What to Wear with A Navy Blazer Matching Navy Blazers with Shirts Shoes Trousers & Accessories
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Hi!
I'm Antonio Centeno.
I'm the founder of Real Men Real Style.
Today, we're going to be talking about what to wear with a navy blazer.
Now, I'm going to link over to an article at A Tailored Suit that goes into more detail
about what to wear with a navy blazer, but in this video, I want to talk about first
off what is a blazer and then I'm going to give you ideas when it comes to shirts, when
it comes to trousers, when it comes to shoes, and then I'll talk about a few other things
that you could wear with a navy blazer.
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Okay, so what to wear with a navy blazer.
Let's first start off with what is a navy blazer.
There are three things to know about a navy blazer.
One, it's not a suit.
A suit is a jacket and trouser made from the same material that follows certain style regulations.
Now, the difference between that and a blazer is that the blazer does not have the matching
trousers, but many other things like that are going to be very similar to a suit, which
is why there's a lot of confusion between suit jackets and blazer jackets.
Now, blazer jackets also have a nautical feel to them and this nautical feel has evolved
over the years, but usually what we're going to see are specialty buttons and we're also
going to see that it keeps a very formal idea.
The idea with the blazer -- and depending on what story you want to believe, whether
it came off the HMS Blazer and they dressed up for the queen whenever she was coming aboard
that ship or other places that we would see them, the big thing that blazers are used
nowadays is associated with clubs.
We'll see regatta blazers with rowing clubs.
We'll see blazers associated with certain universities, certain clubs, certain types
of men's groups.
And because of that, the blazer is going to be a bit more formal than the sports jacket.
Both the blazer and the sports jacket broke off with the suit.
The blazer retained a little bit more formality.
The sports jacket went more down towards the sport and as such is a little bit less formal
than a blazer.
Now, the fabrics that we're normally going to see in a blazer are going to be the vast
majority of the time navy.
We're going to see worsted wools.
We're going to see hopsack, but almost all of those are going to be navy.
You will see sometimes red, bottle green.
You're also going to see a few others, the regattas, which I've talked about, which are
going to be brightly colored, but we're going to talk about navy.
When I refer to matching here, I'm most definitely talking about navy.
When it comes to a red blazer, that right there, you don’t have to worry about matching.
Well, just don’t wear shorts with it, but the point is if you're wearing a green blazer
or you've just won the masters, in that case, whatever you happen to be wearing, it doesn’t
even matter if those things fit, it seems like.
Let's talk first about shirts.
The number one, the easiest thing to pull off with a navy blazer is going to be a dress
shirt, a simple, light-colored dress shirt.
Now, why do I say light-colored?
Because you don’t want to go dark-colored, you don’t want to go with some complex pattern.
The reason being is all of a sudden, those become less formal shirts and they start to
not really mesh well with the formality of the blazer.
Now, blazers can also be worn with polos.
I know I just said that blazers should be more formal, but they do have a bit of a sporting
nature.
This is where if you're wearing -- and these aren't just any polos.
This isn't something you pick up at Old Navy.
I'm talking of a higher end polo which is going to be made from a higher end cotton,
usually a pima cotton that's going to be very smooth to the touch.
It's usually going to be sold in at least the hundred dollar range, so we're talking
nicer polos that are going to be able to retain their shape.
The key here is going to be the color.
They still have the color style.
You can wear a short-sleeved polo, yes, with a navy blazer, assuming it's very hot outside,
or a longer sleeve.
Occasionally then you'll start to see these mixed with knits because you can wear a very
lightweight, dark-colored, or in some cases, light-colored sweater with a blazer as well.
This is a bit harder to pull off and I think you need to be an advanced dresser and know
what you're doing especially when mixing it with the trousers, but that is possible when
trying to match something.
But the easiest thing for the vast majority of you guys is to stick with a classic dress
shirt, white, light blue, or you can bring in a very small, repeating pattern, but those
two colors are going to be very safe especially with a navy blazer.
Now, let's go to trousers.
Jeans, yes, you can wear jeans with a navy blazer, but be very careful.
I've got an entire separate video and article on this.
I'll link over to it, but guys, understand that you really are getting close and that's
difficult to pull off, so I would reserve that for men that really know what they're
doing.
For most guys, it's just going to be simple to mix it with a pair of odd trousers.
By that, I mean any pair of dress slacks, any pair that does not look like you're trying
to match with the navy blazer, so you want to have a bit of contrast here, not too much
contrast, although -- I take that back.
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You can wear it and I have seen some men wear red trousers with a navy blazer and they're
able to pull that off, but the key is you don’t want to have anything that is too
closely matched which looks like you're trying to put together a suit.
Gray flannels are a great option and gray comes in many shades of it, so you can go
from light gray to medium gray to charcoal gray.
All of those in my opinion look good with a navy blazer.
You can also look at moleskin.
There are a few other types of trousers, khakis, chinos.
Those are going to be a little bit more casual, but you can still pull them off especially
if you're going with something that is well-fitted and you wear the right types of shoes, which
is a great transition in the shoes.
Let's go ahead and let's talk about shoes.
Derbies, Bloochers, basically an informal dress shoe.
Now, many of you guys may consider this to be a little bit more formal of a dress shoe,
but the key here is to focus in on those trousers.
If you're wearing gray flannels, a pair of brown Derbies is going to be perfect.
That's one of my favorite looks like there, but you can also bring in slip-ins.
You can bring in the double monk, the single monk.
Any type of monk strap is going to work well with a navy blazer and a nice pair of odd
trousers.
You can also start to bring in Chelsea Boots.
Now, most Chelsea Boots you're going to see out there are going to be in black and you
want to be careful with black shoes and a navy blazer unless you are wearing gray trousers.
Then the transition is fine.
Also, let's look at driving shoes, moccasins.
You may consider those.
Those are going to be fine perhaps if you're wearing jeans, perhaps if you're wearing a
pair of chinos or khakis.
Then you can maybe pull that off, but understand that's a very casual look, although the boat
shoe look does work whenever you are in a nautical setting.
Again, that's where the navy blazer is I think best served.
Ties, pocket squares, all those other accessories, watches, those naturally go with a navy blazer.
You can wear navy blazer without a necktie, but if it's a double-breasted navy blazer,
don’t do that.
Always have a necktie.
If it's an informal, very casual event, then you can go with a very crisp, nice, white,
light-colored dress shirt and you don’t have to wear a necktie with it.
I rarely ever mention this, buts ascots, this is when you can actually pull off an ascot,
that look.
Go check out my friend, Raphael Schneider, over at the Gentleman's Gazette.
He knows how to pull off an ascot, but this is a situation in which you could -- if you
choose not to wear a necktie, you could actually wear that nice ascot there.
I would recommend maybe looking at something that's a little -- where you could have a
little bit more fun.
This is when you can wear a club tie at a club event, and pocket squares.
It naturally works.
You can be a little bit more casual with the pocket square, although a simple, white presidential
fold is always going to be welcome.
All right, guys, that's it.
Let me know what you think.
If you want to read more, go over to A Tailored Suit.
Check out the article "What to Wear with a Navy Blazer".
I go into more detail there.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
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