Style Scenario: The “Danny Ocean”

What are you going to wear? Sometimes it’s good to look at a few suggestions then add your own tweaks and ideas. That’s what these are for. Danny Ocean was (sometimes) right when he said “you gotta walk before you crawl.” Occasionally, you just have to throw yourself into it, and then maybe back off a bit later. That might just be the case, now, almost a year into athleisure. That doesn’t mean we’re not sticking with a tried and true “cleaner than the board of health” look here. A look favored by Mr. Ocean, in the Stephen Soderbergh directed Ocean’s Triology. Ocean’s 11 is twenty years old. TWENTY. And it still looks great. Sure, fits change over time. But some looks are pretty eternal. Proof below.

The Suit: Spier and Mackay Medium Gray Sharkskin Wool Suit – $348. Or whatever your preferred medium gray suit happens to be. Suitsupply works great (for the true slim fellas), as does Black Lapel if you’re the hard to fit type and need to go with online-custom. Ocean seems to favor gray. Lots of medium gray and charcoal gray. The guy just doesn’t seem to wear blue much. Navy would work here too, with such a simple outfit, but gray seems to be the character’s forte.

The Pocket Square: Solid Linen White Pocket Square – $12. A pocket square with a tipped border would look great here too. And come to think of it… I don’t think Danny Ocean wore a pocket square in the movies? Doesn’t matter! Looks good.

The Shirt: Ledbury Fine Twill Mid Spread Dress Shirt – $135. Spendy, but worth every penny. A shirt that was born for this kind of look. Terrific collar, and that slightly lowered 2nd button is perfect. Cheaper alternative would be the ol’ Nordy Standby. No lowered second button there though.

The Sunglasses: Kent Wang Aviator Sunglasses – $55. No acetate frames for Danny. All wire frames, all the time. These are affordable, and Kent Wang does a great job on this sort of thing.

The Watch: Tissot Visodate Automatic – $399. Or whatever your favorite simple dress watch happens to be. No divers or other tool watches here. You’re looking for clean and classic. A cheaper alternative would be Orient’s Bambino. Since the character is being played by Clooney in the movies, one can assume whatever he’s wearing is an Omega. Or maybe that was so early(ish) on in his big-screen career that he hadn’t cut that deal yet? Watch at the very, very top of the post is a 15+ year old fashion brand (BCBG Max Azaria) dress chronograph that Mrs. Dappered gifted me. That was kinda my first watch. So whenever I buy another silly timepiece, I always tell her: “you started this.”

The Shoes: Kent Wang Benchgrade Captoe Balmoral – $295 ($350). Or whatever your favorite dark brown pair of simple dress shoes happens to be. Usually Allen Edmonds would slide in here… but it seems like they’re just not making a lot of true, dark brown dress shoes these days. C’mon AE. Give us some classics! Also worth a mention would be Spier’s Cap Toes, and if you’re looking to go less expensive, the Italian Made Massimo Matteo line from Zappos should do the trick too.

The Socks: Nordstrom Men’s Shop Charcoal Over the Calf Wool Socks – $5.80 ($14.50). You know it, you love it. Long time readers (or heck, even short time readers) of Dappered have seen these socks a zillion times. But they’re kinda sorta just right. And they’re on sale for UNDER six bucks!

The Belt: Nordstrom Newman Reversible Leather Belt – $49.50. A basic, reversible, do-anything dress belt. Ships and returns for free.