Dominating Casual-Chic
If you no longer need or want to wear suits, that’s perfectly fine — lose the suit. But you don’t have to lose your sense of style in the process.
I want to write about looking smart without wearing a suit. This is the introduction. I’m going to be writing a few more on this same subject. Check out the moodboard, I put some images there to go with this.
As men, when offices started to drop the suit during the turn of the century we gained something: the freedom to wear what we want. But we also lost something: the ease of having a uniform.
Whether you celebrate the loss of the suit or lament it, one thing is for sure: the paradox of choice is very real, having too many choices can be overwhelming and annoying at times. And now that we don’t have the gray and navy suit to rely on every morning, now that we’re free to wear whatever we want; well, now it’s one more thing we have to figure out everyday.
Lost in this endless universe of choices many men just reach out for whatever is easiest. Not long ago a client said to me, “It’s sad because I’m full of clothes but I just don’t know how to pair things, so I end up simply defaulting to a t-shirt and jeans.”
Others, in an act of desperation, have tried to create a new strict uniform for themselves. But found this can turn boring, bland, and sad really quick.
But don’t worry. There are answers.
If you’re resonating with everything I just said, then dominating casual-chic is what you should be aiming for.
Let me explain.
In tailored menswear, casual-chic is everything that lies between wearing a suit and tie (formal wear) and wearing jeans (casual wear).
The easiest way of thinking about it is this: what you wear with dress pants. Not jeans. Not sweatpants. Not cargo pants. But dress pants. Big-boy trousers made from wool, or a wool blend cloth. Another word for pants like these is slacks. You can also wear chinos — crisp, cotton twill trousers. In general, they’re a little bit more casual but can look very smart if done right.
Look, there is nothing inherently groundbreaking about what I just said. I know. Walking around any office or work environment, you can see that many people already dress this way. Chinos, a shirt and a sweater is the business uniform of the 21st century. Yet most still fail miserably and look terrible. But that’s not because the idea of the outfit is wrong; but because the fit is off, the materials look cheap and the combinations are terrible.
In other words, it’s got the casual, but it’s missing the chic.
Casual-chic is a more elevated way to carry this same outfit. It’s paying attention to small details that make a huge difference so that it actually looks elegant. Not elegant as in stiff and dreary, but quite the opposite: stylish and graceful.
We’re lost after the suit. We haven’t yet landed on anything that fully makes sense for us, so we’re still scrambling. Some might not care or even notice. But if you’re someone who cares about how you present yourself — and if you’re reading this newsletter chances are that you do — you know that jeans and a t-shirt everyday just won’t cut it.
