Beat The Summer Heat In Style With Streamlined Business Casual Attire
Lived-in classics with a laid-back feel add a relaxed twist to summer dressing.
Photography DEBORA POTA
Styled by VALENTINA FINO
The taxing feat of mustering through a tedious list of errands or completing computer work at a desk for hours in a skintight, rash-inducing polyester blazer is an agonizing feeling many of us know all too well. With a hectic schedule and relentless demands, dressing should not be an extra burden this summer. Balancing practicality, comfort, and style is crucial to add a modicum of ease to our lives. In the season of sweltering humidity, adopt a corporate chic aesthetic encompassing sartorial softness and breathability, and eschew traditional, suffocating pant suits (and their collateral pounding migraines).
Several notable fashion houses are reimagining classic executive attire through deconstructed designs, billowing silhouettes, and streamlined needlework. For instance, Khaite leveled extreme sensibility with assertive sexuality in its Spring/Summer 2024 collection to produce uncomplicated, neatly trimmed, short-sleeve cardigans and plunging collared knit pullovers. For the same season, Bottega Veneta demonstrated an understanding of consumers who revel in polishing themselves up in the morning while respecting their value of direct translation and easy-to-understand styles. Asymetrically-tailored, loose-fitting pantsuits and wrap skirts, polished cross-hatch a-line shirt dresses, and elongated vests exemplified functional refinement, allowing you to surmount piles of paperwork and champion through stuffy meetings. Valentino also re-engineered tailored suiting with Bermuda shorts in their Fall 2024 collection, displaying a straightforward methodology that coordinates with the zeitgeist’s appetite for out-the-door workwear.
The routes to pursue classy, casual living wear and reinvent the standard 9 to 5 dress code are endless. As Bottega Vennetta did for its Spring/Summer 2024 collection, you can explore the constraints of conventionality and embrace the 1980s smug, self-assured pantless trend. Pair an oversized boxy silhouette with black opaque tights and micro shorts to embrace low-key elegance. Or, revel in a fun summer suiting moment by playing with separates and taking a twist on traditional tweed with loose knee-length pleated shorts and a crop top. Throw on a pair of high-waist socks underneath statement sneakers to establish a sense of informal stylishness. If you are rushing to leave your house in the morning, wear a simple white tee underneath a gently structured jacket with ruched sleeves and a hemline that hovers around the body, and match it with strappy kitten heels for undeniable elegance. And don’t forget about a breezy, crisp, poplin white button down you can sport with relaxed pants and a pair of metallic sandals for apodictic sharp sensibility. Throw on a pair of futuristic sunglasses or chunky loafers for an ensemble with grassroots in classic office attire or sleek dinner wear for a night at your favorite French eatery in Soho. You will look sophisticated and chic, whether strutting underneath the bright city lights or plodding away in a fluorescent-lit conference room.
