7 Rules For Making the Ordinary Extraordinary
Brian Spaly — July 20, 2009 @ 12:33 pm
Recently, one of our investors and favorite customers was in the office wearing what looked, from a distance, to be a pretty chimmed out* business casual outfit—Navy blazer over tan dress pants. Closer inspection revealed something better. The pants were our very own haymakers, which add a stylish dimension with their faint white pinstripes. The shirt was not white but actually a very light pink. Such a subtle look but so well done! It prompted one of our ninjas to suggest I write a post about how to take a standard look and add just the right amount of twist to elevate your style.
*Chimmed out means lame, busted, boring, consensus
1. Wear the Haymakers. Just take any boring outfit that includes tan-colored pants and swap in the haymakers. These khaki wool trousers with a vanilla creme silk lining will make your day—and your look. The same can be said for the addition of pinstripes. The fundamentals make your average navy trouser outfit pleasantly sophisticated.
2. Add a pocket square to your blazer. Worry not about wearing a tie, or matching a tie, just pick a color that works well with your overall outfit and tuck it into your breast pocket. This could not be easier. For the experts only–tuck a small flower in your lapel. This will trigger exuberant emotions in women you meet as they subconsciously think of weddings and champagne and cake and dancing. This cannot be a bad thing.
3. Throw a sweater over a dress shirt and trousers. Pull the sleeves up just enough to reveal the cuffs of your shirtsleeves— about 3/4s of an inch at your wrists. You can wear the collar inside the sweater if it’s a crew neck or lay it outside the collar on a v-neck sweater. In either case, leave the top button of the shirt undone. The shirting fabric at the wrists and collar compliments the entire look and offers a nice chance to show some contrasting colors (i.e. haymakers and a pink button down with a navy sweater is a perfect rendition). If you get warm, the sweater can be worn around your shoulders. Never mind the preppy stereotype here—it’s outdated nonsense. Carrying a sweater around your neck or wrapped around your waist is common sense and convenient, and reveals nothing about whether you summer at the Vineyard.
4. Parapluie prestige. It’s been raining a ton recently in Manhattan and we’ve seen a soggy mess of nondescript black nylon loitering in our hallway. The uncommon but distinguished gentleman who carries a handsome umbrella with a wooden handle and subtle patterned fabric carries the day in a sea of throwaways. You’ll become so fond of your new hooked cane that you’ll carry it with you when the chance of rain is lower than the chance of the Cubs winning the World Series. We’re making our own version as we speak, but don’t expect them for a few more months.
5. Sunglasses. Any excuse to wear cool shades will make you look more like a movie star, which can’t be bad. You need options here: one pair for sport and one pair for leisure. If I see another guy at a wedding wearing a tuxedo and pair of plastic Oakleys, well…those are for beach volleyball, boating, and baseball players. When dressed in the sort of outfit you could wear to work or an evening event, shade your eyes with something more elegant, like aviators. While this is not a completely tight and fast rule, generally plastic frames are for sport and metal frames are for sexier types of play.
6. Hats. Speaking of Oakley, did you see Ricky Barnes’ fresh conductor’s hat at the Open this year? They make a pretty awesome cap that was one of the cooler looks I saw at Bethpage. It’s a perfect way to add some style to the conventional trouser and golf shirt tournament costume. Generally speaking, adding the right hat—the foam and mesh throwback, a slick kangol knit, or even the right visor (think sweet lax tailgate or deep sea fishing) can be another great accessory. And it also blocks some harmful rays.
7. Socks. Provide a subtle dash of style to your ensemble with cool socks! The crazier the better, with no particular rhyme or reason other than try to make them match your look in some way. A nice rule of thumb for everyday socks is that they can match your shoes or your pants, and should clash with neither. Genius is rarely tidy! The warmer the weather, the lighter the colors, and pastels are best. Have fun with it! And of course, not wearing socks is also a distinctive look. Bonobos’ Director of Design Brett Wagner never wears socks, and he always looks good.
3 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
Love the socks recommendation. I recently purchased lavender with gray and yellow argyle, light blue with lavender and gray argyle, and gray with lavender and yellow argyle. Every time I wear them with a lightweight wool bonobos slack of my choice from the cache yields many oohs and aahs. Get crazy folks, it will pay off.
Lastly for sunglasses I recommend Maui Jim, they have a wide variety of nice stuff ranging from aviators to more stylish beach fare. Regardless, wear whatever pair with pride and sass and the ladies will swoon.
[Reply]
I’m also an advocate of not wearing socks but it seems some individuals from my company are set on changing the corporate policy on socks despite me. They are trying to get a rule written requiring office employees to wear socks. For this reason, and any other reason I may require socks, does anyone have any good sites to order some interesting sock patterns? If I am wearing socks, I want them to be loud and fashionable. Thanks in advance for the help.
[Reply]
Ryan–
Awesome question. If you don’t mind dropping a few dollars, Paul Smith has some wicked righteous socks. But I also own a few pairs of really wild argyle patterned socks that I love (yellow with purple, green with orange, and blue with yellow) from J. Crew. Shop around! And if you think WE should make socks, email Brian Spaly and tell him why!
[Reply]