Shirt/Pants/Tie – RW&Co. Total cost: About $150.
You can go to Zellers or the Bay and probably find something that looks just as good for cheaper, but really, who are you kidding? Everyone knows you want the satisfaction of walking around in clothes that you really had to think hard about when you looked at the price tag. Like that $200 Hugo Boss t-shirt you bought in Vegas that all your friends rib you about.
Light grey dress pants are good for mixing and matching. Light grey is like the black of all the shades of grey. Anything you can match with grey can be matched with light grey. For Spring and Summer consider the weight of the fabric, especially if you work in an office where the A/C isn’t turned off until late May and you sit there silently cursing the fact that you don’t have a desk fan like the guy down the hall.
Lightly coloured button up shirts are great for the start of summer, they don’t think they’re a heat sink when you stand out in the sun. I have solid colour button up shirts, but I went the plaid route with this to offset the lack of pinstripe on the pants. Green and black accents in the plaid give the shirt some POP! But not too much. Too much POP and you’ve got yourself a Jimmy Buffet Special. Sleeve length is also something to think about. There’s no shame in wearing short sleeved dress shirts. In fact, consider the benefits of not having to roll up your sleeves if you get warm, only to unroll them into a wrinkled mess.
My office doesn’t require I wear a tie but being the Barney Stinson aficionado I am I felt it important that this outfit be complemented properly. The choice of tie relies heavily on your shirt and to some extent your pants. If you have pinstripe everything and you pick a pinstripe tie then you need to go to rehab. A tie should smartly offset the clothes under it. Plaid or pinstripe shirts should be complemented with a solid or small patterned tie, which plays off the colour of your shirt. I’m not a fan of people who say you should wear a solid shirt with a solid tie, both of the same colour. Barney Stinson does not approve. Here I’ve gone with a solid, dark green to complement the lighter green and black on the shirt. Tie width is a matter of personal preference, but I would say that if you wear a short sleeve button up, go with a thin tie. It adds a bit of casual chic to your business attire.
Shades aren’t critical to everything, but come on, you know you wanna. I have several pair of shades that range from Bolle to Buffalo to D&G. These ones cost me $8 at a kiosk at Lonsdale Quay and they’re by far my favourite pair.
This get up reminds me of one of the guys in Office Space. Comfortable both in the office staring at a screen or beating the crap out of something with a baseball bat.
Thanks so much to Pat for writing this!
