I get a number of pleasure out of carrying this outfit, although I’m not fairly certain why.

It may be that it’s clearly dressed up – tailor-made jacket, tailor-made trousers – however not that stuffy. No tie, and never even a correct shirt, only a polo.

It may be that it’s clearly deliberate, acutely aware, a private model – but pretty delicate. There are not any shiny colors, patterns or dandy touches (spectators/braces/waistcoats and many others and many others).

Or it may be that it looks like a traditional mode of dressing, one thing drawn from one other period – a Ralph Lauren advert even – and but the tonality makes it really feel extra trendy than that.

It’s clearly not what everybody else might be carrying round me, and it’ll stand out. However it’s additionally not drawn from some fantasy world.

There are methods you can make it subtler nonetheless. Swap the bone-coloured trousers for a navy or darkish brown; swap the polo for a daily shirt.

There are additionally methods you can give it flourish. Add a pocket sq.; swap the footwear for one thing extra uncommon, like a Corthay final or Berluti colors.

However this mixture feels probably the most private to me, proper now.

It’s a type of look I determine with and that I put on typically, so I really feel very comfy in. It additionally does the job I would like it to do – projecting who I’m and the perspective I take (tailor-made however not fussy, critical however hopefully not staid) for a working day amongst tailors and retailers.

Of all these causes for liking an outfit, an important have to be that it looks like me. Most different issues lead from it.

After just a few years of carrying good garments and trying to decorate nicely, I believe you regularly get to some extent the place you possibly can obtain any explicit look you need to. One thing a bit older, or a bit youthful, a bit extra trendy or extra conventional, extra formal or informal.

The query then turns into, what look would you like? Are you making an attempt to look extra modern, or much less? Extra experimental and maybe attention-grabbing, or extra understated? Additionally how good throughout the week, and the way informal on the weekend?

I do know loads of individuals within the menswear trade who’re pushed – by means of some mixture of persona and career – to be extra experimental. Who need to categorical themselves extra strongly and turn out to be stressed when there’s nothing new on the horizon.

That is utterly pure, and possibly inevitable in an atmosphere of recent seasons and collections. However frankly, I’ve by no means been capable of be that imaginative,  which most likely makes me extremely unsuitable to be a artistic director or somebody related at a model.

I like, quite, settling into one thing low key and private. Which – after 500 of phrases of working it by means of as I kind – might be why I get pleasure from this outfit a lot.

By the way in which, a reader commented on this text on Oliver that among the issues he favours could possibly be seen as ‘menswear tropes’ and customary round social media.

The primary response to that’s, certain, however frankly Oliver does it significantly better than most. And earlier than a number of others.

And second, I don’t reside on social media. I reside in a suburb of London – and nobody right here is carrying white socks with loafers or caps with tailoring.

Possibly you’re extra more likely to see your self coming the opposite manner should you reside in Stockholm. However not in London or most locations all over the world.

The place I reside there are actually numerous individuals dressing equally – each girl appears to have purchased an outsized coat and a pair of huge black boots over the winter – however there are valuable few classic-menswear followers round.

So I wouldn’t fear about taking direct inspiration from individuals you admire, in New York, Stockholm or Seoul.

Most readers might be conversant in the garments pictured right here, however for people who aren’t they’re, with transient reflections:

A gray-herringbone tweed jacket from The Anthology, which is now my most worn piece of tailoring. Though a lot as I like the minimize, the largest issue is the material.

An Armoury polo shirt below a Luca Faloni crewneck – a glance I stole instantly from Rubato and wrote about right here. It nonetheless makes me comfortable, although I want Colhay’s did knitwear on this color.

Trousers from Pommella in a beige wool twill materials, supplied prior to now by Zegna however not out there by the minimize size. Though Gianluca at Pommella does have a roll of it, so it may be ordered from him.

A PS olive cashmere scarf (presently restocking these for autumn).

And my favorite pair of footwear, the mink-suede Belgravia from Edward Inexperienced – which we not too long ago launched collectively in an unlined model, as a collaboration. I’ll go into the method behind these in a separate submit.

Pictures: Alex Natt @adnatt