Styling a black blazer!

[Billakos200]

Hello people!!
I am a male 21 years old with dark brown hair and generally mildly dark characteristics. I recently purchased a black blazer with silver buttons and I want some help styling it as its my first time wearing something like that.

My wardrobe currently has:

Button-downs:
Dark blue
Medium-dark gray
White with mild pattern
Cream

Pants:
Cobalt blue chinos
Light grey dress pants with a mild pattern
Very dark grey denim
Medium grey denim
Classic blue denim
Washed blue denim

Polos:
Yellow
Orange

I also have a black turtle neck

Shoes:
Light brown classic vans
Dark brown chelsea boots
Navy formal sneakers


What are some suggestions on what I should buy next and what combinations can you come up that you think would look good?

Thanks for your time!

 

[breakaway01]

Welcome! Generally, most people here would consider a black blazer to be less versatile than a navy blazer, but then again you're young (so you can probably get away with more than I could), and I think it can work with casual outfits depending on the cut and fabric of the blazer. A very slim/tailored cut may not work as well here. Can you post a picture of the blazer?

This is a good place to look for some style inspiration

SWD Discussion Thread for Tailoring

This is a discussion thread for SWD members interested in tailoring. The term "tailoring" here is used pretty loosely. Since most clothes are cut and sewn, many can be described as "tailored." I'm using the term here to loosely refer to suits and sport coats. A sport coat is anything with...

www.styleforum.net

Sometimes I find it most helpful just to try a lot of different outfits on to get a sense of what works/doesn't work.

 

[maxalex]

Simon on Permanent Style has recently done some stories about styling black, just do a search on the site. The danger is looking like a character in a Tarantino film (unless that’s what you want).

 

[Mr Tickle]

The Asian crowd seem to be a lot more into black than the US/Euro style hounds and a lot of them do it fantastically. I think maybe black tailored clothing has never had the association with service staff that it has here in the UK.To be honest I think most of the ideas about "avoiding black" come from a time when most menswear advice would have been in reference to formal wear. And suits, in particular. No reason that a black blazer or trousers can't look great for casual wear. In fact I would even disagree that they are less versatile than blue, depending on where you live. Here, a blue blazer inevitably has political connotations - huge swathes of the people I know (young to middle-aged professionals of a liberal bent) would never wear a blue blazer simply because it's an archetypal Tory look.

 

[Northants bloke]

The Asian crowd seem to be a lot more into black than the US/Euro style hounds and a lot of them do it fantastically. I think maybe black tailored clothing has never had the association with service staff that it has here in the UK.To be honest I think most of the ideas about "avoiding black" come from a time when most menswear advice would have been in reference to formal wear. And suits, in particular. No reason that a black blazer or trousers can't look great for casual wear. In fact I would even disagree that they are less versatile than blue, depending on where you live. Here, a blue blazer inevitably has political connotations - huge swathes of the people I know (young to middle-aged professionals of a liberal bent) would never wear a blue blazer simply because it's an archetypal Tory look.

A black blazer can be styled up or down. Useful as a musician with a casual shirt or a plain polo. I think the waitering uniform connotations only really applies if you wear it with a plain white shirt.
I wear navy too but would very consciously avoid the uniform navy blazer, shiny buttons, grey trousers, white shirt, tie, polished shoes. The right wing establishment connotations would be too much for me.

 

[maxalex]

A black blazer can be styled up or down. Useful as a musician with a casual shirt or a plain polo. I think the waitering uniform connotations only really applies if you wear it with a plain white shirt.
I wear navy too but would very consciously avoid the uniform navy blazer, shiny buttons, grey trousers, white shirt, tie, polished shoes. The right wing establishment connotations would be too much for me.

Some ways to avoid Tory/yacht club impressions with a blue blazer:

Avoid metal buttons and go for contrasting horn buttons in a warm tan color.

Skip the grey flannel trousers (and preppy chinos) in favor of edgier fabrics like solaro or creme linen.

In winter, wear over a chunky ribbed creme turtleneck sweater.

These are combinations inspired more by Italian and Japanese looks than how Americans and Brits typically conceive of the blue blazer.