The Most Important Piece of a Man’s Work Wardrobe to Get Right
Though business casual will relax your image, looking sharp is still important. If that’s your goal, don’t forget to address this important detail.
As a man, dressing for work shouldn’t be difficult. In fact, it used to be relatively straight forward. If you went into an office, jacket and tie or suit was standard wear. (Remember those days?)
Then, business casual crept in, and ties evaporated. Jackets and jeans were okay. A dressy sneaker category appeared almost overnight. Weekend shirts muscled their way into the work week. Distinct color-matching categories blended together.
It was both liberating and much more complicated to figure out what to wear.
The Years of T-Shirts and Sweats
Then, Covid hit, and so many of us worked remotely. During those years, everyone essentially showed up in their pajamas on their webcams for their Zoom or Teams meetings.
That may be a slight exaggeration, but not by much. Sure, many of us had our ‘Zoom’ shirts at the ready, but not everyone followed that practice.
I’m sure these years were seen as a fashion apocalypse of sorts by many clothing manufacturers.
Back in the Office
Now that life has returned to a sort of post-Covid normal, offices have filled up again. I know the numbers back in the office aren’t quite the same. The reality that I can always find a parking space at my commuter train station, and I no longer have to hunt for the very last seat on the train regularly displays this new reality.
Nevertheless, I am a road warrior again, albeit not daily. And that has been an exceptionally happy change. I love the hybrid experience. It optimizes the efficiency of not losing all those hours to a daily commute, and yet it still allows you to have in-person interactions with work colleagues.
The New Business Casual
For what I’ve observed, dressing for the business casual environment today continues to evolve (or perhaps I should say devolve). I think the idea of fashion flexibility in the workplace is also dependent on your company’s culture.
All this said, if you’re a guy who never wanted to give a lot of thought to this equation, I don’t believe there’s an easy way out anymore. (Yes, all of my Brooks Brothers’ suits are forever banished to the back of my closet.)
You’ve really got to decide on your own style and spend some time (and money) shopping again.
Focus on your Shirt
For me, the most important element of a man’s work look is his shirt. Sure, pants and shoes are important too, but as most people focus on your face when they interact with you (or they should), your shirt is what frames your main visual output.
Of course, you probably want a shirt that fits you properly. And you need to decide on the color and pattern. These days, I prefer brighter and deeper colors. Long gone are my white shirts, and I’ve mostly graduated away from my conservative blues.
Brighter shirts also work better on your Zoom and Teams calls, because they don’t prompt your laptop’s webcam to overexpose your shot.
A Droopy Shirt Collar Can Create a Fashion Failure
Even if you get the right fit, many men’s shirts reveal a hidden problem as soon as you put them on. It’s the collar.
If you don’t button up for a tie, an open collar will often wilt and hang down with the two front corners drooping in asymmetrical positioning.
The droopy collar just looks sloppy. And there’s really no way to fix it.
So, if you want to look professional in your casual look, you need to find shirt brands with collars that don’t completely lose their form without a tie.
The Proper Shirts of Charles Tyrwhitt
My brand of choice is Charles Tyrwhitt. The company is British, and their marketing talks a lot about making a ‘proper’ shirt.
The collars are spread collars, which I think is the secret ingredient. Yes, the aura of a shirt from London gives it charm, but really, it’s the spread collar holding its form all day that makes Charles Tyrwhitt my favorite shirt brand. (I also love their suits.)
I’ve been buying these shirts for years. I’ve frequented their New York City stores, but you can also buy Charles Tyrwhitt shirts online. (Just note that shipping takes some time, as they need to travel from across the pond.)
The Relaxed Look of UNTUCKit
I recently bought a shirt from UNTUCKit for the first time. I’ve heard a lot about this brand from colleagues, and I wanted to pick up a new shirt the weekend ahead of a work conference I was attending.
Schlepping to a Charles Tyrwhitt store in New York City couldn’t be part of my weekend schedule, but UNTUCKit conveniently had a store in my Connecticut mall fifteen minutes away. So, I figured it was finally time to explore UNTUCKit.
Yes, UNTUCKit is the shirt that you can wear untucked, because the bottom of the shirt is shorter than normal. Somewhere in the past few years, the idea of an untucked man’s shirt became an acceptable business casual item, and clearly UNTUCKit has taken advantage of this trend.
I liked the idea of expanding my own business casual look but was still focused on the collar and the entire fit when I walked in the UNTUCKit store.
So let me tell you, I tried on just about every shirt in the store. And that’s because it was difficult finding a shirt that worked for me.
Not because of the collar. Even though these shirts have a standard collar vs spread collars, they held their form relatively well.
It was about finding the right size/fit with the right color. The store didn’t have everything in stock, and shipping wasn’t an option, as I was flying out the next day (the limitations of last-minute shopping).
Anyway, I finally found a good choice with a cool pink and blue check, and I was quite satisfied wearing it during my conference. (That said, I ended up tucking in the shirt! Please don’t tell anyone.)
An Open Collar has to Hold it All Together
Ultimately, regardless of the shirt brand you wear in the office, I believe it’s how the two collar tips position off your neck that make all the difference.
Whether it’s a proper shirt or something that you can leave untucked, it’s all about the collar.
If you want to look sharp and put together in a business casual environment, your open collar absolutely needs to fit with that story.
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