Definition please

[Meenah]

What the hell is smart casual? Could I get away with stupid casual?

[MrsK]

Interestingly enough, wikipedia has an article on "smart casual." I find this to be hilarious. . . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_casual

[Sheherezade]

I've always read the "smart" in "smart casual" as a British slang term. smart= pulled together, not sloppy Smart casual would be business casual. Pulled together, fashionable - but not fussy. J. Crewish?

I was surprised that the wikipedia entry went off on the academia angle. Weird. I worked in academia for years and years with nary an elbow patch in sight. I think that may have been written tongue in cheek -- or by someone that has seen The Paper Chase too many times. That said, I do think academics go for "creative" business wear over corporate. A suit -- or even a tie (unless it is a loosely tied knit tie ) -- looks odd on a speaker in an academic lab setting. Maybe things are different in the English departments.

[MrsK]

I thought the wikipedia article's discussion of the color brown was amusing too.

[HouseofWool]

I've always read the "smart" in "smart casual" as a British slang term. smart= pulled together, not sloppy Smart casual would be business casual. Pulled together, fashionable - but not fussy. J. Crewish?

I was surprised that the wikipedia entry went off on the academia angle. Weird. I worked in academia for years and years with nary an elbow patch in sight. I think that may have been written tongue in cheek -- or by someone that has seen The Paper Chase too many times. That said, I do think academics go for "creative" business wear over corporate. A suit -- or even a tie (unless it is a loosely tied knit tie ) -- looks odd on a speaker in an academic lab setting. Maybe things are different in the English departments.

Nope - in the liberal arts you are likely to get anything from jeans and a concert t-shirt to a pipe smoking professor wearing a tweed blazer with elbow patches and everything in between.

[McPants]

Nope - in the liberal arts you are likely to get anything from jeans and a concert t-shirt to a pipe smoking professor wearing a tweed blazer with elbow patches and everything in between.

I'm in a business school and I'd say smart casual is what we'd wear in normal work situations however for teaching purposes most people seem to go with what wikipedia defines as "informal". Personally, I prefer to teach wearing smart casual outfits. It makes me feel like there's less of a power distance involved in the situation.

..and I don't own any blazers with elbow patches. That just would not be compatible with my metrosexual sense of style.

[DCJenn]

Well, in Social Services, "Smart Casual" is the dress code for most days. I own one suit. It's Friday so I'm more plain casual-

I'm wearing a polo, a Madras plaid skirt (short) and a pair of keds. The rest of the week I'm usually in a skirt, a top of some sort- fitted Ts, cotton blouses, cotton sweater set, and because it's 90+ degrees, some sandals. or my funky birks if the mood strikes.

J.

[GrayMatterWife]

Business casual = trousers or skirts (can be cotton), no denim, no sandals.

Smart casual = getting this stuff from Target instead of Brooks Brothers. Khakis are khakis.

[Meenah]

Priceless!!!!!

Business casual = trousers or skirts (can be cotton), no denim, no sandals.
Smart casual = getting this stuff from Target instead of Brooks Brothers. Khakis are khakis.

I (token Brit here as far as I am aware) didn't even get what Luanne was asking at first. Had no idea that you guys don't use "smart" in that sense! I am sure that people don't know what I am talking about half the time....

And I like GMW's definition.

I want some shoes like that, red, less of a heel. Cute!

[Vishenka69]

Well, to me Target is along "stupid" casual and JCrew would be "smart" casual. I'd have to disagree that khakis are khakis. Luanne, what's the occasion?

[DCJenn]

I completely agree- and I shop at Target. A lot.

The clothes are 'fine'. They generally fit. But I generally don't care because, let's face it- I work at a detox unit or a methadone clinic. The people I see are generally dressed in gang-banger, gang-banger's pregnant girlfriend or my personal fav- 50 year old homeless alcoholic.

Now, if I'm actually going somewhere where I CARE about how I look- I will go to a real store and try on real clothes.

and on that note, I'm going to have to start my own "help" thread for the trip to London in August. (we've got reservations for the chef's table at Maze. I'm giddy.)

Jenn

Yesssss....that is what I am thinking though a wedge might be more practical. I have some wideleg blue/white striped pants that I want red shoes for. I'll have to go looking for these.

[GrayMatterWife]

LOL! Vishenka, I'm afraid I'm in your boat. I saw a woman last night when we were out for drinks and I thought, "Oh. I bet she thinks that's a nice looking suit." And then I enjoyed a saucer of milk.

Seriously, you can tell clothes that are poorly made, especially, I think, with dress pants and suits. Disclaimer: I used to work in an office where women would say things like, "Love that jacket! Evan Picone?" And I was the screener for interviews. My boss would tell me to go in, size up the "presentation" and if the outfit wasn't up to snuff, send them packing. I know how awful and shallow that is. Welcome to consulting in Washington DC!

Wow. I don't think I'd cut it in your social circles. Seriously. I think I would be the girl that everyone thinks is a non-sophisticate. The one they call "sweet"--but in a way that suggests she's from a small town in the midwest where they don't have a Neiman Marcus and doesn't know not to wear hose with peep-toed shoes.

And you'd be totally right about my fashion sense. I just don't know about that stuff--I didn't have that in my background growing up and I never acquired it. That's why I always stick to basics and the reliable: nothing too trendy, but nothing too frumpy. Suits from Ann Taylor (not Calvin Klein, but I can pass as appropriate without disapproving glances of "Where on earth did she get that?"). My biggest problem is shoes. I cannot bring myself to pay $350 for a pair of shoes by a maker I've never heard of, for a pair of shoes that will be painful to break in, and which will get torn up just as fast as regular shoes. I can't see the bang-for-the-buck in the return. So again, I stick to classic and simple--no one ever compliments my shoes as particularly beautiful, but I don't get glaring, to-my-face looks of "OMG" either. And I do not carry a purse. Again, I can't bring myself to pay what it costs to carry a decent purse, so I just don't. I figure the chance of being faulted for not having a purse is less than being faulted for carrying a cheap purse.

I fear girls like y'all at parties.