Dressed up dude trying to evolve my casual style
So I’m in a weird juncture of my style journey. I’m in a line of business and background that sort of had me wearing dark suits daily from young adulthood. So as I evolved my style, I pretty much exclusively stuck to suits and ties. I’m looking to evolve a more comfortable and casual style, but feel pretty uncomfortable just wearing sweats or jeans and a tee when I’m out and about. Any suggestions or lookbooks for casual styles that might not feel as foreign to me? Thanks in advance.
To give you a picture of my general style, I usually wear navy or charcoal suits, white button downs, and oxfords in either black or burgundy. I have a nice collection of ties and pocket squares as well. Dressing “up” for me is a double breasted chalk striped suit.
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How do you feel about sport coats, odd trousers, shirts made from oxford cloth / flannel / linen, and bluchers/derbies, etc? A step down from that might be chinos and other-jackets (teba, field, chore, etc) along with more-casual shirts (plaid flannel for the winter for example) and shoes (loafers, espadrilles, and similar shoes for the summer)?
How do you feel about this? https://us.drakes.com/blogs/news/the-winter-lookbook-drakes-2023
Drakes US
The Winter Lookbook
Celebrating (sort of) the arrival of winter with a new lookbook that explores warmth, layering, texture, and some great outerwear.
I like the idea of evolving my style from my current starting point… maybe I have been looking at it as a parallel journey instead of a continuation of my current one.
Some of the looks spoke to me more than others. 6,8, and 16 were my favorites/what I’d feel most comfortable wearing.
And thanks a ton to both of you for replying!
I like using pitti uomo street photos for less casual and more classical style inspo. Advanced warning that it's still pretty loud since its people turning up for fashion industry stuff https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/the-best-street-style-photos-from-pitti-uomo-spring-2024 https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/the-best-street-style-photos-from-the-fall-2023-menswear-season-at-pitti-uomo
That really hits home rule zero of style:
I’d look better in more stuff if I were in better shape 😂
But that’s on the agenda, and I think that from my vantage point, there’s a lot to learn about bringing the level of formality down while still maintaining a “buttoned up” look.
Here’s a massive Drake’s dump. https://imgur.com/a/rNKTcUU
You might be into ivy style which can serve as a good bridge between classic menswear and more casual stuff.
This guide I put together could use an update but it’s still solid (I think). https://www.reddit.com/r/weejawnz/s/24UagkDcyl
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From the weejawnz community on Reddit: A guide to building an ivy s...
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My go to non work casual look has been chinos and a tee shirt. I feel like it’s the slightly more elevated version of jeans and a tee shirt. Shoes are anything from boots, sneakers, loafers, derbies, to blucher Mocs. If that is too casual I also do a lot of chinos with Ocbd, plaid sports shirts, linen, flannel, western snap shirts. Basically any casual button up. Sometimes even chinos and an aloha shirt. Add a pea coat, leather coat, waxed canvas or chore coat for the winter.
I’m gonna be occupied by this for a long time. Thanks!
That was the peak menswear era of drakes. They’ve been doing more casual stuff for the past 2-3 years. Their latest lookbook is really good though
https://us.drakes.com/blogs/news/perennials-in-new-york-drakes-lookbook
Drakes US
Perennials in New York
Introducing our latest Perennials campaign, featuring some of our favourite people in New York City
Also really cool. Thanks! How do you categorize the different styles of prep?
There’s a spectrum from trad to whatever contemporary ivy is today.
Trad - formal and conservative American menswear. 3/2 suits and what not.
Ivy - less formal than trad but more mature than prep. Chinos, 3/2 sport coats, Shetlands, ocbds, loafers, cvo sneakers, etc.
Prep - Ivy’s little brother. Think vineyard vines.
And then you have all the contemporary takes on Ivy style like ametora, neo-Ivy, and whatever else you want to throw under the Ivy umbrella.
Drake’s is one of the more traditional contemporary takes on Ivy but there are tons of brands in the space. The more recent things incorporate all sorts of things like mil-surp, americana, and gorpy stuff.
I run @weejawnz on IG with a buddy. It’s a mood board of sorts that you may enjoy.
Thanks for this thread bro, it's really helpful
Sure thing! Holler if you have any questions
Dude, you’re the man. Not on IG, but you’ve provided a ton of info. Thanks!
What are the defining features that differentiate Ametora from other Ivy styles?
I’d say the use of denim is the low hanging fruit. I’m not really sure where the “boundaries” of ameotra are but I associate it with having some more milsurp, gorpcore, Americana influences and a more relaxed silhouette.
Ok similar to rugged hiking by but with a Japanese twist
Rugged Ivy
I think it’s more your basic ivy than something like rugged ivy but not super familiar with the true definition of ametora
This is going to sound dumb but I’ve always thought of it as ivy style with a Japanese vibe. The #ametora on IG will give you a better feel