ingenius/idiotic idea: you decide.

[Tomasso]

Originally Posted by trajan

one of them was wearing a colored t-shirt under his shirt and over his undershirt. And he was wearing a tie as well.

 

[LabelKing]

This colored tee-shirt under shirt approach sounds disturbingly "GQ".

 

[Jovan]

Most of the time I just wear athletic grey... I don't think it looks particularly gawdy. Also considering that the place I work at that requires shirt (or polo for that matter), shineable shoes, and trousers is a video game store, I think it's casual enough an atmosphere to do such a thing. Maybe it's just me.

 

[lefty]

Originally Posted by Joel_Cairo

I will soon be changing jobs, and accordingly, I'll be changing work wardrobes. I currently work for the Royal Norwegian Consulate in Boston, for which my usual attire is a tie and a v-neck with slacks. Come the new year, I'll be working IT for Harvard College Library's Scandanvian wing. The new job is a step up in pay and in terms of alignment with my career goals, but its a step down in terms of dress and general sexiness ("assistant to an international diplomat" pulls more ass than "assistant to librarians", naturally).

While at the interview (to which I wore the black Park Aves, BTW), I saw that the dress code is notably slacker than my current job (par for the IT course, as I understand it). It was all Dockers and Eccos. Much to my chagrin, there's no way I could fit in with the other cublicle jockies if I wore a tie. Needless to say, this pains me. I'm gonna have to rotate out my point collars and get some more good looking spread collar shirts to wear open-necked.

I really want to find a work-around for this drab tieless atmosphere. W/o the visual interest of a tie, I feel so bland, so here's my idea: I'm thinking of wearing (gasp!) colored t-shirts underneath my open-collared shirts, to add a dash of neckline visual interest. I wouldnt do it with just an oxford, as the color would bleed through, but well-coordinated into a v-neck and trousers ensemble, I think it could be cool (think black merino v-neck, white spread collar undone at the top, with a sky or royal blue t-shirt underneath, atop heringbone pants with blue in them). Everyone there is in their 20s, and pretty casual, so I don't think anyone would notice the wrongness, but what do you all think? Could this work? Would it be the revolutionary "lemons-to-lemonade" flourish of an icocnoclastic sprezzatura master triumphing over the conformist confines of office-casual, or simply a dunderheaded fashion fumble?

If you can't be a dandy in a library, where on earth can you?

I work in TV where the only steadfast dressing rule is "wear clothes" though even that is broken with regularity and while I appreciate that under dressing, say a t-shirt in court, may not be that great an idea, I really don't see any issue with a tie in a library?

I wouldn't try any "break-in" period but instead, to quote Nuke Lalush, "announce your presence with authority."

What could happen?

lefty

 

[mensimageconsultant]

It sounds fine, if you're a younger person. However, if you would like a promotion, it probably should not be more than an occasional look.

 

[LARon]

Don't let the grungy IT blobs snuff out your elegance. I'm in the camp that says keep your style, perhaps just ease into it, as Doc says. I'd start with something like bow ties -- a quintessential element of academia -- as are knit and rep stripe ties, and ties with little crests and repeating images. From there you're only a short hop to similar looks from more prominent makers (i.e., Ferragamo, Hermes, Vineyard Vines, etc.). You can tone them down by wearing button down shirts (with the bow ties) and sweater vests or long sleeve v-necks.

No one can be offended by a wardrobe with historical ties to the campus environment. From there you're spring board away from a navy blazer, sack suit, seersucker and the whole trad world. While going trad may inevitably alienate you from this community, at least you will have avoided the whole colored t-shirt thing.