Please leave your questions for Dear Cougar in the comment section below, or feel free to email me at cougar@leftcoastfashion.com

The shoes are the only thing right about this picture…

This isn’t so much a “Dear Cougar” as it is Cougar completely disagreeing with the men’s fashion bible otherwise known as GQ, and wanting to educate you on why they are wrong.

Fashion is subjective, right? No, there is good taste and there is bad taste. That’s why there are “taste makers” and that is why you follow Left Coast Fashion in the first place. Anyway, in the September issue of GQ they endorse the “Return of the Cuff.”

That’s right, cuffs are back, and this season you should add them to every suit pant, flannel, cord, and khaki in your new fall wardrobe. Cuffs anchor your pants so they hang stylishly straight while also adding a subtle hint of character. Tell your tailor to give you an inch and a half of cuff, and get him to hem your pants a good half inch above your shoes to show some sock.

WRONG. “Subtle hint of character.” Um, if the character you’re referring to is Kramer from Seinfeld…by all means. Add an INCH and a HALF of cuff? Seriously, that’s like building a retainer wall at the bottom of your pant leg. “Hem your pants a good half inch above your shoes to show some sock.” Yes, please Mr. Tailor…please prepare my expensive dress pants for the high waters of the coming flood. So stylish!

Cuffs don’t go with flat front pants. Cuffs make you look shorter. Cuffs were essentially added to pants to add weight to the pant leg and make the pleat stand out more. If you’re still wearing pleated pants after 1989, there is little I can do for you.

Oh, uh, it’s the pleats… the pleats in the pants. It’s an optical illusion.

I’m sorry Jim Moore and GQ, but you are wrong. Stop trying to send your readers backward in time to the not-so-golden area of pleats, oxfords, loafers and the piano key neck tie. It just ain’t right!

- Cougar