Best Fashion Choices for Men Who Want to Look Younger

What makes one 55-year-old look 48 and another look 62 when both are wearing a shirt and trousers? Most of the gap comes from a handful of choices around the face and the cut of the clothes. Each of them can be changed within a weekend, and several cost less than a restaurant meal.

Dated Cuts and Fabrics

Some cuts make a man look a decade older before anyone has looked at his face. Double-pleated chinos with a wide leg, short-sleeved shirts long enough to reach the hip when untucked, and square-toed leather shoes all belong to the wardrobe of the late 1990s, and they make the wearer look as if he stopped shopping then. Braided leather belts and oversized branded buckles belong to the same period. A tie is rarely needed on a date at all, and a wide patterned one from the early 2000s dates the whole outfit.

A flat-front trouser with a gentle taper below the knee looks up to date without looking young for its own sake. Shirts cut slightly closer through the body, and short enough to wear untucked without covering the seat of the trousers, do the same on top. Polo shirts are a useful test of fit. A polo with sleeves that end mid-bicep and a hem that ends at the belt looks tidy, while one with sleeves past the elbow looks borrowed.

Shiny polyester dress trousers and short-sleeved business shirts with a chest pocket were office staples a generation ago, and many people under 50 still link them with that era. Matte natural fabrics such as cotton twill and wool look newer and cost little more at most chain stores.

A fine-gauge merino crew neck over a plain T-shirt looks modern in most settings, and a thick cable-knit jumper with a shawl collar tends to suggest a much older man by the fire.

Dark, unfaded jeans in a straight or slim-straight leg look right on a man of any age, while light stonewash with a high rise dates quickly. In a hot summer, shorts that end a few centimetres above the knee look sharper than cargo shorts that reach below it, and a plain leather slide or canvas shoe looks better with them than a sports sandal with velcro straps.

Statement Pieces and Attention

Loud patterns, unusual hats and brightly coloured shoes worn together tend to draw the eye before the man does.

That combination is classic peacocking, and on a man in his 50s it usually signals an effort to seem younger, which defeats the purpose. One strong piece, such as a patterned shirt under a plain jacket, keeps the interest without the rest of the outfit competing for attention.

Facial Hair and Perceived Age

Anthropologist Barnaby Dixson of Victoria University of Wellington and Paul Vasey of the University of Lethbridge photographed the same men before and after shaving in a 2012 study. Women said full beards made the men look older and less attractive, while men rated bearded men as higher in status.

A grey beard adds to the effect, since grey is the hair colour most strongly linked with age. A separate study by Nick Neave found that women gave light stubble the highest rating of the facial hair stages they saw. For a man trying to look younger, a short, even stubble or a close-trimmed beard kept to a defined line on the cheeks is a safer option than a long, full one. Eyebrows that grow longer and wirier with age, and visible nose and ear hair, take a few minutes a fortnight to trim and are noticed at close range.

Hair Length and the Shaved Head

Albert Mannes, a lecturer at Wharton, found in studies published in 2012 that men shown with shaved heads were rated as more dominant, taller and stronger than the same men with hair, and also as older and less attractive. Mannes advised against shaving unless natural balding was already underway. A short style needs a trim every four to six weeks to keep its shape, and longer gaps let it grow out into the shapeless look it was meant to avoid.

For men who still have most of their hair, a short, textured cut with tapered sides usually looks more current than a long, swept-back style. For men whose hair is thinning at the crown, the choice is less obvious, and a barber who can show the options on the man’s own head is more useful than any rule. Men who dye grey hair at home often choose a single flat dark shade that looks artificial in daylight, and a salon service that blends some of the grey back in tends to look more natural.

Sun Damage and Skin

The strongest evidence for looking younger comes from sunscreen research. In the Nambour trial in Queensland, researchers followed 903 adults under 55 between 1992 and 1996. Those assigned to daily sunscreen use were 24% less likely to show increased skin ageing on the backs of their hands than those who used sunscreen when they chose to. The researchers measured the backs of the hands, which is a reason to put sunscreen there as well as on the face and neck.

Cancer Council’s slip, slop, slap, seek and slide campaign, updated in 2007 to add seeking shade and wearing wraparound sunglasses, still describes the basics for a hot summer. A broad-brimmed hat protects the face and neck, and sunglasses reduce the squinting that deepens lines around the eyes. A wide-brimmed hat in canvas or straw looks better on a man over 50 than a baseball cap, which can look out of place on someone his age outside the gym.

Outerwear for the Cooler Months

A zip-up fleece and a puffer vest worn over a business shirt are standard in many offices and look tired on a date. A lightweight bomber or a short wool overcoat in navy or charcoal is as warm and looks far smarter. The jacket should close comfortably over a knit without pulling at the buttons, and the sleeves should end at the wrist bone.

Eyewear and the Face

Glasses are closer to the face than any other item, so dated frames age a man quickly. Heavy gold aviator frames from the 1980s and rimless lenses with thin hinges both suggest an older prescription that was never updated. A medium-weight acetate frame in tortoiseshell or a dark solid colour looks modern on a man in his 50s and makes the face look more alert.

Reading glasses worn on a cord around the neck add years at a glance. A slim case in a jacket pocket keeps them handy without the signal.

The Cheapest Item With the Most Evidence

Every choice above changes how old a man looks to strangers at a bar or across a dinner table. The one with the most research behind it, though, costs little at a chemist, goes on before the shirt does, and takes 30 seconds each morning. A man who skips it can update every item in his wardrobe and still look older than he is after a few more hot summers.