How to do Smart/Casual

"Smart / Casual" is by far the most common area that I get asked to help my clients with. Leaving the uniformity of a suit, and taking it down a notch or two in formality without slipping into weekend wear, leaves a wide choice that a lot of men wish was narrowed down somewhat. 

So here, I've tried to simplify the process for you with some guidelines below and a table at the end, listing the formality of each item. Of course, it's such a vast arena with small details on a garment that can make it smarter or more casual, so it's impossible to list eveything, but I hope this goes some way to help with the process of getting dressed for the sometimes dreaded Dress Down Fridays!

And if you'd like some help putting together a capsule wardrobe of smart/casual items, then of course contact me, and I'll be pleased to assist.

Select 3 of the following to change from Business to Smart Casual:

Suit

Replace a tailored suit with one of the following:

• Separates of wool/cotton blazer (could be textured or patterned) and wool/cotton tailored trousers

• Change structured tailoring to softer, more unstructured fabrics. Could have patch pockets rather than traditional flap pockets.

• Change the fabric of your suit to non wool eg. Moleskin, linen, needlecord

• Change a dark coloured suit to a lighter colour eg. Light grey

Soft cotton stretch "Venice" jacket - Joseph        Soft cotton stretch "Dash" trousers - Joseph

Shirt

Replace a formal business shirt with:

• A soft collar shirt - could be a button down or grandad style collar

• A brighter or deeper coloured shirt

• Bolder or brighter stripes or checks on the shirt

• A shirt with a small geometric or spot pattern

• T-shirt, polo shirt or fine knit sweater

• A chambray shirt

  

Checked button down shirt - The Kooples

Trousers 

Replace wool suit trousers with:

•  Cotton, linen mix, moleskin, needlecord, more textured fabric such as herringbone

 

Cotton trousers - Hardy Amies at Mr Porter

Knitwear

• Replace jacket / shirt with a fine knit V or crew neck sweater, cardigan or sleeveless sweater

 

"Maurice" fine knit sweater - Nicole Farhi

Tie

• Remove altogether or replace a silk tie with a wool, knitted or cotton tie

Mid grey spotted silk knitted tie - Nick Bronson at Liberty

Shoes

• Replace leather soled shoes with rubber soles or chunky tread soles

• Replace laced shoes with slip-on / buckle / thick or coloured laced shoes

Black leather "Rade" loafers - Paul Smith shoes

And to make it even simpler, here's a handy table detailing the formality of each item of clothing:

Suits	Formal	Smart	Smart/casual	Casual/smart	Casual
Dark suit	√	√
Medium coloured suit		√	√
Light coloured suit		√	√
Non wool suit eg. Linen			√	√
Tailored blazer			√	√	√
Unstructured blazer				√	√
Trousers
Dark tailored trousers	√	√	√
Light tailored trousers/flannels			√	√
Chinos/needlecord/moleskin				√	√
Jeans/jumbo cord					√
Shirts
White shirt	√	√	√
Blue shirt		√	√	√
Pastel shirt		√	√	√
Mid to darker shirt			√	√	√
Plain	√	√	√	√	√
Fine stripe or check		√	√
Bold stripe or check				√	√
Cutaway collar	√	√
Standard collar	√	√	√	√	√
Button down collar			√	√	√
Collarless				√	√
Ties
Conservative tie	√	√
Brighter/bolder tie		√	√
No tie			√	√	√
Shoes
Leather soled lace ups	√	√	√
Leather soled loafers/monkstraps		√	√
Rubber soled shoes				√	√
Trainers/sandals					√
Socks
Fine dark plain socks	√	√	√	√
Lighter/patterned socks			√	√	√
No socks					√
Belts
Fine dark leather belt	√	√	√
Canvas/woven/chunkier belt				√	√
No belt				√	√
Knits
Fine plain wool crew, v-neck, polo shirt, cardigan			√	√
Chunkier / patterned knit				√	√
T-shirts
Plain white t-shirt				√	√
Coloured / patterned					√

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