The Gentleman’s Guide To Dressing For Spring
Even after a mild winter and a pandemic-driven shutdown that’s keeping us inside, we can still feel the oncoming spring. The air is lighter, the sun shines brighter, and we can shed a layer or two of bulky winter clothes to make way for some spring duds. With that in mind, we created The Gentleman’s Guide To Dressing For Spring.
How does a guy get his wardrobe ready not just for this spring, but any spring? Below, we offer tips for those of us who make the wise choice to stay out of pajamas during the quarantine.
Top 3 Spring Style Tips For Men
Thankfully, dressing appropriately for spring isn’t rocket science. There are only three ideas you need to keep in mind as you start working on your warm-weather wardrobe:
Dressing For Spring: Embrace Lighter Colors
We’ll start with what we don’t mean by wearing lighter colors. Unless you’re a professional clown and/or have a gig dressing up as the Easter bunny, we aren’t encouraging you to dress head-to-toe in lavender, yellow, mint green and pink.
With that said, colors like those mentioned above are great for spring when you’re thoughtful about how you execute them. Here are a few examples:
- Consider a lavender shirt to be a substitute for a light blue one.
- A dusty yellow pocket square with pink paisley can brighten up an otherwise quotidian navy sport coat.
- Speaking of navy sport jackets, consider making one up in a lighter shade, even as light as sky blue. A light tan sport coat (with patch pockets, especially) is a can’t-miss spring item that we can’t recommend highly enough.
Same Fabrics, Different Weights
During the winter, our wardrobes revolve around wool, cashmere, silk, and cotton, vis-à-vis underwear, shirts, and denim. Those of us who wear ties still wear silk ones in spring, and our t-shirts and underwear don’t generally change seasonally (though if you do this, we’d love to hear your story). What about wool and cashmere?
In heavier weights, wool and cashmere are highly effective insulators, great at keeping you warm while the world around you is freezing. This is why lots of men are surprised to learn that wool and cashmere are actually just as common in warm weather clothes.
Lightweight wool – that is, wool in the 7.5- to 8.5-ounce range, sometimes referred to as “tropical wool” – is more or less the standard for men’s tailored clothing in warm weather. We have a blog post that gets into more detail about lightweight wool, but be assured that the most beautiful men’s suits, sport coats, and trousers can be made up in this material.
Cotton also begins to play a more prominent role in our closets when the trees start to leaf again. If the situation calls for it, a silk tie can be swapped out for a cotton one. Suits and sport jackets show up in cotton fabrications, and the casual cotton chinos that left you a little too cold in December are now perfect in April.
Focus On Casual Wear
The last tip of The Gentleman’s Guide To Dressing For Spring is to take a look at your casual wardrobe.
While it’s true that our day-to-day garb has been going in a more casual direction for many years now, this is even more true in warm weather. This is because bright spring colors are more at home on casual garments. It’s much easier for a guy to pull off a baby blue cotton v-neck sweater at the office than it is for him to pull off a baby blue suit. Here are some items we recommend for most spring wardrobes (all of which we can make from scratch for you):
- Polos
- Henleys
- Cotton Pants
- Casual button-downs (short sleeve and long sleeve)
Our advice is to look at your casual wardrobe and ask yourself some pointed questions: do I have items like these? If I do, are they in good repair? Do they fit well? Did I wear these last year or have they been sitting in the same place in the closet since goodness knows when?
How To Edit Your Closet
We wrote an entire blog article on how to plan your spring wardrobe. Now that we’re in quarantine, there’s no time like the present to get this done. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that you can contact us to schedule a virtual closet audit during this downtime, so don’t hesitate if you’re not sure where to start.
Conclusion
Though it will be at least a few weeks before we can get out and enjoy it as we normally would, spring has sprung, and we’re excited for it. You might as well throw on some lighter, brighter clothes and go for a walk in this sunshine while you’re otherwise cooped up at home. We hope that the gentleman’s guide to dressing for springtime gives you a good start.