I just had to write on such a special day…but instead of writing about something dark or evil as would befit this ominous day, I figure in the spirit of lightness to start a new (and what hope to be a quasi-regular) feature on the site: the What I Wore to Work Today section. See, I spend atleast one day a week admiring the outfit I wear to work. That is, it’s only about once a week that I actually take the time to try and apply a little bit of all the copious amounts of fashion writing I absorb (it’s like an addiction really; I just can’t stop reading everything fashion-related under the sun), and it’s mostly to the clothes I wear to work. I figure by documenting each such outfit, I can eventually look back and reflect upon whether these outfits were even worth the extra effort at all, or whether I was doomed to look like a slob-fob no matter what. If this seems a little narcissistic, yes, I am a narcissist. I like to indulge myself and like to think that I’m gradually becoming more adept sartorially, even if not quite stylish yet. I’m also not much of a brand-whore, and pick clothes mostly for appeal and value rather than the labels, so any name-dropping is for purely illustrative purposes (showing how you can afford good brands if you know when to shop) only.

Choosing an outift for the day can depend on various normal factors, like how many meetings there will be in the day (more the meetings, more the need for an ironed, wrinkle-free shirt to get me through the day without looking haggard by lunchtime), who the meetings are with (if it’s the Project Manager’s meeting, I feel safer in a solid shirt-conservative tie combo), what my evening plans are (meeting the pretty girl from the bus for ice-cream? I’ll just have to wear my pin-striped Banana Republic blazer with a spiffy tie) or what the weather entails (old boring black lace-ups are reserved for rain-likely days).

Other times, the outfits germinates from the desire to wear a shirt of a particular color (like my absolute yearning to wear pink at times), necessitating the selection of appropriate pieces to complete the outfit. Today was similar, except that the pink shirt was actually a by-product of my decision to break-out my burgundy Brooks Brothers silk-knot cufflinks. (Side step: I could never afford anything else from Brooks Brothers, but they had a deal for the cufflinks at 4 for $20…so me an Xu go two apiece for 10 bucks each…not bad eh?) This led to picking one of my favorite shirts: the textured, pale-pink John Miller (from India) shirt with burgundy/ dark-red double-tattersall checks.

Then, the tricky part: matching a tie with this not-so-subtly patterned shirt. Most “experts” say that the tie pattern should match the shirt pattern in scale, and also have harmony in the colors. Luckily, I had a tie that seemed to go well with the shirt and follow these guidelines (for the most part). The deep burgundy tie (Zodiac, India) had little dots on it with a hint of pink, and while the dots were small, the spacing was wide enough to mesh well with the large checks of the shirt. Thus, I had my upper body properly accounted for, with adequate color-coordination and pattern-matching to be slighly more put-together than I normally am.

Ofcourse, this is where by laziness kicked in and I figured I’d just wear whichever pair of black pants were least wrinkled and wear them with black loafers; if I was really trying to be dandy, I would’ve found better pants to go with brown shoes to amp up the style factor. I also made a slightly-cardinal sin of wearing a brown-strapped watch (as opposed to a black-strapped one to go with the black belt/ shoes; unfortunately I misplaced the only black-strap I own). Oh well, I’m still learning!

I don’t know if the people around me though the mix-and-match worked (what say, Xu?) or if I looked like a flaming clown in pink. Anyways, I was happy with the results of the shirt/ tie combo through the day. Wearing patterns makes you stand out from the regular white/blue/ solid wearing crowd, and my burgundy cufflinks added a little extra class. Now, if I could only order a new hair/ face combo, I’ll be set to audition for a modelling spot in GQ!