Equally, if you go only-just-smart and only-just-casual, there's no tension. Super smart with super casual is doable, but get a single detail wrong and you'll lose the equilibrium that makes the outfit work. Smart casual outfits are about balance, but just like a seesaw, getting the distance between each pole right is critical. Removing your tie does not a smart casual look make. The trouble is, as brilliant as it is when handled correctly, smart casual remains one of the most misunderstood terms in the menswear lexicon. It must contain elements of both in perfect balance, so that instead of fighting each other, they combine to create an outfit that adds up to more than the sum of its parts.
Now is the time to ditch the loungewear and master the tricky smart-casual dress codes that'll be stamped above most events in the calendar.īecause it is hard, this smart casual business. You do you, captain.īut now we’re back to meeting people in real life, people who can see and formulate a scathing opinion on those fluffy slippers that became a key part of your wardrobe. During those yawning stretches of lockdown, smart casual took on a totally new meaning: a nice shirt/knit on top, to keep up appearances during awkward Zoom calls, and shorts/joggers below, because how were they to know, really? Or maybe you were one of those guys who stretched ‘smart casual’ to its absolute limits by secretly conducting all of your important business meetings in a pair of boxers? We’re not here to judge.