It was bound to happen. The day that Be Better Guys would find the one techie-man-fashion thing that truly tied my geek side and my “I want to look gooood” side together.
And BeSpeak is it. This free iPhone menswear app promises to be “Your Mobile Personal Stylist,” and it delivers. For free. You see, I, like many of you, know the basic rules – no white pants after Labor Day, make sure your belt matches your shoes, skinny jeans should be outlawed, you know, the usual stuff.
But beyond that is a huge chasm in terms of dressing for my size and shape, choosing complimentary colors for my skin tone, or outfits for my head shape, or haircut. Usually, by the time I think about it, I’ve already left the house looking like less than a Better Guy. Or worse, just walked out of the store with a bag of stuff that will make me look fat, or worse, dorky.
BeSpeak takes it all into account, and helps you slowly but surely develop your personal style and build a better wardrobe. Input all your information (don’t lie about your size or shape, buddy) and look at swatches of fabric types, colors that will work for you, and even detailed explanations of why.
Best of all, this amazing app wasn’t developed by some neophyte in his mom’s basement. Renowned author and men’s clothing designer Alan Flusser is this baby’s daddy. So, you could have the virtual expertise of a clothing designer in 
your pocket at all times, helping you look great. And did I mention that it’s free at the App Store?
From the second I saw the little Dapper Dan icon, I was sucked in. I want to do something I never want to do: go suit shopping.
With all that said, I now turn to the criticism part of the review. Besides being a little buggy (crashed twice while creating my profile), and not accounting for bald guys (which wasn’t in the version I looked at), I really can’t complain. Hopefully the minor shortcomings will be addressed with a new release for iOS4, the new iPhone operating system set to launch with iPhone 4 in late June. It’s not perfect, but it’s free. And it definitely helps if you feel like you’re one step above Fred Flintstone when it comes to choosing clothes. So if you’re a gadget guru, iPhone-carrying, wannabe Better Guy, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be downloading this right now.
Kwame DeRoché is the Tech Editor for Be Better Guys. He is also the Creative Director and President of KJ2D.
Hey guys, thanks so much for the great review of BeSpeak! We have put a lot of work into this app and really appreciate the time you put into checking it out.
I wanted to touch on a couple of things you pointed out. First, regarding, follically challenged gentleman; while not a specific profile option, just go by the color of your eyebrows. Second, our update – which will hit iTunes shortly – should take care of any future crashes.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
I reviewed this some weeks ago (http://www.abcneckties.com/blog/2010/06/28/review-the-bespeak-app/) and I noticed the same buggy issues. Hopefully those will get fixed!
I also doubted the usefulness of the “quality” score. It seems to me that there should be more variables, like textures used and clash between colors.
Michael – thanks for the follow-up and the initial review. We actually just launched an upgrade that deals with a number of the stability issues. It’s a very complex and active app and our development team has been working hard to sort out the issues.
I’ll look into the issue more variables, but the foundation of the Bespeak approach – and Alan’s – is to identify and refine ideal contrast for each person. Once you know what works on you and have mastered your own profile, the issue of bringing in stronger color palates and pattern combination becomes a more harmonious endeavor. Less about clash and more about combination.