DRESSING 101 – INTRODUCTION TO ELEGANCE – LEVELS 1, 2, & 3
Level 1:
Tee shirts and sweat shirts; cut-offs or shorts; un-ironed garments; any garment with an excess of pockets; athletic clothing and footwear (including socks); any garment with tears, rips, worn-out spots, logos larger that ½ inch, or writing of any kind on it; baseball caps.
Here’s a tip: If it involves cleaning products, hoses, athletic activity, or any tools, gardening implements, dirt, or animals, it is a Level 1 function. Dress accordingly.
Level 2:
Collared shirt, knit or woven, solid, stripe, plaid or check; turtle-neck or mock-turtle; jeans which are clean, reasonably uniform in color, and which fit you; trousers – cotton, wool, elegant casual or relaxed-dressy – with a crease, a belt, and clean leather shoes.
Level 2 situations include the widest range of possibilities: going to work in a casual environment, (or if you are self-employed,) evenings at home, all the normal day-to-day stuff. The degree to which you care about yourself and your relations with others is precisely the degree to which you will attempt to have a nice appearance in your casual clothes.
Level 3 (Basic Variations):
- Dress slacks and dress shirt, worn with a sport jacket and tie; or
- Dress slacks, solid or subtly-patterned dress shirt and necktie, or, finally,
- A suit, worn with a knit shirt, a woven sport shirt or a dress shirt but no tie.
Level 3 occasions are those which call for some distinction. Commonly, these are business days for the average executive, informal social events like cocktail parties, or dinners in restaurants, brunches, and so on. These types of events call for clothes described by my favorite phrase: Casual Elegance. The defining factor in Level 3 dress can be either a necktie or a tailored jacket of some sort, but not necessarily both.
Dressing for the Level 3 type of event or situation is the next plateau, the conceptual-sartorial span between average day-to-day and The Suit. Level 3 is where your personal style is most noticeable. In case you weren’t paying close attention to that last sentence, let me repeat it, with emphasis: Level 3 is where your personal style is most noticeable.
“What?” you’re saying. “Better dressed in a sport coat and slacks than in my suit?”
That’s right. Better dressed because it’s harder, the way that climbing the face of El Capitan is harder than ascending Everest, because it demands more pure skill. And the ones who take the time and put in the effort to learn this skill are the ones who deserve – and get – the highest honors.
Of course, the boundaries of these levels may sometimes be vague. A man in a navy blazer with dark gray slacks, white shirt, solid or neat-patterned tie, pocket square and polished oxfords is as formal as any suit-wearer; he is probably good for most Level 4 occasions. And a cotton or linen suit, worn with a crew neck or a collared shirt but no tie, is Level 3, sportswear. It is only the attitude you want to project, the venue, and the time of day, that dictates the level of dress a man needs. The intention here is to give some form, some memorable pattern to getting dressed. As far as how each level is defined, I am confident you’ll get the groove, especially since you’re interested enough in the subject to have read this far.
