Welcome back the Gentleman's Gazette!
In today's video, we discuss five typical business casual outfits that evolve around
one specific garment.
The idea is to provide you with inspiration for your own business casual outfits because
it's such a popular dress code.
In case you haven't seen them yet, we also have a video about the business casual dress
code in general, what it means, and what it doesn't mean, as well as business casual shoes.
On top of that, we created a guide about what to wear to the office depending on how formal
it is so you're neither overdressed nor underdressed.
Clothes definitely have power and we want you to use that power to your benefit, however,
that's easier said than done and coming up with different outfits is sometimes more difficult
than it seems.
Because of that, I want to give you five specific outfits that you can work with because we're
sure you have those staples in your wardrobe ready and by adding certain accessories or
certain other elements, you can just create something that's very versatile, at the same
time, always elegant, stylish, and professional.
So the first outfit evolves all around a patterned blazer or sportcoat.
Chances are you've heard of the navy blue blazer, it's a fantastic garment, however,
it can be a little formal at times.
You can certainly wear it as a business casual combination and I'm wearing here one right
now.
At the same time, having a different item such as in a small white and blue check, maybe
something in a houndstooth pattern, or maybe even a tweed coat, can help you to break things
up, make it more casual, and more appropriate for that dress code.
If you are into traditional blazers such as the boating blazers such as rope stripes,
that's something I would not wear to the office because it's over the top.
To learn more about them and their history, please check out our in-depth blazer guide
here.
One underrated business casual pattern is the classic Glen check pattern or Prince of
Wales pattern.
Usually, it comes in a background of black and white or maybe dark brown and off-white
with a overplaid in a contrasting color, it can be brown, it can be green, blue, or sometimes
even pink.
Even though it is typically sold as a suit, I suggest you take the jacket and wear it
with some odd trousers.
That way, it's more casual but still visually interesting as long as there's enough contrast
between the pants and the jacket.
If you want, you can also take jackets from your brighter colored suits such as a medium
brown suit or maybe a green fresco suit and combine those into a business casual outfit.
As you can see, at the center is always the jacket and you want it to be more casual,
meaning either it should have a pattern, it should have a nice interesting color that
is different from typical business colors, or it could have an interesting material blend
with rougher wools such as tweed.
During the colder months of the year, you can even wear a cashmere jacket which is super
warm but at the same time extremely soft.
When you've chosen a bolder jacket that makes some of a statement, I suggest to tone down
the pants and a shirt in your outfit simply so the jacket can shine and its overall harmonious.
Maybe try to pick up a color scheme in your shoes, go with simple chinos, or on the other
hand, if you just have like a navy blazer or maybe with mother-of-pearl buttons or a
windowpane pattern, you can combine it with some seersucker pants.
Which brings us to item number two, interesting more colorful pants.
Typically in an office environment, pants trousers or slacks can become monotonous very
quickly.
Between solid navy, gray, or charcoal, there's not much else.
Every once in a while, you'll see maybe a chino in a khaki tone or in sand but that's
about it.
If you've watched this channel before chances are you see me in corduroy pants, I'm a big
fan of them, especially in the winter.
To learn more about them, please check out our corduroy guide here.
Ideal colors to me are brown, maybe caramel, or olive green.
Corduroy is actually made in the exact same way as velvet with the exception that ridges
are cut in and wider ridges make things look more casual, slimmer ridges are a little more
formal.
For the warmer months of the year, I suggest you experiment a bit with colorful chinos
that could be like a pale blue pair of chinos or if you're more daring, a pair of Nantucket
red chinos.
Of course, you can also play with the texture and if you go with a linen pair of pants,
I suggest to go with a more royal blue color which is darker and less flashy than a pale
blue or a Nantucket red, at the same time, the texture stands out and by choosing a blue
that is two or three shades lighter in a typical business suit, you indicate that it's not
at all the same garment and it it's very different from a business suit.
If you're into seersucker, maybe evolve past the basic color of blue and white and maybe
opt for something in a beige and white.
It will really look very different, at the same time, it has the same benefits of seersucker
which is that it's very lightweight, it doesn't wrinkle a lot which is always welcome at the
office, and at the same time, it's made for hot weather so you can be stylish without
overheating.
Of course, if you don't shy away from being bold, you can also wear some mustard colored
pants such as this one here but I understand if that's not your thing.
The third business casual outfit idea revolves around the idea of combining grey and brown.
Traditionally, black was the color for the city and brown was the color for the country.
Now both of these were rarely mixed, even darker suits such as a gray flannel was rarely
mixed with brown, however, I think both of those colors can really be combined quite
well if it's done so tastefully.
That means if you have a darker gray, go with a darker shade of brown.
Let's say you have a gray flannel suit, combine it with a brown grenadine tie and maybe brown
loafers rather than going with a light tan, maybe go with a chocolate brown.
You could also go with monk straps for example or anything else you like but picking up both
of those colors gives your outfit a warmer appearance, at the same time, it's still quite
formal enough for most office environments out there.
The fourth kind of outfit revolves around a tweed jacket.
Personally, I'm a huge fan of tweed jackets because they're so versatile, they have lots
of colors in their fabrics, they are warm, at the same time they are thicker and because
of that, they are very wrinkle resistant.
Honestly, you can sit on a jacket and just throw it at a corner, pick it back up, put
it on, and it doesn't show wrinkles at all.
Now try that with your other suits and you will see what I mean.
Yes traditionally, tweed was made for country wear and you can learn all about it, the differences
and the history in our in-depth tweed video guide here.
Now when it comes to business casual, tweed really fits right in because it casualizes
the jacket style and ties it together with more informal pants.
A really great tweed color for the office is gray.
I suggest you go with a medium gray because it's still considered formal enough and you
can choose between many different styles; there can be a gray Donegal one which has
undertones of blue with colored specks and those colorful dots really soften things up,
at the same time, I can wear it with a pair of denim jeans, I can wear it with corduroys,
then I can also wear it with chinos, no problem!
On the other hand, look at this tweed jacket with a coarse twill weave and patch pockets,
it's a lot more casual than a gray suit jacket but it still has that same color palette and
therefore works at the office.
In terms of accessories, I suggest you go with more texture such as knit ties or maybe
shantung ties or grenadine ties because it just harmonizes well and balances out the
overall look.
When it comes to shoes, of course, I refer you to our specific business casual shoes
guide, at the same time, brown is your friend.
Any shade of brown whether it is darker or maybe some reddish-brown or oxblood or burgundy,
it will all work with tweed and it will always look well.
The fifth outfit idea incorporates sweater vests or cardigans.
Now traditionally, vests are part of a suit but in a more casual environment, a three-piece
suit is not an option.
When it's colder in the winter, however, you can wear a vest that is contrasting underneath
your jacket and can look quite dapper.
Personally, I love my burgundy vest but I also wear bottle green
velvet vests and all kinds of other colors including blue tweed for the office.
I think a blue tweed vest comes in really really handy.
Personally, I would not wear a tailored vest without a jacket, I would always go with a
jacket, however, some people are fine with it especially if it's a sweater vest or a
cardigan.
Most cardigans you see come in solid colors with navy being a favorite.
Sometimes, you can also see off-white which can be quite casual and inappropriate in the
wintertime.
Personally, I also like green because it's a warm color, it's kind of an earthy nature
color, and it's in stark contrast with the traditional business color of gray, blue,
and charcoal.
If you wanted to take it a step further, you can also have patterned vests or patterned
sweaters such as a houndstooth pattern, could be very traditional, it could be a Prince
of Wales for example, or it could be something with dots on it.
That aside, you can also find textured sweaters which have kind of a cable knit or other elements.
Personally, if I would go to a more casual office environment and I wanted something
that was business casual, I wouldn't hesitate to wear maybe something along the lines of
a tennis sweater which is of course quite preppy but that's simply the style I enjoy.
I personally really like to wear a tie with a shirt when I wear a sweater to the office.
I typically like to combine it with a necktie which means I get a deep cut v-neck sweater
because that way, my tie and my tie knot really pops and looks much better than with a crewneck
that actually just covers up the entire tie.
In terms of shirts, I prefer to go with small check shirts in a button-down collar sometimes
though if the sweater is very loud, you can also go with a more muted shirt.
Just stay clear of the plain solid white ones because there are too businesslike and they
don't go well with the casualness of the sweater.
Last but not least, let's talk about a bonus idea of the off-white or green dress shirt.
Now most people wear plain white or light blue shirts to the office, I'm a big proponent
of the off white or cream shirt because it's much softer from afar, it still almost looks
like a white shirt yet it ties warmer tones such as brown or green much better together
than a plain solid white shirt would.
At the end of the day, you could argue that a cream shirt is the better white shirt because
it's a lot more versatile.
It can be worn with a business suit but it can also be worn with a lot more casual jackets
including things like a Harrington jacket or a linen jacket.
in today's outfit I used a cream shirt as the base it's a very casual shirt that is
made out of a polo shirt fabric which is very stretchy very comfortable to wear I combined
with a more formal blazer which is double-breasted and part of a suit but it has a windowpane
on it and it's not the darkest shade of Navy which is why it works quite well for my pants
I opted for a pair of seersucker with turn ups from Ralph Lauren and I went with a pair
of burgundy double monk strap shoes from Acemarks I wanted to pick up the red tones of my shoes
in the rest of my outfit and so I opted for a handcrafted linen pocket square in Burgundy
with white which is a very summery and airy and really is rather stiff but it provides
a really nice fold in my pocket without being too big because we size it exactly the right
way you can see this pocket square and others in our shop here or you can also find the
bow tie which has the same colors of red that ties everything together if you enjoyed this
video make sure to check out our other business casual dress code videos and subscribe to
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