• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

conservative business dress WAYWRN: An Experiment

Manton

RINO
Joined
Apr 20, 2002
Messages
41,314
Reaction score
2,879
If/when I wear a tie on a weekend or to a social event, unless it is after work, I always wear a BD collar. And pretty much always with an odd jacket. Linen in summer, OCBD in cooler weather.

To work, a BD maybe once a month. I actually got comments on it yesterday. Typically, nothing I wear, not even vests, elicit comments.
 

UrbanComposition

Distinguished Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2010
Messages
6,583
Reaction score
19,823
The OCBD, with or without a tie, is secksy.
graduate2.jpg
 

ManofKent

Distinguished Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2008
Messages
8,665
Reaction score
20,963
Originally Posted by TC (Houston)
As someone who used to do this a lot, here are a couple of thoughts. My first impression was that the shirt and tie are too "matchy", although it's really not that egregious. I think it's a natural inclination to think purple tie when you are looking at that shirt. In fact, if you walk around any run of the mill department store, they will have shirt and tie combos laid out like that all over the place. If you want to play off of the color of the shirt with the tie, I've found it to be more elegant to choose a tie where the base color is softly contrasting the shirt, but with details in the tie that might tie it to the shirt.
...

Anyways, just a few amateur thoughts from my own experience.


Thanks. I find ginghams and checks difficult to pattern 'match' so I tend to stick to solids, or very large paisleys. Avoiding scale/business problems always feels tricky. As I've got more than one purple/lavender/mauve shirt I probably ought to try and think about appropriate ties. Grey is safe with the right suit, and I guess burgundy will be fine. Green sounds good in theory, but greens seem to be a pig to use successfully.
 

ManofKent

Distinguished Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2008
Messages
8,665
Reaction score
20,963
Originally Posted by MBreinin
My main concern with this fit is not the colors, but the fact that the suit has a good bit of sheen to it. I am wondering if this takes it out of the realm of conservative business dress.

Mike

ManOfSteel1.JPG

ManOfSteel2.JPG

ManOfSteel3.JPG

Whilst it has a sheen I think it avoids the 'shiny' suit look, and I suspect under office lighting the sheen is reduced anyway. I like the combining btw.
Originally Posted by SkinnyGoomba
photo2-1.jpg
[/SPOILER]
Yellow tie with a white shirt
smile.gif


Navy suit today, feeling bold.

I confess I don't see the problem with this shade of yellow on a white shirt.
Originally Posted by PandArts
Continuing with the blue and grey theme...today's PS is white linen
smile.gif


Much better.
Originally Posted by oldog/oldtrix





I would swap the tie, and personally I'm not a fan of elasicated shoes beyond chelseas but that might just be my narrow mindedness.
Originally Posted by Fred49
Fred16close.jpg

Fred16away.jpg
Burgundy or cream PS instead.
 

someotherstyle

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2010
Messages
494
Reaction score
28
Chiming on the BD with suit/tie, I think BDs are traditionally (and still are) too casual for a business or worsted suit. Maybe with a country suit, cotton suit or linen suit, but the button down is an informal shirt, and not suitable to be worn with a tie and business dress.
 

Manton

RINO
Joined
Apr 20, 2002
Messages
41,314
Reaction score
2,879
This is a great example of national/regional differences. BD + suit has always been acceptable for business in the US and in some regions is THE dress shirt. Elsewhere, this is not so. But here it is.
 

JayJay

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
Jun 25, 2007
Messages
24,297
Reaction score
439
I wear bd collar shirts with blazers with and without a tie, but not with suits. I used to wear bd collars with suits but decided it no longer worked for me.
 

Eustace

Distinguished Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2008
Messages
1,002
Reaction score
20
Originally Posted by Manton
This is a great example of national/regional differences. BD + suit has always been acceptable for business in the US and in some regions is THE dress shirt. Elsewhere, this is not so. But here it is.

Does oxford cloth render it too casual for conservative business dress?
 

Manton

RINO
Joined
Apr 20, 2002
Messages
41,314
Reaction score
2,879
Originally Posted by Eustace
Does oxford cloth render it too casual for conservative business dress?

Not necessarily. That's a classic trad/NE look. Today also popular in the South (though if you ask me Oxford cloth is too hot for the South.
 

in stitches

Stylish Dinosaur
Spamminator Moderator
Moderator
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2010
Messages
66,397
Reaction score
33,106
Originally Posted by UrbanComposition
The OCBD, with or without a tie, is secksy.

graduate2.jpg


i just watched it last night and thought the same thing. before sf id have been focusing much more on teh legs
smile.gif


to the serious though, i am an american from birth (denver, co) and cant get myself to do an OCBD with a suit and tie. just doesnt feel right for me. even though i like the way it looks in many of these posts. oh well my loss i guess.
 

Manton

RINO
Joined
Apr 20, 2002
Messages
41,314
Reaction score
2,879
Originally Posted by Fred49
Fred16close.jpg

This is a personal thing but I may as well mention it.

I am seeing a lot of striped and checked shirts in which the white ground totally dominates the stripe. I think these are hard to coordinate and generally don't look that good.I have a couple and I notice that I never reach for them and haven't ordered more in forever.

Checks and stripes look best, IMO, when the area allocated to the pattern is equal to or greater than the ground. Butcher stripes are a good example of equal to. Gingham would be greater than.

So that's why I don't really care for this. Also not a fan of the tie.
 

TRINI

Distinguished Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2006
Messages
9,006
Reaction score
658
Originally Posted by Manton
I am seeing a lot of striped and checked shirts in which the white ground totally dominates the stripe.

Agreed. I went with a work colleague to order shirts yesterday and steered him away from an overly narrow striped fabric that he was going to choose for that same reason.

The shirt would essentially look white from distance and then what's the point of getting the stripe?
 

Eustace

Distinguished Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2008
Messages
1,002
Reaction score
20
Originally Posted by Manton
Not necessarily. That's a classic trad/NE look. Today also popular in the South (though if you ask me Oxford cloth is too hot for the South.


I'm in the south and see this look everywhere. Oxford cloth is fine for me except in the hottest of months (July-August).
 

ManofKent

Distinguished Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2008
Messages
8,665
Reaction score
20,963
Originally Posted by Manton
This is a great example of national/regional differences. BD + suit has always been acceptable for business in the US and in some regions is THE dress shirt. Elsewhere, this is not so. But here it is.

On the subject of national/regional differences, am I right in thinking that whilst in the UK a contrast collar shirt would pass without comment in the US it would be considered flashy?
 

oldog/oldtrix

Distinguished Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2006
Messages
1,067
Reaction score
938
Originally Posted by Eustace Tilley
The shirt / tie combo is too busy for my taste (patterns too similar in scale).

Originally Posted by Manton
Agree.

Originally Posted by Manton
I am seeing a lot of striped and checked shirts in which the white ground totally dominates the stripe. I think these are hard to coordinate and generally don't look that good.

Resurrected just for the two of you:

 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 35.3%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 61 39.1%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 17 10.9%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 27 17.3%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 28 17.9%

Forum statistics

Threads
505,206
Messages
10,579,269
Members
223,893
Latest member
tuga1
Top