Men's sock style - top tips

Socks are one of the accessories in a man's wardrobe which can provide a little personality.  With a huge range of socks on the market offering different textures, colours and prints, socks are a fun way to chop and change your look.  There is a fine line however where some socks shouldn't be worn with certain outfits or trousers (I'm thinking white socks and suit pants for example!!)  

Socks were once worn for practical reasons but nowadays, in this fashion conscious world socks can give that extra hit of pizazz to an outfit.  Here are a few of my top tips on how to style your socks to your trousers:

• Wear a pair that complements your trousers/suit.  Eg. If wearing a mid grey suit then opt for a charcoal or black sock.  Try and keep your colour combo tonal eg, light grey suit then socks should be a tone of grey. Navy suit, then a sock in a tone of blue.

• Obviously black suit equals black socks.  Slightly different for jeans where if you wear black jeans your socks can be more casual or funky as long as they aren't white like John Travolta! :)

• Subtle pattern like stripes are popular for socks and can be worn with suit pants ensuring the stripes complement your trouser colour.  Unless of course you are going for a bold and daring look then you want to really go statement see middle pic below.

• The heavier your trousers ie denim or corduroy the heavier texture your sock should be.

• Of course all of the above depends on whether you are wearing a shoe or a boot - if a boot, it doesn't really matter if the sock isn't on show.

• Throw out any holey socks!  There really is no need for this!

Lastly, I found this great little gem of website for you sock-a-holic guys out there.  Soxy - a subscription service for men delivering 5 stylish pairs of socks on a monthly basis - yes that's right, each month 5 new designs are created and can be delivered straight to your doorstep!  No more stressing about your socks in the morning guys!

Image: lacasuarina.tumblr.com

Image: Soxy

Image: Mango Studios

How to style fine hair

Those of us with fine locks would love to have a head of thick shiny hair, we always want what we can't have. Well I too have fine hair and I often get asked how I get volume in it.  To be honest my hair is sometimes a bit boofy so that helps, but other times it can be flat (and no one likes flat hair!!).   I am not one for spending hours in the morning on my hair either, so I style my hair in a pretty easy go lucky way.  I don't like to look too preened (with my hair at least!) and much prefer the 'just got out of bed' look.

So how do I create the volume?  My must have products are the following:

Fine tooth comb

Dusting/powder  (I use Schwarzkopf Osis)

Hairspray (currently using L'Oreal Infinium)
Bobby pins 

These are my steps for getting volume into fine hair:

1) comb hair (if it needs it) otherwise run your fingers through it to get out any knots

2) scoop up sections of your hair around the front and top of your head and sprinkle very lightly the texture dust then lightly massage this into the roots of your hair.

3) take a section of your hair at the top of your head/above your forehead and at the crown and backcomb this until you see it getting some lift (see pic below).  Beware - don't go too crazy with the backcombing!!

4) lightly comb over the top of the backcombed section of hair to remove any scraggly bits and so you can't see the backcombed section of hair.

5) tie your hair up in a pony tail or bun, or leave your hair out

6) finish with hairspray

Note - bobby pins can be used to help position your bun/pony tail in position and helps maintain the height at the crown.

This is my messy bun :)