When you picture Ryan Seacrest, you inevitably also picture a slim-fitting, well-tailored suit with a skinny tie (seriously, we can’t even imagine him in business casual or low-key activewear). So it’s no surprise that Macy’s tapped him for a line of men’s tailored clothing and accessories called “Distinction.” But Seacrest, 39, confesses to PEOPLE that there was a time when his clothes were distinctive … for all the wrong reasons.
Courtesy Macy’s
“I looked back at some pictures recently of me at the Teen Choice Awards when I was in a coral shirt back in ’04,” Seacrest told PEOPLE at the Beverly Hills, California launch of the line. “Then there was a bedazzled collar at another red carpet. When you go back and look at old red carpets, I’ve made plenty of fashion mistakes!”
Those fashion victim moments didn’t stop him from working to develop his style — one that’s now very much his own. “The fun part for me is getting to put on a great suit,” Seacrest told PEOPLE about putting together the new collection. “I look forward to that every night I host Idol, I love putting on a great suit to go out to dinner, I like wearing them to work. It’s all about putting it on and feeling that sense of confidence you have when you put on something you feel good in.”
For him, that’s “a classic, simple look, with a few details, like the tie bar and the pocket square,” which you’ll find in his collection, as well as lots of attention to “the way the leg is cut, the way the jacket fits, for someone who’s active. I like to be on the move.” But most importantly, he wanted to take all the guesswork out of suit-buying, because he sees plenty of guys floundering when they walk into a store.
Courtesy Macy’s
“Guys don’t ever ask anybody for fashion advice … I think we don’t even know what to ask. We often don’t even know what size we wear!” he says. “A lot of women will ask me, ‘Where can I get a suit? I see you on TV, I like the cut, where can I get a suit like that for my boyfriend? [Guys] just don’t know where to find certain things or how to find them, and what I wanted to do in this collection was to make it pretty easy and one-stop and turnkey.”
So once a guy has got that perfect suit, what’s the key to making it work? It’s pretty simple, says Seacrest: “Own it. Put it on, stand outside, go on that first date or first meeting and own it. I think that’s most important, to have that confidence that it looks good on you.”
Will you shop Ryan Seacrest Distinction (or buy it for your dude)? What style mistake do you see guys making often?
–Gabrielle Olya
