QUESTION:
I often find myself caught between the desire to be a bon vivant, and wanting to lead a more balanced, wholesome lifestyle. My question is: how does one go about striking a balance between these two inclinations, and can one truly enjoy life to its fullest without surrendering one’s health or looks?
– Mr. TRAVIS WILLIAM CAMPBELL of Toronto, Canada.

QUESTION: When a designer garment says it’s “dry clean only”, is it really dry clean only? When a high-street garment says it’s dry clean only, is it just to cover the store’s back? Has anyone risked washing a dry clean only garment and lived to tell the tale? Has anyone ruined something precious? Stories and advice, please.

QUESTION: Recently a member of the FANTASTIC MAN staff wore his light blue seersucker jacket to a dinner when he was told off by somebody saying: “Oh, really? Seersucker before Easter?” Now, does menswear need rules like that? Or can it be free for all and can one wear snowflake jumpers in August, chinos for Christmas, or patent leather shoes in daytime? Are there any dress rules that make sense and why? Thank you.

QUESTION:
Is there any item more useless in modern life than the cufflink?
— Mr. RICHARD SALMON, LONDON

ANSWER:
The editors of FANTASTIC MAN are reticent to be prescriptive on matters of style, however it should be known that the cufflink is an item that is absent from both the pages of the magazine and in the office of the magazine itself. It is an unwritten rule that any employee found wearing cufflinks to work will be summarily dismissed. Would anyone care to defend the cufflink? Or suggest a more useless item?

QUESTION:
Plaid shirts seem to be ubiquitous on the high street, and have been for a couple of years, but they are starting to feel incredibly last decade to me. I think I’m getting sick of plaid. What are some good alternatives? Or is plaid still stylish?
— Mr. BURKE BENJAMIN, LONDON

ANSWER:
Plaid shirts are indeed everywhere, as you point out, but of course the golden rule for the discriminating gentleman is that a personal sense of style combined with an eye for quality and fit will always trump the whims of trends. That said, a world of delicious shirting fabrics in vertical stripes, Prince of Wales checks, ginghams, and paisleys awaits those in need of a break. But perhaps readers have different thoughts on the subject?

QUESTION:
A new decade is upon us, and it behooves us to think beyond the season and even the year to the future of style for men. With that, we open the floor to our readers: what direction should menswear be going? What radical new styles and garments do we hope or expect to see emerging in the coming years? What will we be wearing in 2020?
— FANTASTIC MAN

QUESTION:
Now that December has begun, I want to keep the heat from leaving my increasingly bald pate. Yet I have such a fear of looking purposefully childish in a bobble hat, or worryingly “bloke”ish in a flat cap. What would you suggest?
— Mr. STEPHEN BURNS, LIVERPOOL

ANSWER:
Finding an appropriate form of head protection is indeed a challenge, as made evident by the many hip-hop artists and members of skate punk groups who have experimented with headgear with varying degrees of success. A BORSALINO hat looks fabulous but leaves the ears exposed, while a beanie hat is comfortable but can irreversibly muss one’s hair, which is quite probably worse than just suffering the cold. In other words, dear STEPHEN, there isn’t an easy answer… Is there?

QUESTION:
I have a vintage CHRISTIAN DIOR tie clip. But are tie bars and tie clips permissible accessories for the under-50 gentleman?
— Mr. KIRK RADER, OHIO

ANSWER:
The FANTASTIC MAN office is curious about the reader’s opinions but the consensus is that Mr. THOM BROWNE is the only human being alive and under 50 who gets away with it. Indeed maybe the real question here is: What is the relevance of the tie itself these days?

QUESTION:
As a slowly-but-surely balding young man with dark hair, I was wondering what alternatives I have to shaving my head? It’s so obvious to do that. Is there really no other option?
— Mr. WALD-LASOWSKI

ANSWER:
Dear Mr. WALD-LASOWSKI, as we’ve already told you in the current issue of FANTASTIC MAN this entirely depends on the speed and nature of your hair loss, which can strike in different ways. If your hair is receding from the front, then it can be worn rather long at quiff length and swept back for some considerable time, until the retreat is so pronounced that the widow’s peak threatens to become an island of hair on its own. This swept-back look can be incredibly handsome and doesn’t look like you’re hiding a bald patch.
But if the hair is retreating from the crown, creating a bald spot, or if your hair is thinning all over, the story is different. You should be aware of your own moment of shame—the point at which, when looking at your hair, you wish it were otherwise. If you are thinking that, you can assume that those around you are thinking the same, and out should come the clippers. Just shave it off and be done with it.
See the onslaught of baldness as marking the true arrival of manliness, rather than as a sign of defeat. Although it may feel like the end of youth, think of those elder gentlemen of your acquaintance: most of them probably have short, or even shaved hair, and yet they retain their distinguished air. Be glad to leave the lank locks of adolescence behind. To ease your transition, you might consider the advantages of facial hair instead. It could be that growing a slight beard cancels out any sense of going bald as being a loss.

QUESTION:
Is wearing jeans with a suit jacket an elegant look or Sussudio-era PHIL COLLINS?
— Mr. TOM MORTON, London

ANSWER:
Dear TOM, the immediate and quite insistent instinct to this is that you should avoid this look at all times. However with further thought some possibilities emerge which suggest it is not quite so black and white. Perhaps some white trainers could add a particular appeal, or what if there was an unusual scale to the jeans, such as ones of an extravagant width? It obviously deserves some further discussion. As luck would have it, there is an open forum for debate below.