Welcome to Gaia! ::

This short guide is both for guys interested in Decora, or for the girls who are androgynous or just want an alternative to miniskirts. Unfortunatly, it is much harder for guys to wear decora, but it not a fashion exclusive to the female gender. Guys, don't feel too discouraged, you can do it too! The same general rules apply, whether you go dark or colorful, you focus should be on layers, mixed patterns and wearing as many embelishments and accessories as possible. While decora does involve a childish look, theres no need to be 'girly'. You have to look for alternatives to what the girls have.

For your outfits, lego colors like red, blue, green and yellow look great together, very boyish, and are great colors to focus on. Look back on childhood for inspiration: teen age mutant ninja turtles, sonic the hedgehog, connect-four, transformers, power-rangers, NES, Mario, legos, those red and blue battling robots… these cute boyish things should be worn and worshiped like us girls devote ourselves to hello kitty and my little pony. Wear anything bright, childish, geeky, and anything with obscure references. Anything that will make people point, giggle, and say “oh yeah, I remember that!” Chicks will dig you and you’ll be the coolest kid on the block.

Tops: Novelty and character tees are great, like what you might find at Disneyland or Spencers or Hot Topic. Your tee shirts should show your personality, so show off band logos, sports teams, favorite video games or movies, whatever you are into. Avoid buying black or white shirts unless it has a pattern or something bright on the center of it. Button up shirts are good for layering, in colored patterns like stripes, Hawaiian print or tartan. Hoodies in bright colors are great, but make sure they zip up the front. If it gets hard finding shirts in bright colors, Michaels or most other craft stores sell plain simple tees in basic colors. You can use fabric paint or markers to stencil on large letters or draw your own design. You can even print images from the computer onto iron on transfer paper. If you just want some sort of pattern on the shirt, it’s easy to make paint or bleach splatters.

Bottoms: This is the biggest issue when it comes to guy decora, unless you have the balls to pull off a skirt. You still have a few options.
;; Shorts. It’s the easiest out of all the options and involves hardly any work. The hardest thing is finding shorts in bright colors or patterns. I highly recommend surf shorts or swim trunks. You can also get pajama pants and cut off the legs. Hell, you could even wear your boxers.
;; Buy pants, in whatever colors you wish (I have seen red and indigo skinny-jeans at hot topic), get out your weapon of choice (knife and sandpaper, anyone?), and rip to shreds. Do not just cut, try and make it at least a little real looking. Start at the knees, making the largest gashes there and perhaps taking whole chunks out. Be careful about how far up your legs you should go, I would stay below the pocket (a little pocket showing through the hole is cool, just don’t make a hole in the pocket itself.)
;; Just spruce up your pants with accessories. Sew on patches, extra fabric, zippers, tie on bandanas, add chains, bondage straps, bleach stains, knee pads, borrow from punk fashion and make a bum flap! And if you wear your pants baggy and wear boxers, make sure your boxers coordinate with your outfit.

In the first two options, you will of course be wearing socks, possibly tights. Socks and tights are not just for girls, but some of them are designed for them. So if you are taller, expect over-knee high socks to be knee high, and knee highs to be mid calf, ect. Avoid anything lacy, translucent or fishnet, unless you wear socks underneath or plan on shaving your legs. And for layering purposes, try not to buy toe socks.

There are many accessory options for guys that do not involve anything too feminine. Necklaces and bracelets that don’t have too many beads are pretty masculine, so jelly bracelets, wristbands, lanyards and heavy chains can make up for that. I’d throw a few beaded necklaces on anyway, it really does look cool. When you don’t have too many bracelets to cover your arms, fishnet shirts work excellent. You can get them in any color of the rainbow online (welovecolors . com) and they will stretch to fit anything. Also, fingerless gloves come in all sorts of colors and designs. Other than that, what looks great on guys are the use of children’s toys, especially squirt guns. Those seat-buckle belts or NES controller belts are also cool. Boys character backpacks can be found anywhere, like Superman or Spiderman, and can coordinate with your outfit like a purse might. Duct tape can be used in creative ways to add to an outfit. Any items you carry on you, (your cell phone, I-pod, camera, skateboard) can be used as an accessory with the use of improvised cases or decoration.

When it comes to hair, feel free to put in hairclips and the works. If you spike you hair, use temporary color gel to match your days outfit (or buy temperary spray in a few diffrent colors and go nuts). Crazy-colorful hats are awesome; anything from a fedora to a beanie to a OMG gaia hat, it all depends on your tastes.

That’s about it for you guys. Just be daring! Don’t be afraid to be fashionable or too girly or anything like that, dressing decora will only get you a ton of good attention and make you stand out from everyone else. Good luck!

And if anyone else has masculine decora tips, post them!

My suggestion is some make-your-own necklaces.

Take like hot wheels cars and some cord/necklace chain and loop it on or drill a hole through and loop it on. this would be totally outragous and awsome. It could also work with watches or paper clips.

That's it! My number one(eck, okay, 2 number ones razz ) would be paper clip jewelry, they just clip onto eachother and look totally sweet.

My other number one would be using bandanas for shirt collars! I am in LOVE with a degrassi character that dresses minor male decora. He always wears semi-bag jeans, a print shirt, zip hoodie, bandana collar and this wicked beret. He is about the awsomest I-play-a-gay-but-I'm-not-ay-but-I-dress-gay male actor I've ever seen. *.* Kudos for Marco!

I'm a boy but I wear girl's decora. I feel awkward now. xd But it's more fun! Besides skirts are so much more comfy than pants. You girls are so lucky that you don't get made fun of for wearing skirts. I wear skirts everyday anyway though. heart I just don't learn