One of the things I enjoy most about Permanent Style is the comments from readers.
It’s like each article is a new thread in a forum, with subject raised and then comments, experiences and questions all following, vastly enriching the article’s value.
Over half of comments are on old articles – posted more than a year ago – which really shows how much a body of information is being built up.
However, one disadvantage is that the comments are not very dynamic. The format limits the amount of back-and-forth that’s possible.
So as a way to counter this, I thought I’d try a series of videos where a friend – Aleks Cvetkovic, founder of the podcast HandCut Radio – picks out some popular reader questions, and then we dig into them for 15 or 20 minutes.
The result, I think, is a deeper and more dynamic exploration of the topic.
This is our first one, where we talk about that old chestnut: dressing up in a dress-down office. Of course, few people are in their offices right now, around the world, but the advice applies to any situation where you want to appear a little more put-together, without wearing tailoring.
I hope you enjoy it.
Our main points are captioned during the video. But for those reading this before diving into the film, they are:
‘How can I dress up in a dress-down office?’
1: Upgrade quality, focus on cut
2: Play around with trousers
3: Wear non-corporate colours, like brown
4: Wear an unstructured jacket or overshirt
5: Upgrade your T-shirt or knitwear to a finer version
6: Think about details, like the shirt collar
7: Trousers and shirts can be dressed up or down
8: Dress down anything worn under a jacket
Other videos we’ve produced recently are (also all on the YouTube channel):
- How a bespoke suit can be repaired
- How to look after tailoring
- How polish shoes part 1 and part 2
- How to fold a handkerchief
- How to look after suede jackets
- How to look after good shoes
Clothing shown:
- On me: White Bryceland’s Sawtooth shirt, under bespoke Loro Piana oatmeal-cashmere jacket by Elia Caliendo
- On Aleks: John Smedley merino mockneck, under double-breasted Offshore Bespoke suit by Edward Sexton, in Holland & Sherry 16oz corduroy