Here we go again for a new episode of (Very) Well Dressed
To be considered "well dressed" these days, you no longer have to be elegant.
On the contrary, fashion is in a frantic race towards relaxation.
"Elegant" is even a word that some people smile at if it is taken literally.
Ok. But what if elegance speaks to you?
Do you want this concept to govern your clothing style?
Well there is a dilemma ...
How can you be "elegant" in an era that, in terms of fashion, is more focused on the raw, the subversive, the fun , and seems destined to be more and more so?
1. WHY IT'S NOT LIKE BEFORE
It is not enough to imitate the great icons of past elegance to be elegant.
Because, while it is difficult to propose a fixed definition of what elegance is, one thing seems obvious...
It's hard to be truly "elegant" when you're completely out of step with your surroundings.
Because in elegance, there is the idea of "refinement" , certainly...
But also a certain respect for consensus, aesthetic and social.
And walking around dressed as an early 20th century British dandy is stretching the limits of that consensus considerably.
I'm not saying you won't be "well dressed."
You will be very refined, but you will lack a little of that "social skill" which is also part of elegance.
2. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “FORMAL” AND “DRESSY”
This is the first thing to understand to stand out from the crowd.
“Dressed” means “sought after, sophisticated, mastered” . All three at once.
© @shuhei_nishiguchi
Shuhei Nishiguchi is one of the most highly regarded menswear influencers. In my opinion, this is largely due to his ability to be very elegant, yet informal.
This therefore implies an additional effort to show oneself off, while displaying a certain mastery.
Whereas “formal” means “dressed according to explicit, codified rules, which depend on a context or an event” .
This is the famous “dress code”.
And it's not the same at all.
If you're wearing a tuxedo to the Cannes Film Festival, if you're in formal attire for a wedding, if you're wearing the old business attire of "cufflinks + tie", or even technically, if you're in "uni-FORM" ... You're formal.
So a formal style is necessarily a dressy style.
But a dressy style is not necessarily a formal style.
© Real Men Real Style
This timeline shows degrees of "formalism"... But not degrees of "elegance". Do you see the nuance? (Credits: Real Men Real Style )
And we must understand that what has really fallen into disuse is not so much “dressy” and “sophisticated” as the idea that there are fixed and explicit “dress codes” …
And therefore by extension the clothes that recall the time when there was more of it.
If I had to give you in one sentence the most important thing to remember from this video:
Once you understand this nuance, it's much easier to make concrete choices!
3. THE “SPORT” PIECES OF THE TAILORING WORLD
First way to achieve this famous "informal dress": rely on pieces related to the tailored style, which were previously called "sportswear".
Extreme example, you are obviously not going to dress like that. But look at these jackets that are reminiscent of a contemporary suit, while distancing themselves from it by the details and materials.
No, no... Not "sports" clothes, not literally at least.
These are actually the "casual" pieces, from a much more codified (and elegant) era than ours... Which, paradoxically, makes them very useful today for achieving an informal elegance.
4. MAKE THE MOVE TO OTHER STYLES
But if you want to avoid anachronism , you can't just rely on the "casual suit" from another era.
We also need to add something contemporary , even if it means going off the beaten track of elegance.
This is more commonly called “breaking” a style or connotation.
It shows that you are aware of the spirit of the times despite your little “vintage sophisticated” side.
This can be done in several ways.
First, by hybridizing a "classical" piece ... But it's a hit or miss.
If it works, it really hits the mark (and it quickly ends up creating a small trend, by the way).
The semi-dressy pleated jogger, here by Informale . Probably the most striking "hybrid" piece of the 2010s to 2020s, if you ask me.
But if it fails, it fails badly .
So the easiest way to do this “pass” is still to integrate non-dressed pieces , which are not at all from the world of tailoring...
But which have still achieved the status of "classics".
5. COLORS AND TEXTURES
Smooth, silky and shiny have lost much of their appeal, particularly on pieces of tailoring origin, since this is what linked them most to formality.
Nowadays, it is the mixture of materials, irregularity and texture that are popular.
It's a bit of the same logic regarding colors : very sober, very dark colors, like black, anthracite gray, or navy, or on the contrary pure white and its contrast with the dark... All of that is very linked to formalism.
This is why we have never seen so many neutral tones like taupe, ecru or beige, brown palettes, and “half-tone” colors like olive green, wine lees or pastel tones, rather than primary colors.
6. FLEXIBILITY AND FLUIDITY
Rigid collars, structured shoulders, huge lapels (as well as scalpel-shaped micro-lapels), ultra-slim cuts, but also completely rectangular "mirror cabinet" style...
Either way, all this points to a certain degree of formalism .
The physical rigidity of the garment is reminiscent of the figurative rigidity of formal clothing from before.
This is why things like lighter fabrics , with a softer drape, more rounded shapes on details, and sometimes even fuller cuts have crept into contemporary elegant styles.
Moreover, a large part of this approach corresponds to the “soft tailoring” philosophy , this attempt to make the dressed style more “soft” , in both the literal and figurative sense.
If this is a concept that interests you, I recommend taking a look at my article that explains this approach , as well as David's "Gimmick" video where he breaks down looks in this vein .
Enjoy watching!
PS: IN THIS VIDEO I'M WEARING...
- A striped flannel suit and an oxford shirt from Atelier Mesure (half-measure)
- A Drake's wool tie
- A Poszetka pouch
