Like the main character in the animated movie „The twelve tasks for Asterix“ working in today‘s world oftentimes tests you in ways you didn’t expect. Navigating a day full of Teams meetings and meetings for the meetings may feel like you ended up in the place that sends you mad, but at least try to look professional while going mad. So you have atleast something to hold on to. If making your bed can be therapeutic, the way you dress also qualifies for that.
And now, have a glass of wine or two and gather enough mental power, to do it all over again tomorrow!
Out fit for the day. After the mandatory Sunday chores, that took the better part of the whole morning, we went to the city center for the first gelato of this year and a spritz. Girls were storming around the playground afterwards.
First rays of sunlight felt like spring is close and what could be better on a Sunday afternoon than enjoying life with the loved ones, in one of the breathtaking medieval cities of southern Germany?
Day-long Workshop/ Training via MS-Teams ahead. Need to look professional but want to stay as comfortable as possible, when sitting all day. Slippers for walking the dog at noon.
Blue button down from Massimo Dutti with a navy shawl neck cardigan form Pier One Layerd above. The Cardigan was extremely cheap but doesn’t look to shabby and can honing the dryer without losing size or form. The chinos are also from Massimo Dutti, and cost ~20€ in their summer- sale. The rubber around the waist increases comfort a lot. Shoes are from Giorgio 1958, really like most of their designs, would have loved to get those in brown, but you can‘t always win, I guess.
Depending on how much overlap on high quality & good fitting clothes you already had with the mainstays of every classic capsule wardrobe for men, you might want to give it a personal touch or just add easily combinable items to build new outfits. Let’s go over some items, to individualize and expand your capsule wardrobe.
Shirts
Let’s start with shirts, once you found a brand and a fit that really suits your size and body type, keep on adding those in all available variations. When you are expanding your jackets and suits with brighter colors for the summer season, don’t forget to add charcoal, dark blue or even black shirts for contrast. A classy looking denim shirt will never hurt and is one of the most versatile pieces that was not covered in the first capsule wardrobe blog post linked above. It goes with a navy or light grey suit as easily as with a brown chino and a trench coat. One could even argue combining it with shorts and boat shoes or loafers.
Trousers
If you really need to, add a pair of jeans or to. Don’t go for fully distressed/ ripped looks, and stick to the mid-blue shades. They should be comfortable but not to bulky and if you are closer to 50 than to 20, like me, don’t buy skinny jeans, no matter what body composition you currently have. Having said that, I personally would prefer expanding in the chino/ slacks department adding additional colors or materials and maybe trousers with some kind of print (e.g. pinstripe, windowpane or dogtooth). They go easily with vests, blazers, cardigans or pullover/sweaters but also with a simple white hoody.
Shoes
One can never own enough white sneakers I guess, but it won’t hurt you to have sued loafers or monk straps or a pair of brown or blue boat shoes. Expand what fits and feels good. White sneakers tend to go with everything!
Blazers, vests, cardigans & pullovers
Cotton or wool cardigans are a complete no-brainer to provide an additional layer, when wearing a suit or even just a blazer and a chino. It won’t hurt to have one in black, but navy & grey will be the most versatile. As for pullovers/sweaters you can pick one with a statement color (orange, red, green), but make sure to not have any additional logos on it. This will make it harder to dress up with some brogues or slippers and a pair of slacks or chinos. For vests, just don’t try to find one that matches you exiting suits, it’s far better having one with in a different color, with maybe different pattern, than one that’s quite the same but not exactly. I really like windowpanes on vests. Makes a solid color suit more interesting and can easily be worn with slacks or chinos, or even jeans.
Suits
Since we covered our bases somewhat already with navy and charcoal you might want to add some lighter colored suits for the summer months. Start with a light material in tan, then think lighter blue shades lighter grey shades or maybe even off-white (if you don’t have toddlers storming around). You can also go for a navy suit in seersucker construction, which is highly breathable, so you don’t die during the hot & sunny days, wearing a jacked. As already mentioned in the main article, go with unconstructed Jackets since the Italian styles is in general less formal than a full British suit and won’t be as edgy in a society where most people show up to work, looking as if the just came from a marathon or skiing in the alps. For the colder months you might want to get additional suits in tweet, heavy and warm either in some shade of grey, or if it fits your skin type brown. If you tend to sweat easily, skip the heavy weight materials all together. If it’s really cold, you can always either wear functional underwear (think long johns and merino wool) or add an additional layer below the jacket (pullover, cardigan,..).
Outerwear
Easiest way to improve your more casual fits might be getting a good fitting leather jacket. I would tend to go with grey or cognac brown since it’s not screaming Harley Davidson as much and can is easier to match to other clothing than jeans and boots. Maybe you want to look for options with less pronounced zippers and rivets, to be able to dress up the jacket as well, combining it with a button down and slacks.
Another great piece to add might be some kind of safari or barbour jacket which also go with casual styles but also with a suit, depending on brand and material. You can never go wrong with navy, if you have a lot of earthy tones as well (brown, tan, khaki,..) you might want to go with some green shade.
Watches & Accessories
For watches, you might want to look at classic chronographs or dress-watches. Timex, Festina or Skagen offer beautiful minimalistic styles that can upgrade each and every outfit and won’t be hard to match with the underlying color scheme of your wardrobe items. If you want to add even more variety to your watch, instead of buying a bunch of them, get additional nato-straps to play around with colors/ material.
Conclusion
Hope this gives you some ideas where to invest, after you ticked of all the initial items. As always of course look for sale and tend to buy out of the season to get the most out of the money you spent. There is no bonus for owning more clothes than one can wear in a say 3 weeks rotation, no one will see if you bought something in sale of for regular price. Let’s be honest, apart from first impressions and subconscious factors while given presentations or talking to customers, no one will notice what you wear anyways. As long as you look well put together, so the things you wear go along material- and color-wise, fit your stature, are clean and wrinkle free (except for linen & cotton stuff).
Now that we both know, what a capsule wardrobe is, let‘s get started with building one. I‘ll show you some of the mainstays every grown man needs to own, give you some input on colors, you might want to consider and round it off, with some tips on adaptability. The key pieces will mostly stay the same for everyone, but you should feel confident to tailor the whole wardrobe to your needs, depending on personal style and professional requirements.
Where to start?
Pull out every clothing item and accessories you own and search for the few pieces listed below. That‘s your baseline, don‘t worry if you are missing some pieces or even most of them. Prepare yourself that your wardrobe and your style will be evolving as you continue to add items from the lists. Work with what you have, look for sales and cheaper alternatives that you love. Fit and material is far more important than brands and labels.
Core pieces for every timeless capsule wardrobe
Shirts
White dress Shirt
Light blue dress shirt
Light grey dress shirt
2 button down oxfords with richer color
2 – 3 Poloshirts in solid colors, no prints or logos (think navy, charcoal, black, white or off-white)
Trousers
Tan chino
Grey or blue chino
Grey or blue slacks (pleated is slowly coming back, and is far more comfortable)
Shoes
white simple sneakers
Brown Derby or Oxford shoes
Brown loafers
Brown desert or chelsea boots
Stuff for layering
Navy blazer
up to 3 Solid color crew neck sweaters
navy or charcoal light cardigan
a shawl neck cardigan maybe in blue
Suits
Charcoal or grey suit (travelers wool)
Navy suit (travelers wool/ cotton&linen mix, whatever you like, different material & type as the stand alone blazer)
Outerwear
Wool coat (go with navy or camel)
Trenchcoat (tan, sand or grey)
Navy or black Down-Vest (comes in handy for layering under the above, if it gets really cold)
Depending on the dresscode required at work, you might want to switch the brown dress shoes for black ones, since those are in general perceived to be more formal. But my guess would be they are overkill for most offices today and you want to land more on the smart casual than business casual side of things. Remember business casual is the standard business look, but without the tie.
Since the bar to look really dashing is quite low in our society you will already standout with wearing clean chinos, a button down and a cardigan layers above it.
Blazers, sportscoats and suits will have to be dressed down for most of the days by combining them with loafers or sneakers.
You don’t want to be the guy showing up to work in a three piece prince of wales suit with tie & matching pocket square, when leadership is running around in jeans and Birkenstocks for a maximum of comfort around the office.
In addition to the items stated above, have as many shirts/ shorts and joggers you need for lounging around at home and keeping yourself in shape. Also I did not include socks and underwear, go with what feels good and have enough to make it through a week of travel obviously. Just remember socks should always match the trousers and not the shoes.
Next time we will have a look what to add to your mainstays to make the wardrobe even more versatile and how to combine the items you already have.
Sebastian Strobl 