Outfit Of The Week 3/31/24 – 4/6/24

This week’s edition of “OOTW” features an outfit I wore for a busy day of running around town while juggling work meetings (remotely, of course).

Here is what I needed to dress for that day: a parent/teacher conference at my sons’ school, a work team meeting on Zoom, and bringing all our weekly garbage to the dump.

On top of all of this, it’s been somewhat gloomy, rainy, and muddy lately.

All in all, this meant that my choice of attire needed to look respectable, yet also be practical. Isn’t that the line we try to walk with most of our clothes?

Up top, I wore a well-loved, striped, oxford cloth button-down shirt from Lands’ End (Hyde Park, naturally). Over that, I wore a navy, cashmere, v-neck sweater, also from Lands’ End.

The reason I chose the v-neck over a crewneck was because I find that a v-neck is a bit better for conveying to others that you have made an effort in dressing up. A crewneck sweater can look a little like a sweatshirt from afar, or if you are on camera. A v-neck more readily announces that you’re wearing a nice shirt, simply because the shirt is more visible. The dark navy against the light-colored shirt pops really well when you’re on a Zoom call, too.

Speaking of Zoom calls, has anyone else who works remotely noticed that hardly anyone else gets properly dressed for work calls? Everyone is in t-shirts and hoodies. These are great opportunities to “dress to impress” even more than when you’re physically in an office because the expectations are so much lower. Everyone expects everyone else to be dressed casually, so when you show up for your virtual team meeting in a proper shirt or a sport coat, you are going to set yourself apart from your colleagues (in a good way).

So, after meeting with my son’s teacher, I sprinted outside and hopped into the car in order to sign into my work call.

Once the work call was done, I needed to head to the dump to get rid of our garbage for the week. That errand can sometimes be a bit of a muddy affair, so I wore jeans and my beat-up L.L. Bean work boots.

My outerwear was my leather, G-1 flight jacket and my grey, herringbone cap.

Taken all together, this outfit could be considered a bit of a “business-on-top, party-on-the-bottom” kind of look. My goal was to look presentable either across a table-top or over a camera feed and then be able to haul garbage through some mud, if needed. I think I was successful in that regard, while keeping the whole outfit pretty cohesive in a “nice casual” kind of way (even though I hate that term).

Have a wonderful weekend!