Style Scenario: The First Day it Feels like Summer – Dressy-Casual

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. Here comes the sun. And yes, this outfit might cause the more casual among us to recoil and think “this is CASUAL?” But if you want something more dressed down, try the Chinos Chukkas Polo series, or our Shorts Sneakers Tee posts. Lotta ideas there. But today we’re going for something a little more fun/style-forward. Here’s to a warm but not sweaty summer.

The Polo Sweater: TheTieBar Tipped Cotton Sweater Polo – $45. Affordable, fits well, and looks great. Only drawback is that it’s dry clean only, which means it’ll get relegated to the “special occasion” pile for a lot of us. But that’s fine. First day it really feels like summer = special occasion enough. Review can be found within this year’s Polopalooza round up.

The Sunglasses: Spier & Mackay Model 05 Sunglasses – $55. Spier’s latest collection of affordable sunglasses has dropped. These are their wayfarer style. Dimensions are 56mm x 18mm x 145mm. Do remember that their returns are spendy. It’s a flat $15 for a pre-paid label. So, a risk.

The Watch: Hamilton Boulton Mechanical Watch – $895. Classy. And far from cheap. The Orient Bambino V2 would be a less expensive and mighty fine alternative.

The Pants: J. Crew 484 Slim-fit chino pant in stretch slub cotton-linen – $40.49 FINAL w/ SHOPSALE ($89.50). Seems to be a bit early in the season for J. Crew’s cotton-linen summer pants to be on sale, no? But here we are. In the sale section, and an extra 50% off. Final sale though. No returns. Be sure a 484 slim fits before you purchase. Slub cotton-linen is perfect for those bright, sunny, warm days.

The Socks: Allen Edmonds Merino Cool Mid-Calf Socks – $13.87 ($18.50). Wear socks. As long as they’re breathable and wicking (which AE’s merino-cool line is), then your feet will be much more comfortable as it warms up and they start to sweat. That, and your shoes will last much longer and smell less. Socks are on sale as part of AE’s Father’s Day sale.

The Shoes: Banana Republic Reace Suede Derbies – $100 ($160). Getting a rare 37.5% off. Full review here. Basic suede bluchers, which excel this time of year in this very scenario.

The Belt: Banana Republic Italian Leather Belt – $45 ($59.50). A simple Italian-leather belt that can be worn both with casual as well as more dressed up stuff.