Spec me: smart casual

Diddums

Diddums

Diddums

Caporegime
Joined
24 Oct 2012
Posts
27,347
Location
Yer nan's knickers
For the first time in my life I'm shedding the godawful uniforms I've had to wear and am moving up the corporate ladder so need some fancy work clothes. Due to the change in pay dates I also need to make my salary last a couple of weeks longer than usual so it needs to be fairly cheap for now.

Let's see what you guys can come up with.


Cheers :)
 
What sort of environment is it? could be black trousers and a nice plain colours shirt possibly tie or would black jeans and a more decorative shirt or even t-shirt be appropriate? I assume from smart casual you aren't going full suit but in some cases a suit type jacket is an option.
 
Rroff said:
What sort of environment is it? could be black trousers and a nice plain colours shirt possibly tie or would black jeans and a more decorative shirt or even t-shirt be appropriate?
Click to expand...


Office environment. I'm going to be a facilities manager.
 
For a lot of people Charles Tyrwhitt seems to be a go to here but I wasn't particularly impressed with the fit of late - another option is TM Lewin.
 
M and s do some elasticated chinos. I find them great as whenever I'm on site I'm always up and down ladders, kneeling or lying down checking under things. Highly recommended. Find trousers just tear or get trashed too easily and regular chinos don't have the flex needed.
 
Smart casual here means jeans/combats and a t-shirt/polo shirt. Although in the past week or so I've really being getting on people's wicks by wearing shorts when nobody else is allowed to. Medical reasons FTW!
 
- Jorts
- Insane Clown Posse t-shirt
- Combat boots
- Gatorade and Cheetos

Bear in mind you're dealing with a forum with a heavy bias towards IT so their idea of smart casual should be studiously ignored.
 
In my experience, smart casual for men in offices generally mean shirt trousers, chinos + shirt/polo shirt, though i know some offices are okay with jeans.

In the colder months i wear three piece suits and an overcoat and warmer months i go for chinos/shirt.

Given you are looking for some office wear on a budget, depending on your build i would just go to a few cheap high street stores for some Chinos and a pack of shirts like Burton, H&M or M&S.

If you want something a little nicer and more formal, go for TM Lewin or Charles Tyrwhitt when they have their 19.99 for any shirt offer. I use to swear by M&S luxury range but i swear the cut has just ballooned and the fit just isn't as nice and not worth the £35-40 when other options are nicer and cheaper.
 
M&S shirts suck these days, but their chinos are very good value and seem to actually fit well in their current iteration. I find Charles Tyrwhitt shirts fit me the best in their slim fit guise. TM Lewin are also good, but CT seem to edge them on fit. Any normal fit shirts seem to be like a tent for some reason... I guess my 17" neck doesn't help with this but still!

Smart casual to me would be jeans, shirt/polo (collared shirt) and smart shoes. Basically anything that you could put a blazer/sports jacket over the top and not look too ridiculous. No fashion rips in the trousers or huge labels/logos.

A lot depends on what your work environment is, what tasks you have to perform and what you feel best in.
 
Malevolence said:
Smart casual here means jeans/combats and a t-shirt/polo shirt. Although in the past week or so I've really being getting on people's wicks by wearing shorts when nobody else is allowed to. Medical reasons FTW!
Click to expand...
What medical reason mandates shorts?

Totally nor related to work jist banning shorts and it being over 30c
 
Malevolence said:
Smart casual here means jeans/combats and a t-shirt/polo shirt. Although in the past week or so I've really being getting on people's wicks by wearing shorts when nobody else is allowed to. Medical reasons FTW!
Click to expand...

Why is no-one else allowed to wear shorts? Surely if the company are happy for people to wear jeans, then shorts must also be acceptable.

As long as these are a casual pair of shorts rather than sportswear etc, or a tight pair of swimming shorts that no-one wants to see anyone wear!
 
No jeans allowed in my office, though shorts are fine only because we are a Nautical themed company (directors logic, not mine). I personally am not a fan of shorts in the office but it also depends on the person's build, shorts and rest of the outfit. Some people can look quite stylish and smarter than a scruffy pair of jeans but others look like overgrown primary school children and it just looks odd.
 
Diddums said:
Office environment. I'm going to be a facilities manager.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the fold! Depends how smart you need to be, but I like some of the styles in this guide.

Will you be having to get your hands dirty, having to crawl around etc?

I tend to wear a plain T-Shirt and these bad boys, you can get knee-pad inserts for them if you've got a lot of work to do under desks. Also hard wearing and have triple stitched seams. I bought them purely because I started going through Levi's (crap quality anyway these days) and more expensive Chino's.
 
M&S do trousers that look like suit trousers (except they're machine washable). Saves you from wearing out your actual suit trousers when you don't want to wear a jacket.

Shirts - M&S, CT, TM Lewin- the latter two always seem to have a sale/buy three shirts offer etc... do keep in mind though that all of these brand seem to aim their regular shirts at fat 40 yr old accountants, you'll perhaps want to go for the slim fit ones.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom