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I think this all started in the US where everybody in middle management went through the same homogenised education system and upbringing so they can all communicate on the same bland level.
Chinos, Timberland shoes, a drab corporate polo shirt and Ralph Lauren jacket is a uniform and is not to be messed with.
How did Tandem Jeremy get his photo taken with John Shuttleworth. Looking pretty cool there TJ - although you have committed one of the cardinal photo sins. Being snapped holding a glass!!?!. (The others are being snapped touching your face or holding a phone and pretending to write something. I thought everybody knew that.)
TJ. You look like an LRT bus driver in the first one 🙂
Ok - I may look like a bus driver or a Miami vice wannabee - but at least I don't dress like Clarkson or have the geography teacher look
Cufflinks are cool!
I have quite gone off them, in spite of their being a daily (well, mon to fri) staple of my work wardrobe.
A smart casual "compromise":
1. [b]Jean cut corduroys[/b] - not all loose and baggy like some M&S Christmas cast-off, mind. Avoid chinos unless you can help it - they start the day nicely pressed looking reasonably smart, and soon become baggy and creased, making you look like a disgraced geography teacher.
2. [b]Leather shoes[/b] - not the sort you'd polish, or consider smart enough for a suit. So, Oxfords are out, casual brogues are in.
3. [b]Open necked shirt[/b] - needs to be a "casual" cut - i.e. not the sort of shirt you would wear with a tie.
4. [b]Sewater[/b] - fine material, not a chunky knit, and no patterns/logos (Ralph Lauren's Polo logo is just about acceptable, IMO)
I'd try to avoid a jacket. You need something really well cut - not like Clarkson's - to cary this off in a "casual" way. TJ isn't fasr off with the suggestion of a tweed, but it would be overkill for a team building event.
TJ is that a Tshirt and a Jacket in the bottom picture? Good god man, what's wrong with you 🙂
Well it took me a long time to move up to a shirt with nice cas shoes (not trainers) and with jeans from just jeans and T. I really hate smart clothing, and I wear a tie for interviews and funerals, that's about it.#
corduroys
Just shouts "grandad" to me I'm afraid, as does tweed.
dungarees, checked shirt + tie = smart
dungarees, checked shirt, no tie not had a bath or washed clothes in weeks = casual
dungarees, checked shirt no tie, but recently had a bath and washed clothes = smart casual
Next.
one of those 'comedy' T-shirts with a dinner jacket and bow tie printed on it.
My idea of smart casual at this time of year would be a nice shirt with a V neck jumper over the top, some smart but not formal trousers (suit trousers will do) and shoes.
Personally i'd like more excuses to wear one of my 4 suits more (about once a year at the moment)
nothing is quite so nice as wearing a well fitted suit with a nice shirt, tie and cufflinks.
Suits are one of my (expensive) weaknesses 🙁
as Cinnamon Girl says, an ill fitting suit is terrible
[i]one of those 'comedy' T-shirts with a dinner jacket and bow tie printed on it.[/i]
ahem. I did a sportive last year at which there was a bloke with a cycling jersey with this design. Oh so very wrong.
nothing is quite so nice as wearing a well fitted suit with a nice shirt, tie and cufflinks.
<Shudder> Whatever floats your boat.
indeed
i've never owned any denim, i tried denim jeans on when i was dragged (kicking and screaming) round a shopping centre by my wife and mother in law*.
They insisted i tried some even though i knew they don't suit me only to be told 'you're right, they don't suit you'. I just look wrong in denim.
*one of my previous incarnations clearly did something VERY wrong in a previous life
I only own jeans and t-shirts and trainers except for my outdoor/cycling gear, with the exception of a couple of short sleeve collar shirts.
Kev
Smug mode on
Smart casual is normal clothes, worn by people like me who are able to look good/great with everything.
Smug mode off.
A bit like last time we met TJ 😉
When I see Smart Casual usually means I have to wear socks
[i] shirt with a V neck jumper over the top[/i]
now that reminds me of schooldays 😉
I haven't owned any denim since about 1983, but I've been through plenty of pairs of black canvas "jeans". Like MMW, denim jeans do not work on me. And I've never owned a denim 'jeans' jacket.
Much like my post on the lazy student thread:
Smash the Establishment, comrades! Wear whatever you want and to hell with your employer's blinkered olde worlde homogeneity of appearance!
Smart – Suit and tie
Business Casual – suit and shirt, no tie, shirt is not normally plain
Smart Casual – chino’s or smart jean, open neck shirt or fine knit jumper, smart jacket if needed, casual shoes or boots
Casual – anything else, trainers, shorts, t-shirts
"Smart Casual" is work speak for "Smart, but not quite as smart as you wear to work, we're supposed to be having fun here!"
I'm with AndyP here... Smart OR Casual is fine... "Smart Casual" is just guff... Basically it means you have to dress like you're about to go and play 18 holes with your chums (hey, I like Golf, just not the dress code) down the local country club...
I do suits very well, and I do jeans and a T Shirt very well too... Slacks/chinos (or whatever you want to call them) and a collared shirt... I HATE IT!
socks knitted by someone else's Finnish grandmother
boxers by DKNY
shoes by all saints
jeans & t-shirt by scotch and soda
jacket by Bellstaff
watch by Gucci
Hair by Goldsworthys
and still I look like I dress in a skip. don't ask me because I don't know.
[i] nothing is quite so nice as wearing a well fitted suit with a nice shirt, tie and cufflinks.[/i]
I'm with you on the suit and shirt but a tie is merely a noose waiting to be tightened. Awful things. Interviews and funerals....and maybe for when you're up before the beak.
Where do you lot get your sartorial ideas from? Jeans and trainers are plain wrong unless you are a child. What's wrong with the 'Clarkson' look? Just what is 'Acceptable' then?
IGMC (I am 54 BTW)
When somebody tells me its 'smart casual' I usually wear one of my better suits (obviously with shirt/tie), except in the States. In the US I wear a 3-piece suit, stiff city shirt and formal tie.
and I never wear chinos - if for no other reason than any mark on them looks like you've pissed yourself...
I'd take TJ's advice on lots of subjects - hell, I'd even actively seek it out on a few topics.
'How a man should dress' is certainly not on that list. Ever. Not even in an ironic 'stuck in the 80's semi-Miami Vice' way.
The day I take sartorial advice from TJ is the day I slit my wrists and sink gratefully into the the warm bath...
Tootall - really?
Anyone who takes my comments on fashion seriously deserves ................whatever they get 🙂