Some items of clothing have the ability to make you feel amazing. This can be anything from a decent pair of pants to a bespoke suit, a shiny pair of shoes to a raggedy old t-shirt. Mainly I want to talk about my special formalwear items, that make me feel like the best man that I can be. This is because as a society we casualise everything, our clothing to our language! And I for one think I should make more of an effort to smarten myself up a bit!
Tonight I am heading out to Sadler’s Wells Dance Theatre to see “The Associates” (A triple bill, consisting of a ZooNation piece, a Hofesh piece and a Crystal Pite piece) and so I felt that making a bit of an effort was in order! As it happens, I was one of the most smartly dressed there! But this was never about anyone else other than myself feeling good about the way that I was dressed.
Automatically I default to those smart pieces that fit well and make me feel good. My M&S blue velvet jacket from Autumn/Winter 2014 was at the very top of the list. It’s a wow jacket that is tactile and textured and is cut to be slimming on the waistline! The plush quality of the fabric, offers great tone and depth of colour. This is the perfect marriage between formalwear and a smoking jacket and I love to wear this at any opportunity!
This was £150 from M&S.
The next is a set of cuff links. Nothing’s makes me feel more of a man than folding the double cuff on a crisp white shirt and slipping the link into place. Novelty cufflinks are a plenty in my house (so many years of stocking fillers!) but to make cufflinks speak volumes, you have to go simple and classy. These delights are silver twist knots with three strands and they tick all of the boxes for me.
These were around the £25 mark and have had a ton of use over the years.
I have returned to my double monk strap shoes, which are a modern statement of design. There is something about the way that the lines are so clean and tidy, that makes this the men’s shoe of the present. Good design speaks for itself, mine are plain black with stylish silver buckles, and black stitching, no fuss just simple manly elegance.
Around the £65.00 (although they were a gift)
These days an outfit isn’t an outfit (casual or formal) if you aren’t rocking a pocket square! This is a go to basic choice from Primark, at a bargain price of £2. I think it ties everything together and warms what could otherwise be a pretty “frosty” look!
The tie I went with, is a tiny and detailed silver floral pattern on a black background. It’s skinny cut and the silver thread really catches the light in a classy way.
Again a Primark purchase, at around £4.
I have dressed this down slightly with a regular cut denim jean from Cadence (although these have a stretch to the fabric so are comfortable to sit around in). The depth of the colour within the denim is a play on blue,black and grey, and the regular cut means that if formal shoes or trainers are your footwear of choice, these are going to work.
Altogether, the parts create a formal look with a casual twist. But the most important thing is that I feel great wearing it!
I don’t need an excuse to get dressed up, but its nice to give these wonderful pieces the opportunity to be worn!
These days you don’t need to dress up for the theatre, but you can’t beat the feeling you get when you have dressed up, the clothes add to the experience, the atmosphere of the evening, and the joy of just being well dressed.
Treat yourself.
It might just make your night!
TIB
ThatIsBeyond 