Dapper Plaid - Putting It Into Practice

Earlier this week I wrote a post on how to wear plaid without looking sloppy, frumpy, or lumberjack-y. Over the weekend (after writing the post), I incorporated some flannel plaid into a sharp outfit myself, and took the opportunity to snap a few pictures so I could show my tips in action:

Nope, no decent pics of me looking at the camera. NO EYE CONTACT!

Let's take a look, one tip at a time:

First, I recommended dressing up your shirt. During the week, a blazer would be a perfect addition that would make your flannel office-appropriate, but we were headed out to the barcade (beer + old school arcade games = gold, pure gold), so I kept things a bit more casual, opting for a chunky cardigan instead of a jacket. The effect is similar though, allowing the hearty pattern of the shirt to come through but not dominate.

The cardigan is the cozy man's blazer...I made that up.

Next, I advocated dressing up your pants or trousers a bit as well. I actually encouraged choosing something other than jeans, but here I show how jeans can work. Like I said on Monday, just keep them dark and crisp, and by doing so you channel more city-casual than woodsy-careless.

Third, you can't really tell in the picture since I am wearing the cardigan buttoned-up, but I avoided the workwear look by sticking with a slimmer fitting shirt (this one happens to be from Frank and Oak). Even with the cardigan, picking a slim shirt is smart as it will reduce bunching as well as open up your options to unbutton or take off the sweater if things warm up.

Last, I told y'all to tuck it in, which I clearly did here! Along the same lines, just make sure the way you are wearing it is neat. Little touches like a clean 1/4 inch (or so) of cuff showing past the cardigan, and keeping the plaid collar points contained by the shawl collar help keep the whole look put-together and avoids any sense of sloppiness.

The rest of the pics (including a shot of my awesome new Polo Ralph Lauren boots...if you'll remember, I recommended these a while back, and I do listen to my own advice):

Also, gotta love $5 Target Boot Socks.

The Details:

Shirt - Frank and Oak

Cardigan - H&M

Jeans - Levi's

Socks - Mossimo Supply Co. for Target

Boots - Polo Ralph Lauren

WIWT - 5/3/2013

Just throwing up a quick WIWT post today. It’s been a busy week at my day job (ugh, haha), and I’m working on some formatting improvements to the Wide Eyes, Tight Wallets web site, so be happy with what you get!



This outfit isn’t anything spectacular, but I had a few things I wanted to point out. Mainly I want to bring your attention to the cardigan I picked today. Cardigans are a great layering option to have on hand. Today was an especially chilly day in Chicago (46 degrees in May??? Come on now…) and it was a bit too cold for just a blazer. However, it still wasn’t cold enough to bust out any of my winter gear that I just FINALLY got to pack away. I picked this one up at Gap last fall…I don’t remember the exact price but it was under $30 on sale, and I wear it pretty damn often. This specific cardigan is a little more casual, as the fabric is pretty similar to a sweatshirt or hoodie, so I usually only bust it out on casual Fridays, but I have worn it with dressier looks and it’s held up pretty well even then. Today, it was just right to give me a little more insulation on the way to work, and will be easy to take off if I get too warm in the office.



Well, normally it would be easy to take off, which brings me to point numero dos. Another great use for a cardigan (or any layering option) is that it is a perfect cover-up for my laziness on a rainy Friday morning. I overslept a bit and had to cut my morning routine a little short today, which mean a pretty skimpy job ironing my dress shirt. Wrinkles are one of my biggest OCD pet peeves, and normally this wouldn’t do, but today I just threw on the cardigan and voila - no visible wrinkles! I took it a step further by not giving a damn about getting my tie to the correct length (OK, I was REALLY late, and the bus was about to pull up), and no one is the wiser.



Third, I know this pair of jeans has popped up in pretty much all of my WIWT posts. At first I was about to veto the WIWT post today for that very reason, but I got to thinking that it’s actually a really good point to make. Jeans are one of those items that are really worth finding a pair you love, because you can wear it all the time, with everything.



Dark blue denim is one of the most versatile pieces of clothing out there…dress them up with a blazer for a night out on the town, throw them on with a T-shirt for some backyard grilling, or pop on the cardigan and tie for a day in the office, like I did today.

A few final notes: Still loving the FormFunctionForm watch my girlfriend got me for my birthday…I just need to get a black strap as well so I can wear it with my black shoes/belt combo.



Also, I mentioned these Tod’s loafers I’m wearing in a previous post. They were a steal off of eBay ($50 for a $300-ish pair of shoes), but are just a tad on the large side. I can wear them fine with thicker socks, but if I try them with thinner dress socks or barefoot they flop just a bit too much, so I took advantage of what will probably (hopefully) be one of the last cooler days before summer hits to wear these today.



And that’s all, folks! Have a great weekend, keep your eyes open for the aforementioned site changes, and keep it classy.