton can come in a variety of thicknesses. Thin cotton fabric will be less warm in contrast to a thick one. It is a great choice for those who suffer from allergy as cotton is non-sensitizing and rarely causes any allergic reactions.

Cotton, like every material also has its drawbacks but the advantages certainly outcome the disadvantages. Cotton is not much of a resilient fabric so it tends to crease while being used. Aside from this it is also less moisture-resistant than other materials.

Wishing to sew a cotton dress, coverlet for a sofa, of just a simple dress one has to know what cotton to choose and what kinds of fibre are available on the market. Cretonne is widely used in production of almost every kind of human clothing, including the newborn garments and linens. It has a canvas braid braid and proves to be very light and soft. Satin is very treasured among the users of cotton for its elegance and is mostly chosen as a great linen material. Gabardine can be distinguished from other kinds of cotton by its specific crosswise braid. it has flax-like properties and will be a great deal for everyday clothing.

It is wort paying attention to high grade cotton such as the one offered by The quality comes hand in hand with a lovely look and durability of the final product. Not every kind of cotton would fit the desired project, so don’t forget about the tips above!

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But not all stylish things are old. Denim is one of the biggest exceptions and I’m not talking about jeans here. You’ll be surprised to see the items that now come in denim so keep on reading to find out about each of them. In fact.. I bet you didn’t even think that some of these items also come in denim.

Without further ado, let’s go through each of the denim garments that you can wear right now for a stylish look.

#1 Denim Jeans and Shorts

Obviously, right? Jeans look great on anyone but the trick is to pair them with clothes and accessories that make the outfit stand out.

An outfit that incorporates jeans needs a quick refresh to avoid looking generic. A patterned shirt, a pair of colored socks, a sports jacket or a cool accessory are all good places to start.

Now, with jeans, you might want to avoid the ripped look. They look sloppy and, unless you’re in high-school, you shouldn’t be wearing them.

#2 Denim Shirts

What’s cool about denim shirt is that they’re more casual than the business shirts you see most stylish guys wear. To be honest, my denim shirt is my favorite one right now, provided that I wear it with the right clothes.

You may have notice I’m NOT wearing my denim shirt tucked in. Most of the times you shouldn’t do it. Denim is a thicker fabric, it look much better on the outside then if you try and squeeze it inside your pants.

#3 Denim T-shirts

I personally don’t like them but don’t let this stop you from trying them out. You can make them work with a pair of chinos and some leather bracelets.

#4 Denim Jackets

Denim jackets are great for the spring and summer, provided that you wear one that fits you perfectly. Wear them over a t-shirt, a polo shirt or a dress shirt – doesn’t matter.

#5 Denim Flat Caps

Ok, now we’re getting into the good stuff. We’re all used to seeing people wear jeans and sometimes even shirts but it’s very rare to see someone wear a flat cap, let alone one made from denim.

Flat caps are not something tricky like a pink tie would be. They’re very easy to pull of, a pair of jeans, a dress shirt and a pendant or a bracelet and you’re good to go!

#6 Denim ties

Denim ties look amazing. That’s all I can say. Wear them with a pair of jeans in the same color as the tie and you’ll make a kick-ass outfit.

#7 Denim Cufflinks

Don’t they look nice? How about pairing them with a denim tie or a denim flat cap?

#8 Denim pocket squares

I bet you saw that one coming, right? This will really make you unique as almost no one is wearing such a garment. I wouldn’t wear them unless I had another denim item in my outfit – they won’t be that noticeable without it.

photo: fiverr.com

#9 Denim bracelets

This is too much, right? Well, why not? Denim is just a fabric like any others, you can make almost anything you want with it.

photo: far4.net

#10 Denim Bow Ties

They look amazing, don’t they? You can go ahead and wear them with a denim shirt if you want, just make sure you make contrast. Even if you wear them with regular shirts, make sure they are not part of a business or office outfit.

YES to a denim bow tie + denim cufflinks and a definite NO to the denim bow tie + pocket square.

How Not To Screw Up With Denim

Is it easy to screw up with denim? Definitely yes! Wearing too much denim is a big no-no.

If you’re wearing a denim shirt and a pair of jeans, that might be a little too much. You CAN get away with it if you make sure the two garments have different colors/shades. This is to avoid the uniform look which I personally hate.

Another no-no would be to wear 2 denim garments one on top of another. Examples include a denim tie over a denim shirt or a denim jacket over that same shirt. Doesn’t look good.

How do YOU wear denim? Tell us in a comment below.

Oh, and if you’re interested in some of the other fabrics I covered, take a look at a recent article that talks about linen.

The post Denim appeared first on Be Stylish!.

Just like the title says, linen will help you feel cool… literally. We all know that linen allows for better air circulation but how many of us have intentionally looked for it when shopping?

Most clothes nowadays are either cotton, polyester, or a combination of both. Finding a linen shirt or – God forbid – a linen suit is more like trying to find the Rosetta Stone.

OK, now you’re probably asking yourself: why on earth should I waste my time looking for linen garments when I could just as easily get them in cotton and get it over with? Cotton is also a natural fiber, what’s wrong with that?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But I do have a few reasons that will definitely change your mind.

The first one is comfort. When you put on a linen shirt, if you’re not a style student, you might not even feel the difference. However, when you’re outside, you will surely feel the air currents better than you would in a cotton shirt.

If you happen to live in an area where you get at least a few weeks a year of really hot days, linen will feel like the only fabric your body will not reject.

The second reason is its antibacterial properties. IN short this means they will not catch smell as easily as cotton does. This is more apparent with linen socks, which, for reasons that will be discussed later in this chapter, I don’t recommend.

Third reason for wearing linen is simply the idea of having a wardrobe suitable for any season and meteorologic conditions. It’s about taking care of stylish details that are not apparent for others but, rather, for yourself.

Just like you wear umbrellas or hats or caps when it’s raining… just like you wear suede only when it’s not… and just like you wouldn’t wear sneakers and trainers in winter like some guys do… similarly, you want to wear the right fabric for the right season.

And since wool is mostly for winter (although some wool works in the summer too), cotton for every season (but it depends on how thick it is), linen should be kept for summer or hot autumn and spring days.

Fourth, fifth and sixth, linen offers good UV protection, is non-allergenic (if you ever got rashes from synthetic fibers this you should definitely give linen a try) and non-static, which means it does not accumulate static electricity that you sometimes feel when you take of a sweater, for instance.

Lastly, linen is eco-friendly. Almost no pesticides at all are used to grow it, unlike cotton fields which, according to a statistic I found, accounts for 50% of the World’s pesticide use.

OK, that’s a lot of reasons to wear linen. But let me give you one last reason: price. You’ll find that most linen garments cost about the same as their cotton versions. So why not mix things up a bit and get one right now?

Clothing items

If I succeeded into motivating you to give linen a chance, you’re probably wondering what clothing items come in this fabric? Quite a lot, actually:

• shirts
• suits
• pants
• shorts
• ties
• pocket squares

In addition to those, I also mentioned linen socks earlier and I told you to avoid them. Pretty much anyone who’s ever owned a pair complained that they don’t hug the foot very well. This is both weird and uncomfortable.

If you do want to try them out, I recommend you find a pair that also has some spandex in it, this will help alleviate the problem.

If you don’t know where to start, I recommend you start your hunt with a linen shirt. The part of your skin that feels most uncomfortable during summer days is your torso, so that should be tackled first.

As you can see in the photo above, the blue line shirt has some wrinkles. Unfortunately, these are inevitable no matter what you do and, unless they’re too obvious, you shouldn’t worry about them.

Here’s another line shirt. Notice the casual nature of it, most linen shirts are designed to be worn in casual encounters:

As a curiosity, not that I recommend you wear this, a very popular linen shirt is the guayabera. The interesting thing about it is that it actually has 4 front pockets. Way too much for someone who’s looking to be stylish. However, this type of shirt is very popular in Central America as well as Southeast Asia. Here’s what it looks like:

photo: mycubanstore.com

Below you can see a pair of linen shorts. The wrinkles are a little too obvious for my taste but, nevertheless, they look amazing:

Here’s a very refreshing outfit featuring a line sports jacket and camo shorts:

The post Linen – The Fabric That Makes You Feel Cool appeared first on Be Stylish!.

I’m so happy when I receive questions and, although I don’t get to answer every one of them, I do my best to share as much of my knowledge as possible.

After my last e-mail I got a question from a reader that I thought I would share. Most of the questions are specific but some of them catch me off guard.

Indeed I checked the blog and I never talk about the differences between natural and synthetic fibers. I guess it’s time

Here’s the original question from Lawson, one of my readers:

Thanks George for this enlightening message. Nevertheless, could you elaborate further on what natural fibers/materials are and what are their advantages?

thanks

Lawson

Knowing the difference between naturals and synthetics is huge. If you don’t know it, I recommend that you DON’T BUY ANYTHING. Otherwise you might end up paying a lot of money on something of low quality.

If there’s one thing I want you to remember from my article, it is this:

Natural fibers are good, synthetics are NOT so good.

Ideally you’d want your clothes to be 100% made of natural fibers (I’ll show you what those are in just a little bit). Of course, it’s sometimes difficult to find such clothes so a small percentage of synthetics is ok.

My aim is at least 80% natural fibers. I never go below that percentage even if the clothing item is really cheap. You can always find clothes that are at least 89% natural if you’re willing to invest the time to look for them.

OK, let’s see the two lists. The natural fabrics that are common for clothes include:

• cotton
• silk
• wool
• mohair
• cashmere
• linen
• leather

Synthetic fibers are larger in number, so I’ll mention just a few:

• viscose
• acetate
• synthetic
• lyocell
• polyester
• polyurethane
• acrylic polyesters
• spandex
• leather imitation
• … and many others.

If you look on the label and you see a fabric that’s not in this list, you can safely assume it synthetic.

Now, there’s one item of clothing that you should give a break. This one more often than not has spandex in it, so don’t judge it too hard. I’m talking, of course, about underwear.

But, for the most part, you should go with natural fibers only. Here’s why.

The biggest argument is that natural fibers allow your skin to breathe. The last thing you want is a polyester shirt that will make you feel like you’re inside an oven.

The second argument is that natural fibers won’t give you rashes (except maybe, wool). This doesn’t happen to anyone but, you never know what that polyester scarf can do to you after wearing it for a few hours.

Of course, the 2 arguments above don’t really stand in case of overcoats or vests. That’s because they don’t come in direct contact with your skin. This leads me to my third and final argument for not wearing synthetic fabrics:

Social acceptance.

The style trend for both men and women is really cruel with synthetics. If they could, the style community would probably KILL all synthetics.

Wearing synthetics (which are cheaper), makes the wearer look poor, cheap, having a lower status and so on. I know it’s not *fair* but you have to understand that style is all about making a good impression on those we come in contact with.

OK, that’s about it. Now it’s time to shop for those “at least 80% natural fibers” clothes!

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