Below are 3 Tips for Dressing sharp as a young man.

Tip #1 for Sharp-Dressed Young Men: Dress Your Footwear Up

Starting from the ground up, appropriate-fitting footwear is the first step to dressing sharp. A traditional school of thought that’s still alive and well claims you can judge a man by his shoes. If you’ve never owned really good shoes before, brace yourself and get ready to pay a significant amount of money for well-made, classic footwear. You may be shocked at the sticker price for well-crafted shoes, but the quality and comfort pay dividends down the road. A good pair of dress shoes will last you years and stay good-looking with nothing more than some light cleaning and the occasional shine. Quality leather footwear isn’t a luxury for the excessively rich — it’s a necessity for any man.

Classic footwear is just as important as classic clothing

Tip #2 for Sharp-Dressed Young Men: Dress to Look Older

The way you dress is the way you are perceived. If you’re still wearing clothes that scream “student days” you’re going to be treated like a boy with no experience in the real world. Buck the trend, age your look a little, and get the respect you deserve from older men. That means raiding your wardrobe and getting rid of the majority of your ultra-casual clothes: T-shirts, cargo pants, jean shorts, sweatshirts and sweatpants, baseball hats, and athletics. Save a few for yardwork and exercise — but donate the rest of it to charity and start replacing it with dressier clothes that speak to your maturity.

Mark Zuckerberg’s not hurting for cash, but it’s still hard to see him as a grown-up in jeans and performance fleece.

Tip #3 for Sharp-Dressed Young Men: Ignore Fashion Trends.

Main-stream fashion trends change too fast to make useful wardrobe staples. Most young men don’t have the budget to buy new pants every month or two — so stay away from pants that are only presentable during an “in” season. Distressed or bleached jeans are a great example; several different designer labels briefly managed to sell the image on the public, and then the fad changed and left a lot of people with very expensive jeans too beat-up to wear in public. Stick to classic clothing staples for the core of your wardobe and avoid anything that’s too far out on the cutting edge — even if you see something that makes it look good.

Models get paid to make goofy clothes seem reasonable. Don’t fall for it.