Are plaid flannels wayyy out of style?
Yes, flannel died with the 1990s. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something, or from Maine. I agree that you can’t go wrong with a collared shirt (polo or long sleeved button down) and jeans or khakis. For casual, you could do a trendy atheletic zip up sweatshirt/jacket or long-sleeved tee (think Puma or Adidas.) with jeans or corduroys. I also think the casual blazer over a t-shirt with jeans looks nice on men. I’d recommend hitting Express Men for the trendier stuff (salespeople will help you pick out outfits, too), Gap for some staples, and Old Navy (basically the same as Gap but cheaper). Oh, don’t forget about belts and shoes! If you still have any braided belts, toss ’em. For men’s dress shoes, the plainer the better (avoid anything with tassles). For more casual, you could try some of those sneakery things that are in style now- just make sure you pick a dark color, like brown or gray.
Two other points, touched on briefly above but worth bearing in mind. It’s not only the fabric of the clothes of today that distinguishes them from the clothes of the 90s, it’s the cut. -Pleats in the front of pants = very dated, very square. If you’re buying pants (khakis, dark slacks, whatever), they shouldn’t have pleats. – Men’s shirts are cut much closer to the body now than they were in the mid-90s. To look modern, the shirts you buy should fit you with a seamline at the top of the shoulder rather than drooping way off your shoulder, for example. So even if plaid shirts are in, in some circumstances today, they’re cut differently from the droopy grunge-era lumberjack shirts.
