Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette! In today's video, we'll discuss whether
wearing a tie with a dress shirt and no jacket is a stylish look or not. The
combination of a jacket and tie has been a staple of menswear for nearly 200
years and whether it be a suit jacket, sport coat, or blazer, the purpose of a
jacket is, of course, to flatter the male form. A well fitting jacket will make
your shoulders and your chest look broader and your waist look slimmer
thus idealizing your silhouette but these days, as the average daily outfit
for a man is becoming less and less formal, the temptation does arise to
leave the jacket at home. This does beg the question then, should a man skip the
jacket if he so wishes and wear just a dress shirt and tie? Our short answer
here, as was also the case with our previous video in this series on whether
a man should wear a jacket with a t-shirt, is that this isn't a look we
would recommend for most men. We will cement that position shortly but first, let's at
least give a little bit of time to some potential arguments in favor of the look.
First, it is, of course, more casual to skip the jacket and just wear the shirt
and tie than to have the jacket on. Although if you are going for a more
casual vibe, we'll have some suggestions later on better ways to pull it off.
Secondly and more practically speaking, it can get hot during the summer months
and by removing your jacket, you'd have one fewer layer on your body and thus
theoretically, stay cooler. With that said though, we also have a workaround for
this. If you've got any guesses as to what it might be, stay tuned!
Finally here, the shirt, tie, and no jacket look has become something of an
established dress code for a few different professions over the years. Of
course, for many people, it conjures up images of the aerospace engineers at
NASA in the 1960s and it remains a popular dress code in the Engineering
profession, even today. What's the reasoning behind this then? Well,
according to various comments from engineers in different menswear forums
online, it's about striking a balance between
white collar and blue collar aesthetics. While wearing true business casual
attire in an engineering setting might be seen as too self-conscious and vain,
going in full-out work wear would still be seen as too unprofessional. In other
words, it's about looking like you would be ready to get your hands dirty if you
needed to even though you might just be spending most of your day at a computer.
So in the case of this specific industry, we do think it's okay for the engineers
to uphold their unique sartorial traditions. But if you're in another line
of work, we would suggest the following alternatives instead. With those
potential arguments covered then, why is it that our position is that overall, it
isn't a good look to pair a shirt with a tie and no jacket? Simply stated, it's
because doing this is usually going to make your overall outfit look incomplete.
As we stated at the beginning of the video, the trifecta of shirt, tie, and
jacket has been the standard for men for centuries and it's still the default in
most people's minds. Even though things are getting less and less formal these
days, subconsciously, having all three of those elements is still seen as the
standard. Therefore, if you remove one of these three key elements, your outfit
isn't going to just be less formal, it's also going to feel lacking. Now, if you're
a regular viewer of the channel, you might be saying you did an earlier video
on wearing shirts with jackets and no ties and you said that was okay. Well,
first of all, you can find that video here, if you haven't seen it yet.
Secondly, in that video, we did say that you could wear shirts with jackets and
no ties but it was best to do this in less formal situations with individual
garments that are more casual, overall. So not something you can just do all the
time. The biggest difference here though and why we think wearing a shirt and
jacket is better than a shirt and tie is because on a fundamental level, a
jacket is outerwear or a core piece of your wardrobe whereas a tie is
ultimately still going to be an accessory. As such, while you won't be
completing the trifecta when just wearing a shirt and jacket, you're still
going to look more complete and more put together than if you wear only two
elements with the shirt and tie. Remember also that the jacket is going to flatter
your form more, so that's another plus for including it when you're only going
to choose two elements. Returning now to the arguments we made at the beginning
of the video, let's get into our specific rebuttals of those points starting with
wearing the shirt and tie as a more casual option. The short answer here is
that there are going to be very few situations outside of these selected
career fields that we mentioned earlier where a man would need to dress formally
enough to have a tie on but informally enough to not wear a
jacket. In other words, if a jacket is required in a given situation, wearing a
tie would almost never be prohibited and if you are still trying to look casual,
there are a number of different more casual jacket styles available in terms
of colors, patterns, textures, and so on. On that note, you can take a look at our
video on dressing down a double-breasted jacket here. Meanwhile, if a tie isn't
required as part of a specific dress code, a jacket almost certainly isn't
going to be either. So in those cases, we'd simply recommend that you don't
wear the jacket or the tie and just wear your shirt with an unbuttoned collar.
Finally here, if you'd like to strike an even more delicate balance of formality
and go for something firmly within the smart casual dress code, you could
consider wearing a shirt and tie and then also wearing a sweater as the outer
layer. And while wearing vests as their own outer layer has become a popular
look in the last couple of decades, we'd advise against doing this as well. After
all, waistcoats were designed to be a middle layer and as such, they give off a
similarly incomplete vibe when worn otherwise. Next, our counter argument on
the point of keeping cool is this, it's all about the weave. There are a number
of breathable and lightweight weaves available for jackets that would keep
you just as cool as if you forewent an outer layer. Stay tuned for an upcoming
video on summer suits and in the meantime, you can find our guide to
summer fabrics here. With all that said, what if you're still dead set on wearing
a shirt and tie without a jacket? If this really is the case for you, we will say that
you can do it but you just have to make sure that you can get some key details
right. In the broad strokes, you're going to need a shirt that fits you well and
the appropriate type of tie. As we've said countless times here at the
Gentleman's Gazette, fit should always be a paramount concern. Throughout the 19th
and 20th centuries when the jacket was a mandatory part of a man's everyday
wardrobe, it was expected that the jacket would flatter a man's silhouette and
because of this, shirts could be more generously cut. Today though, as jackets
are increasingly left at home and shirts are worn as an outer layer, it's most
important that you have a shirt that fits close but comfortably to your body
with no collar gapping or muffin top at your waistline. As such, buying slim fit
shirts would be a wise choice for many men as well as taking the shirts in to
get further alterations as necessary. On that note, you can learn more about how
shirts should ideally fit a slimmer man in our style guide for the slim man
video here. And using myself as an example here, the shirt I'm wearing is
indeed in a slim fit cut, however, because I am so thin, it could probably use even
more alterations. So on that note stay tuned for some upcoming videos that will
deal with tailoring. Turning now to the tie, solid-colored ties with some texture
in the weave, perhaps a grenadine, a shantung silk, or
a knit would be a good choice here. Also, casual patterns like dots, checks, and
some varieties of repp stripes will be similarly casual. Just
make sure that your patterns between your shirt and tie as well as your
colors between the two are working harmoniously and of course, you can find
a wide variety of patterned and textured ties in the Fort Belvedere
shop here. As one more related note here, skipping the jacket means that wearing a
tie bar in this circumstance would serve you particularly well. Part of the
reasoning behind having your jacket buttoned when standing or moving around
is that it will keep your tie in place but if you don't have a jacket to
accomplish this, wearing something like a tie bar would be even more important.
After all, you don't want your tie flapping around in the wind or getting
caught in your soup. Finally today, let's talk about the best way to pull off a
shirt and tie with no jacket which is actually to have the jacket with you but
just to take it off at appropriate times. Stated another way, if you have all
three of your core elements on hand at the beginning of the day or when
greeting people for the first time, it will cement in their minds that your
outfit does in fact have three pieces so you'll be at liberty to take one of them
off if you so choose. This way, you can remove your jacket when you're hot
exerting yourself or sitting for long periods of time which can damage a
jacket seat. Just make sure to put the jacket on again for important events
throughout the day such as for example a meeting and of course don't forget the
jacket when you're on your way home. Following this strategy pays mind to the
classic tenets of menswear and make sure you'll be prepared for different kinds
of situations throughout the day but you can also indulge in that wish to wear a
shirt and tie without a jacket if you so choose. In conclusion then, there are not too
many scenarios where we'd recommend wearing a shirt and tie without a jacket
but it can be done if you take additional care. Before we go then, here's
one more reminder to take a look at what we think is the more stylish alternative
of these options which of course is wearing your jacket without a tie that
video again is here. So what's your assessment of this
and do you think that there are any key points we missed today? Whatever the case
may be, share with us in the comment section below and of course don't forget
to subscribe to the channel and hit the little bell icon so these videos will
come straight to your inbox in today's video as should be obvious
I'm attempting to illustrate a shirt and tie look that is harmonious the shirt
which is from Charles Tyrwhitt features a Prince of Wales check in blue and yellow
meanwhile the tie features a geometric pattern of both light and dark blue on a
yellow background the pattern densities of the shirt and the tie are different
so that way they can harmonize well and of course both garments are on the
relatively informal side of the spectrum my silver tie bar has a blue inlay
and my cufflinks have two
different tones of blue on them to complement the tie which does also and
yes as I said before I am aware that the shirt I'm wearing could still have a
slimmer cut than it does so just stay tuned for those upcoming videos on me
getting alterations done to several different types of garments in my
wardrobe grounding the outfit my trousers are plain Navy as are my socks
and my shoes are brown cap toe Oxfords from Allen Edmonds similarly my belt is
dark brown so that it'll match my shoes which is another important
consideration to have when just wearing a shirt and tie as of course your belt
will be seen at all times now if I were to have worn a jacket with this look
wearing a navy blazer with gold buttons would have complemented the blue and
yellow color scheme well I probably would have changed out my silver
accessories to be gold to match the buttons of the blazer and the trousers
then could be in a color like medium gray and while the accessories I'm
wearing today are more modern in style to go with the overall feel of this look
you can find more classically inspired accessories like cufflinks collar clips
and so on in the Fort Belvedere shop here