Summer Style

I recently made the acquaintance of a super-cool boy called Audrey. The good news is that as well as working as a buyer & designer for a men’s youth line, he is also a style fiend. He wrote this & I liked it so much that I asked if I could post it here for all the male readers! I hope you enjoy it!
Summer raises the question about office etiquette when it comes to dressing for work. Winter to me, is far easier for work — sweaters & vests & jackets & long sleeve shirts (though my shirts are all constantly folded to my elbows because my forearms are actually one part of my body I actually like & try to accentuate).
Summer, on the other hand is slightly more difficult. Lucky are those who can just tumble out of bed & throw on shorts & a tee & toddle off to earn their scratch! Some of us just don’t have that luxury. & this Summer is especially tricky: not only do I work at an office so must remain respectable, but also the office for a youth fashion buyership & design area — meaning there’s a certain, unspoken expectation that I’ll look somewhat… well, “cool”. I admit, I’ve always prided myself on the fact that I somehow manage to toe the line of being appropriate, yet stylish. As my friend Vicki recently put it, she hated the fact my casual & work wear are somewhat similar, so I always look like I could be coming straight from work, or I could be coming out of a club – she’s just never actually sure.
Personally, I don’t happen to own a suit anyway. I consider it my own little act of rebellion, because I still manage to remain stylish, yet acceptable & proper at all functions — even those where technically I should be in a suit. But I guess I could soon be given my orders to take the plunge & max out another credit card, as our CEO has tightened the noose (pun only kind of intended) this week too, after noticing that with the jump in temperature a lot of males in the office are forgoing their tie & vowing to take action against any anyone not conforming with office policy.
So therein lies the challenge. How to keep the people in the Ivory Tower content, while still maintaining a sense of comfort, surviving peak hour sardine-tin rides to and from the office & conveying a sense of style and authority to potential suppliers to your business? I understand an office supplies clerk needing to be in corporate black & whites but my particular situation is slightly different.

I’ve found some slight loopholes in the system & exercise them to their extreme at all available opportunities. I’m a huge fan (yet the ONLY one doing it at my office) of a good fitting teeshirt worn over a long- or short-sleeve shirt & tie. You should probably should stick to plain, unless you happen to work for a really cool & relaxed office, when vintage & band shirts can definitely make an appearance & will offshoot a tie with spectacular results. Wrangler cigarette leg black denim jeans come with black solid metal rivets on the pockets, so are in fact passable as not actually being jeans.
Business shirts can be worn slightly different if you can manage to shake off the salesperson & buy things that aren’t necessarily your technical correct size. I suggest dropping your shirt size by two standard sizes, but make sure you get the ‘long’ sleeve length. Doing this gives you a nice slim fitting shirt (business shirts are always made extra long to still tuck in if you need to), with a top button that will casually sit open as it is in fact — in all technical aspects — too small for your neck. Plus, you can loosely knot a tie around because business shirts are usually made with bones or more starch in their collars than their casual counterparts.
Another great look involves having your work pants tailored just a little too short, investing in some snappy looking, high fashion slip-ons (patent leather, anyone?) & skipping the socks. (Note: this last one is not for beginners. & for the love of god, invest in Odour Eaters first!)
But I think the biggest mantra to stick to in the workplace is the age old saying that you should dress for the job you want, not for the job you’ve got. I myself got noticed by the youth fashion department by actually dressing the part in my former role – even the head menswear buyer was trying to head-hunt me out of homewares before I got snapped up by my current department.
So keep in mind — being the stylish, fashion-conscious man at the office is great, but it’s a double-edged sword. If you’ve got your eyes on the business manager’s job, then obviously what’s written above won’t be applicable to you. Sometimes you do have to suck up to The Man & ‘play the game’ & leave your stylishly impressive wardrobe moves to where it counts most — out in the bars over summer where all the cute, scantily-clad ladies are bored of those hipsters & their godawful fluoro neon Henleys & Havaianas.