Reader Question Part II: Specifics of Business Casual Wardrobe

This post follows directly from the last in which we discussed how one could be classically dressed while being comfortable and unstuffy in a workplace with a casual dress code. Our reader is a recent graduate so cost is a factor. The wardrobe also needed to accommodate a large variety of social and work based scenarios.

In this part I will outline a core wardrobe of clothes that should achieve all of the above. It’s also important to bear in mind those general principles outlined last week: don’t get hung up on one mode of ‘classic’ dressing; the three F’s (Fit, Fit and Fit); don’t be too proud and the devil is in the detail.

Core Wardrobe Theory

If you’re on a budget then this is something you must practice. Abide by its general principles and you’ll have only those clothes you absolutely need, thereby getting the most out of your money.

At its most rudimentary the core wardrobe concept is about ensuring that all of the clothes in your wardrobe go with one another. It means that no one item stands out but together they form a harmonious aesthetic. The acid test is if you can get dressed in the dark and no matter what you put on it looks good.

To achieve this feat the items you choose must be classics which last season after season and above all fit perfectly. You also need to keep your colour pallet simple.  Simple clothes and colours always look more sophisticated even if the clothes you’re wearing aren’t in themselves terribly sophisticated. Simplicity imparts an air of quiet ease. To steal the Balliol college motto, ‘the conscious tranquillity of effortless superiority’ is our aim.

So here would be my core wardrobe, based on our reader’s criteria. Bear in mind I’m 35 years old and not a recent graduate, so this is a guide based on my tastes with general notions that should work.

1x Navy Suit

1 x navy silk knit tie

Navy Suit

This probably seems an odd choice but think about it logically. The chances are you’ll need a suit on at least one occasion, whether that’s for a wedding, funeral, job interview or important business occasion. So it’s always useful to have one in the wardrobe. Beyond that, in terms of marginal cost, a suit is little more expensive than a navy blazer -that being the most versatile of jackets. However, if you split the component parts of the suit up you can wear the jacket with jeans or chinos and the trousers separately with one of your button down shirts. The one item effectively gives you a number of alternative looks and combinations suitable for a relaxed workplace environment. Provided you follow the rule about having your kit altered to fit, you’ll achieve a look which is sharp, classic, relaxed but smart. Navy will go with just about any colour of shirt, and if you change the navy buttons for brown, as a blazer a navy suit jacket works all the better.  Combined with the other items mentioned you’ll be covered for weddings, job interviews, semi-formal  evening occasions, business lunches, garden parties, meetings at the office with senior managers and those days when you just want to be a cut above and ditch the jeans in favour of trousers.

However, if you decide to go down this road you don’t need to spend a fortune. Consider opting for either a vintage or second hand suit; alternatively try one of the high street labels in your locality. You don’t need to spend a fortune just make it look like you did, so take your time and try all the retailers in your price range and pick the suit that fits best. Then take it to an alterations tailor to make it perfect. Finally, avoid shiny fabrics or overtly fashionable cuts and styles. A simple single breasted jacket with notch lapels should do. For those living in warmer climates –like our reader- I’d recommend cotton suit if you can source one.

Source: An Affordable Wardrobe.

So, a navy suit is not quite as odd a recommendation as it might at first appear, provided you also follow my next recommendation, brown shoes.

Brown Suede Shoes

If your colleagues are wearing trainers and deck shoes, as I suspect they will be, then you should wear shoes, and that being the case they should be brown.

In my view shoes set the tone for any ensemble. Your footwear choice will be critical for balancing that casual yet sophisticated look. Brown shoes are intrinsically more casual than black, and brown suede even more so. My own preference would be for dark brown tassel loafers. Loafers have a rakish, relaxed air whilst retaining enough formality that you can wear them for formal occasions. In this way they lower the formality of a suit and make a simple pairing of jeans and a shirt more formal.  On hot summer days you can even go sockless.

The reasons for recommending suede are two fold. Firstly, suede is less formal than leather but adds contrast and luxuriance. This works wonders for dressing up the most casual and simple of outfits while dressing down more formal attire. It will enable you to pitch your look more closely to that of your work colleagues while still looking a cut above. Secondly, suede ages more rapidly than leather. Some people get a bit prissy about this, but personally the more beaten up my suede loafers get the more I love them and the more useful they become with regards altering the pitch of an ensemble.

You may decide that brown suede loafers aren’t for you. That’s fine. Go with whatever best suits your own personal style. As long as they’re brown suede the above advice holds true.

Source: Herring Shoes (Classic, Graduate and Sale ranges)

When shopping on a budget the shoes should be the most expensive items in your wardrobe. As a rule the more you spend on shoes the better the value for money. Cheap shoes will always look cheap and they’ll cheapen your look. Well made quality footwear has the opposite effect even in relation to our next items.

Indigo Jeans and Ecru Chinos

This really is first principles stuff. I can think of few items of clothing more relaxed and yet more classic than jeans and chinos. Provided they are well tailored, clean and in good nic you can look both smart and casual. For example, jeans combined with a crisp white shirt, nicely tailored jacket and suede tassel loafers is a look which is both relaxed and done right looks smarter than most men manage even in a suit.

Ecru or off white chinos come right out of the Steve McQueen playbook. One of his favourite and most effective tricks was to wear tops which were darker than his trousers and then combine those with dark brown suede footwear (playboy chukka boots mostly).

Now, the reader that posed the question lives in a sunny environment year round, hence I went for Ecru chinos. However, for those of us who have both a summer and proper winter I’d simply use ecru for summer and switch to Tan chinos in winter.  But in either case the suit jacket, the shirts and the brown loafers will go with our chinos. Just be sure to avoid extreme fashion cuts.

Sources: Gap (slimfit), Levis

Five Button Down Shirts (2x white, 1x blue, 1x blue Bengal stripe, 1x pink)

I don’t think I need to say too much here. I’ve discussed shirt colours in a previous article. The reason for choosing button down shirts over a regular collar is simply that they’re less formal. If you stick to the colours suggested then each will go with all the other items so far covered. In my view few looks are quite so simple or quite so effective as blue jeans and a white button down shirt. The loafers (worn with or without socks) will add the finishing touch.  In fact even the white shirt and ecru chinos works for the hottest days of high summer -add in the dark brown shoes and we have yet another classic McQueenism.

Sources: This is tricky because I don’t know what’s available to our questioner out there in Silicon Valley. But as I said in part one, take the time to find a source that provides what you need, to an acceptable standard and at the price you can afford –don’t be too proud.

Navy Knit Tie

Accessories are where you really make a look, particularly when the core items in your wardrobe are pretty simple. I’ve chosen a silk knit tie because that suits my own personal style and fits with the other items in our core wardrobe. Ties are in vogue at the moment and a silk knit tie worn with navy jeans a button down shirt won’t look the least bit out of place. To make the look more relaxed simply loosen the tie, unbutton the top button of the shirt and role the sleeve cuffs up two turns.

Now, this is just one option, and going back to our first rule in part one, the accessories you choose must reflect your own style influences. You could, for example, decide that your style cue is patterned and brightly coloured socks, or braces with your chinos, wrist bands, scarves or even a waistcoat. The options are nearly limitless.

Conclusion

While views may differ on the kit chosen the basic principles and pairings behind them are sound. They are there to be applied in a way that suits your own style and tastes. The aim was not to provide the definitive list or clothes. The casual work environment is a tricky one to master but over the course of these two posts I hope I’ve shown it’s not impossible to look sharp whilst remaining comfortable and casual.

Photos: Obsessed with Tweed, Getty Images, The Sartorialist, Preppystyle, Randomitus, How to Talk To Girls At Parties.

Re-using the Denim Jacket

I am often surprised by the number of friends and acquaintances of mine who admit to owning, though rarely using, a jacket constructed of denim. I am a monumental hypocrite in this regard, as I still own one bought earlier in my youth; one which I enjoyed wearing with smart black trousers, a white shirt, a slim black tie and black loafers.

Though not an offensive aesthetic in retrospect, it is fair to say that I have moved on – in both age and style – since those days and, though I cherish the fond memories of wearing the jacket as well as wrapping it around the shoulders of ludicrously underdressed young ladies on a stumble home, I have not found many uses for it recently.

This is not without trying, as I have often attempted to mix it into an ensemble for an evening’s fun on the town. The trouble is, I look at the jacket and see myself eight or nine years ago; a cocky, floppy-haired whippet. As I scan up to my aging face, conservative hairstyle and tired eyes, it becomes clear that I need to rethink my continual efforts to reincorporate it into my regular wardrobe. Call it age denial, call it sentimentality, but I cannot find the courage to bin the thing. Instead of being anti the denim jacket aesthetic, I have come to the conclusion that I simply don’t understand it anymore.

However, on pondering its removal to make some much needed space in my reserve wardrobe, I thought through some potential ensembles which, come the spring, may be worth attempting. It is often worn with matching jeans, which is a disastrously studied and dated look, though there are some who wear it with denim of a contrasting tone and texture; a stonewashed jacket with new denim, and vice versa. However, I think it is best deployed when no other denim is on show, particularly with khaki chinos; it needs to stand out, and therefore needs contrasting materials and colours.

This is perhaps why, in my mind, a suitable spring ensemble for a denim jacket might be a pair of slim fitting khakis, a white shirt, a denim jacket and a pair of sockless penny loafers. Arguably, still a youthful look but one which a man nearing thirty has more confidence in attempting. Adventurous chaps may wish to add a seersucker bow tie to prep it up and, for the Layerists, to button up a slim-fitting denim jacket under a cream trench; keeping it Americana-but-still-Ivy-League will prevent it going the way of the cowboy hat.

The Alternative Trench

“You look like Inspector Gadget!” one friend cried as the other shuffled into his cream trench coat, flashing the Burberry check lining.

I always remembered this put-down as it reminded me of the frequent misfortune of iconic association; like those who hear Rossini’s William Tell Overture and think of ‘The Lone Ranger’ or those who point to my bow tie and say ‘Hey! Doctor Who!’ Some wardrobe items, when abused by popular culture, acquire a one-channel relevance for all those who were otherwise unaware. The trench coat is a piece of classic outerwear and one of the most practical methods of protecting our finely crafted suits from the persistent and uncaring elements. And yet, in its default colourings of buff, khaki or cream it can have an overtly theatrical and cliché effect.

This was a primary concern of a reader who wanted to know which colour of raincoat, besides the traditional, was most acceptable. Whilst I did spend some time in my response trying to convince him that the traditional colouring was still the most favourable as it would age better, I did concede that not all who look upon a long coat the colour of desert sand, with buttoned epaulettes and a buckled belt see Humphrey Bogart but rather, cartoonish ridicule. Speaking of which, the reader had already ruled out several colours for similar reasons; red (“I’m not Carmen San Diego either…”) black (“Black raincoats look too sinister”) and royal blue (“A friend has one…it’s way too attention seeking.”)

Though there are plenty of colours left, there are few that are suitable for a smart trench and I was dreading – with this reader’s reticence to experiment – that the choice was being pushed toward navy blue; the default tone for gentlemen of fear. There is no doubt that navy blue would be a smart alternative to the traditional tones, and is often better for gentlemen of fair complexion, but it was too hackneyed a second choice to recommend on its own, without other alternatives.

Moss green is not the first colour associated with rain coats, despite it’s associations with the trenches of the First World War which, unsurprisingly, is the reason for its nickname. It is a subtle green which is not horn-honkingly different to draw too much attention, and smart enough to adapt to elegant ensembles. One of the best things about a moss green coat is the wonderful contrast with various shades of blue – ideal for the classic navy suit enthusiast - as well as its compatibility with grey and brown.

However, against black, the moss green somehow loses its way; it dies against the lifelessness of the tone. Make way for the grey trench; apart from white, there are few tones which complement black better than grey. Monotone palettes might be, well, monotonous to some, but they are the smartest solution for those who favour colour-killing block black. In this circumstance, a black raincoat may indeed be too much, and there is no doubt that a navy would clash horrendously, but when our Reservoir Dog slips into a mid-grey belted mac, there will be nods of unexpected approval.

Links: Florence, Ovadia & Sons, Tod’s Shoes…

• Shopping in Florence. (sartoriallyinclined.blogspot.com)

• Ovadia & Sons. (thesigother.com)

• How great things age: Tod’s driving shoes. (permanentstyle.co.uk)

• Ray Frensham’s second annual list of stylish men. (fineanddandyshopblog.com)

• Cedar wood must-haves. (redclaysoul.com)

• Polo? Tennis? A shirt for both and more. (kyotomaiko.com)

• Why do you dress the way you do? (styleforum.net)

The Age of Innocence

It’s fascinating how life alters your perceptions; how the endurance of aging can erode convictions of childhood, how dearly held truths lost their shine, embrittle and blow away in the uncaring winds of experience.

I used to believe I would never do things that I do now; I used to believe in things I would now heartily denounce. Sweepingly, this is referred to as growing up; maturation; the loss of innocence.

However, I believe innocence is not what I have lost but what I have acquired. When once I considered myself ‘too cool’ to act in a certain way, I now consider myself insufficiently ‘cool’ not to be myself. There is definitely an adult rejection of ‘coolness’ for its own sake; as we grow old, the fads of youth appear laughable, the proponents of its culture credulous and the proprietors of its wares as cynical opportunists.

There is a warm comfort in declaring myself ‘uncool.’ Whereas once such a phrase would have forced me into self-inflicted isolation, it now affords me contentment in my chosen existence. Teenage years are, to me, temporary yet ugly cysts on the sphere of life. Teenagers are susceptible to influence from every source except that which understands and cares for them the most. Teens are unhappy, narcissistic, paranoid and, crucially, pathologically insecure. A recent examination of my teenage wardrobe illustrated to me how unrecognisable a person I was in that seven year period that some people, bizarrely, recall as the zenith of their life.

Every external influence was there: clothing with insignia, brand names crudely emblazoned on sweatshirts; incongruous trends bought whimsically in the company of an approving female. Every external influence that is, except two of the greatest significance; the influence of a mother who studied textile design, produced her own patterns and directed her own shows whilst at fashion college and the influence of a father whose formidable collection of suits and shirts clearly directed, genetically, my late disposition for acquisition and variety of ensemble.

My own teenage collection paid homage to an idol I no longer recognised. Initially, I was disappointed in my own inconstancy; to have built on such sand at one time surely means I am capable of doing so again. Such questions are not trivial. I think the ultimate happiness of continual self-improvement can only be achieved when we are true to our own selves.

However, I was happy to recognise earlier scribbling from my pre-teen years that was more recognisable; tales of top hats, bow ties and even the wide-eyed imaginings of a tailor’s shop. It made me realise that we are not always ourselves, indeed there are long periods of estrangement, but that our true characters always lurk beneath the superficiality of other’s influence.