The formality of tweed and chinos
Dear MFAD,
I work at a job where we dress up for large meetings. The executives dress in business wear (suits & ties), and the rest of staff dress between business wear and semi-business wear (dress shirts, slacks, no ties).
I wear tweed sport jackets, cotton oxford shirts, and chinos. I haven’t been called out for it in the office, but I feel a tad bit under-dressed during these meetings. When we are not in meetings, I wear the same thing — but everyone else comes casual (t-shirts and jeans). In these instances, I feel appropriately dressed.
Now, does my outfit fit more into the “casual” of office dress? Are tweed sport coats, cotton oxford shirts, and chinos not considered a part of business wear?
TIL.
7 Replies
imo tweed is not a "businessy" fabric, but if it's within your office's dress code then it's fine. "Business wear" is extremely nebulous and nearly every office will treat it differently
if you haven't gotten in trouble for it then I don't see a problem
Could you describe what you are comparing yourself to to feel under dressed?
A tweed coat will feel a bit more casual when compared to full suits fwiw
But I dont think its that different compared to just shirts and pants
If no one has said anything maybe you are fine?
Sub in the chinos for some wool flannel pants and you've probably upped the outfit a bit? Chinos are the item that stands out for me as the most casual thing here Vs a suit or slacks/shirt.
Can you reach out to your companies HR department? They are the best resource for dress code questions.
Your awkwardness may stem less from the level of formality as it does from mixing "city and country". Tweed is very associated with country tailoring, while the office is a "city" setting. So it can clash (in terms of tone and cultural heritage) either with the rest of what you're wearing, or with what everyone else is wearing. https://web.archive.org/web/20120711003637/http://www.styleforum.net/t/287922/practical-thoughts-on-coherent-combinations-for-beginners
If nobody has said anything then I'm guessing it's fine. People don't care that much about this distinction anymore, and you can get away with stuff when you're more senior. But maybe this gives you a good framing to think about it.
Tbh this sounds fine? Most people aren’t really too concerned with nuances like the difference between and Oxford and a dress shirt in a business setting as long as you’re wearing a shirt.
The reason why you might feel you’re being judged is because from what it sounds like the way you’re dressed is starkly different from the way your coworkers dress for meetings making you stick out. This can be taken as you trying to look like you have a degree of importance in the meeting that you don’t actually have.
If there were five guys in blue shirts and grey slacks and then one guy in a pink ocbd and a tweed jacket I’d assume that guy is somehow special - so maybe that’s why you’re feeling like the odd one out.
The fact that you feel appropriately dressed when everyone else is dressed casually speaks to your interpretation of casualwear more than anything. You’re in a meeting in something you perceive as casualwear while everyone else is „dressed up“ leading to you not feeling dressed up and therefore underdressed, possibly.
@Mateo not all chinos and tweed jackets are the same. For a more conservative office setting you want a finer (for lack of a better term) pair of chinos.
You may also be stuck between two worlds of business formal and casual.
I’d suggest getting some wool trousers, cords, or nicer chinos for the meeting days and consider some denim for casual days.
Here’s a massive inspo album to give you some ideas. I think Drake’s is great at dressing down the formal and dressing up the casual - this album is a bit out of date so check their IG too.
https://imgur.com/a/rNKTcUU
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