Three Men’s Fashion Influencers to Follow on TikTok
Fashion has been one of the pillars of TikTok that has helped drive the social media platform’s immense popularity, and recently men’s style videos have become one of the most popular categories.
Men’s style is a consistently growing topic on TikTok, with #mensfashion garnering 10.8 billion views. This growth can be attributed to an increasing number of content creators who are using the platform to offer style tips, tutorials and guides for specific occasions or types of clothing.
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Julian Carter, Nolan White and Parker York Smith are three men’s fashion influencers who are standing out on the platform for their content, taking a personal approach to their videos that are equal parts educational and entertaining. The influencers also infuse their background into their content, such as Carter, who looks to his engineering job to educate his followers on different materials and how light reflects off of different fabrics.
Here, the three influencers share insights into their content strategies and why they think TikTok is the best platform for men’s style content.
Julian Carter @juulian.c
Julian Carter has taken a different approach to creating men’s style content on TikTok, blending his background in engineering with his love for DIY projects and punk-inspired fashion.
“I’ve been into fashion for a long time, so [my style] is a blend of what I’ve seen in the past and a blend of all the different trends I thought were interesting,” the 25-year-old content creator said. “Right now, it’s really focused on a lot of Japanese brands. It’s influenced by punk, DIY type of deconstructed looks and a lot of it is functionality-based, too.”
Carter, who works full-time as an engineer in Huntsville, Alabama, started posting his fashion content on TikTok in 2020 and has grown his platform to a following of over 310,000. He was interested in the DIY fashion tutorials people were posting during quarantine and saw there was a white space to offer the same kind of content, but geared toward men’s style.
He’s kept up that strategy over the last two years, with most of his videos focusing on thrifting or sewing projects. Carter also infuses his engineering background into his content, creating educational videos that give insight into how materials like Velcro or retroreflectors work.
Carter explained he previously posted his fashion content on fashion forums and Instagram, but now prefers TikTok because it’s a more organic and authentic way of sharing his style.
“My problem with Instagram is you don’t get to see as much behind-the-scenes of how the outfit actually works because sometimes in a picture you can hide a lot, but a video, you can’t,” he said. “You can learn a lot from a video. I think that’s one of the reasons people like [my content] a lot because you can see how this thing is put together or how I’m wearing it versus a picture.”
Carter’s content has caught the attention of some major companies that have tapped him for brand deals. The content creator has worked with the likes of Depop, eBay, Grailed, Vans, Banana Republic, Walmart and others.
Nolan White @nolandanielwhite
Nolan White started posting his fashion content on TikTok as a way to push himself creatively with his style in January 2021, and ultimately built a following of more than 184,000 that looks to him for advice on fashion, grooming and lifestyle.
“I put a lot of emphasis on forward fashion and building a wardrobe as a long-term project as opposed to just a one and done project or something to cycle out super-fast,” said the 21-year-old Montreal-based content creator. “I think that resonates with people. I’m always approaching videos as how would I as someone who maybe is a little insecure about their style or feels like they don’t have something down, how can I help those people find something that they’re going to be comfortable in and that they’re going to be able to express themselves in.”
White still posts his own outfits on his platform, but also offers style recommendations and answers questions from his followers. This includes everything from a roundup of vintage watches to fall outfit ideas, a review of a windbreaker jacket or small fashion boutiques to shop from in the Montreal area. He also offers content talking about men’s grooming, fragrances, lifestyle and home décor.
The content creator has recently pivoted into style guides for his followers, whether it’s a gift guide or tutorial on how to style certain color palettes. Through his content, White has partnered with brands like eBay, Grailed, Boy Smells, Hodinkee and others.
“I always act on the principle of ‘is this something I want to see?’” he said about his content strategy. “That’s a big reason why I started making more informational stuff. I felt there wasn’t enough content at the time talking about the things that I liked, so I was just thinking, ‘would I want to come across this video?’ On top of that, I usually go off of what people ask for and I figured if I can provide some value to people and get them to watch a video all the way through, then I’m adding some value and it provides purpose.”
Parker York Smith @parkeryorksmith
Parker York Smith has been creating content about men’s style since 2015, first posting on blogs and Instagram before transitioning to TikTok at the beginning of the pandemic. The 36-year-old Los Angeles-based influencer quickly saw a white space on TikTok for informative men’s style videos and pivoted his content strategy accordingly.
“I pretty much created a whole new approach with TikTok because it was really nice to directly answer people’s questions,” he said. “When I was first starting, it didn’t seem like there were really specialty guys doing that. Being able to quite literally see 20 people asking a similar version of the same question gave me an idea that, OK this is something a good majority of people are curious about, so let’s make a video about it and then understanding how to shift it into a bit of story. I definitely try to inject myself into things a tiny bit, so I think I sort of reinvented my presentational style for TikTok.”
Smith posts an array of informational men’s style content, ranging from videos on how to style a cardigan sweater or turtleneck to ideas for date night or movie night outfits. He explained his content focusing on wedding attire has become some of his most popular videos. Smith has created videos focusing on traditional wedding-wear, but also offers more creative style options, like how to style an emerald green or burgundy suit for a wedding. Smith’s content has helped him develop his TikTok following to nearly 950,000 followers.
“Oddly enough, I’ve never been a suit and tie person. That was never my [style] approach on Instagram,” Smith said about his content. “However, those videos have been my bread and butter on TikTok — primarily wedding directly related content. Teaching people how to dress either for their own weddings or when they’re attending different types of weddings with all of the different crazy themes people use nowadays.”
Smith’s educational content has helped him secure several brand deals over the years, including with brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, Dockers, Lucky Brand, American Crew and YSL Beauty. The influencer was also tapped by Express to appear in the brand’s holiday campaign.
