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Matthew Sieben

Matthew Sieben

Twenty-one-year-old Matthew Sieben has worked at Moores men's clothing since 2007 and he says the job has shaped him into who he is today.

His fashion essential is dress shoes, and he wears them every day even with jeans and a T-shirt. Sieben focuses on his clothing being the right fit, and encourages his customers to do the same.

As well as working at Moores, Matthew has done 12-month work terms at Ernst & Young accounting firm and is a third-year business student, majoring in accounting. His office-suitable style gets translated into whatever setting he is doing for that day. When asked what's in style for men's fashion, Sieben replied, "Anything fitted, it depends more so on the tailor and the material than the brand."

Slim fit means different things to different people; the key is to know where on your body needs correction. And work with your shape as opposed to trying to fit it to the trend. Sieben proudly mentioned he is the best-dressed at Ernst & Young before heading outside downtown on Tuesday during the lunch hour. "I dress for the job I want, not the job I have."

What he wore...

COAT -- "This is from Moores, it's a Calvin Klein pea coat."

SUIT -- "Also from Moores. This is what I refer to as the 'game changer.' It's chocolate brown and grey. I think you're a little bit more approachable when wearing a brown one. It's not a typical work suit, just a suit that you'd like to wear to make a statement."

SHIRT -- "Shirt is J. Crew. I picked this one up in the States. I was driving through Colorado for a lacrosse trip, I saw the shirt and said, 'I need it.'"

TIE AND TIE BAR - "Tie and tie bar are my grandfather's, when he passed away my grandmother gave me all his old suits and shirts. The tie bar is a skinny one and those are hard to find. You don't want them to swallow the whole tie."

WATCH -- Nixon from Spareparts

DRESS SHOES -- "Stacy Adams, these shoes are from Moores."

SHOELACES -- "The shoelaces are from Jose & Markham on Princess. They do men's-only handmade shoes, I have a couple pairs of them but they also sell coloured shoelaces."

SUNGLASSES -- "Sunglasses are from a boutique in Ottawa."

POCKET SQUARE -- "This is from Fabricland. They're pretty expensive so I went in and got a sewing club card and about 20 different materials. I don't like things that match, so I opted for pocket squares that don't."

BELT -- Club Monaco

SOCKS -- The Bay

Fashion essential

"My everyday go-to item would be dress shoes every day. You can tell a man by his shoes. I wear them to school as well, with a T-shirt and jeans, suit or blazer. I've always loved dressing up, my mom has this album of me, grades 1-12, and I'm suited up in half of those. Moores was just the outlet of making it more confident in how I present myself. My title formally in the store is wardrobe consultant, and on Facebook it's style icon. I do it to stir the pot, because I want people to come in and have a great experience at Moores. I hate when people come in and say 'My dad goes to Moores,' or 'My grandpa goes to Moores.' I hate that. I've worked there since 2007 and absolutely love the job. It's made me who I am. I just want people to get excited about buying clothes as much as I am about wearing clothes."

Style inspiration

GQ, for sure and my grandpa. Every time we'd have family occasions he'd always dress up. So I'm like, 'Why not?' When he passed away I said I want all of his stuff. So I got all of these ties and suits and the old Moores suits, three-piece-suits and the heaviest tweed suits. I am a visual learner; I don't read GQ for the articles, let's just make that clear. GQ is a gift and a curse, I love it, and it gives me so many great ideas, Harry Rosen, Hugo Boss are inspirations because the designers for them are the ones that put forth the visuals and concepts for men's fashion."

Fashion tip

"First impressions happen every day, dress every day as if you're meeting someone for the first time. Find a tailor, everyone should have a tailor. Barney in How I Met Your Mother says, "I have a shoe guy, I have a rug guy, I have a watch guy." Have a suit guy that can help you out with your clothes. Let someone tap into the inspiration so you can find your own style. It's about taking the little accessories like the watch, tie bar, pocket square and adding them. Most people don't and the look isn't quite complete."

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Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 23, 2013 E12