Joining a polo & khaki workwear environment. How do I fake a personal style?
The situation: I’ve been working from home for a few years, wearing Hawaiian shirts and shorts, because it’s way too hot here for layers. I’m going back to the office, and moving to Germany; so it seemed like a good opportunity for reinvention of my personal style.
I’m 6’2”, but mid-40’s and out of shape. 49” around at my belly button, 46” at my chest and belt line.
The objective: normal officewear there is a polo or button-down, and any trousers other than jeans. I don’t want to go too far outside this, like wearing a dark gabardine suit and tie, but some of the things @dieworkwear posts a step down from that would probably work—casual sport coats, sweaters, etc.
The issue: I don’t actually have a sense of style, and I only have two weeks to get this wardrobe. I like colors, but I don’t want to look like Jordan Peterson in his Joker suits. I like the idea of going somewhat more formal and classic than polos and khakis, but I am planning to bicycle to work.
How do I fake being put-together and stylish, under these constraints?
18 Replies
I would start with: khaki chinos, chinos or og-107s in olive. OCBDs in white, light blue, and blue stripe. Light jacket or chore coat in navy. Gray or brown herringbone blazer. Brown derbies or loafers. Optional: Knit tie in burgundy or navy.
That's very US/ivy coded, though.
Also not sure about biking to work, unless it's very short or there a place to change
With those clothes, you can mix and match. Everything will work with everything else, more or less. Just remember to wear pants and a shirt. 😃
But stick around, and we can help you develop your style.
I need to get a good chainguard to keep from greasing and ripping the hems, but I’m planning on an e-bike, plus it’s Germany, so I shouldn’t be sweating too badly.
i think it's worth only buying a handful of things before you get there and can see what people are wearing in practice
you might enjoy this thread for inspiration https://discord.com/channels/1116793467654381685/1117803378521673768/1240355583538761901
and regarding cycling to work your preferences will vary but at least in dc plenty of people bike to work in professional dress + sneakers and change shoes at work
Summer is still hot here, let me tell you that. But I think cycling is a great idea, I do it myself ! But with pants i would make sure that there is plenty of room in the thigh. If the fabric is pulled taut while cycling it wears down much more quickly.
Apart from that I would recommend a raincoat and rain-pants for when stuff gets rainy. The latter is also quite useful post-rain to keep mud and splatter away from your trousers
Also chambray>oxford for breathability reasons
Shoe whise in my experience most things work if you take appropriate care of it. I have a pair of loafers and in retrospect I feel like i should have bought derbies instead
Sorry for the infodump 😅
The cycling + fashion thing is something i have thought about a lot.
So if you have any practical questions in this regard im happy to answer these
How do vintage Lee and Wrangler compare to Levis on the type 3 front? Been thinking of hunting for one of those and especially Lee and wrangler feel attractive bc I suspect my chances of finding something relatively cheap are higher bc of lower brand recognition
Long ago I commuted to work on a bicycle, in Florida. Luckily, there was a locker room at work, so I brought my clothes in a folding garment bag.
I’m hoping to do a less comprehensive clothing change in Germany; wearing sneakers and switching to brown derbies (I’m assuming that means the shoe, not the hat) at the office sounds good.
I rode my bike on a paper route as a kid, then to college later; even with a chainguard my pants would always suffer. I could partially ameliorate that by stuffing my right pant leg into my sock, but are there any better engineered versions of this precaution? Lightweight cycling gaiters? Is there any way to wear spats without looking like I’m cosplaying as a 1920’s gangster?
I have some small leather straps i can tie around my hems, but a lot of the time i just roll my right hem up.
Somebody was talking about “cargos,” are there cargos pants acceptable as office wear?
"Acceptable" depends on your specific office, but I would say the less pronounced the leg pockets are, the more likely you'd be able to get away with it for work.
And what type of blazer would go best with cargos? Is there a cloth or pattern casual enough? Or is that a chore for a chore jacket?
you can think of cargo pants as a less formal variation of a chino so most blazers, sport coats, chore coats or other casual jackets (jean jacket, harrington) will suffice
perhaps more important, i would look through #waywt and #inspiration and the like to see what you like
you mention wanting to "fake being put together and stylish" but if you find the items that make a good fit then it's a good fit, regardless of how long it took to come together
and by "good fit" i mean something that you personally think is good and meets your needs, independent of any trends or others opinions
Dutch person here. Our normal bikes have cases around the chains to prevent grease stains and other accidents. In my limited experience, e-bikes have cases around the chains as well. So that should not be much of an issue. Unless you're driving a mountainbike or something similarly sports-related.
See example of bike with case below. I know Americans typically ride more sports-oriented bikes, but do Germans ride different kinds of bikes? (I could reference a popular Dutch joke here, but I won't.)
American bike riders like to go as lightweight as possible because we’re likely to have to dodge SUVs several times per ride. A full chain enclosure like that would definitely make things more pants-safe, though; it’s good to know that will be an option.
Please share the joke!
With german Bikes it depends. In northern Germany where things are rather flat you see a lot of "duch" bikes as well. In more hilly areas these are somewhat impractical and ppl ride somewhat more sports oriented bikes
In the end it is also very diverse depending on the person. Some ppl like super lightweight sports bikes (I think they are silly) while other ppl prefer the dutch variety
If you have an e-bike and use it primarily for commuting I would recommend something similar to a dutch model in most cases though
Frankly I think that most super sports-oriented bikes are complete overkill in the stop-and-go of commute traffic
yeah for hilly terrain these bikes are useless unless they have transmission(?)
the joke is that the Dtuch are still waiting for the Germans to bring back their grandfathers' bikes
😬
forgot that hills exist, if I stand on my toes I can see the sea from the German border
We needed those to power some wunderwaffe or smth
lol
joke's on you then, cause actually it was our thicc thighs that powered those bikes
well, im queer so really im quite glad it did not work out tbh