Daniel Johnson takes time out of his busy schedule as a personal stylist to share with us a few tips for the new year.
Daniel Johnson continues to make a name for himself as a very reputable and credited mens personal stylist. When ever I’m unsure about a certain outfit or idea Daniel is my go to guy to get that sorted. I’ve seen him first hand completely transform mens wardrobes and image in a matter of hours. Daniels Offices include Westfield’s in Sheperds Bush and Savile Row London, he is trusted from clients nationally and internationally.
Daniel’s services can be found through his website www.daniel-johnson.com. As stated contact him with reference to the kiss and tell podcast as he has promised to add a discount to any of his services for our listeners.
Topics covered:
- How to beat the January sales
- Must haves of 2013
- How to match colours
- Can you overdress for the occasion?
- What are the most common mistakes when choosing clothes to wear?
- How to coodinate pocket squares/ties
- Daniel Johnson’s Kiss and Tell
Johnny: So this is Daniel Johnson, men’s fashion expert. I can’t say enough things about Dan. Dan helped me find my identity within fashion and really bring out my strong points in my physical appearance. Dan, how long have you been doing what you’ve been doing?
Dan: Well I’ve been doing personal styling, I’d say around 6 years now. I started out as that fat kid. It’s a cliché for every personal stylist to say they started as a fat kid. Look on the internet, you’ll see the before and afters, I put them up there. So from what I learnt I take that and give that to guys. I do that every day of the week now. So, 6 years. It’s been a long journey but it’s been worth it.
J: Dan, I remember the early days when I first started witnessing what you were able to achieve. We had people who had absolutely no sense how to dress. First thing they’d see and then they’d get their training, and what I was seeing what you were doing to these guys, I was like I need to get a session with Dan. What I was seeing was unbelievable. These people were turning up looking like they were going to walk a dog in a park. When they came back, they were looking like absolute gentlemen. I was like, how is he doing this?
D: That’s what we want. It’s not just giving someone style, its giving someone confidence. Everyone has a story. Maybe another cliché coming up here but your clothes should tell a story and tell what you do. Let me recall one customer to you. He was in charge of this yacht, super yacht, that travelled between Monte Carlo and the Caribbean. He was worth a hell of a lot of money and he turned up in a polo neck and jeans. And I said, well what do you tell people you do. He said I tell them my job and they think I’m lying. I said I’m not surprised. I said dress the part man, you’re a ship’s captain, you’re in charge of a billion pound superyacht or however much it cost, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit. But I said when you walk in a club it should look like you’ve just walked off a ship that you own. And as soon as he came round to my way of thinking I don’t think there was any way of stopping him then.
J: Yeah I remember giving you one of my personal clients and this guy was actually being refused entry to clubs.
D: Yeah I know the guy, yeah I know who you’re talking about.
J: And I’ve done a video for you giving a great testimonial about that before, cos what you did with him was exceptional, cos people actually turned round and it’s like he actually owned the club. Like who’s this guy, why is he dressed so sharp. I’ve told this story before and I’m sure its relative to many people you work with, is that they are these high value people. It just doesn’t look like they are. And you do an exceptional job of actually bringing that out within their clothes and their dress sense.
D: Thank you very much, and I think what you said about value is quite interesting cos you don’t have to have a lot of money to dress well, appear well dressed or to be a stylish person. Value as you know can come from many different sources, in lifestyle or in your career. You don’t have to sail yachts and fly rocket ships and scuba dive to a million feet under the sea. You could be a regular person. But you can still be a regular bloke but you can still look fantastic. Cos your clothes give you confidence. Just cos you don’t have the best job in the world or you don’t have the most money in the world it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have the most confidence.
J: I think you’ve told me this before but it shows you care, it shows you care about your personal image, and some people are very lazy about how they’re being perceived.
D: I know, obviously what you do Johnny, you work with guys trying to attract women, and that’s what this podcast is all about but that’s not always what I’m dealing with. I’m dealing with guys in careers etc. and every guy you have, you have to make him look good and It’s got to be a part of you cos if you can’t show you care for yourself then how can you care for yourself? And a woman is going to notice that as well. You know, if you can’t shave in the morning or if you can’t make sure your jeans are the right length and they look scruffy, then how are you gonna make sure that a woman has food on the table and a roof over her head and holidays and what have you?
J: It’s a small thing. When I got good at game I was getting good results but then after I started caring about my image after I started working with you and you helped me have an understanding of what style and what cut on different trouser legs and different types of blazers and shirts, I was getting loads of indicators off women. It just made it more effortless.
D: It is like having a secret weapon isn’t it? And guys go, it doesn’t matter, I’m really happy in myself and this that and the other. That’s great and that’s a really good thing to have but if you can, without spending a fortune, have an extra weapon in that toolbox, why not have it? Why push an elephant uphill when you can sledge down it.
J: The big thing at the moment, Dan, is Christmas has just gone by and it’s all the sales. And in my experience, typically you know how it is, you get jumpers and all sorts of stuff and it’s always the wrong size. They can never get it right. You know, your family and friends and stuff, They’re trying to do you well, bless them. So I go out into the sales and I just can’t find anything. I’m sure I’m not the only one experiencing this. There’s some stuff out there but you can never find the right size. So how does someone beat the January sales and get the decent thing?
D: Well there are a couple of different techniques for this. First of all, the important thing to say is that you can never get away from the fact that the sales are full of junk. It’s only XXXL size and all the good stuff goes on Boxing Day, you can’t get around that. Something I used to do, obviously it’s nice to get a bargain, you can create wishlists online. And all the sale stuff goes on sale usually Christmas Eve, online. So if you’ve got a wishlist of all these nice things you like, some might go on sale, some might not, but you could literally order that Christmas eve and get it for half price. Some people do it for Christmas presents but I just used to do it for clothes. But this is something I advise people who are on a lower budget. Get a wishlist online and do it on three or four different websites. There’s even an app for that where you can bang it all on one website and you can create a wishlist from any website you like. And as soon as the sales hit, you get an indicator for when the prices come down and you can buy it and you don’t even have to worry about the sales.
J: What websites are online that people can immediately do that?
D: Every fashion site has a wishlist now, every good clothes site. I mean, ASOS does it. Put it this way, if ASOS does, everyone does it. I don’t use ASOS for whatever reason that may be, but I don’t use it. You can use H&M, anything from H&M and Topman all the way up to Gucci and Prada, all these places do it. Another thing you can do – this is a bit more sneaky – to get past the sales , is every shop has a storecard and with most of these storecards you can pay about three or four pounds for insurance. And what happens with that insurance is if an item you bought at full price goes on sale, you go back with the receipt and they give you the difference. So you can sign up to storecards in December, buy the things you want, and go back in January and get your money back. So you’ve got the sizes you want, you’ve got everything you needed. And you haven’t had to dash through the sales you’ve just gone in and picked a nice lump up after Christmas.
J: Nice.
D: That’s a good one, that one. And if you don’t want a storecard, chop it up after January and be done with it.
J: I like that one Dan, you’ve opened my mind up there. I haven’t really explored that. That’s another thing you’ve said to me as well, something you’ve shared with many of your clients as well. When you go out, looking for an outfit, you need to be putting yourself in a woman’s head when she’s going out to a shopping. She’s thinking about the recipe and all the different ingredients that make up that meal.
D: Exactly, I mean as guys what we tend to do is go, alright my jeans are knackered or my shoes are knackered, I need some new ones and we’re gonna go out and get some. And well only go out and go I need this, I need shoes, I’m gonna go get shoes and then I’m gonna go home and watch football or I’m gonna go get drunk, whatever. You’ve got to think like a woman when it comes to shopping and trust me, it makes life much easier cos you’re not fighting through the shops looking for one pair of shoes. You gotta think, right, okay, so let’s have a look at this shirt, I need something smart for tonight, will it match these jeans? Will it go with the belt and shoes that I’ve got? Have I got a belt and shoes? You’ve gotta think of the bigger picture. And that’s what’ll make it much easier. The best thing to do really, is if you know what you’re wearing and you need something to complete that outfit, lay it out on your bed, take a picture of it, do it with a few different outfits, and then you think, okay, I’m going out, I need to buy a shirt to go with that outfit. You’ve got a reference in front of you. So I mean, who hasn’t got a camera phone these days? So take a few options on the phone. And just ask, try not to ask shop assistants cos they just wanna sell you stuff, we both know that’s true. I started out personal styling in literally every high street store you can think of. And the people I thought I were learning off, I weren’t at all. The shop assistant’s favourite phrase is, these are really popular at the minute. Great. You know what I mean? Does that suit me, does it fit me? Does it go with my style? They don’t tell you any of that stuff. So try and think for yourself, that’s what I tell my customers and of course if you’re one of my customers you can ask me and send me a photograph, you know, the amount of messages I get every day saying will this suit me, will this go with this, is this my colour, every day mate.
J: That’s if they can get through, Dan, cos I literally pester you every day for what I should be wearing. No that’s a good one. I like that. Lay it all out on the bed cos it’s not always easy to remember what you’ve got in that wardrobe.
D: No it’s not and the other thing to think about is whatever’s going on in your head is probably different when you get back. Even I’ve done it, I’ve thought I could wear that one with this one, that jacket I can wear with this tie or this pair of trousers or whatever then I’ve come home and I’ve gone, Jesus, that’s a different colour altogether. So that’s where it came from, from me. I started taking pictures and thinking, how can I put this together? Or if you’re shopping quite currently, go find the stuff you bought in the store again, pick them up and try it with an outfit you’re trying to pick from the existing items. So that’s another good way of doing it. If you’re buying stuff recently, pick up the stuff you’ve already bought and try it with the new stuff.
J: I like that, I really do, which leads me onto another question that someone has actually emailed me in. What are the must-haves for the wardrobe in 2013?
D: You know, ‘must-haves’, it’s quite a funny impression. I once saw this in a magazine, I think it was GQ. Great magazine, but it said, Must-haves of 2008, I think it was. And the first item on the list was this grey scarf that was about 700 quid, and I’ll be honest with you, Johnny, I survived winter 2008 without that scarf, that wasn’t a must-have for me. I got through quite alright. But my point is nothing’s a must-have. The fact is 99% of people don’t know what’s in fashion. A lot of people claim to do but they don’t. And fashion’s a subjective thing. So if people are saying this is a must-have, you must have this, that’s gonna differ from one publication to the next. So make your own mind up. If you like something and you think it suits you, buy it, who cares if you must have it or not. Cos you don’t. You’re gonna survive, you’re gonna get through in your own way if you choose your own clothes.
J: I understand, and for you, from the conversations we’ve been having, something that’s important to me was matching the colours up. If you match your eyes and your hair colour. Cos I was never one to wear colours.
D: Yeah you were in black and white when I met you weren’t you.
J: I looked like a funeral director, man.
D: I thought I was watching 1956, it was just black and white everywhere, no colour. We changed that though didn’t we. So when you go see these image consultants, which by the way I trained as, and it was the most abysmal training of my life, they’ll do this colour consultation system. I used to do this in the early days but all they used to get is like 65 year old retired people that wanted to know what colour suited them. Now first thing to say is, if you find the perfect colour that suits you, you go out in the shop and try find it. If you find it, try and find it on a garment that fits you. You’re narrowing your field of vision so you’re never gonna find it. So I came up with a trick that’ll really streamline how to choose colours. I’ll try and keep this simple, I’ll try and keep this uncomplicated, just bear with me. So a colour should work in conjunction with your skin tone, your eye colour and your hair colour because that’s what’s on show all the time, right? So a combination of all three. Now, the quick way I found to do this, especially when I’m with a customer as well: so, look into a person’s eyes and decide whether they are dark or light, whether they are cool or warm, or whether they are muted or bright, so you’ve got these 6 options. So let’s say you’ve got brown eyes. That’s deep. So you’re gonna suit dark colours. That’s just on your eyes. Now with light hair, which is gonna be rare with dark eyes, you’re gonna be cool. Cos that’s like a mix of dark and light so you’re gonna go for cool colours. If you’ve got dark eyes and dark hair, you’re gonna suit dark colours. So let’s say you suit dark colours. Let’s say you put a black tie on, that’s gonna be great for you. The way to make that black stand out then is to contrast it, so black goes really well with white. Now, you were doing that, weren’t you. I don’t know why. It were just insane, but that fact is, you don’t suit black and white. You suit light blues cos you got light hair, light eyes, and you’ve got a light complexion. So you’re like a mixture between light colours and bright colours.
J: So kind of Autumny colours.
D: Not Autumny, no, cos what colour are your eyes?
J: They’re green.
D: Okay cool, so are they light green, bright green, dark green? Which one would you say you are?
J: Light green.
D: Okay so you’ve got light green eyes, and you’ve got light hair, so you’ve got like mousey brown hair right? It’s quite a soft, light colour. So you’d be suiting pine green, light pine green if such a thing exists. Maybe some turquoises but like a softened turquoise – not a bright, high contrast colour. Colours that tone well with each other and have got an element of grey in there. And that’s what suits you, so it corresponds with both your eyes and your hair and your skin. Gimme an example, gimme a celebrity and we’ll quickly do some colours on someone that we’ll all know who they are.
J: Okay, Al Pacino.
D: Okay great, so we all know Al Pacino, he’s Italian right? He’s Italian looking. Olive skin, he’s got deep brown eyes and he’s got black hair. He’s gonna suit dark colours, contrasted with really light colours. So like I was saying about the black and white thing, works really well. A deep red against a light blue, those work really well. I think if you see him in all the gangster movies he’ll generally wear the deeper colours to make people take him seriously. Have a look at him in Godfather. Which is the one where he’s really in control, is it Godfather 2 when he comes back from Sicily? Or is that the first one? Whichever one it is anyway, he’s sat in that chair, in his big mansion house and he’s got like a black suit on. That’s when he looks really powerful cos people are gonna take him seriously. Dark colours work really well on him. Sorry I got complicated there but colours, it can be quite a complex thing but it is really simple once you’ve got to grips with it.
J: What about the older man, with like grey hair. Let’s have an example, George Clooney.
D: Well you see with George Clooney he’s another one. What did he look like when he was younger? He had dark hair so he suited dark colours. As he’s got older, he’s greyed out a little bit, right?
J: Right.
D: But have you ever seen George Clooney out of a sharp suit with a white shirt on?
J: Have I ever seen him out of one?
D: Yeah he’s always in a sharp suit, is George Cooney. I don’t wanna know about you and George Clooney and what you get up to but you know what I’m hankering at don’t you? So I think cos he’s greying, you’ve got to appreciate that he’s gonna start suiting cooler colours. So like Phillip Schofield, not quite as high profile as George Clooney, has done exactly the same thing. And he looks really good in cool colours now. So like cool greens and aquamarine green and any sea-green type of colour. He looks really good in those sort of colours, just a really cool palette. You can google this by the way, just put in ‘cool colours’ and you’ll have something falling all over the place if you want a reference. Those two guys have a similarly coloured palette.
J: I think this is interesting as well, so two things you’ve already come up to today. So you could always have on your iPhone, a colour palette. People are gonna be listening to the conversation we’re having right now and they can go away and go online and look for a colour palette that would suit their hair colour and eyes and they can go out and put their outfit on the bed and take a picture and have that on their iPhone.
D: Yeah it’s so easy. Use technology, it makes life so much easier. Especially in what I do, cos everything’s visual, right? I’m working in fashion so everything’s visual. So to see it on a page is great. When I work with customers I obviously like to get really involved in their personality and their lifestyle etc. And I have to come up with ideas to style that person in. So what I tend to do is, I’ll show them what I’m thinking by referring them to certain images, and I use my iPad to do that. So a customer can look and they can say, you know what? I really like that or do you know what? Dan, I can’t see myself wearing that. And then we go, cool okay and we’ll try what works and see what doesn’t, but generally that streamlines your opinions and gives you visual references by just using a bit of technology. It’s there to be used.
J: It is really artistic what you do, Dan. I’ve said this before as well, when we went to that event and it was the first time you put an outfit together for me.
D: Yeah I remember this night now.
J: Jesus, that was insane man. That was the night we were hanging out with, what’s her name?
D: Was that Lauren Pope, was it? Yeah she’s not as good as she looks on telly.
J: Yeah it was interesting man, you were just looking at things and I was like, woah. And your mind’s wandering and I’m thinking, what’s going on in your head right now?
D: I think I remember saying to you, cos in general what I’ll do is I’ll sit back and let you reveal a lot about yourself and then I’ll home in on things that’ll work for you. And I remember going in to that event and I saw you speaking to people, obviously there were a few celebrities there. That was the GQ event, weren’t it, that we went to. And there’s all these celebrities swanning around and you’re doing your thing and getting involved and I thought you know what, this guy’s cheeky. This guy can get away with a lot. And with you being tall, people always look up to you. I thought, who does that remind me of? And all I could think of was a young Robert de Niro or a young Clark Gable, especially with that tache you got on. So what I wanted to give you was a really classic but modern image. So what I did was use colours to give you that edginess and I gave you the classic look with a waistcoat. Cos I know you have really wide shoulders don’t you, so you have a lot trouble finding blazers that fit around your shoulders and fits nice and slim around the waist. It is a common problem for a lot of guys. So I thought if we use a waistcoat, we can use that really well fitted in the back and it’ll go well with this classic image. I remember doing that purple crosshatch tie with a couple of colours in between it and we put that under a waistcoat. And we put together with some dark, dark brown boots and a matching belt. I remember there was a point where you kept rolling your trouser legs up and I told you to stop doing it cos your height is such an attribute so we want to make your legs as long as possible, and by rolling them up you were stopping that. So we got you away from that. And we walked down Oxford Street and I think we did like, you know when Superman in the old Superman films went into a phone box or something, comes out the other side and he’s a totally different guy? That was like your Oxford Street moment, your Superman moment. We came out of whatever the event was and you had this stuff about you like, Dan I need to go into that club, that’s where I’m going now. So I was like okay let’s walk. And you got changed going down Oxford Street and you were throwing old clothes in bins.
J: I remember that so clearly. And I had these new outfits that I took with me to Hollywood and this is crazy. I was walking down the Hollywood strip and these guys were stopping me going, hey, are you an actor? And I have to say, as glamorous as Hollywood is, well in actual fact it is quite trashy in Hollywood, I was the best dressed in Hollywood.
D: I can imagine.
J: And that is thanks to you, man, you made me an international dandy.
D: I think I remember seeing a picture of you actually and didn’t some guys come up and say, hey man are you an actor, can we come get our photo with you?
J: Yeah, that’s just one example, you know. I’ve been pulled aside many a time to appear in fashion blogs and stuff, people wanna know my dress style and where I get it from. It’s insane. But it all goes back to giving you a sense of identity, it makes you feel unique. You’re not one of those chequered shirt picnics.
D: The lumberjacks.
J: For me, like, talk about trends, the must-haves. Someone wrote an article of must-haves of 2011/12, right?
D: Yeah, I don’t think you should try too hard to be unique cos I think too many people try too hard to be so different and to stand out and you end up doing it for the wrong reasons. Like people are wearing purple trousers and a pink hat and you just think, bloody hell you look ridiculous. Like a friend of mine in New York who’s a stylist, wrote a really interesting article about what a stylish man is, a fashionable man is, and what a well dressed man is. And you know what? It was a great article but every time I’ll say be well dressed cos your personality is gonna come out. You’re gonna feel like you can be yourself. When you got your suit of armour on, when you feel ten feet tall, when your clothes fit correctly. You know what it feels like.
J: At the end of the day we live in a blunt world and as much as people say you shouldn’t. People fucking do.
D: Totally, well that’s what goes on in our heads. I remember doing an event for Kezia Noble. I was up at the front and I started the speech by saying no matter what, people judge you within the first 10 seconds of meeting you. People cast an image. That sticks. We’ve all heard this before but that image sticks in someone’s head. And I think the thing to do is, well I know the thing to do is, to get that client, yourself, myself or whoever to get them looking in such a way that whenever someone judges you, that’s what they’re gonna get 20 minutes later, a week later, a month later. You can’t fake that, you can’t polish a turd, you can’t put glitter on shit. Well you can put glitter on shit but it’s gonna fall off isn’t it. You gotta dress someone for who they are and what they do. I know really well dressed binmen, in fact one of my customers is a binman. He’s one of the best dressed guys I know.
J: Wow, a dandy binman.
D: A dandy binman. He wears a cravat and chucks bins in the back of a van.
J: So Dan, this leads on to something else as well, can you ever be over dressed?
D: I always say, always be dressed one up, never one under. One under you’re gonna fade into the background or stand out for the wrong reasons. This is probably a common thing actually. You know when you go to a wedding, I know people who’ve gone to a wedding, you get dressed up and people don’t wanna go out afterwards cos they’re dressed up nice and the reason for that is because they’re gonna get attention for being dressed how they are. It’s because they’re dressed above everyone else, they don’t wanna stick out. But to me, that’s what you want, you wanna stand out. We’ve been in places haven’t we, or you’ve been in places on your own, and we’ve always tried to dress a level smarter. It doesn’t mean chucking a tuxedo on to go to a club, it just means adding that extra bit of detail in, that extra bit of care, it makes a difference. We’ve been approached god knows how many times by all sorts of people, from drunk Scandinavian girls to club owners. All these things have happened.
J: Yeah so the point is, can you over dress in the environment? Yes you can and yes it’s gonna get you attention. What is this area of life about doing? It’s about speaking to women and getting their attention. So if that’s getting their attention and women are coming over and speaking to you, that’s a beautiful thing, right?
D: Yeah I think the main point to make is, you can be overdressed, you can. What you’ve gotta define that as, is being well dressed doesn’t mean you have to be overdressed. It’s about getting that level of formality right, and that’s the key point. People think if you’re too smart, like I just said, you don’t wanna walk into a club with a tuxedo and a bowtie on, you’ve got the formality wrong, but you can walk into a club with a waistcoat, a blazer and a tie on. It doesn’t mean you’re too formal, but it does mean you’re dressed nicely. It’s just about the level of formality. So don’t get the formality wrong. You’re not gonna go in with a tophat and tails to go into a Starbucks, but you might put on a nice cashmere jumper, a tie with a shirt on underneath. That’s not being overdressed, it’s about being smart, and not being too formal. I think it’s a good point to make actually about not being too formal and dressing for the occasion. Again, being overdressed.
J: Okay, I have another question that someone’s emailed in with. What are the most common fashion mistakes?
D: Let’s just get away from fashion for a second cos people think fashion is how they look. Fashion is just what’s in trend at the minute. When people ask me this question what I think they mean is what are the mistakes people make when choosing what to wear and how to dress. I’ve said it time and time again, the biggest mistake you can make is getting clothes that don’t fit. Some guys will say yeah well I don’t feel comfortable in slim fit jeans, nine times out of ten its cos you haven’t tried a pair of slim fit jeans on. I think every customer I’ve ever had that I’ve tried to put into slim fit jeans, they’ve gone no. I’ve said okay it’s your money, that’s great, personally I think you look amazing in them. Try some wider cut jeans on now. And they try the wide cut jeans and they go these feel huge. And I’m saying they make you look huge, right? So it’s a case of try them, you don’t have to buy them. Try a pair of slim fit jeans or something that fits you much better. Bigger guys can go for things that are too tight and they can go for stuff that are way too big. Slim guys can go for wide fitting garments. It doesn’t matter who you are what you look like, what size you are, what colour you are, everyone has the same hold ups, so the most common mistake is a bad fit. It’s a really bad fit. It’s really simple. I did a video on Youtube about this. There’s three simple rules. Choose clothes that make your legs look long, your waist slim and your shoulders wide. Those are the three main rules I always stick to.
J: Nice, I like it. Can you just say that again for us Dan?
D: Yeah sure, there are three main rules; make your legs look long; make your waist look narrow and make your shoulders look wide. And if you stick to those rules you’ll have a more masculine figure and you’ll command a lot more attention.
J: So it’s all about making that triangle shape with your body.
D: Yeah as you know I’m on Savile Row now, I work with quite a few famous people. And a good tailor – I’m working with one of the best – will do those three things. That is the principle with a good suit. There’s a lot more to consider but the idea of a suit is to make you look slimmer. Did you know, you know you get like a murder of crows and you get all these weird collective nouns for people, do you know the name for a group of tailors, the collective noun?
J: No, what is it?
D: It’s a disguisery, basically saying that the job of a group of tailors is to disguise someone’s figure. You see what it means? It’s such an interesting term, that. And that’s exactly what a tailor does. And I try and take that into casual clothing, work clothing. It doesn’t just have to be suits, and I’ve whittled it down into those three rules, and it does come down to those three rules.
J: That even expands doesn’t it Dan, I remember you mentioning something about keeping those lines streamline. I remember you saying at an event to everyone, alright everyone get your stuff out of your pocket, what have you got in your pocket? And I remember you picking up these ridiculous size wallets that looked like bricks.
D: Right, cos what do you need in your wallet? What a big chunky wallet does is add weight to your waist. We’re trying to make your waist look slimmer and this is just adding bulk, its going the wrong way. What do you need in your wallet? You need identification, a credit card and some money. What else do you need in your wallet? If you don’t need it, why are you carrying it around? So I do this with a lot of students. I say, take out whatever’s in your pocket and let’s have a look at it. The best thing I come up with, I like a money clip because I think it looks a bit classier as well.
J: I’m definitely with you on that one. I’ve got a lovely little card and cash holder from somewhere in London.
D: Yeah they’re brilliant. One of my clients on Savile Row, he swears by them. Is it one of the ones where it’s just the money clip and you’ve got the leather on the front? J: It’s not a money clip, it’s just a very slim wallet, but the craftsmanship behind it is absolutely superb. It’s crocodile skin, it’s got a lovely silky inner liner.
D: To me a wallet, shoes and a watch is what you should spend money on. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard it from all walks of life; from women, from mothers, from girlfriends of boys, they always say shoes are the judge of a man and it can completely change an outfit. So if you spend good money on shoes and a good wallet, those are what are gonna help define you and raise that bar in the style stakes. Cos a wallet and a pair of shoes can last you for years and years and years. It might seem like you’re spending a bit of money in the short term but look after those things cos they’re worth a weight in gold, a good pair of shoes and a good wallet.
J: I get that man, it all goes back to the detail again doesn’t it, you know, spend the money on the detail cos it’s the smaller things that get noticed.
D: It is. I remember you never used to wear pocket squares did you.
J: I never knew what a pocket square was, is it a hanky? I don’t know.
D: Yeah I was like no, you need to put some of this in and I think we matched, cos going back to that GQ event cos I remember that really vividly, we matched a pocket square up to that tie, and you were like why’ve you done that, why would I wanna wear that for, people are just gonna pull it out. It actually made a huge difference cos it just added that detail in. I’ll give you a quick tip actually on pocket squares and ties. A lot of people maybe struggle how to co-ordinate them, unless they’re matching. So you’ve got the scale of a colour, right? If something’s in a large scale it’s quite wide, it’s quite broad, it’s quite noticeable. So let’s say you’ve got a tie in wide stripes and you wanna wear a pocket square with that. The scale of the pattern on the pocket square should always be a lot finer than what’s on the tie. The pocket square is accompanying the tie. You’re not trying to make everything stand out, you’re trying to make everything work together. And that’s a good rule to follow. The scale on the pocket square is slightly finer than what’s on the tie. If you’re using a tie you’re wanting people to focus on that, its elongating your body, it should be a good colour for you and whatever you wear around it should be framing it, it should be like a picture frame around it.
J: Yeah. I’m looking at my tie rack right now and all the different ties and then I’ve got a box full of pocket squares and I’m trying to put them all together in my head.
D: It’s not hard. You put them together and I always say to people, fashion or style or the way you dress, it’s like telling a good joke. If you tell a good joke, people are gonna laugh. If you put a good outfit together people are gonna notice. If you have to start explaining yourself, when you’ve told a joke it ain’t a joke is it, and if you have to start explaining why what you’re wearing works, people haven’t noticed. You haven’t done what you set out to do. It’s like telling a good joke.
J: I get that.
D: So that comes back to the point you were saying about going into stores and not knowing what to pick up. Guys, especially, will look at a shirt and think about it as a single item, rather than part of an outfit. Think of the bigger picture, think of the bigger entity and that’s where things will start to get better for you. That’s when you’re gonna start to understand it and people are gonna notice and you’re gonna start creating a signature look.
J: Or they can just go and see you.
D: Or they can just go and see me. I can do all the hard work for you.
J: That’s absolutely great man, there’s so much amazing advice that people can go out and get on with right now. There’s so much value in this podcast, that’s great.
D: I hope so. I try to give as much away for free as possible. I try to say to everybody about going out to find, I have a short process which I try to get guys to take on board to improve the way they dress. Use Pinterest. I really love Pinterest at the minute because what you can do is, you can go find lots of images you like and you can put them all onto one board.
J: For those that don’t know – Pinterest, what is that?
D: Pinterest is really good, imagine Google images. But what you can do is, you can save an image to your own set of images. So it’s like having your own photo book. So if you go on to Pinterest and you go, I quite like the way Ryan Gosling dresses, you go on Pinterest and you type in Ryan Gosling. It throws up hundreds and hundreds of images of him. You go through the outfits he’s wearing, the pictures you like, you go Pin it. It creates a board for Ryan Gosling. And you can do that with as many boards as you want. I use this with a lot of customers, you know. So if a guy comes to me and he doesn’t know what he likes, doesn’t know what he should be wearing, I say, go on Pinterest, create a quick account, and we’ll have a secret board. And we have a secret board where I can look at and he can look at and we share these different images. There’s things he or she comes up with and there’s things I come up with and I can tell them why things work or why things don’t work and it’s a great way to do it. That’s just the first thing if you wanna improve your style.
J: Like collecting.
D: Yeah like collecting and you’ll notice your head will start swimming with ideas. And you’ll eventually say, do you know what? I really like that one. I really do like that one. But the other good thing about Pinterest, obviously what you do is to do with meeting girls and attracting women. A good thing to do is you can look at all the images that girls really like. I remember this image of this one guy, it was off a fashion website. He was with his girlfriend and he was dressed so simple but everything fit him perfectly. And I’m not joking, it must have been repinned thousands upon thousands of times. It was always repinned by women. The heading was, Perfect Men’s Style. It was so simple, I thought I’ll try this out. I offered this to a few of my customers for free. I said go try this out and it worked. The answers are right in front of you, you just gotta go look for them.
J: Right, I know, I personally use that website myself. It is really easy to use. It’s another great little tool for people to use.
D: Yeah, it’s great fun though. I do it when I’m sat on the train or in lunch hour when I’m bored.
J: Do you ever get off that iPad?
D: No man, never.
J: What I wanna talk about now, you what I wanna talk about. It’s the Kiss and Tell Podcast, man.
D: It’s the Kiss and Tell Podcast, man.
J: I know you’ve recently found a new love in your life. Why don’t you tell us about that, how did you meet, what are the circumstances? Cos I know you’re not be of these guys who goes around picking up women for the fun of it, cos that’s pretty creepy no?
D: Well I’ve always the best way to meet people is through friends and through social circles. I don’t know what the kiss and tell approach to that is. But I mean I think it’s a great way. The girl I’m with now, I knew all of her friends, she knew all of my friends, but we didn’t know each other. And her name kept coming up in certain conversations and I said, look, I’m single, your friends single, why have you never introduced us? So what I thought I’d do is I’d stick my neck out, thought I’ll get in touch, so I did and look where it’s got me. It’s got me in one of the best relationships I’ve ever been in. Just stick your neck out and get on with it.
J: I’m sure the attraction was always there anyway. I’m sure she thought there’s this Dan guy, he’s always floating around on the scene, and you’re thinking the same about her so it was just a matter of time really for someone to go, hey you know what, we’ve never even spoke.
D: Yeah if you don’t do anything about it, it’s never gonna happen is it? Take the reins, get a grip on the situation. It’s being a man and taking action.
D: Exactly.
J: That’s brilliant, obviously I won’t ask you any more details about it but I’m really happy for you, you know, she seems like a really cool girl and you’ve bagged a goodun.
D: Thank you, thank you very much.
J: I’m gonna have to wrap it up there man, it’s been great. I’m gonna make sure the guys can check you out. I’ll put a link in the description when this goes out so there’ll be no trouble about finding Daniel Johnson online. Again, exceptional advice.
D: Thank you, if any Kiss and Tell people get in touch maybe we can sort something out. Maybe we can come to some special arrangement for any Kiss and Tell listeners.
J: That’d be fantastic, sure.
D: If anyone gets in touch, mention Johnny’s name, mention Kiss and Tell, we’ll sort something out.
J: Yeah, my listeners would really appreciate that. I’d appreciate that.
D: Take care, won’t you, thanks for calling.
J: I’ll be in touch, maybe asking for a new tie and pocket square.
D: You know all the tips already, you know what you’re doing.
J: Take care
D: Take care
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