Share
A business casual look to beat the heat
For our fourth installment of how to wear our June capsule wardrobe, I’m showing you one way to stay casually tailored at the office.
In every season, fabric is your best friend. And linen is among the best for summer. It’s lightweight, it’s breathable and it has a great texture that depending on the specific weave or color can be overt or subtle. My jacket and pants here are both linen. I particularly like how the jacket subtly stands out while the trousers call no attention to themselves as linen.
A gingham shirt is a great way to add a sporty touch to a tailored look. Paired with a linen jacket and trousers and worn sans tie, it has a nice casual ease that complements the seasonal fabric. When working checks into your ensemble, you’ll always be safe staying in the same color family as your jacket or trousers. For the more adventurous, experiment with the scale of the pattern – a bigger check will make a bigger statement.
There’s a rule that floats around menswear online that you should always match your belt to your shoes. It’s a good rule of thumb, in theory, but honestly, who has a belt to match every color brown of their shoes? Not me. If you’re going to have just one belt for brown shoes, make it a medium to medium dark brown. And if you’re going to have a “summer” belt, you can’t do better than a woven leather belt.
Speaking of rules of thumb, let’s talk the sockless look again. As someone who understands both sides of the socks v. no socks argument, I’m going to set the following guideline for anyone who wants to try it out for the first time. If you are wearing a tie, wear socks. (Like this.) No tie? Show some ankle for some casual sartorial summer flair.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Stylishly Yours,
Brian Sacawa
He Spoke Style