Style Scenario: The Well Dressed Rainy Day

What are you going to wear? Sometimes it’s good to look at a few suggestions then add your own tweaks and ideas. April Showers bring May flowers, but before we get to all that pollen, we have to wade through the mess of Spring. Two keys to dressing well when the weather is wet and generally unpredictable:

1. Wear machine washable pants instead of dry-clean only suit pants or trousers (in case some of the slop splashes/splatters up on your legs).
2. Favor versatile, weather resistant shoes or boots with a subtle rubber sole.

The Raincoat: Old Navy Cotton/Nylon Mac Jacket – $60ish ($79.99). A dead simple, navy mac jacket is outrageously versatile. And it looks grown-up and classy thanks to it purposefully having no bells or whistles. Simplicity is in short supply these days, so you’ll stand out quietly. Wear it with everything from joggers and sneakers to a suit and dress shoes. 66% cotton, 34% nylon water resistant exterior. Pro Tip: Consider getting it tailored. You don’t want it too tight though. Wear a suit or an outfit with layers to your tailor when you get it dialed in. It needs to go on easily. You don’t want to look like a trash bag, but you don’t want to get in a fight with it every time you try to put it on either.

The Sportcoat: Brooks Brothers Wool Hopsack Patch Pocket Sport Coat – $383.60 ($548). Vitale Barberis Canonico hopsack wool. 30% off as part of the currently running Brooks Brothers Friends and Family event. An investment that you can wear with just about anything. Looks great with jeans, dress pants, chinos, and even lightweight linen or cotton trousers once it warms up. It does it all. It is fully lined. Know that. so it won’t be as airy/breezy as something unlined or unstructured, but hopsack wool is an all season fabric all the same.

The Shirt: Target Goodfellow Performance Dress Shirt – $33. Inexpensive and pretty good. Reviewed here.

The Watch: Timex Men’s Marlin 40mm Chronograph – $144.17 ($179). A sharp panda-style dress chronograph. Fun, but still dressy. If you want something simpler (and automatic), try the Bulova Clipper. Should be on sale for around $160.

The Pants: Target Goodfellow Slim Fit Tech Chino Pants – $35. Wearing a nice sportcoat up top + inexpensive trousers = a literal “high/low” look. Plus the dark gray color will hide any splashes from aggressive cab or uber drivers.

The Umbrella: Totes “Gentleman’s” Wood Handle Umbrella – $23. Twenty three bucks. A classic that provides good coverage but isn’t as large (or as obnoxious) as a monster golf umbrella. The hooked handle allows you to sling it over your arm/wrist when you need that hand to open a door or grab your phone.

The Socks: Bombas Merino Wool Socks – $20. Not paper thin dress socks, but still temperature regulating merino wool.

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

The Boots: Charles Tyrwhitt Leather Brogue Boots – $279. Goodyear welted to a rubber studded sole. Grain leather. Wingtip details. Those are smart. Drops under $225 with the occasional 20% off deal CT tends to run.

The Boots Waterproofer: Saphir Super Invulner Protector – $32. Noticeably more expensive than cheaper competitors, but Saphir has a real reputation for quality in the shoe care business. And this stuff is more gentle on your shoes, thanks to being silicone-free.