The latest fashion trends to hit the men’s fashion scene is the blurring the lines between streetwear and formal wear to create a chilled but serious aesthetic that is perfect for the smart casual office. Men’s streetwear has seen great evolution throughout the years from its origins in the 1980s and 90s. It has gone from being a staple of the hip-hop and skateboarding scene to now transcending its origins and now being implemented into various other styles.
Streetwear is now being sold by luxury brands and big fashion names, as they have boosted the popularity of the style and made it acceptable to wear in more formal settings. The office used to be strictly a place for suits, ties and formal dresses but the dress code has evolved a lot since then with more professional spaces offering the choice to dress more casual.
This shift in style that has blurred the lines between street and formal wear has opened up a variety of doors. Continue reading this guide for some inspiration regarding this fashion trend.
Why Combine Streetwear and Formal Wear?
With the rise in popularity of this fashion combination, there must be a reason for it. Mixing formal wear with streetwear offers you more flexibility when it comes to your style, as you can adapt it to various social settings without losing what makes you unique. For example, wearing stylish tracksuit bottoms with a nice oversized jacket gives off the impression that you are ready to do business but in a calm and casual way. This can’t be achieved with a full formal or streetwear attire.
You can create your own signature look and be recognised more of an individual if you mix the two styles, as it embodies both creativity and versatility. It’s likely that you’ll stand out from the rest of the people in your vicinity.
How to Blend the Styles
When you’re blending together formal and streetwear, you can’t just throw anything on unfortunately as it has to work well together in order to be a success. Here are some good options for you to test out for yourself:
Blazers and chinos: Combining casual chinos with a classier blazer will create an effortless smart-casual look that’s perfect for the office.
Suit with sneakers: White sneakers go with anything and that goes for suits too. It perfectly combines comfort and professionalism.
Luxury tracksuits: If your tracksuit looks as though it costs a lot of money, you can get away with wearing it in professional settings while looking good.
Hoodies under blazers: Layering a hoodie under a tailored blazer adds a casual, urban touch to a formal piece.
Statement accessories: Adding accessories like luxury watches, nice beanies or sleek backpacks can add a lot to your formal and streetwear combo.
Trends in Formal-Streetwear Fashion
Celebrity influence has gone a long way in helping formal-streetwear fashion become normal in the public eye. You can now see celebrities like Adam Sandler, Pharrell Williams and Timothée Chalamet all wear very casual streetwear to award ceremonies in recent years with it now becoming more of a normality while still looking cool and original when done correctly. Google searches for 'formal streetwear' have increased by 30% year-on-year (YoY), which shows the growing popularity of the trend.
