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Shorts with wingtips, a sport jacket?

Feraud

Bartender
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17,190
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Hardlucksville, NY
According to this article, men are losing sleep over what to wear to the office on casual Friday. What's the rumpus? Take what you usually wear Monday through Friday, remove the jacket and tie. Problem solved.
Are wearing shorts to the white collar office with shoes or a sports coat ever a good fashion choice?
Here is the link to the article.
Choice bits-
Designers like Miuccia Prada, Dries van Noten, Raf Simons and Thom Browne tried to breathe elegant life into knee-length shorts by pairing them with the silliest possible accompaniment: a matching jacket. As if looking like a parochial-school escapee was a good way to (a) appear professional or (b) beat the summer heat.
If the heat is unbearable, why the sports jacket or dress shirt? I am all for dropping the jacket in the heat. The idea behind wearing shorts is to find relief from the heat. Does the little bit of air on your calves make the entire outfit bearable in the heat? Maybe we need to consider the WWII desert combat look.
desertphoto.jpg

The question begs to be asked, "is your office as hot as a desert?"

Chris Cortez, a young fashion designer in Manhattan, goes so far as to pair Bermuda shorts with fancy dress shirts and a sports coat. “The other
day I was walking through Barneys,” he said, “and one of the salespeople said: ‘I like your look. I can’t tell if you’re going to play golf or going out for the night.’ That’s just what I am going for, that clash of a sporty look and a refined look.”
Did you ever look through your old pictures and laugh? This has the potential to become one of those memories..

Here is sound advice.
Jim Moore, the creative director of GQ, is unequivocal. “It’s not a professional look, for the same reasons that people shouldn’t wear flip-flops to the office,” he said. Mr. Moore likes the slick, lean shorts designers have offered up — but only for off-hours. “Just because it’s boiling hot doesn’t mean the whole dress code goes out the window,” he said.
Designers need to keep trying something different. They are artists and clothes their canvas. That does not mean we need to be the fashion victim of their folly.
Stick to the classics guys and dolls.
 

Daisy Buchanan

My Mail is Forwarded Here
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BOSTON! LETS GO PATRIOTS!!!
griffer said:
I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
lollollollollol hystericallylol

At least you just did it a little in your mouth. I'm in projectile mode!
This is the dumbest thing ever.

I went to Prep school, you don't get any more preppy than The Moses Brown School:eek: I recall a lot of the guys when we were in middle school wearing blue blazers with their shorts and dress shirts, ankle socks and beige bass bucks. It was a very cute look, FOR A 12 YEAR OLD!!! I was wondering if the kids still did this, but I guess they don't, for even my old strict Prep school barely has a dress code any more:eusa_doh: [huh]
 

Tomasso

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USA
Reed Vreeland, with wife Diana, on the steps of the Bathing Corp. in the late 40's

vreeland2_28_175.jpg
 

Bebop

Practically Family
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Sausalito, California
I don't think men should wear shorts at all. I don't want to see guys legs. lol Not with wing tips, boots, sandals, barefoot. I don't mind women wearing shorts with wing tips, boots, sandals, barefoot. ;) Shorts are for women and children.
 

vonwotan

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East Boston, MA
You may be interested to read the following article. A few of our friends attended school in Bermuda and Grand Cayman where the school uniform included traditional Bermuda shorts and navy blazers. Loafers or tassel loafers are the shoes they wore most often, and at least one friend wears little else these days (the shoes, not the shorts...). He tends to khakis and navy blazers and only rarely wears his suits.

http://bermuda-online.org/shorts.htm
 

reetpleat

Call Me a Cab
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Seattle
Tomasso said:

This is a little different. Subtle, but meaningful to me. This is actually a sport outfit with a jacket (sportcoat) added. In other words, he was kind of dressing up restort or playwear.

That is vey different from dressing down a business outfit wiht shorts.
 

reetpleat

Call Me a Cab
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2,681
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Seattle
Mike1939 said:
How about shorts with a Bren gun? :) Here's my Father in Malaya with the Royal Marine Commandos in the 1950

516490140_ba77e9d973.jpg

Well, if you think he looks funny, that is fine. But better not tell him!
 

dhermann1

I'll Lock Up
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9,154
Location
Da Bronx, NY, USA
During WWII all British personnel, military and diplomatic, were authorized to wear shorts in any situation, as if it were Cairo. DC can be bloody hot in summer and there was maybe one air conditioner in Washington at that time. It was in the White House and the President didn't like using it.
I'm not sure what foot wear they wore. I think street shoes don't look so bad with shorts if knee socks are worn with them. But I have a conservative bent in my tastes.
 

Undertow

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Des Moines, IA, US
Not only am I going to run out and buy some bibsuits, but I'm investing in expensive designer shorts, socks and wingtips. I won't even buy leather wingtips, just the vinyl ones.

I'm going to be so professional this Friday...:D
 

Sunny

One Too Many
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Location
DFW
Mike1939 said:
How about shorts with a Bren gun? :) Here's my Father in Malaya with the Royal Marine Commandos in the 1950

516490140_ba77e9d973.jpg

Now THAT I like. The accessory makes it. ;)

Seriously, I have no problem with men in shorts - in the right situation. For sun protection, long pants and long-sleeve shirts are the order of the day; but when one is doing car repairs in the garage and the temperature in the shade is 105, shorts are immensely cooler.

The point, though, is still situation. I do not see a need for anyone to wear shorts in a climate-controlled office environment. As a matter of fact, it's climate control and not the heat that make dressing for the summer in Texas a challenge. I have a space heater under my desk year round, because I'm cold-natured. An office in the low- to mid-70s is chilly to me; I have to wear a sweater over a short-sleeve dress. But I head outside and it's well over 100 in the parking lot, and at least 120 in the parked car. What to do? [huh]

Trying to get back to the point... It's just one of those style things that people will look back at and shudder, if they actually committed it. But trying to pass it off as legitimate office wear is just ridiculous.
 

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