Need help dressing smarter for class
January 6, 2015 11:41 AM Subscribe
I'm a 30 year old STEM student who is looking to dress a little sharper while maintaining comfort. I also live in a very humid, very hot, sweaty subtropical environment. I am a white male with very long dreadlocks (not cutting them off, sorry). Snowflake details below cut.
Right now my tops consist of t-shirts, monochrome polos, short sleeve button downs and dress shirts. My bottoms include skinny jeans, bootcut jeans and bermuda shorts. I love the bermuda shorts because they keep me feeling very cool and they're just a nice fit. I'm not terribly attached to the jeans, but I'm open to making them work.
The dress shirts seem inappropriate to wear on a daily basis but I'd like to kick it up a notch from the untucked polo and and jeans/shorts without looking like I'm going to attend a wedding. It should also look good with a pair of Dr. Martens or Chuck Taylors.
There are a few things I'm specifically seeking advice on:
Fabric
I live in Florida where for most of the year it is oppressively hot and humid. I need clothes that will breathe well so I'm not drenched in sweat after a 5 minute walk from the parking lot.
Cut
I'm aware of certain rules of thumb. For instance, I know that the seam joining the sleeve and the torso should lie on or just outside the shoulder. What other things should I pay attention to in order to maximize comfort?
Accessories
I had a recent court date for which I bought a shirt-vest-tie combo at Ross. I thought I looked pretty sharp with the sleeves rolled up, but still too formal for daily wear. I really really like the idea of a vest, (might be handy for storing freshly sharpened pencils) but I haven't been able to find anything sufficiently casual without looking like a war journalist.
Additionally, the dreadlocks, which go down to my butt, present a bit of a challenge here. I sometimes wear them in a tam. But the main thing is that I don't want anything that's too incongruous to that part of my look. I feel like there is a thin line to walk between looking like a lazy hippie and looking like I'm overcompensating.
The main motivation for this is that I want to make the most out of my first impressions, mostly on my professors, but also my peers.
Right now my tops consist of t-shirts, monochrome polos, short sleeve button downs and dress shirts. My bottoms include skinny jeans, bootcut jeans and bermuda shorts. I love the bermuda shorts because they keep me feeling very cool and they're just a nice fit. I'm not terribly attached to the jeans, but I'm open to making them work.
The dress shirts seem inappropriate to wear on a daily basis but I'd like to kick it up a notch from the untucked polo and and jeans/shorts without looking like I'm going to attend a wedding. It should also look good with a pair of Dr. Martens or Chuck Taylors.
There are a few things I'm specifically seeking advice on:
Fabric
I live in Florida where for most of the year it is oppressively hot and humid. I need clothes that will breathe well so I'm not drenched in sweat after a 5 minute walk from the parking lot.
Cut
I'm aware of certain rules of thumb. For instance, I know that the seam joining the sleeve and the torso should lie on or just outside the shoulder. What other things should I pay attention to in order to maximize comfort?
Accessories
I had a recent court date for which I bought a shirt-vest-tie combo at Ross. I thought I looked pretty sharp with the sleeves rolled up, but still too formal for daily wear. I really really like the idea of a vest, (might be handy for storing freshly sharpened pencils) but I haven't been able to find anything sufficiently casual without looking like a war journalist.
Additionally, the dreadlocks, which go down to my butt, present a bit of a challenge here. I sometimes wear them in a tam. But the main thing is that I don't want anything that's too incongruous to that part of my look. I feel like there is a thin line to walk between looking like a lazy hippie and looking like I'm overcompensating.
The main motivation for this is that I want to make the most out of my first impressions, mostly on my professors, but also my peers.
Do a preppy sweater vest + shirt combo, no tie. You can wear them with short sleeved polos, and they make some of the sweater vests fairly thin.
You're going to have to sacrifice some comfort if you want to make a better impression, unfortunately. My boyfriend takes his work clothes with him to work and changes once he's there.
No shorts. The only ones who can do "shorts" in a professional environment are women in peddle pushers/capris.
posted by royalsong at 12:00 PM on January 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
You're going to have to sacrifice some comfort if you want to make a better impression, unfortunately. My boyfriend takes his work clothes with him to work and changes once he's there.
No shorts. The only ones who can do "shorts" in a professional environment are women in peddle pushers/capris.
posted by royalsong at 12:00 PM on January 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
If you're looking for sharp dressed but well breathing, you can't go wrong with linen pants. They're nicer looking than jeans, and super cool in the summer.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 12:03 PM on January 6, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 12:03 PM on January 6, 2015 [4 favorites]
I'm not sure what you're looking for--you say you want to dress to impress, but seem to highlight the Bermuda shorts and Chucks in your wardrobe. Are you looking for sort of a smart casual outfit? It sounds like you're sort of starting from scratch, so you might do well to start picking up some cheap separates you can mix and match from H&M (if your profile location is correct, there are some near you). It doesn't sound like you're looking for jacket advice. Read up on how trousers should break; men often wear their pants wrong, and it's a crime.
Fabric should be cotton.
Don't wear shirt/vest/tie combos from Ross; you're going to look like a waiter.
And for what it's worth--surely no news to you--if you're a white guy with butt-length dreads, you're going to have to work harder to dress to impress than someone with a more conventional look. Again, surely no news to you (and by all means keep the dreads if you like them), but that's not a conventional look, to say the least. That said, if you were to be dressed to the nines, the dreads could be a great, defining "accessory," but there's going to be a big middle ground where your clothes may be projecting one image and your hair another.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 12:06 PM on January 6, 2015 [5 favorites]
Fabric should be cotton.
Don't wear shirt/vest/tie combos from Ross; you're going to look like a waiter.
And for what it's worth--surely no news to you--if you're a white guy with butt-length dreads, you're going to have to work harder to dress to impress than someone with a more conventional look. Again, surely no news to you (and by all means keep the dreads if you like them), but that's not a conventional look, to say the least. That said, if you were to be dressed to the nines, the dreads could be a great, defining "accessory," but there's going to be a big middle ground where your clothes may be projecting one image and your hair another.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 12:06 PM on January 6, 2015 [5 favorites]
OK, so vests are hard. Especially with the dreads, the suit vest is likely to make you look ... steampunk. This is unlikely to create the impression of professional competency. If that's what you're going for. Otherwise, yeah, the canvas vest is more of a pith helmet -- or Elderhostel trip to Sweden -- kind of look. A sweater vest has to be really, really sharp not to look like you're a telecommunications sales executive heading out to hit some golf balls around with a client. Vests are hard.
Flat-front chinos (could be anything from black to a light stone in color, not necessarily khaki), cotton or blend button-front shirts (buttondown collar or otherwise). V-neck cotton sweaters. Maybe Onutsuka Tigers for stylie but casual footwear. Jack Purcells would be fine too. Chucks are iffy.
Qualifications: aging hipster working for a Fortune 500 company. This is what the man versions of me wear. With the dreads, this would make me want to get to know you, not roll my eyes.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 12:18 PM on January 6, 2015 [8 favorites]
Flat-front chinos (could be anything from black to a light stone in color, not necessarily khaki), cotton or blend button-front shirts (buttondown collar or otherwise). V-neck cotton sweaters. Maybe Onutsuka Tigers for stylie but casual footwear. Jack Purcells would be fine too. Chucks are iffy.
Qualifications: aging hipster working for a Fortune 500 company. This is what the man versions of me wear. With the dreads, this would make me want to get to know you, not roll my eyes.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 12:18 PM on January 6, 2015 [8 favorites]
Linen pants wrinkle a lot, that's their primary drawback.
My feeling is that anything is going to be more comfortable in the Florida summer than skinny jeans.
What I'd do is get some more shorts of a moderately dressy variety. Choose your inseam length based on your legs, your feelings about your legs and general practices at your place of study/work. Pick a color palette - I like blue/grey/black/charcoal, personally, and I think that more somber colors may help play down the dreadlocks (assuming you don't go with all black; no need to look like you're bloc-ing up, unless you are). Consider texture - a texture adds interest to a plain color, so that deep blue shorts in a rustic weave or with a little jacquard pattern look more interesting than plain twill shorts in the same blue. Oxford-cloth like texture, chambray, seersucker, linen blends and various coarse weaves are all summer options.
With the shorts, either tees in related, muted colors or button fronts in lightweight fabric with the sleeves rolled up. (Some people look good in short sleeved dress shirts, but it's definitely a look, and requires a bit more effort.
So for instance, you might have shorts in a blue grey, shorts in a textured charcoal fabric and shorts in a grey chambray. You could pair them with tees in dark blue, different grays, black, light blue, or patterns in related colors, or with button fronts in light blue, dark blue, stripes, seersucker, gray, small patterns, stripes, etc.
Don't get too matchy-matchy unless you really want to work that particular look. A navy tee will, however, work with navy shorts if the shorts are in a textured fabric which clearly differentiates the tee and the shorts. So a plain navy tee would work with a really coarse linen, for instance, because the way the light hits the fabric will make the navy of the shorts contrast with the navy of the shirt.
You don't sound like a fellow who wants a belt especially, but if you do, I've noticed that blue belts are more versatile than you think with the somber palette.
There is no reason that you can't wear these kinds of outfits with your existing shoes, but be a bit clever with the socks and Doctor Martens - I would probably go with textured or patterned socks in the same palette, because those no-show socks always slip down around my toes and it's a nuisance.
posted by Frowner at 12:21 PM on January 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
My feeling is that anything is going to be more comfortable in the Florida summer than skinny jeans.
What I'd do is get some more shorts of a moderately dressy variety. Choose your inseam length based on your legs, your feelings about your legs and general practices at your place of study/work. Pick a color palette - I like blue/grey/black/charcoal, personally, and I think that more somber colors may help play down the dreadlocks (assuming you don't go with all black; no need to look like you're bloc-ing up, unless you are). Consider texture - a texture adds interest to a plain color, so that deep blue shorts in a rustic weave or with a little jacquard pattern look more interesting than plain twill shorts in the same blue. Oxford-cloth like texture, chambray, seersucker, linen blends and various coarse weaves are all summer options.
With the shorts, either tees in related, muted colors or button fronts in lightweight fabric with the sleeves rolled up. (Some people look good in short sleeved dress shirts, but it's definitely a look, and requires a bit more effort.
So for instance, you might have shorts in a blue grey, shorts in a textured charcoal fabric and shorts in a grey chambray. You could pair them with tees in dark blue, different grays, black, light blue, or patterns in related colors, or with button fronts in light blue, dark blue, stripes, seersucker, gray, small patterns, stripes, etc.
Don't get too matchy-matchy unless you really want to work that particular look. A navy tee will, however, work with navy shorts if the shorts are in a textured fabric which clearly differentiates the tee and the shorts. So a plain navy tee would work with a really coarse linen, for instance, because the way the light hits the fabric will make the navy of the shorts contrast with the navy of the shirt.
You don't sound like a fellow who wants a belt especially, but if you do, I've noticed that blue belts are more versatile than you think with the somber palette.
There is no reason that you can't wear these kinds of outfits with your existing shoes, but be a bit clever with the socks and Doctor Martens - I would probably go with textured or patterned socks in the same palette, because those no-show socks always slip down around my toes and it's a nuisance.
posted by Frowner at 12:21 PM on January 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
To continue - the key part is having the colors work for you - color can convey seriousness and dressiness in otherwise more casual clothes.
Are you distinguishing between "dress shirts" (stiffer collar, meant to be worn with a tie) and button fronts? This is a casual button front in a subdued color with a small pattern. Worn with shorts and the sleeves rolled, this sort of thing is what I've observed a number of European STEM researchers to wear at warm weather research conferences. (I mean, not if they're speaking, but certainly to poster sessions, etc.
posted by Frowner at 12:24 PM on January 6, 2015 [6 favorites]
Are you distinguishing between "dress shirts" (stiffer collar, meant to be worn with a tie) and button fronts? This is a casual button front in a subdued color with a small pattern. Worn with shorts and the sleeves rolled, this sort of thing is what I've observed a number of European STEM researchers to wear at warm weather research conferences. (I mean, not if they're speaking, but certainly to poster sessions, etc.
posted by Frowner at 12:24 PM on January 6, 2015 [6 favorites]
Butt length dreadlocks are never going to look "congruous" with sharp dressing. So one option is to play up the contrast and make that look like your intention. Try some yuppie staples like chinos, Oxford button downs, loafers... Male skinny jeans are best left to rock stars and teenagers.
Google "Ralph Lauren Dreadlocks" and look at Images for illustrations. He used a model last year with dreadlocks and the contrast between that look and his ultra preppy clothes was striking.
posted by cecic at 12:31 PM on January 6, 2015 [10 favorites]
Google "Ralph Lauren Dreadlocks" and look at Images for illustrations. He used a model last year with dreadlocks and the contrast between that look and his ultra preppy clothes was striking.
posted by cecic at 12:31 PM on January 6, 2015 [10 favorites]
Maybe check out Willi One Blood's character in the movie Leon: The Professional?
posted by doctor tough love at 12:37 PM on January 6, 2015
posted by doctor tough love at 12:37 PM on January 6, 2015
Can you put your dreads in a bun? I'm seeing more and more long-haired men with beards in the inner city suit mobs (not many with dreads, but some). I don't know if that's possible with how long yours are but it's a catchall style that would elevate from hippie/steampunk to trendy.
Button fronts are different to dress shirts. A button front with the top button or two undone and sleeves rolled is casual but professional - my partner comes home from work most days looking like that after transitioning from office to site and back again. Vests with dreads is steampunk/costume territory sadly (I'm in the same boat except it's because of my body shape). Good for dressing up, not so much for casual. Maybe, maybe, a vest that is left loose and open.
My supervisor wears polos and skinny jeans to work in summer (humid asshole of the world where we live) but he pairs them with a good hat and nice ankle boots. Shoes really are key here, and chucks/docs don't cut it. I mean, I say that as someone who presented at a conference last year in docs but I'm a lady type and it was more the creative end of humanities, but they aren't in the same league as a pair of fuss-free ankle boots (usually) or oxfords. Maybe try a different shoe, some button downs, and see how that goes?
(note: I love man buns, so I am totally biased with that rec)
posted by geek anachronism at 2:15 PM on January 6, 2015
Button fronts are different to dress shirts. A button front with the top button or two undone and sleeves rolled is casual but professional - my partner comes home from work most days looking like that after transitioning from office to site and back again. Vests with dreads is steampunk/costume territory sadly (I'm in the same boat except it's because of my body shape). Good for dressing up, not so much for casual. Maybe, maybe, a vest that is left loose and open.
My supervisor wears polos and skinny jeans to work in summer (humid asshole of the world where we live) but he pairs them with a good hat and nice ankle boots. Shoes really are key here, and chucks/docs don't cut it. I mean, I say that as someone who presented at a conference last year in docs but I'm a lady type and it was more the creative end of humanities, but they aren't in the same league as a pair of fuss-free ankle boots (usually) or oxfords. Maybe try a different shoe, some button downs, and see how that goes?
(note: I love man buns, so I am totally biased with that rec)
posted by geek anachronism at 2:15 PM on January 6, 2015
Seems like Hawaii has solved a similar problem with aloha attire. Which is NOT touristy loud flowery shirts and shorts.
posted by ctmf at 2:45 PM on January 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ctmf at 2:45 PM on January 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
Maybe a short sleeved madras shirt and a lightweight neutral-color trouser?
Fabrics like madras, linen or seersucker will be much cooler than the knit fabric of a normal polo shirt, or the polyester of the cheapest dress shirt. They are woven and have an open weave (which stands away from the body a bit), so they're cooler even in wool -- whereas knitted fabrics (drapey fabrics like polo shirts are often made from) and spandex (like in skinny jeans) trap heat. Linen trousers will be much cooler than skinny jeans.
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:12 PM on January 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
Fabrics like madras, linen or seersucker will be much cooler than the knit fabric of a normal polo shirt, or the polyester of the cheapest dress shirt. They are woven and have an open weave (which stands away from the body a bit), so they're cooler even in wool -- whereas knitted fabrics (drapey fabrics like polo shirts are often made from) and spandex (like in skinny jeans) trap heat. Linen trousers will be much cooler than skinny jeans.
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:12 PM on January 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
Easiest thing: Stop wearing shortsleeves shirts to professional classes/meetings/events and switch to light cotton long-sleeve button downs (in light colors) with the sleeves rolled up to your elbows. Buy a few polo shirts if you must have a short-sleeve option (in navy, white, olive). Another option is high-quality solid color tees in muted, classic colors. (Crew or v-neck. Look at J. Crew, American Apparel.)
What kind of Doc Marten's? Boots are not appropriate (read: stylish, smart-looking) in warm weather. Chuck Taylor's can look slick; but buy them in the classic cream color. (The cream high-tops are actually very in right now.)
Bermuda shorts in very warm weather are fine in a solid color with NO cargo pockets and an appropriate shoe. Buy a couple of pairs of lightweight slacks as well. Below 80 degrees, wear pants.
A vest is meant to keep your core warm, so it's generally more appropriate in cooler to cold weather. You could get away with a linen vest instead of a jacket for a more formal occasion, with long pants and a tie. It's a bit of a boyish look, though. As the weather cools, you can wear a puffy or fleece vest outdoors when it's not quite cold enough for a jacket.
posted by amaire at 3:11 PM on January 7, 2015
What kind of Doc Marten's? Boots are not appropriate (read: stylish, smart-looking) in warm weather. Chuck Taylor's can look slick; but buy them in the classic cream color. (The cream high-tops are actually very in right now.)
Bermuda shorts in very warm weather are fine in a solid color with NO cargo pockets and an appropriate shoe. Buy a couple of pairs of lightweight slacks as well. Below 80 degrees, wear pants.
A vest is meant to keep your core warm, so it's generally more appropriate in cooler to cold weather. You could get away with a linen vest instead of a jacket for a more formal occasion, with long pants and a tie. It's a bit of a boyish look, though. As the weather cools, you can wear a puffy or fleece vest outdoors when it's not quite cold enough for a jacket.
posted by amaire at 3:11 PM on January 7, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
White t-shirts and button downs are cooler than dark colors, and khakis might be more comfortable than jeans.
posted by feste at 11:58 AM on January 6, 2015