Occasion

The world‘s reopening, slowly but surely. How will you return to it?

Finding my own personal style has been held back by two major obstacles: Knowledge and Occasion. Knowledge is not something I can impart in a few paragraphs. At least, not to the extent that you’ll find your own personal style. “Occasion,” however, is the one inhibitor you can control today.

Finding one’s style tends to fall off for those who do not find occasion to do so. When you consider daily tasks like going to work, shopping, or going out to lunch as no reason to elevate your style, that extends to having no reason at all. Jeans get the job done, sweats at that, so why should these trivial tasks be seen as an occasion?

Maybe not all should, but right now it is more than acceptable to go to the store in sweatpants than trousers. Going to the movies with a hat that has a brim vs a bill is met with odd looks, and wearing a plain button-up shirt under any jacket is now seen as “business casual.” Even at the workplace.

If you want to make this change, with lasting effects, there is one simple thing that must return. That today is an occasion. Reframe your mind, and think of this act as a respect for the people you’re out with, something many in western culture forget. Celebrate our returned freedoms, even the return of a trivial coffee shop lounge you’ve missed for a year. So if not for yourself, do it for others.

Every day there is reason to dress how you want the world to see you—don’t think you need to look “professional,” per se. Look like the best version of yourself. Style isn’t defined by a few accounts with inflated followers. It is defined by the person who wakes up every day and conveys to those around them that they care.

If you want to take the first step in the right direction, it is to see lunch today as an occasion to wear that polo. The movie date an appropriate place for a blazer—your S/O deserves more than a t-shirt. Find your style, one outfit at a time. Perhaps you’ve even bought the loafers you never thought you’d own, take them out to the grocery store! They are slippers after all!

Men don’t have many ways to vary and improve their style. So find something that fits amazing, and if all else fails, make wearing that piece your occasion to go out. Today’s dress code is what you make it.

Make it yours.

~ Scroll down for a few "over-dressed" outings 

Out to lunch. T-shirt, knit DB blazer, chinos. Grounded with white leather sneakers (watch strap leather matches accents on the back of the sneaker. Something only I notice, but that's half the fun in all this anyway).

Accidental day trip turned photoshoot. Good thing I was dressed for one! Puppytooth blazer, navy chinos, Tabacco StormKing Captain's from Thursday Boot Co. White shirt to ground it out a bit.

Winter grocery run ~ Worn with dark brown penny loafers and a navy melange beanie. Mock necks are making a huge comeback now, for good reason. Something different, but not overreachingly so. As is menswear, inching forward to slightly new territory every few years.

Just a walk. Blazers are not everyone's style, but any well-fitted jacket can do wonders. Especially if the fabric ties in the outfit. Here they are the balance between the heavier boot and lighter chinos.

First Valentine's Day together (a few years ago). Definitely an occasion, though not usually a suited occasion for most. Charcoal suit with a white poplin shirt. Blue/Green striped tie, and a green hankie (modified as a pocket square here) she gave me as a gift.

Thanks for reading!

Please leave a comment below with any thoughts inputs, B/G/C’s. I will respond to every one!