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White Collared Dress Shirt

bcjohn

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Is a blue or blue stripe shirt with a white collar appropriate for business casual? Also, is a french cuff shirt, worn without a suit jacket or sports coat, appropriate for business casual?
 

ter1413

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Originally Posted by bcjohn
Is a blue or blue stripe shirt with a white collar appropriate for business casual? Also, is a french cuff shirt, worn without a suit jacket or sports coat, appropriate for business casual?

no and no.
 

Mr. Lee

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+1
 

alliswell

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Originally Posted by AlexE
Both are appropriate


Neither is appropriate. Thanks for playing.
 

ns7

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Originally Posted by bcjohn
Is a blue or blue stripe shirt with a white collar appropriate for business casual? Also, is a french cuff shirt, worn without a suit jacket or sports coat, appropriate for business casual?

Lots of senior executives wear french cuffs without a jacket or sports coat as a business casual look so I would say it's appropriate. I think everyone else here is getting appropriate and traditional mixed up.
 

blahman

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Ask your boss whether it's appropriate.
 

Sazerac

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Nope. Sorry.

This is why:

You're dealing with an intrinsic contradiction. Contrast collar / French cuff shirts are the most formal shirts in the standard shirt canon (excepting, of course, true formal shirts as worn with dinner jackets). The shirt is simply not casual. Wearing one in such a setting would only make you look half dressed. Asking whether it can be worn as "business casual" is like asking if it's okay to wear a necktie during sex or what scotch goes best with Cheerios.

That said, I sometimes wear a contrast collar / FC shirt with the sleeves rolled up and pair it with jeans and, say, workboots. But the contrast there is obvious and the effect purposeful. The look is not "business casual" as much as "affected dandy being idiosyncratic." (Hey, if you can't mock yourself...)
 

emc894

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I see a lot of french cuff shirts with ties and no jacket. People usually have the jacket on the back of their doors or something, but basically take it off the minute they get to their office.

The white collar shirt for business casual is probably too bold.
 

alliswell

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Originally Posted by ns7
Lots of senior executives wear french cuffs without a jacket or sports coat as a business casual look so I would say it's appropriate. I think everyone else here is getting appropriate and traditional mixed up.

Do you want to be right or do you want to be the same as everyone else? Choose carefully.
 

DorianGrey

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I think you can dress them down somewhat if you wear silk knots in the double cuffs.

I know I will get pounded for this one but I once saw someone where a blue strip FC with white contrasting collars and cuffs and blue silk knots - with faded well fitting jeans and dark brown brogues. I was paired with a navy "soft" unconstructed sport coat. No tie. I thought it looked good.

Edit: This was not worn for business. It was a play outfit.
 

ns7

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Originally Posted by alliswell
Do you want to be right or do you want to be the same as everyone else? Choose carefully.

I understand your point, but eventually what's commonplace becomes style, otherwise we'd all still be wearing caveman outfits.

More seriously though, how else is wearing a button down collar with a tie appropriate? At one point it wasn't, enough people started doing it, and now it's accepted as American tradition.
 

stuarts8

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I think it is perfectly OK to wear the French cuff shirt with white collar and cuffs as business Casual . I do it myself. It is nice to be different and not doing what everyone else does.
 

AlexE

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Originally Posted by alliswell
Neither is appropriate. Thanks for playing.

Well depends a bit on what the OP means with appropriate:
Appropriate = not causing any issues with coworkers or supervisors: French cuffs w/o coat and tie are commonly seen in business casual environments and also contrast collar shirts are not uncommon. Hence it is unlikely that the OP will get any comments.

Appropriate = looking good / stylish: This is purely a matter of personal taste. As DorianGrey stated it can look very good in the eyes of some of us.

Appropriate = OK by the "rules of traditional clothing". Applying rules of traditional clothing is nonsense since "business casual" is not traditional in the first place.

And one thought in general: OP - don't worry too much what members of this forum approve - if we all would dress so everyone here would approve (especially the rule fetishists) then things would get really boring.
 

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