The Linen Suit Part II: Waistcoat & Pants

The Linen Suit at Night:

To begin I would like to start with a disclaimer, “I am not creeping around my development stealing mail at night!” Often I get home from work and the sun has been down for a few hours. It has become ritual for me to hop out of my car and head to the mail boxes to see what goodies await (mostly bills, but sometimes some great sartorial gifts). In the first installment of, The Linen Suit, the focus was on the waist coat and it’s versatile styling attributes (styling with denim). This current look displays the waist coat and the matching pants from the three-piece suit as an outfit that I wore to work.

Sidebar: Make sure that you actually wear your clothes. Just because you wear something once does not mean you can not wear it again. Times are tough and you should learn how to mix your pieces to have a versatile wardrobe.

The waistcoat and matching pant look is by far my favorite work look because it says, “I am here for business, but, I am relaxed enough that I can roll my sleeves up to get down and dirty”. Not too many guys will attempt to wear linen to work because most linen fits are super “flowy” and give off a vacation vibe. In the first linen suit post, I wrote about the importance of a properly tailored fit. The right tailored linen suit can convey the same air of professionalism as a business suit made from more traditional fabrics.

The waistcoat/pant combination is a great option if you decide to grab some drinks after work because you don’t look like “a suit” but you still are very put together (probably better dressed than most guys in the room).

Tans, Grey and Blues:

With any grey suit, hues of blue and tan will complement the look very well. Personally, I went with drivers instead of lace ups or loafers because I wanted to feel more relaxed and still have the complementary tan color. These Cole Haan drivers are refined enough to be worn to work and not look like that typical “go against the style grain” 20-something in the office. I am more of a fan of zero to little break in the leg of my pants, however, when going with a linen pant a slight break adds to the wrinkled character of the look.

Sidenote : Linen is a very comfortable fabric because its breathes very well. On those 10 hour work days, in and out of the office and different climate changes, I can be sure not to overheat when wearing linen.

See Also

Unprep The Seersucker Suit 2 Ways

WTC (Wear The Clothes) : Remember your style is personal to you and you alone. I will go against the grain at time by mixing different patterns and color schemes together because I think they are unique. Not to say that you should abandon the basics and just go hard on being super-unique. Mixing the diagonal tie with a large checked patterned shirt is not for everyone, but, I felt that it made a punch.

Thanks for reading,

Sabir