I’M BRIAN, here’s a little ABOUT ME:
Fun Fact: When I was much younger, I actually hated dressing up!
As I grew up, certain events caused a very unexpected outcome. I was the ring bearer at a family wedding, sporting a baby blue tuxedo with a pink ruffled shirt and velvet clip-on bowtie! Then various events required a suit and tie…. my first communion, formals and graduations, to name a few. I discovered a joy in taking pride and attention to dressing well, coordinating an outfit, and looking sharp. This resulted in a profound effect on me. I started to really see how people notice attire, how attire creates an atmosphere, how what you wear builds confidence, and how a sharp suit and tie just elevates everything. Who doesn’t dig a guy in a suit or a tuxedo?
This was only the beginning. Two of my earliest jobs were being a bank teller and working at a mall menswear store. Both required the shirt and tie dress code and allowed me to begin my exploration in putting together outfits. I got into it. As a math/puzzle guy, the optimization of an outfit with the right accessorization ended up becoming a lifelong passion.
Upon graduating college, with a core focus on my strengths in finance and mathematics, I embarked on a career as an actuary. I am still a practicing actuary to this day. Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, the finance world required business wear every day (i.e. suit and tie). Despite living paycheck to paycheck back then, I managed to continue to explore menswear, learn and try new things, and find ways to acquire quality items on a budget so that I could ‘look like a million bucks’. I would gradually invest in better clothes and accessories, when it was financially feasible, and my wardrobe continued to build and evolve over the years.
When the dot-com casual revolution seeped into society in the 2000’s, my company generally went casual. Many say “dress for the position you want, not the position you have”. I was one of those that bucked the trend and just stayed true-to-self and dressed the way I wanted. My office colleagues became so adapted to my style that anything other than a spiffy suit and tie would generate extremely strange and surprised looks. For most of my adult life, many referred to me as the ‘Best Dressed Actuary on the Planet’ and to be honest, no one could argue with that. I have always enjoyed it because to me, designing or maximizing an outfit is like a true analytical puzzle: math brain meets style brain.
The wardrobe became a hobby, an expedition, a way of life…always on the hunt for new things. I looked for items to coordinate with other items. I helped others develop complete outfits. I helped friends learn to tie neckties and bow ties.
I have amassed over 30 suits (that still fit), 200 neckties, 150 bowties, 100 sets of braces, and growing collections of cufflinks, shoes, socks, pocket squares and other items. I love to try new things and report on them. I examine sartorial inventions, different ways to look and keep sharp, vintage versus modern, and other gentlemen’s styles.
The next step in my journey was fulfilling a longstanding desire to document my outfit curations, initially just for personal recordkeeping, and then eventually gravitating to social media. In 2020, I settled on Instagram as my blogging mechanism of choice, and thus the birth of SuitTieLinksBracesMan. The blog sparked a wonderful interest in my stylings and outfit combinations, and took off beyond my wildest expectations. I started to receive comments about my inspiration to others, interest in my work and stylings, comments from big influencers, and contacts from menswear brands asking me to work with them.
I found my “community” and a new life mission to build a platform to help others with this passion of mine. This will continue to grow as I now have a stockpile of great ideas to build upon to “UP THE WORLD’S SUIT & TIE GAME!”. Keep checking back. I would love for you to “(S)HOP” on board with me!
I reside in New York with my lovely wife, two wonderful sons and our beloved dog Whitney. I enjoy skiing, hiking, roller coasters, horror movies, logic puzzles, cooking, travel, cocktails and heavy metal music (you will see and hear many aspects of these in my social media!).