First off, I just want to say how fucking stupid a "business casual" wardrobe. Wearing a suit with no tie is way easier and more comfortable than trying to "not be too formal" and putting on a grey Patagonia quarter zip and some Allbirds.With that said, what recommendations do you have to build a good business casual wardrobe? Specific brand recommendations for sweaters/jackets/shoes?
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The Allbirds comment is so true… had me cracking up.Quite frankly, I have the same exact question. I usually wear some chinos/slacks and a dress shirt, but in the winter, I think it's a pretty sloppy look to wear a non-suit jacket over top of a dress shirt.
I absolutely hate the Patagonia look as well — putting on a quarter zip with chinos makes me feel like an 8th grade history teacher. Anyone have recommendations?
I totally agree with you on the Patagonia. I despise the look. In terms of brands:
Trousers/jackets: Suit Supply is a good brand for the sub-$1k pairings. Another brand that I have been buying a lot more of is Proper cloth. I especially like the non-solid/stripe suits and jackets from PC.
Shirts: I think Proper Cloth is a very good option at the $100-200 range. You get respectable fabrics with a lot of options and a solid build for the price.
If you do want a vest I would look at something more like the non-down Suit Supply vests.
Thanks this helps. What type/brand of shoes do you wear? And what do you wear in the winter, given that you aren’t supposed to wear suit jackets?
In terms of styles, I wear oxfords, whole cuts, and double monks. Oxfords are probably a good base and I wouldn’t really go beyond them unless you are comfortable with doing so. I wear penny loafers casually but not to work. I stick to black, mahogany, and darker browns both in solids and measum calf.
For brands, these are the ones I like and in the order I like them: Carmina, TLB Mallorca, Meermin, and Thursday Boots. Carmina is a very good shoe but you are talking $600-700+ per pair. TLB Mallorca is basically a bunch of people from Carmina who wanted to make good shoes at a more affordable price (see $300-400). Meermin is a direct to consumer brand (I think?). I really like Meermin for bread and butter shoes. Thursday is a “budget” option that is totally fine but I just don’t really like their styles. If you have non-standard shoe size Allen Edmonds is a good brand. If you can’t find a shoe size that fits your foot from AE then you probably can’t be ordering ready to wear shoes
I now work in the south so my winters aren’t real winters but I always just wore a jacket when I was in Chicago. I’d throw on an overcoat or something like that
Literally any button-down that is not too plain (white or pastel) or loud (Miami clubs), paired with chinos of any colour (and I do mean any, have seen people in weird maroons and puke greens), and you are wearing "business casual". Even if it's with dress shoes.
Idk what's going on in the US but in the UK and Europe, business casual is just a suit, minus tie. Then a mix of jacket, sweater, vest, q-zip etc. You're more than free to wear a suit and no tie, that's business casual.
Hey now. I am an American and I fully endorse this message. I have no clue why we decided that being bad at fashion is something we should do.
Fashion is in an extremely long list of confusions I have about the US. It's so easy to spot an American in Europe by their clothes alone.
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