With the rapid rise of start-up culture across the world, and a shift from gathering all your style tips from The Wolf of Wall Street, an ascending trend in business casual attire is arriving in office work spaces across the globe, with sprinklings of sneakers and collections of chinos coming to play.
What exactly defines business casual? Business casual would best be described as a style that is less formal than traditional business wear but is still intended to give a professional and businesslike impression in the office. To best work out the equation, think of the 70/30 rule—go for an overall outfit split of 70% business and 30% casual.
At InStitchu, we’re all about individuality—in fact, we celebrate it. Some men dislike cufflinks, whilst some love collared shirts, others would never believe that sneakers could go with a suit. No matter what your preferences are in dressing up or down, we’ve put together a style guide of three golden rules in nailing the business casual look.
1. Keep it simple with neutrals and add a dash of your favourite colour
We’ve all heard of the KISS rule (keep it simple, stupid), and this rule is one of the most applicable in putting together a killer business casual outfit. To keep it simple, start with building on your basic neutrals. When building on your colour palette in a business casual outfit, an almost no fail first step is to invest in your neutrals such as your greys and your browns for blazers, chinos or sweaters. As soon as you have your neutral basics together, you can choose the colours that you love to wear, and go from there. Add some fun and your own spin to your attire by throwing in splashes of your favourite colours or patterns into the finer details of the outfit such as your accessories or shoes—from a burgundy tie, or a pink pocket square, the choice to make your outfit your own is now there.
2. Get the perfect fit, for you
No matter the price or quality of your business casual outfit, a too-tight shirt, or chinos that are falling at the waist can bring your outfit from classy to clumsy. Business casual is essentially letting your casual clothes act as business—business attire is usually known to be clean cut and crisp, therefore, your casual clothes should also emulate this. Going for made-to-measure instead of off-the-rack ensures that your outfit is saying “I belong to you!”. So go that extra mile to get the measurements for your body, and this will be a valuable step in creating the outfit that is just for you.
3. Show your personality through your accessories and customisable options
We’ve touched on this briefly, but the final key rule is to add a touch of your personality through your accessories. The fun thing about dressing business casual is that there is a lot more room to be creative and show your style. Whether it’s a coloured leather folio, or fun and printed cufflinks, feel free to add one or two (maximum three) pieces of accessories to create your own dash of character to your outfit. If you are opting for sneakers, a rising trend in the business casual attire, ensure that they are clean and polished—remember that you’re still in an office, not a sports field.
You’re most likely in the office five days a week, and that’s a lot of time to be stuck in an ill-fitted work suit. That’s why the trend of the business casual attire is on the rise, as men are swapping in their suede shoes for sneakers and we are starting to realise that comfort does not need to compromise style. Follow our three golden rules to wearing business casual with your own flair, and through a well-designed outfit with some attentive mixing and matching, you’ll that find that your personality will naturally come to play, as you create a business casual outfit your own unique way.