Semi casual clothes for guys

[Mr. Clean]

to Land's End. As shirt manufacturer after manufacturer pulled my favorite shirts, I finally found the Hyde Park oxford shirt back in the '80s. I never had to look again for a button down dress shirt. Wears like iron, and takes to an iron. I still have half a dozen in the closet that are 10+ years old. Still look presentable after an ironing.

[Frito Bandito]

Wow, now I kind of feel like a dirtbag sitting here wearing a Flowmaster t-shirt.

[VR8]

Originally Posted by Accumulator

It's a critter about the size of a llama or an alpaca (IIRC), they make wool from its coat. The color is sorta reddish light brown, I think of red squirrels if that means anything to you. Sorta hard to describe and maybe that "oooh, that's different!" aspect of it is part of the appeal

Cashmere is a nicer material than *real* vicuna wool, so really nice coats are still made outa cashmere.

Score one for your definition on vicuna, and your appreciation of cashmere. You must be "old" school. If only the younguns knew all the great fabrics they are missing by living in jeans and t-shirts.

I agree on trying to outdo everyone at the party too. Simply to wear something, maybe only one thing, that you know will set you a notch above (in your case, a half a notch) is all you need to do. Not that you have to wear your best of everything to make sure you're king of the fashion world. Often it's as simple as putting on a sportcoat with your jeans when you know everyone else will just be in jeans. As previously mentioned, wear a decent pair of shoes where everyone else will likely have their boat shoes on.

[Accumulator]

Originally Posted by gle_helle

Johnston & Murphy has some casual shoe styles that are really nice..

Grrr...J&M has gradually cut their narrow-width offerings *way* back

Originally Posted by Mr. Clean

to Land's End. As shirt manufacturer after manufacturer pulled my favorite shirts, I finally found the Hyde Park oxford shirt back in the '80s. I never had to look again for a button down dress shirt. Wears like iron, and takes to an iron. I still have half a dozen in the closet that are 10+ years old.

Yeah, the Hyde Parks *do* wear like iron. I have some really old ones that're holding up great (too bad I outgrew them). Lots of shirt for the money, no doubt about it.

Originally Posted by VR8

You must be "old" school...

Heh heh, yeah...that's probably quite an understatement

[JasonC8301]

Inzane - I love these 5.11 khakis. Look just like normal khakis but are better built and more comfortable due to the elastic band. There are two issues I have with the pants. The whole gun magazine "inside" pocket thing is useless in "my" opinion. The second one is quality control, sometimes the buttons fall off after a few washings (I dry clean mine, no crease) or sizing, my first pair was sized 32/30 while being tagged 30/32. I could have fit 4 MORE guns inside my waist band with the 32. My waist rests between 28.5-29, but add on a Glock 19 inside the waist band and it makes it a perfect 30

If you can't get them, let me know. I do inventory for a 5.11 master dealer and glancing at one of my closets, its 1/2 filled with 5.11 clothes. I can also account for size issues with their clothes. Do I really need 10 pairs of their tactical pants, 3 of their polos, 10 t-shirts, 3 jackets, and 15 pairs of socks? Nope, but they sure do fit me well. I advise against their boots and "leather" belts. I have had bad luck with them.

LOL, call me metro but women also pick up on other things. I got my hair cut today and figured might as well get my nails cut/buffed. That nail salon was filled with cougars and I was trying to dress subtle but they picked up on it right away (between the AE shoes, the Tag on the wrist, the 5.11 pressed khakis, and having a sub 25 year old athletic body) was like throwing a rabbit into the fox's den, haha.

Color coordination is another issue, I'll leave that up to Accumulator.

Which presents me with one questions. Brown leather shoes and khaki pants, do they mix?

I know brown shoes with suits are hard/impossible (remember the whole cordovan thing, haha) but what about khakis, tan/brown/earth town shirt, and some brown shoes?

I seem to find deals on shoes that are in the $300-$350 range for about $100 a pair. So I am now getting one pair every other month and matching some 5.11 stuff around them, haha...

[VR8]

Originally Posted by JasonC8301

Which presents me with one questions. Brown leather shoes and khaki pants, do they mix?

I know brown shoes with suits are hard/impossible (remember the whole cordovan thing, haha) but what about khakis, tan/brown/earth town shirt, and some brown shoes?

Brown w/khaki? Absolutely! I'm not sure what else I would wear? Please don't tell me you were thinking black? It is possible to go too dressy with khaki's like something with a military spit shine on them.

Brown shoes w/suits? No problem there either. Being sure to coordinate your belt with the shoe, you can do brown with a navy, heather grey, olive or obviously a brown suit. Cordovan shoes are still out there too btw. Really it's the perfect color shoe....goes with anything! Again be sure to get a cordovan belt.

One big indicator of which shoe to pick is the sole. A hard leather (thin) sole is more towards a suit shoe. Thicker, often rubber, soles are better for casual wear or a sport coat.

[Accumulator]

VR8- We can agree to disagree about the brown shoes with navy and heather gray; I know some guys do that, but I think it's *so* hard to get just right (color has to be just the right shade of tan/brown IMO) and I'd lean towards cordovan instead. I've been giving JasonC8301 an earful about buying cordovan dress shoes

Brown shoes with navy suits are just a pet peeve of mine

JasonC8301- Yeah, it's *black* that's problematic with khakis. It can work but it's a lot trickier to get right than brown/tan/etc. and it's gotta be the right finish/kind of leather and worn with just the right color of "khakis"....wearing black with khaki-color khakis can make you look like a stormtrooper, not exactly the look you're after!

[FlowRate]

Originally Posted by Accumulator

VR8- We can agree to disagree about the brown shoes with navy and heather gray; I know some guys do that, but I think it's *so* hard to get just right (color has to be just the right shade of tan/brown IMO) and I'd lean towards cordovan instead. I've been giving JasonC8301 an earful about buying cordovan dress shoes

Brown shoes with navy suits are just a pet peeve of mine

JasonC8301- Yeah, it's *black* that's problematic with khakis. It can work but it's a lot trickier to get right than brown/tan/etc. and it's gotta be the right finish/kind of leather and worn with just the right color of "khakis"....wearing black with khaki-color khakis can make you look like a stormtrooper, not exactly the look you're after!

I think I pulled off a decent black shoes + khaki pants, but they were super light khakis with black belt and black+blue stripes shirt as well for consistency. I'm just now trying to get a good feel for style, I didn't really care before I got in shape, but now I care a lot, haha.

[JasonC8301]

VR8 - Black shoes with khaki, no thanks, lol. I have some dark brown suede shoes I wear with khakis or with my darker khakis I can pull off my black boots but most of the time end up wearing my brown/tan boots. I was shopping around for brown shoes and never though about semi-causal (I either dress spit and polished or like a bum, haha.) They were Cole Haan captoes with leather sole and made in italy (their handcrafted line.) I missed that deal but I am sure another one will come up.

I have never been a fan of rubber soles on shoes. Sneakers and boots sure but shoes for me need hard thin leather.

Accumulator and I have exchanged...well him giving me lots of advice about shoes and suits, LOL. Brown shoes are back on the list now. Just not with my suits. I'll reserve cordovan for that.

+1 on matching belts. I seemed to have gotten 3 different colors of belts and holsters to match them, haha (black, tan, and havana (cordovan.) Come to think of it a belt is around $60 and the holsters are around $75 each, so jeez that does add up (between the different color and width of the belt, can't wear a 1 3/4" belt with a suit, have to have the 1 1/4" with that will bearing in mind to have a stiffer belt to hold up a chunk of metal/plastic.

Me wants a few pairs of Alden's, CJ's, Church's, and Santoni's, just gotta win the lotto first, HAHA...