This month’s style inspiration is Kim Taehyung, “V” of BTS. Yes, he’s a guy. Ha. Lately, men’s wear seems more inspiring to me than women’s. And he has a flair for fashion that I find very appealing.

Taehyung’s looks range from casual to, for lack of a better term, dapper. While he does have a love of designer fashion that I cannot personally afford, I still am inspired by how pieces and colors are put together.

One thing he does beautifully is black on black. So simple, yet modern and pleasing. Definitely not boring.

I’ve definitely been more drawn to all-black looks recently…or even the variation I do so often of the black column (black turtleneck + black jeans) with a third piece over top.

When doing color, he leans towards warm, autumny tones with lots of layering and pattern. And fall is my favorite style season for just these warm colors and the layering.

That center picture of the olive jacket with the olive flower shirt over the goldy-tan pants KILLS. ME. I almost bought a pair of jeans this color earlier this week but convinced myself they might be better in the fall. Am I going to regret that if I can’t find them in the fall? I just might be a different size then, that’s the reason I hesitate to buy them now. Thoughts? Come on, Jodie, tell me to buy them. I’m THIS close 🙂

His use of uncommon colors and color blends is such a vibe. I love it all.

He shares my love of navy + brown and brown + black a lot. And this springy green with the yellowy-brown trousers, LOVE. The navy trousers with the chocolate brown jacket w white shirt and sneakers is…all my navy and brown dreams.

He has these pea+olive green pants, that by themselves seem…ugly. It’s an ugly color. But I’ve seen them on him time and time again and the things he combines with them…I can’t even.

I have a deep love for sort of “off” colors. Colors that are greyed down or multiple colors sort of combined. I feel like sometimes they combine with more other colors than a “pure” color does, if that makes sense? Get past the “ugly” green and look how nicely it combines with the grey or the navy or the peachy blush. I think it’s a confident person that can select a color like that. I aspire to be that confident in my style.

He wears floral prints beautifully and has no problem wearing a shirt that would be considered a woman’s shirt.

This is one of the looks I’m obsessed with for spring. A feminine floral on a man-tailored button-down. And that ditzy floral with the tiny check trousers? So Much Yes.

Something I’ve been thinking about lately is how clothing has historically been considered to be gender-specific…but why? Clothing itself – fabric and fasteners – is not one gender or the other. That’s a construct we (humans at large, not WE: you reading this and me) have put on them. See -> https://chhsnews.com/4737/opinion/clothes-have-no-gender/.
And yet many people still…react…or make judgment on a man wearing “women’s” clothing…and, to a lesser extent, a woman wearing “men’s” clothing (somehow that seems more generally acceptable, and how does THAT make any sense?). Anyway, don’t want to go too far off-topic, but I’m happy to see more people in the public eye dressing as they want, without regard to gender.

ANYWAY.

THIS. I so love this palette. And the combination of everything together is just…chef’s kiss!. The v-neck over the button-down with tie is just a little unconventional and yet each piece is very tailored. He loves a backless shoe, which I think “casuals” down a more formal outfit. Also, and this is something I’ve really noticed while watching k-dramas – Asian men just GET a cropped length pant. And I LOVE (lovelovelove) that look. On men and women. And I just don’t see it on men in this country…and certainly not on straight men. I think it’s sharp-looking and modern.

We all know I love a stripe. And look at all those colors! Yum!

I’m sharing this next look for the interesting but almost unnoticeable detail (I kinda feel like that’s the person I would like to be, “interesting but almost unnoticeable”). At first glance, a simple enough outfit, basically black and white, but “smart casual.” Two things: the buff color loafers…I would not have thought of thought. I’d have been boring and gone with black. But those desaturated grape color socks just barely peeking out above the shoes – WHAT?? Where did THAT come from?! And yet – lovely. Interesting yet almost unnoticeable.

And I will finish up with the piece de resistance….he wore this at an award show…they won something (yet again) and were going up the steps to the stage single file. The rest were all dressed “awards show conservative.” He was last in line and when he appeared in the video clip it was just for a few seconds and I was like WAIT, WHAT? WHAT JUST HAPPENED? WHAT WAS THAT? I had to google it to find still photos of him in the grey Prada suit WITH A FUZZY RED CARDIGAN OVER IT!!! I’m dying. Who Does That??? I thought it was so…striking and original. It may not be your cup of tea. *I* will probably never wear such a thing. But. It screams. I am confident that I look good in everything…therefore, I can wear ANYTHING. And to feel like THAT? To see someone who feels like THAT?! That is an inspiration. THAT inspires me.

Phew. That was a long one. I was originally going to do “Inspired by: BTS” but since there are like four of them whose style I love, the post would have been 97 pages long. So I’ll do them separately.

Also, there was actually more I wanted to share here but my computer is TRYING TO KILL ME (I think it’s in cahoots with the sewing machine) and everything is taking SO much longer than it should. It keeps locking up almost every time I open up file explorer to upload an image to the blog. REBOOTREBOOTREBOOT. OMG.

If I’m dead tomorrow, you know who did it.

xoxo