Dress Like a Man by Antonio Centeno, Geoffrey Cubbage, Anthony Tan, Ted Slampyak Read Free Book Online Page A

aggressively outré .
    Business Casual: The Maximum Standard
    The main, key feature of business casual is that it's not business dress.
    That means you're not wearing a suit.
    Put an asterisk on that if you really want to -- there are a few casual suits that could be worn, open-collared, in a business casual work setting. But most are designed either for business dress or for social wear, so keep it simple and avoid suits when your goal is "business casual."
    So what do you wear instead?
    The options run a wide gamut from just slightly less formal than a suit on down to very casual-seeming outfits. At the top end, you're looking at something like this:
A dark navy blazer, single- or double-breasted
Gray wool slacks
A white (or white with light patterning) dress shirt
A dark, conservative necktie
Black leather dress shoes
Socks to match the slacks
A slim, black leather belt with a small metal buckle
A dress watch (leather/metal should match the belt)
    As you've probably already noticed, this is just business dress with the suit removed and an unmatched blazer and trousers put in its place. Pretty much everything else is the same.
    It's a popular look for men who want to appear respectable but relaxed. Slacks and a blazer are sometimes called "the California suit," as a nod to the West Coast's famously laid-back dress standards.
    Keep in mind that, by business casual standards, the outfit described above is pretty formal. It's as high as you want to go. Most of the time you'll want to dress more relaxed than that.
    We'll cover the minimum standard in a moment -- just remember that the blazer, slacks, white shirt, and necktie is as formal as you want to go in a dress-casual environment. Beyond that, you're pushing on up into business dress.
    (There are sometimes reasons to exceed the going standard of course. Just be aware when you're doing it, and have a reason for it.)

    Business Casual: The Minimum Standard
    We mentioned that this was a broad "code," so broad it can hardly be considered a single look at all.
    So what does the most casual end of business casual look like?
    This has changed over the last decade or two. There used to be a hard and fast answer that jeans, at least, were right out -- that gave you some sort of standard. But these days, "dressy" jeans of the dark, close-fitted sort are tolerated and even explicitly allowed in some business casual workplaces.
    So let's grant that jeans are, sometimes and conditionally, allowed. But it's something you have to weigh carefully. If you want a minimum standard for a business casual level of formality that you don't have to think about, it looks something like this:
A collared dress shirt or polo, solid color or relatively modestly patterned
Khakis, chinos, or other cotton slacks in a plain, drab color
Brown or black leather shoes (rubber soles are fine, but the uppers should be leather)
Socks to match the slacks
A belt to match the shoes
    A necktie isn't required just by the words "dress casual" or "business casual," but many workplaces will mandate a tie in their own internal dress guidelines.
    People play pretty fast and loose with the idea of business casual these days. It's not out of the question to see things like jeans or sandals, which would once have been considered strictly non-professional attire, worn in business casual settings, especially within the tech industry.
    Just like the maximum standard we described above, feel free to wear this minimum standard anywhere that dress casual is the order of the day. But don't drop below it, and be aware that you're pushing the limits of how casual you can go.
    Business Casual: Finding the Middle Ground
    Between those two extremes -- the khakis-and-open-collar look and the blazer-and-necktie look -- lies a wide range of options.
    Generally speaking, if you're in a dress casual environment, you want to be somewhere in that happy middle ground.

    There are countless ways to achieve that. Stay away from things that are too