Live Action Getup: Modern Men’s Summer Style

This piece is in collaboration with The Fifth, a fashion X lifestyle brand focused on delivering carefully-considered, stylishly executed pieces, designed to make you look and feel great. What is this?

Honey Scout Chukka Boot by Thursday Boot Co., $149

Minimalist watch: The 5th, $95 with code PRIMER10

Sunglasses: Fetch Eyewear, $95 / Slub V-neck Pocket Tee: Gap, $20 / Tapered Gray Denim: Gap, $50 with code 4YOU / Honey Scout Boots: Thursday Boot Co., $149 / Minimalist Watch: The Fifth, $95 with code PRIMER10

Sunglasses don't have to be an afterthought. These Wayfarer-style shades from Fetch Eyewear are a subtle but beautiful green tortoiseshell. It not only pairs with the shirt and boots, but complements my hair and skin tone. Think of your style as a total package – not just with what you wear, but what's innately included as well.

This is one of my favorite t-shirts, ever. I never see one that is both a v-neck and a pocket tee at an affordable price, something I only realized when I stumbled across it at Gap. Not only that, it's made of a slub fabric, which is when tiny knots and imperfections are present, either in the yarn or introduced manually, for the texture it adds. It looks like a designer t-shirt that would cost $100. It was a steal for $10 when it was on sale. When you're buying basics, pay attention to the details, they're what makes a shirt from Gap look like it came from Gucci.

Same for these jeans – I'll wear them all summer, hell, all year long – they're just slim enough but not restricting and will look great with slim profile boots like these from Thursday Boot Co. or my Wolverine Thousand Miles, as well as my white leather sneakers.

Especially in summer, your pants and jeans need to taper. Without the chunk of our colder weather boots, those straight legs will be flapping around like flags on a windy day. It's actually pretty frustrating, when I wear my old standby straight legs they just look like wide legs circa 1999. Embrace the taper; it's been coming for 10 years and it ain't going anywhere.

This is my '78 Corvette. I bought it when I was 25 – I had a paper route when I was 12 and every Sunday one of my customers would park his cherry red '82 out in front of his house. I spent countless hours scouring the classifieds of the very paper I delivered looking for a C3 generation Corvette, trying to convince myself I could afford one on $130 per month.

That never worked out, but when I finally had a decent job after college I decided to reward myself. Don't let the paint job fool you, this car only cost me $9,800. If you've ever had your eye on a classic car, I say go for it. I cover my entire experience (and everything I got wrong) in my article Why I Bought a 33 Year Old Sports Car and You Should Too.

Current fashion trends are skewing heavily minimalist. Simple color palettes, low contrast muted shades, slim fits. When you're experimenting with it, a chunky 3 dial metal watch or a neon bright NATO strap Timex just isn't going to match.

You need something like this beautiful Black & Tan watch from The Fifth. It strips away all the clutter and gives you an artfully simple timepiece. The combination of brown and black is decidedly contemporary and its notched face is reminiscent of early 20th Century instruments. And at $95, it looks like it should cost a heck of a lot more.

Would you wear it? Tell me what you like in the comments!