What to wear is not just a female quandary. Gone are the days of the gray-flannel-suit uniform. Choices have been broadened by designers borrowing from the Peacock Revolution of the '60s/'70s, the casual Fridays of the '80s and the "creative black-tie" of the '90s. No wonder today's men are puzzled over style.

Men's fashions are as fickle as women's. Jacket lengths, like hemlines, now go up and down. Prices only go up.

Since a guy's choices have become almost as broad as a woman's, he would do well to learn what many women know: how to shop. With designer T-shirts and jeans in the hefty three figures, there are men for whom staying au courant is worth the investment. Many, however, look at such spending with disdain, yet they will blow far more on electronic gizmos guaranteed to become obsolete faster than the designer T-shirt will fade.

To look good, money helps. But the real investment is thought. What looks good on me? How much should I spend? Fortunately, here too the choices are broad.

Men's apparel grew into a $53 billion industry last year, at a faster rate than the $101 billion women's market, which means guys are updating their wardrobes - like women have always been telling them to do. That growing industry wants you to keep updating, and brands that sell moderately priced jeans and T-shirts hire their own (anonymous) designers to keep up with the trends.

And what are they keeping up with? Coral Gables, Fla.-based bespoke tailor and men's fashion designer Christian Garcia sees a return to the Peacock Revolution among young and middle-young men. "Once again, men want color - even a daring style. What they don't want is a uniform," he says.

"The difference is a tinge of classicism that wasn't present in that era," Garcia adds. "And American men are adopting a European tendency: to buy less goods but of higher quality and with a well developed consciousness of design."

Here are shopping/dressing tips:

• If you must buy one suit, make it light gray. Jazz it up with a multicolored dress shirt or give it a nightlife with a black one. White shirt and tie - a skinny black one - is fine.

• Modern suits are cut slim and jackets are shorter - with flat-front low-rise pants. That means you better get slim, too.

• Spectators are in. Those are two-toned oxfords and loafers in black and white or brown and white. Also espadrilles (cotton shoes with straw soles originally worn by Southern European peasants), seen in the summer issues of Italian magazines. Wear with slim flat-front pants, and since they're cheap, buy a bunch.

• Unconstructed cotton or linen jackets, often white, are the garment of choice for dressing up, but not too seriously. They look good over jeans or any casual pants. It takes some chutzpah to wear them with Bermudas, but, why not?

• Orange, the most visible of colors (Why do you think they make life jackets orange?) is hot. Only one orange garment, please. A polo shirt. Or even linen or cotton orange pants with a white T-shirt. Overdo it and you're a pumpkin.

• Pleats or flat fronts? Definitely the latter. If you must wear pleated pants, make sure they have only one pleat and are cut slim.

• Khakis are the new jeans. But not your father's Dockers; instead, slim-cut, low-slung and, of course, flat-front. Even Dockers makes them.

• Seersucker, that crinkly summer fabric, continues its retro popularity - in suits, shorts, shirts. Traditional blue and gray have been replaced by brown, green, pink, red.

• Sandals can be worn with casual suits even. For this season, a simple black or brown leather sandal. Make sure your feet are presentable, something that women in Manolos have always taken care of.

• The slim tie is back and so is the slim belt. Like all the other slim trends, these call for a slim body.

• Sports sneakers don't cut it outside the gym or playing field - it's that old casual Fridays look that's soooo last... generation. If you like the comfort for everyday wear, there are many choices of what Europeans call "trainers," basically leather sneakers of simple design. They're worn with summer suits. Or slip into vintage sports sneakers from Converse, Adidas and other classic brands, all of which are re-issuing shoes from their old files.

• There's a difference between stylish casual and bubba slob. Don't feel like jacket and tie? Wear dress pants with a good belt and a dress shirt - with pattern and color - rolled up at the sleeves. Even if you're wearing shorts, T-shirt and sandals, take another cue from females and look in a full-length mirror before you step out. If you look good, go for it. If you don't, change.

• You'll see a lot of "distressed" garments - jeans, of course, but even blazers and suits - that look like they came out of the dirty-clothes hamper. They work best on the young. If your age makes you look distressed, don't add to it.

• That said, the new Peacock Revolution among young people who never lived their fathers' casual-Fridays has led them to discover tailored suits, proper shoes, high-collared dress shirts (with cuff links even). Today's look is crisp, slim, Miles Davis cool.

• Speaking of cool, early '60s wraparound sunglasses (JFK and Jackie wore them) are back. It's that bored-with-fast-sports-cars-and-faster-foxes-but-hey-somebody's-got-to-live-la-dolce-vita attitude.

Knight Ridder Newspapers