Style Scenario: Fall Temptation 2022 – Smart 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. We’re here! Fall. Autumn. Full of temptations both highly caloric and style-wise. For the next three style scenarios, we’ll be skipping the sugar and spice and will instead lean on our annual round-ups of the Best (affordable) Fall Style for Men. We’ll mine those Fall Temptation posts to put together three outfit ideas (casual, smart casual, dressy.) 

The Sportcoat: Bonobos Unconstructed Italian Wool Blend Blazer in Blue Donegal Fleck – $450. Spendy, but all kinds of right. Usually donegal jackets are stiff and cumbersome. Not the unconstructed option from Bonobos. The Less Expensive Option: Try TieBar’s wool blend miracle jacket in “navy.” Looks to lean more true blue. Those run $195.

The Watch: Seiko 5 Sports GMT Blue and Black SSK003 or Black and Gray SSK001 – $475. Sometimes goes on sale when it’s not sold out. Full review here. If you don’t want to wait for a sale at Macy’s, try Worn and Wound’s shop, or Belk. Belk sometimes puts them on sale.

The Jeans: Target Goodfellow Slim Jeans in Indigo – $32.99. I’ll see your $450 blazer, and raise you a $33 pair of jeans. That’s now how “raising” works. Fine. (*lays cards on table*) All… REDS! The jeans are blue. Draw 4. We’re not playing that game. Right hand on blue. Now you’re just calling out diff.. THE ARISTOCRATS.

The Shirt: Light Blue Spier and Mackay Italian Button Down Collar 2-ply Oxford – $68. Or whatever your favorite OCBD happens to be. Crisp and dressy-ish like these from Spier, or something more casual would work too.

The Sweater: Amazon Goodthreads 100% Merino Wool V-Neck Sweater – $49.50. Lightweight, strong, breathable, merino wool. Perfect for layering. Feel free to skip this extra layer if you run warm. Ships fast with Prime.

The Belt: J. Crew Chocolate Brown Italian Suede Round-Buckle Dress Belt – $59.50. Often on sale. And don’t worry. Since it’s suede, you won’t have to match it precisely to your shoes or boots. It’ll look plenty fine with the burgundy chelseas.

The Bag: Banana Republic Suede Briefcase – $400. Since BR has all but ended their promo code game AND when they do actually run a code, leather goods are often excluded, the chances of this thing going on sale between now and when the sun supernovas is slim to none. But it looks nice!

The Socks: Bombas Men’s Merino Wool Dress Socks – $24. Hard not to like Bombas. Merino blend material will wick and keep your feet comfortable. Knee high length to prevent slouching. Nobody likes a slouch.

The Boots: J. Crew Kenton Chelsea Boots – $239.50 ($298). And the stereotypical Dappered look is complete. At post time these boots are 20% off. They can sometimes go on sale for 30% off (or maybe a little more?) Sometimes.

Want something more dressed up? Head here for our Style Scenario: Fall Temptation – Dressed UP post. Stay tuned for a casual/dressed down scenario to round out the trifecta. That’s on the way.