Flannel shirt with a tie

[gettingfat]

Hi. Is it ever appropriate to wear a tie with a flannel shirt? Attached is a photo from the Drake’s winter lookbook, and the shirt is a cotton madras print, not flannel, but it got me thinking about tailoring with plaid flannel. The shirt is a very casual fabric, and looks absolutely killer in the photo. What about trying this look with flannel instead? If so, under what circumstances? If not, why not?

 

[The Noble Dandy]

My suggestion would be to:
1. Wear a flannel blazer/suit (the guy in the photo is wearing what looks like a jacket from a suit).
2. Wear a wool tie.
3. Wear flannel trousers, jeans, chinos or corduroys.

This way, the outfit will be casual and the fabrics will also match.

 

[gettingfat]

This makes sense. I would essentially be trying to recreate that look, but I don’t really have enough to choose from to really nail it. I have a dark navy corduroy blazer and jeans which look great with plaid flannel shirts, but I tried it with a tie and it just feels like a bridge too far. That model’s outfit seems to work because each piece is uniquely cool (eg a charcoal flannel suit with pinstripes spaced like that), and it breaks the rules in a way I couldn’t really pull off with my current wardrobe.

 

[KOz]

Don't do jeans and tie. The vast, vast majority of attempts will not work.

I'm sorry to say, but the first picture The Noble Dandy posted is awful.

The Drake's reference is inventive, but I don't think it's that much better.

 

[TheIronDandy]

Don't do jeans and tie. The vast, vast majority of attempts will not work.

I'm sorry to say, but the first picture The Noble Dandy posted is awful.

The Drake's reference is inventive, but I don't think it's that much better.

Agreed. The drake picture doesn't look particularly good in my book - what saves it is that it features a cool looking model lit with rembrant lightning, in a neutral background. Almost ANYONE can look cool with that lightning. I don't know about anyone else's ambient light, but I'm rarely lit that dramatically. When riding the tube, sitting in the office or going out for lunch, you don't look nearly as cool as when dramatically lit.

Jeans and tie makes you look like you're staring in a remake of Office Space. Online "style experts" can talk all they want about "breaking rules" or "adopting the tie to contemporary style", but it still looks like you work for a company that relaxed the dress code but kept the tie requirement (which, in itself, is so out-of-touch with current times to be comical).

I like ties, and I can understand the desire to wear them more. And I can definitely see how, with formal tailoring becoming less common, you would look for more casual ways to wear them. But it's REALLY hard to get it right.

Part of the problem is that ties are very unpractical and quite high effort (relatively speaking). You can never just "throw on" a tie, it requires actively picking one, putting it on and tying it. It ALWAYS represents an effort. Even (god forbid) a clip-on requires an active choice to wear it. And a tie serves no practical purpose. There's no way you can justify it for practical purposes.

Jeans, casual shirt and a jacket can work because if worn right it looks like you "just threw the jacket on". Braces with a casual outfit MIGHT be explained away with "it's more comfortable than having a belt pressing on my stomach". But a tie? A tie is always an active, unpractical choice. You're always the guy who makes an active effort to wear a tie with jeans.

All that makes the look one of two things:

1. Extremely #menswear, because you're making an active effort to wear your #casualtie in a #contemporarystyle way. And if you're going to Pitti, or a Styleforum meetup, or a Drakes event - or even if you're just very comfortable in being a #menswear guy, that's fine. We all do some pretty #menswear things here. My only point is that you should be aware it becomes a very specific style - it's not the casual elegance most people who wear it want it to be.
2. The minimum viable dresscode for an out of touch company mentioned above.

As for wearing flannel on flannel on flannel, that seems like an odd way to style. Usually you want to create contrast between materials, especially for casual outfits, so things like knitted tie, tweed jacket, flannel shirt, cavalry twill trousers.

 

[KOz]

Almost ANYONE can look cool with that lightning. I don't know about anyone else's ambient light, but I'm rarely lit that dramatically. When riding the tube, sitting in the office or going out for lunch, you don't look nearly as cool as when dramatically lit.

Demistifying Drake's is a great album showing their outfits under more common conditions: https://www.reddit.com/r/NavyBlazer/comments/1cejl5q/demystifying_drakes_a_small_album/

 

[The Noble Dandy]

Don't do jeans and tie. The vast, vast majority of attempts will not work.

I'm sorry to say, but the first picture The Noble Dandy posted is awful.

The Drake's reference is inventive, but I don't think it's that much better.

It all depends on how strict you want to be with the rules. If a rule makes no logical sense to me (a tie is unpractical and requires effort so it can't be worn with jeans), I ignore it.

 

[KOz]

It all depends on how strict you want to be with the rules. If a rule makes no logical sense to me (a tie is unpractical and requires effort so it can't be worn with jeans), I ignore it.

Putting together an outfit goes beyond generic rules. Cultural history also plays a role. Culturally, tie and jeans combo evokes things like a business mullet of a middle manager trying to dress down.

Sure you can do it and you'll stand out, but not for the reason you'd want to.

 

[gettingfat]

Yeah jeans with a tie can look great as long as the general vibe is right, and Drake’s generally has immaculate vibes in their styling. I’m not particularly interested in casual elegance. The reason I like the Drake’s lookbooks is because those guys always look really cool, like they know how to throw a good party. It almost feels like what Drake’s does with its styling is to use classic tailoring and more traditional pieces to accomplish the same goals as streetwear. It’s inventive and even flashy in a certain, specific way that that’s more about pure style and less about the vulgar display of wealth.

 

[The Noble Dandy]

Putting together an outfit goes beyond generic rules. Cultural history also plays a role. Culturally, tie and jeans combo evokes things like a business mullet of a middle manager trying to dress down.

Sure you can do it and you'll stand out, but not for the reason you'd want to.

Culture is different around the world. I would never think of "a business mullet of a middle manager trying to dress down" looking at this outfit. It seems that this is something that you don't personally like rather than a cultural issue.

 

[gettingfat]

Putting together an outfit goes beyond generic rules. Cultural history also plays a role. Culturally, tie and jeans combo evokes things like a business mullet of a middle manager trying to dress down.

Sure you can do it and you'll stand out, but not for the reason you'd want to.

“Business mullet of a middle manager trying to dress down,” but make it fashion

 

[gettingfat]

Culture is different around the world. I would never think of "a business mullet of a middle manager trying to dress down" looking at this outfit. It seems that this is something that you don't personally like rather than a cultural issue.

Actually, I agree with him, but I think if you could do it in an 80s Billy Crystal way it would look very cool.

 

[The Noble Dandy]

Yeah jeans with a tie can look great as long as the general vibe is right, and Drake’s generally has immaculate vibes in their styling. I’m not particularly interested in casual elegance. The reason I like the Drake’s lookbooks is because those guys always look really cool, like they know how to throw a good party. It almost feels like what Drake’s does with its styling is to use classic tailoring and more traditional pieces to accomplish the same goals as streetwear. It’s inventive and even flashy in a certain, specific way that that’s more about pure style and less about the vulgar display of wealth.

Exactly. They bend the rules, mix things, and want to make menswear less boring. Because, let's be honest - in most cases it is. Nobody would ever say that you look cool in that navy suit and black oxfords Don't get me wrong, I love classic menswear with all my heart but without some creativity, it quickly becomes very boring.

 

[gettingfat]

Demistifying Drake's is a great album showing their outfits under more common conditions: https://www.reddit.com/r/NavyBlazer/comments/1cejl5q/demystifying_drakes_a_small_album/

Thanks for this. The Drake’s Diary instagram is also good for this kind of stuff. Incidentally, there are a couple of jeans/tie outfits in this album and in the one that looks best, the guy isn’t even wearing a tailored jacket.

 

[TheIronDandy]

It all depends on how strict you want to be with the rules. If a rule makes no logical sense to me (a tie is unpractical and requires effort so it can't be worn with jeans), I ignore it.

I just want to say I completely support that argument. You should ignore "rules" if they don't make sense to you (I ignore the "black is boring" rule because I just don't see it). Even rules that make sense can often be broken, if you understand where they come from.

I do want to say that nothing I post here is "rules" though, they're all personal opinions formed over a few years of experimenting with dressing better and sometimes seeing other people do it (with various degrees of success). The business mullet reference is clearly one several people see, so it's worth considering when you put together an outfit. Then you can decide if it's relevant to you or not.

And the Drake guys do look cool, but they're still professionally styled and photographed. I personally think that those outfits get a very different vibe at an office than they do in a clothing store. For what it's worth, I find a lot of lookbooks end up like that: I can really like some Ralph Lauren stylings in the context they're shot, but still feel that they would seem very out of touch in an office. Your milage may vary.