The Ultra Cheap Spring Suit

The Ultra Cheap Spring Suit – $139.00

The warmer months are almost here and you’re looking to upgrade your style while keeping it comfortable. You want clothes that when combined in the right way are office-level nice, but when broken into individual pieces they can also be casual when worth with clothes you already own.

What you need is a linen blend blazer, a pair of flat front cotton chinos, and a simple but bright tie. And here they are:

Old Navy Natural Color  Linen Blend Blend Blazer – $44.50

A well tailored $50 blazer will always look better than an ill fitting $200 blazer.  And once the days start to get longer and warmer, you’ll need clothes that can easily transition from work to out on the town.  They need to breathe, be durable, and also light.  The almost white color of this blazer from Old Navy will keep you feeling cool.  It’ll also help you stand out from the crowd of guys still wearing the same drab colored jackets they were wearing in December.  Is it cheap?  Yes.  Incredibly.  But it won’t look it once you have your tailor bring in the sides to give your torso that much desired contoured shape.

J. Crew  Urban slim-fit essential chino – $59.50

Now that you’ve got a light colored jacket you need to find a contrasting pair of pants.  But don’t go too dark, and don’t go with the standard Khaki.  A pair of flat front Medium Gray Chinos like these from J. Crew lets you wear everything from brown driving mocs, or for a more business like look, black lace ups.  You need noticeable contrast between the color of the jacket and pants, but  not so much that each piece comes to a jarring halt at your belt line.

Land’s End Wide Stripe Slim Necktie – $35.00

A bold color wide stripe necktie brings just enough punch to the outfit that people will take notice but not write you off as a clown.  The slim fabric of the tie is modern, and the wide stripes allow you to wear a pin stripe shirt if you choose underneath.  Always remember that the pattern of your shirt* should be less aggressive than the pattern of your tie if you’re mixing stripes.

Total Cost = $139.00

When worn together you get the formality of a summer suit without any of the price. The light colored jacket & medium colored pant look gives you clean lines and also avoids the tweed/dark wool blazer stuffiness. The fabrics are close enough to smoothly blend between each other, but different enough that no one will mistake you for being totally colorblind.

Get it, wear it, be comfortable and still look sharp in the warmer months.

*Note: Original post omitted the “r” in shirt, which therefor encouraged everyone to make sure that the pattern of their shit is less aggressive than their tie. Which, in our defense, is really quite sound advice anyway. Right? Thanks to a commenter for pointing it out. That’s what you get when you write a post under the influence of three glasses of port.