Saturday, January 4, 2014

How to Make a New Year's Resolution That Doesn't Suck

It's completely normal when the clock strikes midnight to want to revamp everything in your life to make you a new and improved person. But how many times have you made those same resolutions to forget them all by February? How can you make THIS year, 2014, the year that you succeed?

It's actually a lot easier than you think. Don't make resolutions that suck. First of all, let's not call them "resolutions," let's call them goals. Resolutions tend to have a negative context of deprivation or "cutting back", which puts a bad taste in your mouth right off the bat.

Now let's talk specifics. If one of your goals are like most everyone else, to get healthy, get in shape or get fit this year, then your goal sucks. Yes, I am a dietitian, and I'm telling you to throw your "get fit" goal out the window. This goal sucks because it's not measurable. How do you achieve getting healthy or getting "in-shape?" Maybe you think getting healthy means having normal cholesterol numbers or getting down to a normal weight, or getting in-shape as being able to bench press 250 lbs ten times or run 5 miles without stopping- then THAT is your goal. To make a meaningful goal for 2014, define what it is for you that means getting fit or getting in shape, and make that your goal. Put a number on it, and put a time-frame on it. If getting in shape to you means being able to walk up the 4 flights of stairs to your office without huffing and puffing by March, then THAT is your goal. So, step one: make goals, not resolutions, and make them specific.

The second step to making sure your 2014 goals don't suck is to make sure your goals mean something to you. Sounds easy enough, but it's not. Many people make their resolutions because it's what other people want them to do, or to be, or not to be. Your goals have to be for YOU, not for your significant other, not for your doctor, not for your family. If your spouse wants you to stop smoking, but you know deep down you're not ready and it's not truly what YOU want, then you can't make that a goal for yourself. If your doctor wants you to lose 20 lbs but you could care less what the scale says, then that's not a meaningful goal to you. If you really want to get into a 2 piece bathing suit and feel comfortable in your own skin by the time your summer cruise comes around, then that is your goal. If you want to be able to pick up your grandkids and push them on the swings without back pain or feeling out of breath, then THAT is your goal. Figure out what you truly want to accomplish, not what others tell you you should want to accomplish.

The third step to achieving your goals this year is to be realistic. If you didn't step foot on a treadmill one time last year, please don't make your goal to walk every single day for one hour per day. That's just not realistic. If you've never cooked a meal at home and your goal is to cook dinner 7 nights a week, you're setting yourself up for failure. A better goal would be to walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes 4 days a week and cook dinner at home 3 days a week (making enough leftovers for 2 nights worth of meals) and leave one day open for eating out or ordering in. Also, if you absolutely hate walking on the treadmill in the garage, why are you making that a goal? The goal is not to inflict as much punishment on yourself as possible in 2014. Find something you love- go try a Zumba class or join an indoor soccer league and make those activities part of your goal. Being realistic also means not making 15 different goals all at once. Make 3 or 4 big ones and concentrate on those until you've achieved them. If May comes around and you've hit 3 of the 4, then you can start focusing on new goals or other areas of your life. Overwhelming yourself with too many goals or giving yourself unrealistic expectations is the number one reason for failure.

Step four: Write it down. Don't just dream it up and forget it. Get an old-fashioned pen and paper, write it out and stick it on the fridge. Don't hide your goals when you have friends over. Let them be known and hold yourself accountable. Keep track of your progress. Every time you get closer to achieving that goal, write it down on that piece of paper. Enlist a goal buddy or buddies. Share each others goals, keep in touch and give encouragement when needed. When you figure out what your big goals are, make smaller goals with a time-frame in mind to help you achieve your big goals. For example, if your goal for 2014 is to run a mile in 7 minutes (because that's what you figured out being in shape means to you), your weekly goal to help you get there would be to run at least a mile 3 times per week. If your goal is to cut down on the clutter in your house, a weekly goal would be to throw away or donate 5 things you don't use per week. Making weekly goals will force you to go back and look at your overall goals and keep them fresh in your mind.

The most important thing is to make goals that are going to make you feel good. Of course, eating healthfully and exercising automatically helps with that, but if resolving to cut down on your restaurant rendezvous with your girlfriends causes you more stress than happiness, turn it into a positive goal like finding a healthy cooking class to join with your friends or starting a Saturday morning run ritual with your best buds.
So tonight, keep these steps in mind as you're thinking about your new goals and feel free to have a glass of champagne and a smile to toast to the amazing year that lies ahead.

Do you want to:

Feel better, look better, or gain more energy? Improve your health? Lose weight? Lower your blood pressure or cholesterol? Change your families eating habits? Stop the yo-yo cycle of dieting? Small changes= BIG results.

I am a registered dietitian specializing in weight loss. I won't just hand you a pre-packaged program like Nutrisystem and Weight Watchers. Because no two people are alike, no two weight loss programs should be alike.

Diets don't work- "live-its" do. Instead of providing a generic plan you can follow for a few weeks where you lose a few pounds then gain it all back when you're tired of drinking the shakes or eating the pre-prepared meals, I'll guide you on the path of making small weekly changes to your routine that bring big results.

Seasonal Men's Clothing Options

While some men follow fashion trends and are always in style, other men wear whatever is clean even if it is not appropriate for the season or occasion. Men who dress to impress tailor their apparel to the season and reason, transforming themselves into walking fashion posters for men's clothing lines. Learn how to be seasonally appropriate when dressing in order to make a positive impression.

Nautical, muted animal prints, and blurred camo are the current summer fashion trends for men. Stylish males look as comfortable in the woods as they do out at sea. Even the most upscale fashion labels have gone sporty this season, offering clothing inspired by yachting, hunting, and even diving. Moderation is the key to making these designs work. Wear camo shorts with a plain t-shirt and sneakers or a nautical sweater with khaki pants and loafers.

Black leather, camo prints, plaids, cuffed pants, statement scarves, and the color burgundy represent the most popular trends for men this coming fall. Men should stock up on bold neckwear, don camo pants or jackets, and hit the streets. Plaids will also be hot and can be found on everything from socks, to ties, to jackets. Burgundy shoes, coats, accessories, and statement pieces are other recommended additions.

Winter 2013-14 will be comfortable thanks to home-spun knitwear that is comfortable without being too bulky. Combining patterned and solid clothing will mark a notable divergence from past seasons. Separates will feature sharp tailoring including skinny silhouettes and peaked lapels. Black will carry over from fall to winter and make an appearance in minimalist uniform dressing. Blues and nautical fashions may also continue to be popular.

London, Paris, and Milan fashion weeks revealed that spring and summer 2014 fashions will have a heavy sportswear influence. Zip tops, neoprene hoodies, tracksuit trousers, and checked suits with bandana print scarves were the highlights of these shows. Men should stay sporty during the warm weather seasons of 2014. They should also be prepared to embrace flowers, as floral prints will be hot next spring.

Use these men's clothing trends to design seasonal wardrobes for the upcoming year because being in style contributes to an air of pride and self-confidence. First impressions are powerful, so use fashion to make them positive and enhance business and personal relationships. Dressing stylishly during every season can make any man feel like a million bucks and attract others who are always in style.

What are the latest fashion trends in men's clothing? ShoppersComplex.com offers tips on all of the latest trends as well as incredible prices at some of your favorite clothing outlets. For more information, please click here to visit our website.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Advances in How Baby Dinosaurs Are Depicted In Models in 2014

Advances in How Baby Dinosaurs are Depicted in Models
Dinosaur models have been around for the best part of a hundred years or so. From the first models made from wood and metal to the more modern toys and replicas manufactured from plastic that became more prevalent after the second World War. For a very long time, prehistoric animal model ranges were dominated by just a few key species, naturally, Tyrannosaurus rex figures feature predominately, but alongside T. rex there were the likes of the horned dinosaur Triceratops and the bizarre, plated, herbivorous Stegosaurus. However, virtually all of the early model ranges portrayed dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures as adult animals, very few attempts were made by the mainstream manufacturers to depict young, or juveniles.

Early Models Now Known to be Inaccurate
Many of these early replicas are now known to be highly inaccurate representations of extinct fauna. More fossil finds and advanced research techniques such as computerised tomography and digital renderings have enabled palaeontologists to re-construct what are now believed to be much more accurate models. However, fashion and trends, so often influenced by films, books and television programmes would have also played a role in the design of replicas. For example, a feathered T. rex produced in the 1960s would have been difficult to accept for most professional toy collectors, although the likes of Henry Govier Seeley had presented a case for feathered Theropod dinosaurs as early as the 1880s.

Lack of Models of Baby Dinosaurs
Although most of the dinosaur that have ever lived did not reach adulthood (most dinosaurs in any given population not reaching maturity due to high levels of mortality), few models of baby dinosaurs or juveniles were produced during the first "boom" years of dinosaur model manufacturing in the 1960s and 1970s. Safari Ltd (based in the United States), did make a model of a Protoceratops with a nest and some hatching eggs, when the Carnegie Collectibles series of prehistoric animal replicas came into being, but the model was soon retired. Protoceratops (the name means "first horned face", is a Ceratopsian dinosaur known from fossils found in Mongolia and China. Later on, this company made a model of the Ornithopod Maiasaura with a nest and young also. However, it was many years before Safari Ltd set about making a baby dinosaur to be sold as a model without any adult animals to accompany it and to the best of our knowledge, all the baby dinosaur made by Safari Ltd are within their not to scale model range.

New Models of Baby Dinosaurs Expected
More recently, a number of other mainstream toy and model manufacturers have made replicas of young dinosaurs, no doubt influenced by successful films such as Disney's "Dinosaur" that came out at the turn of the Century, or the "Land Before Time" franchise.
A number of beautifully preserved fossils of juvenile dinosaurs have been found in the last decade or so, many of these specimens are almost complete. Palaeontologists therefore have a much better understanding of how dinosaurs grew and how they changed as they matured. The new baby Triceratops dinosaur model from Papo for example, shows a young dinosaur with small horns, a relatively large head and big eyes. Scientists now have a better idea of what baby dinosaurs looked like, the way they grew (ontogeny) and as a result model makers have been able to incorporate this new knowledge into the model making programmes.

Everything Dinosaur is run by parents, teachers and real dinosaur experts. Visit our website dinosaur models to view the very latest dinosaur and prehistoric animal models.

To Know ECM in 2014 - The Enterprise Content Management System

Strategy and implementation in 2014 ECM - what it means for your organization and you.
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) covers a wide variety of different areas in technology including ways to capture, store, preserve, retrieve, and deliver content. All of which is accomplished by a set of strategies, methods, and tools that enable small and large organizations to maintain and manage their business processes. Many of the professionals in this industry may also describe enterprise content management as managing electronic data and files from the cradle to the grave. Therefore, it is important for businesses to implement an enterprise information strategy that will manage the company's electronic information throughout its life cycle.

Tracking Enterprise Content From Its Inception
With an effective enterprise content management system in place, businesses can track the actual flow of their content via the systems that it touches from its inception until its completion and storage. One of the main objectives of these kinds of systems is creating the content's value by linking the content that has been secured with people and processes.

When a business has an effective enterprise information management system in place, it can help the company with managing unstructured data. So, one of its primary focuses is to deliver the right data to the right people. So, the system must be able to provide the right details in a timely manner. In fact, if these enterprise information systems have been deployed properly, they can also help entire organizations with managing all kinds of electronic content, while the system also promotes collaboration within internal and external organizations.With the right enterprise content system, business owners can also expect consistent processes to be performed across the board.

ECMs and Unstructured Data- One of the top features of any enterprise content management system is being able to handle unstructured data in an organized fashion. Since unstructured data has no specific order and it cannot be found in a database, these systems must perform numerous complex tasks in an organized way. Therefore, the activities that it performs reaches beyond the normal document manage processes. Which means, these systems are designed with a wide variety of different features. Many of which includes the following features.

Document Capture Features - This system feature is responsible for capturing an image of the paper files and storing them as electronic data.

Document Management Features - User has the ability to perform numerous activities including searching document info, accessing it after storage and delivering it to someone else in the organization that needs it.

Digital Asset Management - Since these enterprise content management systems house a diversity of media, it is also used to manage audio, video and images.

Business Process management/Work-flow - When a document is scanned into an enterprise content management system, the information is captured in a digital format. As a result, the document can be sent to a specific group of people, approved by upper manage, and tracked by those who have an interest or need.

Records Retention and Archiving Features - Retention and archiving features are designed to allow companies to comply with both company and regulatory requirements. Therefore, the documents can be automatically stored and accessed on demand.

Docurated is developing a cloud based application to help knowledge workers surface, organize, reuse and share their most powerful content, regardless of information location or format.

James Heard is a technology writer with a focus on time saving applications and easy to use tools. Content Search is his current focal point.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Dressing To Impress: Men's Fashion In The New Year

With Christmas right around the corner, it can only mean one thing; a New Year is dawning. In the world of fashion a New Year provides great opportunity, a chance to change an image, freshen up looks and give your wardrobe a good spring clean.

I am a huge fan of a lot of the big named labels which is why I constantly find myself keeping up to date with the latest styles and the newest introductions to men's fashion. It is refreshing to see in a New Year and witness the changing fashion seasons. However, for the everyday man who is not as concerned as me as to Fashion and its ever-changing demands, keeping up to date with everything and ensuring your look stays fresh can be a daunting and highly time-consuming task.

With some of the leading fashion labels having already released their collections for Spring/Summer 2014 I have decided to break down my personal favourite trends in order to help give you an idea of what is in and what is out.

Below are my top picks that I personally think will dominate the early part of the New Year...
  • Floral Patterns- A daunting concept for some of the more macho men but floral patterns seem to be making a huge impact on men's fashion. Prada's show 'Menacing Paradise' showed off just how big floral patterns are set to be with shirts that echoed the Hawaii of decades past. If a floral shirt is a little too much for you then consider a little dose of flower power here and there but either way this is set to be a big trend amongst the fashion fanatics in 2014.
  • Double Breasted Blazers- The classic styles are always favoured by many and no matter what happens; they never seem to fully go out of fashion. In the new season, double-breasted blazers are set to make a huge comeback, in fact the entire wardrobe of the classic sixties man is set to be fully embraced in the New Year. As a fan of quality, timeless gentlemanly attire; this is one of my personal favourites.
  • Colours- For the quiet and reserved gentleman, bright colours may seem a little much but this season they are set to be vital in the world of fashion. Think a little splash of colour- Burberry showed us how at their recent show by pairing the signature brown Burberry coat with bright green jumpers and so on- an eclectic mix but a great way to brighten any wardrobe.
The above are my personal picks of what I believe will no doubt be leading must have items in the world of men's designer clothing in 2014. Whether you like to keep your wardrobe updated or just want an insight into what you can do to maintain the latest trends; check out all of the latest collections from leading designers. Above all embrace your own personality in your fashion choices so whether it is a little of the above points, a lot of the above points or perhaps even none; make your fashion your own.

Richard Atkinson is the director at leading mens designer clothing store Ted Williams Menswear, specialising in everything from leading fashion designers including Armani Jeans and Paul Smith.

Bold and Beautiful: A Taste of Brazilian Fashion

When it comes to fashion, women have shown time and time again that they'll do anything to stand out. From exotic-looking purses, to imported designer threads from Italy, fitted jeans that provide a "lift," and a prized pair of Jimmy Choo stilettos, today's woman wants to stand out.

But sometimes in order to do that, women must venture away from the traditional powerhouse shoe designers like Prada, Gucci, and Fendi and go towards lesser-known and even up-and-comer designer shoe companies. It's why women from all over the world are clamoring for the latest fad - Brazilian fashion.

Check any international runway and you'll quickly spot Brazilian influence. Whether it's a superstar supermodel like Adriana Lima, who hails from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, or Rio Grande do Sul native, Gisele Bundchen, who has been largely credited with ending the "heroin chic" look of modern-day models, and instead bringing a healthier looking woman to the runway.

But it's not just the breathtakingly beautiful models that are getting attention on international fashion runways. Fashion designs themselves are getting some Brazilian flair, including bold, lively colors, including rich reds, coral, yellow, and white, with subtle metallic accents, including belts and jewelry. Victoria's Secret even devoted its entire swimsuit catalog to Brazilian-inspired swimwear!

You can even find Brazilian inspiration in today's popular shoes. Gone are subtle, demure heels. Instead they've been replaced by thick, chunky four-inch heels, and huge blocks of color from designers such as Luz da Lua and Morena Rosa. Paired with a mini skirt, shorts, a fringe dress, or a fitted pair of capris and you've got "hot, hot, hot!"

Much of fashion's gravitation towards Brazil can stem from its energy and attitude, and shows no signs of slowing down. When the economic recession has crumbled many countries, including the U.S., Brazil actually showed a staggering 9% increase in economic growth during the first quarter of 2010. And all one needs to do is check out Sao Paulo Fashion week to believe the words Suleman Anaya wrote in The Business of Fashion magazine - "Brazil believes in itself."

Credit the World Cup (2014) and the Olympic Games (2016) for a sudden wave of optimism in Brazil, which is reflected in everything from fashion, to music, to pop culture, and of course, in the attitude of its citizens, many of whom have jumped into an ever-growing middle class.

The women of Brazil, in particular, are getting more and more opportunities with education and in the case of Bundchen and Lima - super-stardom through modeling. Brazil has now become a hot bed for producing supermodels. Because of this, they carry themselves differently. They walk taller. They stand proud. They see a world of possibilities that were once not afforded to them.

It's this sudden wave of confidence that makes this country, and its production of high-fashion goods more attractive than ever. In fact, people are scouring to be a part of Brazil's lively boom in culture and economy, with such confidence becoming almost contagious. And when it's comes to confidence - that is truly the sexiest accessory a woman could ever wear.

Thinking Ahead to 2014, Part II - Preparing Your SEO Tactics and Strategizing for the Coming Year

This week, we've got part two in our series of articles looking at how we can prepare and plan our SEO tactics for the coming year. We started looking specifically at content creation and how it will have a significant influence upon SEO strategies in the coming months.

Authorship: You already know that the social interaction and human activity your content generates can impact your ratings with the search engines. The next step to ensuring your profile on line is notices is to establish a firm footing online as the author of your work. Authoring your work makes you visible to Google Author Rank so that all your content is noticed, not just because of the user interaction with it, but because Google can see who wrote it. This is vital, particularly when you are working toward building a reputation as an expert in your field. Do your best to get your content out there as much as possible, but in a natural way. In addition to your own blog and news, add a variety of different content posts to your weekly list of new content. It sounds like a lot of hard work but it will pay off tremendously.Go easy with the guest posting however. We are expecting Google will be paying much more attention to guest blog posts in the very near future - and there are a number of experts who agree with us. By all means share your content with more and varied audiences but be very careful about entering into old fashioned back-link building by posting guest blogs full of meaningless, keyword loaded drivel; it won't help you at all.

Blanket link building won't work anymore: Google will be continuing to fine tune their algorithms so they can measure the quality and natural growth of links to and from a website. It is going to make link building much harder. The old, traditional methods of back-link building are just not effective any ore and they will be even less so in the coming months. Google has waged war against spam advertising and 'fake' activity in all its forms. The algorithms are looking for patterns which reveal real relationships and high levels of human activity. We're not saying stop creating links; we're saying create opportunities for links and encourage them with your content. Building links is going to involve much more careful thought, planning and execution.

Choose your text and keywords carefully: Penguin is also on the look-out for websites which look 'too' optimized; more than 30% of the text was identical with unnatural repetition of key phrases. It looks awful, unprofessional and definitely puts real customers off. (Sadly, there are so many businesses out there that have paid good money to have their website content SEO optimized, and have instead ended up with an adverse effect because the levels of anchor text were so high. Penguin can spot the fakes! There are a lot of cowboys out there claiming to know what they are doing, and in fact, they have caused damage. Be very careful and only talk to real experts who understand how much the world of SEO is changing.) The key here is to create your content carefully, choosing your keywords and text wisely and creating links which will be organic in their growth.

Don't underestimate the importance of looking good: We've already mentioned on many occasions that enhancing the user experience is how to raise your profile online. Design is a vital part of this. The first impression you give to visitors when they find you is critical to inviting them to stay for a while. While this may sound ridiculously obvious, and it is, in practice we are still seeing countless businesses having less than attractive websites built. Not everyone has an eye for design, not all businesses understand the importance of design to build a brand identity. If you really want to succeed online and attract people, design has to be part of your focus. Make re-vamping and re-designing your website part of your SEO strategy for the coming year.

Be Welcoming: it will help you build relationships and trust - to build your brand. It is a powerful way to project a way of life, an aspiration and a mood to your users. While this may all sound very jargon and as though we've just swallowed a marketing handbook, it is a fact. Good design attracts customers, points them in the right direction and encourages them to relate to you, read your content, share it and interact. It also helps you to look like a real professional in your field and increases the perceived value of your content. Your online (brand) identity must be created using design, content and multimedia so that it will generate natural, organic activity - the stuff Penguin loves!

What this means for website owners is the need for high quality in all content. If your websites are not designed, written and created beautifully, then it will absolutely have an adverse effect on your rankings.

The idea here is to attract real people by making them really interested in real information. PageRank, Author Rank, Penguin - all they are looking for is where the crowd is gathering and enjoying itself.

If you get your brand, your voice and your message right, by planning carefully now, there is no reason you can't achieve great things for your business over the coming year.

Next week, in part three, we look at what we can expect form social media in the coming year leading to 2014.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Famous Fashion Designers

Fashion designers use flair and know-how to create everything from hospital uniforms to the eye-popping outfits worn by rock stars and models. Jobs for fashion designers are expected to grow more slowly than the average for all careers through 2014, according to government economists. A study of the work of several other fashion designers records how fashion changed throughout the decade.

Fashion

Fashion design is also a labor of love, requiring long hours and little chance of superstardom -- but for many, the work itself is the reward. Fashion designers, in fact, are some of the most creative and eclectic people that you will ever meet. Men's fashions during the 19th and 20th centuries have been conservative and dull in comparison to women's. The fashion industry is a big part of our economy. Here is a short list: Chanel Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel (1883-1971) created feminine fashion that provided the feeling of luxury and combined traditional women's clothing with styles, fabrics, and articles of clothing used by men. Her fashion revolution liberated women to express their femininity with elegance and grace.

The Hollywood film "The Devil Wears Prada", starring Meryl Streep, has brought a lot of attention to the world of fashion. More information about Prada Versace Gianni Versace (1946-1997) became interested in fashion working in his mother's small dress shop. By 1978 he had become a design leader of women's and men's fashions. More information about Giorgio Armani Jean-Paul Gaultier (1952- ) is a French fashion designer who never received formal design training. In 1967 he purchased the Polo label and launched a world-wide fashion empire that includes clothing lines for men and women.

Fashion

The high prices commanded by the fashionable Fendi purses have created a large market for fake goods from Asia bearing logos that are eerily similar to the inverted FF. In 1985, they took part in a fashion show featuring "New Talent", and the following year, they presented their first independent women's ready-to-wear show. You'd have to be walking around with a shopping bag over your head to not realize that fashion is everywhere. In order to succeed in the often cutthroat--and frequently debt-ridden--world of fashion, designers can no longer hide behind their model's skirts.

Most fashion designers, however, work for apparel manufacturers, creating designs of men's, women's, and children's fashions for the mass market. Employment growth for fashion designers will be slowed, however, by declines in the apparel manufacturing industries Designers in most fields are expected to face strong competition for available positions.

Most women of means had a dressmaker who would create garments according to the latest fashions. Instead of catering strictly to a few wealthy clients, coveted fashion designers now create product lines ranging from perfumes to pantyhose that can reach consumers at every price point. "Consumers at the middle and lower level have realized they can get just as good a fashion direction with clothing at disposable prices that they can wear once and throw away--or if it falls apart, who cares.

Trishia Lopez is a successful Webmaster and publisher of www.TheFashionGurus.com [http://www.TheFashionGurus.com/]. She provides more information about Fashion and fashion issues [http://www.TheFashionGurus.com/] that you can research in your pajamas on her website.

Winter Fashion: Top Picks For 2014

With Christmas only a few weeks away, a few of us will be scrambling around and making that mad dash to find the perfect present. Gift giving is no easy task particularly if you have an infamously fussy person in your life which is why a little help and support can go a long way.

I am sure you all agree, as I do myself, that it is often us men that can be the most fussy of the bunch. After years of receiving ties and socks with shocking prints and beer glasses and board games that we probably will never play; my aim is to ensure that you the gift giver, actually get on the right path and give something memorable and worthwhile this year.

It is never too late to find a gift that is appreciated and most importantly; actually used which is why I have put together my top picks that will either give you the right answer or at least nudge you towards it.

With winter well and truly underway, keeping warm is what matters to even the most fussy man and hopefully my top winter picks will help...
  • Paul Smith Socks- If you are insistent on giving a pair of socks then why not give a designer pair that scream quality and style? The Paul Smith socks are made from soft cotton and nylon and are available in a range of stunning signature stripe designs that are sure to change the way you look at socks forever!
  • Paul Smith Scarf - This long running British brand is renowned for its quality and those loveable signature stripes which is why their selection of scarves is a must have for any man this winter. My personal favourite is the navy mixed pattern, wool blend scarf but there really is an incredible selection to choose from so you will easily be able to find one for you.
  • Hugo Boss V-Neck Jumper- A jumper is always appreciated but a stylish, quality designer jumper can finally make you the gift giver that actually gave right. Made from 50% polyacrylic and 50% virgin wool; this is quality at its best. My personal favourite has to be the one in this season's hottest colour red however there are plenty to choose from.
  • Hugo Boss Leather Glove- Another Hugo Boss selection on my list but the brands quality really cannot be debated. Gloves are a simple gift to give but when of real quality and made with 100% goat leather like these particular gloves are; you will be sure to impress with a gift that will last for years to come.
  • Armani Jeans Hooded Jumper- Another jumper on my list but this one stuck out for me because of its beautiful design, quality and the essential funnel neck that is ideal for keeping the warmth in. Available in a range of colours my personal favourite is the green for its outdoorsy feel but whatever you chose, this is style and comfort at its best.
These are my personal choices but hopefully, if they don't exactly hit the nail on the head they at least give you an idea of what you can give to your loved one this Christmas. Think practical with the winter weather but keep style and comfort in mind and you will no doubt find something that will make even the fussiest man, a happy one.

Richard Atkinson is the director at leading mens designer clothing store Ted Williams Menswear, specialising in everything from leading fashion designers including Armani Jeans and Paul Smith.