New York ? Men are taking a long-overdue look in the mirror, and many don’t like what they see. How could they have thought that wrinkled pleated chinos and shapeless shirts ever counted as fashion — or were even attractive?

Clothes don’t quite make the man, but some men — especially 20- and 30-somethings — are realizing they can help, especially in the confidence and self-esteem departments.

Tom Ford, the former Gucci designer, is making his return to the fashion world first with a self-branded line of beauty products that he says will include some specifically made for men, and it’s likely that when he does return to ready-to-wear it’ll be with a men’s collection.

“We (men) are ready for elegance, quality and luxury,” says Ford, who’s noticed teenagers wearing pinstripe suits trying to emulate the glamour of the 1920s-’30s. “Men want their turn. I love getting dressed up. You hear people say, ‘I wish I lived in the 1950s when everyone got dressed up.’ You know, you can do it today.”

“Guys need direction, but they are cleaning up,” agrees Todd Snyder, J.Crew’s vice president of men’s design. “That messy look of five years ago is finally going away.”

Maybe men realized that tailored clothes are more flattering, adds Bruce Pask, style director at Cargo.

Thanks to increased attention from the fashion industry and the media, men have access to more ideas about wardrobe, Pask says, and men do like to be armed with information before they embark on a shopping expedition.

Seersucker is due for a revival thanks to its light weight and fresh look, according to manufacturer Haspel.

Men are reluctant to ask for guidance from salespeople in the same way they are reluctant to ask for driving directions, Pask says: They either think they know better or they are embarrassed to admit that they don’t.

Men’s clothing also evolves at a much slower pace than women’s, so when men do find pants they love, they often can go back the next season and it’ll still be there, just in a different fabric or color.

Wearing that one favorite piece encourages men to be a little more experimental with the rest of their outfit, Snyder says. “Guys need something they know — jeans, chinos, oxfords — that grounds the outfit.”

For example, at J.Crew, pink and lavender T-shirts are best sellers — ahead of blue ones. Snyder thinks it happened because the colors are fashion-forward but the shirt itself is quite familiar.

Paul Wasserman, director of merchandising for Haspel, also expects men to embrace seersucker because it’s a lightweight, relaxed fabric that is now being used in slimmer silhouettes. “Seersucker has a little more attitude to go with it now,” he says, which is appealing to younger men who take their fashion cues from music stars.

Men have added a third wardrobe -- the one they wear when they're going out to dinner, on a date or to a club. It's neither too casual nor too fussy, says J.Crew designer Todd Snyder.

Pask says a man’s fashion identity really comes across in his “third wardrobe,” the one he wears to dinner, on a date or to a club.

Cargo magazine regularly surveys a group of 4,000 readers and found in a recent poll that 85 percent of them feel that how they look is important to them and they’re willing to spend time and money to make sure they look their best. The same number of men also said they spend more money on themselves now than they did five years ago.