how to navigate smart casual no.2

the how to guides

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making it work in real situations

If you are at work in a formal setting or working with clients, then you can take your cue from those around you which can be a great starting point for your creativity. If your peers dress in a certain way and that works for you, then you can adapt styles and ideas to suit your personality and your body. If smart trousers and an unstructured jacket fit the bill then a fitted skirt, a shirt and some classic knitwear should also work well.

Perhaps the norm in your business environment is a more unfitted silhouette with large floral patterns and flowing designs. This gives you much more leeway, but also means that you might feel slightly overdressed in a smart two piece. Finding your personal balance means that you don’t over-think things, but you can always find something within your wardrobe that fits the bill.

In a social setting, hopefully you will know what sort of event you are being invited to and you can take your lead from this. For example, if you are invited to a wedding ‘after party’, then bear in mind that other people who were at the event itself will still be very formally dressed. Navigating smart casual in this context will probably mean opting on the smarter side of casual so that you still reflect the dressed up nature of the occasion, whilst dressing in a more relaxed and comfortable manner.

If you are invited to a lunchtime barbeque, then you can be pretty confident that no one will be wearing a suit, so your smart casual can lean far more into the casual feel. Remember as you are getting dressed that there still needs to be an element of smart in your casual attire. For example, if you are comfortable in jeans, then chose a pair that aren’t too worn or faded, and chose a shirt that is pressed and presentable, rather than a T-shirt. Wearing some nice shoes and exciting jewellery will finish your outfit, and you will look fabulous. Confidence matters.

tone on tone

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One very simple and very effective way of looking great without too much effort is to dress tonally. The Europeans do this very well, so do some research online and see if you can adapt any ideas to your own wardrobe. Using variations on a single colour theme will add an element of elegance even if the items you choose aren’t particularly elegant individually.

Tonal variations might need a bit more thought to begin with because you will need to consider whether the shades you are choosing are warm or cool toned, but once you have that sorted, you can put things together very easily. Wearing shades of beige, greige, grey, cream, blue, green, pink etc together will give you a simple palette that you can enhance with accessories to create a unique, repeatable and memorable image.

What are your favourite colours? What have you got in your wardrobe that will work together to create more than the sum of the individual parts. There has always been an appreciation of wearing pale neutrals in this way, but unless you lead an extraordinarily clean life then I would advise that you aim for a more practical colour to develop your chosen look. Finding something in a great base colour and adding tonal variations can give you a really strong core of clothes that you can then mix and match to suit your needs.

For reasons I have never completely understood, some people consider wearing black with black, and then adding some more black for good measure, creates a flattering look. Black is a very popular but difficult colour to wear well, but it has become the go-to for so many people. If this is you and you fancy a change, perhaps you could play with this concept and stretch your palette. Experiment with grey, navy, or dark brown just to see if you can vary your look from time to time. The addition of colour can be transformative, and using it simply and tonally is a great place to start if you aren’t confident straying from your beloved black.

Continued in No.3

All rights reserved. Milly Churchill asserts the right to be identified as the author of this work.