The Secrets Of Dressing Well, According To ‘Articles of Style’ Founder Dan Trepanier
One of the menswear world’s leading experts reveals his essential tips.
Dan Trepanier was named one of Esquire’s “Best-Dressed Men in America” while completing his psychology degree at Columbia University, where he also starred on the Ivy League stalwart’s basketball team. He then studied menswear design at the Fashion Institute of New York, apprenticed with a bespoke tailor where he became head fitter, and worked as a menswear buyer for Saks Fifth Avenue before starting a menswear blog.
He subsequently launched Articles of Style as an online tailoring shop, and in 2018 he opened a brick-and-mortar store on Thompson St. in New York City—then pivoted again the following year when Covid shuttered it, offering tailoring appointments via Zoom. These soon proved to be a hit, and he has has since built Articles of Style (AOS) into a full-service online custom clothing brand that specializes in fine tailored clothing with custom fittings (from home) and professional wardrobe development.
His “aha” moment came “after hearing from thousands of clients who had the same issues with curating and styling”, leading Trepanier to debut his signature Capsule Wardrobe concept. “A capsule wardrobe is a collection of garments that are specifically chosen to be mixed-and-matched in any combination to create a range of stylish outfits for different occasions,” he notes.
“It can include anything from t-shirts to suits—depending on your needs and lifestyle. With a perfect capsule, you can get dressed in the dark (in two minutes or less), always look stylish, and have a great outfit for any occasion. It takes all the effort and stress out of getting dressed because everything works together, so you can’t make any mistakes.”
Trepanier tells us that fabric selection separates the truly well dressed from the herd. In 2022 AOS linked up with New York’s Gladson Ltd., premier purveyor of fine suiting fabrics, gaining access to their custom creations and network of partnerships with the best cloth mills in the world. The company, whose heritage dates to the late 1930’s, began by importing fabric from the United Kingdom; its English sister company Huddersfield Fine Worsteds proudly holds a Royal Warrant from Britain’s royal family.
Though English mills remain an important source for Gladson, it has since formed prestigious partnerships, some of them exclusive, with the most important Italian mills including Vitale Barberis Canonico and Carlo Barbera. Meanwhile it has developed unique and proprietary luxury fabrics including QX2, Fresco, Genesis, Bedlam, Flash and Bamboo, a silky, sustainable fabric made from plants.
“Mickey Solomon (owner and designer of Gladson) is a legend in the fabric business, and the genius behind some of the most beloved cloths in all of menswear,” Trepanier tells us. “He has a way of understanding not only which styles, colors and patterns are classic and versatile, but also which performance qualities the raw fibers have, how they should be blended together and which treatment processes are required to achieve a fabric that is ready to create a garment that will last the test of time and is highly wearable in a modern man’s wardrobe.”
In addition, “Mickey and the Gladson team really understand what we’re trying to do with Articles of Style,” Trepanier notes. “That is, to preserve the benefits of traditional custom tailoring—customization, personal fittings, quality craftsmanship, timeless appeal—but update the garments and aesthetic for a modern, more casual lifestyle. That means we need fabrics that are soft, unstructured, comfortable and flexible enough to be dressed-up when needed, but also styled casually for day-to-day wear.”
Trepanier and Gladson “work together to create the perfect fabrics that can help our clients dress better in a wide range of occasions, from business, to dates, to evenings out, etc. We make garments guys can live in, and hopefully get better over time, and the fabric is one of the most important elements.”
Today, Trepanier says he is creating exceptionally fine garments and “truly helping people refine their image, create functional wardrobes, and use the power of style to live their best lives.” In addition to wardrobe consultations, one-hour Zoom sessions wherein Trepanier helps you curate your closet, refine your style and make a shopping plan so you can build a long-term wardrobe that works for you, no matter where you shop (no purchase is necessary). AOS clients run the gamut from A-listers and actors like Jonathan Goldsmith, aka “The Most Interesting Man in the World” from the Dos Equis beer ads, to athletes like UFC fighter Michael Chandler, among others.
Articles of Style offers both a collection of off-the-rack clothing and accessories curated by Trepanier as well as full custom. All consultations can be done via Zoom, and custom clients receive try-on “fitting” garments which they then have someone photograph themselves wearing so Trepanier and his team can fine tune the git. AOS’s house style features lightweight, full canvas construction, a hallmark of fine tailoring, and favors a natural shoulder with minimal padding, patch or besom pockets, and single pleated, and mid-rise trousers with legs that are not too slim.
“The reality is that most people don’t have the time or experience needed to build a great wardrobe,” Trepanier tells us. “They shop impulsively and hurriedly—so their closets are filled with random items that don’t fit them properly and don’t make sense together. They have a lot of ‘stuff’ but don’t wear 90% of it. They find choosing outfits to be stressful and time consuming, because they don’t have the right items in their closets. They often ‘give up’ on fashion altogether and wear the same generic items over and over again. They never experience the joys, benefits and opportunities that come with being well dressed.”
His mission: to change all that. An easy way to start: sign up for his free newsletter here to get style tips, early access to new products, exclusive discounts and more. Then clear some room in your closet and on your social calendar, because, as the saying goes, clothes make the man.
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