T.O. man chosen as best dressed

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers SHARP DRESSER––Hillcrest Christian School Vice Principal Anthony Gutierrez, a Newbury Park resident, is a finalist in Esquire magazine’s best-dressed “real men” contest. Gutierrez and the four other finalists are scheduled to be on NBC’s Today show Sept. 13. One of America’s Best Dressed Real Men lives right here in the Conejo Valley.

Andrew Gutierrez, a vice principal at Hillcrest Christian School in Thousand Oaks, was chosen by Esquire magazine as one of the top five best-dressed “real men” in the country.

The Newbury Park resident is now vying for the No. 1 spot, and you can help by voting for him on the publication’s website at www.esquire.com/bestdressed/. Gutierrez and the other four competitors will be present when the winner is announced live on NBC’s Today show Sept. 13.

Gutierrez is featured in the current issue of Esquire and on the magazine’s website. His photo and an interview detail how Gutierrez won.

For the contest he wore a pinstriped suit jacket, a white collared shirt, jeans and leather shoes, which the magazine describes as “his own laid-back take on California cool.” But what caught the judges’ attention was his white leather belt. Gutierrez likes to wear one unusual or colorful item to add a little flash to his conservative dress.

“To find out he had won was pretty amazing,” said friend Douglas Hume of Thousand Oaks. “I’m not surprised he did the contest because he has a great fashion sense.”

Gutierrez decided to participate in the contest after reading about it in Esquire’s February issue. Magazine staff visited 10 cities over three weeks to find their men among 3,000 applicants.

When the contest came to the Beverly Center in Los Angeles last spring, Gutierrez competed against about 100 other hopefuls. Judges interviewed each contestant about his style. The field was then narrowed down to 10. The contestants were onstage having photos taken when Gutierrez heard his name announced.

“As soon as they said my name there were cameras, TV people, instant press,” Gutierrez said. “I was shocked. I didn’t have time to think about it.”

From there, Gutierrez competed against 10 finalists from around the country. That list was narrowed to the current five. Gutierrez traveled to New York in June to take part in a photo shoot for the magazine along with the other winners, who came from San Francisco, Detroit, Honolulu and Brooklyn. The fashionable group bonded during the trip.

“It’s a really good group of guys,” Gutierrez said. “Nobody is cocky or arrogant. We all agreed whichever of the five wins we would be happy for him.”

The group will be flown back to New York this month for the final competition.

Gutierrez describes his style as preppy and classy. He likes to pair suits with a colorful shirt or tie. His likes wearing dark green and his favorite color is navy. His favorite article of clothing is shoes because there are so many options.

“You can wear leather, laceups, loafers,” Gutierrez said.

His favorite places to shop are Banana Republic and Express in Thousand Oaks as well as J. Crew and Zara.

He offers this piece of fashion advice: take care of clothing.

“It’s not always about what you wear but how you take care of it, what your appearance is,” Gutierrez said.

He enjoys dressing well because he feels it shows respect.

“If you dress sloppily, you probably are,” Gutierrez said.

Born in Northern California, Gutierrez has lived in Thousand Oaks for four years. In addition to being vice principal at Hillcrest, Gutierrez is the athletic director. He also teaches government, history and economics.

Students often come to him for fashion tips, especially for what to wear to special occasions like the prom and graduation. Their reaction to his win was positive.

“They love it. They think it’s great,” Gutierrez said.