How To Dress Smart Casual For Work
As we have been talking to more and more customers recently about their plans for returning to the office, naturally the way we are all going to dress is a hot topic.
While there’s general agreement that the suit is (at least for now) relegated to “special occasion” & BIG meeting duties, this constant anguish over “the smart casual thing” keeps cropping up.
For the moment, those that are in the office are noticeably dressed down largely because they’re not “seeing anyone”. But as soon as employees come back in numbers and client visits begin again, there’s a recognised need for some minimum standard of dress.
“European Smart Casual” is the term I’m hearing a lot in recent weeks as clients try to describe the mark they are trying to hit - “you know, we’re not wearing suits as much but then jeans and a t-shirt isn’t appropriate”.
So let’s break this down as simply as possible (you know I hate complicated!).
For all intents and purposes guys, you are STILL wearing a suit when you dress smart casual for business. “Huh? What’s he talking about?” you may ask.
Well think about it. A suit is made up of a jacket, a trouser and then accompanied by a shirt. To nail business smart casual you need some form of trouser (whether it be cotton chinos in summer, or flannels in winter), a jacket or blazer, and a shirt.
Now a suit is easy - the jacket and trouser already match, so all you need to do is worry about the shirt. And since most of you love wearing white and blue shirts that go with pretty much everything you’re done and dusted.
But business smart casual involves a wider range of colours, fabrics, textures and then you need to take seasons into account as well.
As a golden rule, work out your favoured colour set first. Your either open to earth tones or you’re not. Browns, greens and tans not your thing? Then don’t even bother going there when assembling a smart casual wardrobe for work.
Once you’ve worked out whether you are colour warm, colour cold or open to both, then you just need to follow some simple rules when putting jackets, shirts and trousers together:
The 2:1 ratio. Two patterns together and one solid, or two solids and one pattern. But never all three. Three patterns together is too much, three solids together is too plain and boring. So for example you could do a plain jacket, check shirt and check trousers. Or check jacket, plain shirt, plain trousers… you get the idea.
Again using 2:1 ratio for dark and light colours. A dark jacket, light shirt and dark trouser. Or a light jacket, dark shirt, dark trouser for a more sophisticated look… and so on.
A navy or darkish blue jacket is the foundation jacket of a smart casual wardrobe. It will go with almost any shirt, and for trousers it’ll work with grey and tans.
Spring/Summer you need lighter, breathable fabrics. So think cotton and lightweight wools.
For autumn/winter you need warmth and comfort so think wool and heavier cottons like drills, cords and denim.
Use magazines and the internet for inspiration. Sites like Pinterest, Instagram and magazines like GQ and Esquire are handy places to go and look at what big fashion houses are doing. Save pictures of things you like so you can send them to your tailor and replicate the look.
Smart casual isn’t easy. In fact every time in the last 20 years a smart casual policy has been introduced, it gets reversed within an average of 6 months as people drift back to wearing suits because they’re just EASIER.
BUT if you persevere, you can find your clothing investment going a long way, because much of the smart casual we try to make for clients can be used 6 or 7 days a week, for multiple situation in and out of work, for most of the year.
We’ll be exploring more on smart casual and “considered” dressing over the coming weeks and months as we head in to the autumn season, but meantime if you need help or advice, or have any comments, please get in touch and I’d be glad to help!
