Manolo says, one of the Manolo’s many internet friends has asked the Manolo the question.

I would appreciate your comments on the proper way to dress for business casual. I am a civil engineer and I live in Austin, TX where we have summer type weather for 7 to 8 months of the year. In my business dealings, if you see a guy in a suit, he’s an attorney. Ties are infrequently worn by my colleagues, my clients or the government workers and elected officials that we deal with. Some wear sports coats and I like to wear sports coats when the weather is cool (under 80 F). Jeans are worn by approximately 40 percent of the people I deal with. The rest wear khakis or slacks with golf shirts, casual shirts or long sleeve dress shirts. I don’t like to wear jeans, so I always wear khakis.

Most of the US “sunbelt” is similar in that most men dress business casual every work day but Austin seems to be more casual than most. Any hints that you could provide for dressing to look extra sharp in this business environment (without spending a fortune) will be greatly appreciated.

Manolo says, it is a sad day indeed when even the engineers they have given up the wearing of the cravat with their dress shirts of the short sleeves.

Having said this, the Manolo he will tell you that you are in the essence doing the right thing, wearing the new uniform of the lamentably casual American workplace. Manolo says, when in the Rome, wear the well-draped toga. When in the Austin, wear the high-quality khakis and the nice shirt.

The modern reality is that the business casual it has become the standard for most of the American mens, and so we must adapt ourselves to this new situation, even it we do not like or approve of it.

You are also correct in intuiting that this new standard of the dress it is as unforgiving in its way as the wearing of the suit and tie, in some of the ways worse, as before there was always the possibility of distinguishing oneself with the choice of the tie, or the impeccable cut of the suit.

Manolo says, here are some of the rules for the business casual, so that you may both blend in with the fashion, but at the same time stand out for your superior taste.

In the general the Manolo would tell you to wear the high-quality, long-sleeve, cotton, button-down oxford shirt with the high-quality khaki pants, or perhaps the summer-weight wool pants; never the jeans of blue, and only rarely the shirt for polo. As for the pattern of the shirt it should be solid, or perhaps the muted tattersall, or even a crisp bold stripe.

The Manolo he would tell you that this it is not exciting, but you will now set yourself apart by doing the following: Your clothes they must always be pressed by the professional, it makes your clothes look their best. Your shoes, (or perhaps, your boots of the cowboy) they must be shined, or if suede well-cared for, and well-heeled.

Your accessories, your belt, and watch of the wrist, they should be of the excellent quality, but conservative. Leave the Rolex to the stars of the hop and hip. (Soon, the Manolo he will address the issue of the proper wristwatch.)

You should add to this a navy blue hopsack blazer of good quality, or perhaps lightweight sports coat in a muted check or plaid. Do these things and you will stand out from 95 of the percent of the peoples. So many peoples they use the “business casual” as the excuse to be the sloppy.

Manolo says, as you have seen, this it is not the science of the rocket, or the surgery of the brain. This style of the dress, it is the basic commonsense; good quality, conservative cut, and the attention paid to the neatness and appearance of the clothes, without appearing overly fussy. But, then, the Manolo he suspects that his friend he knows all of this already.

Manolo says, one of the Manolo’s many internet friends has taken the exception with the Manolo charaterization of the Vivienne Westwood as a fool.

“…one of these two designers she knows the fashion, and she is serious about it. The other she is the fool. Of this, there is no doubt.”

Uh, I don’t think so. Neither is a fool; but if one designer is conservative, it is Prada. And conservatism in fashion = boring. Sure, you look posh, but you still look normal. It’s called ‘nice/posh normal’, and it doesn’t take a fashion brain to put on. Vivienne Westwood breaks boundaries and is a genius with fabric. If you think she sucks, then I suggest you adjust your taste to suit. It’s the difference between Galliano (VERY nice AND different) and McQueen (very nice but still fundamentally boring) (try comparing spring summer men for both lines and note the more ingenious one), between DKNY (BORING) and Yohji Yamamoto (genius), between Raf Simons and Commes DG, between Margiela and Marc Jacobs. The last two comparisons I leave as an exercise to the sartorially astute reader.

If conservative = great fashion to you then I respectfully suggest that you a. lack imagination and b. are boring.

These are two different spectrums of fashion. One staid and stale, nothing new, nor original (I wouldn’t take a second look at you on the street); the other cutting edge (but not in the clownish or freakish way you suggest). Westwood has been doing this for years, and feted for it. Probably no serious fashion student in say, Central St Martins, will place Miuccia Prada ahead of VW in the fashion stakes. Nor do trendsetting style magazines like i-D.

And no, I’m not a fashion student, nor in the industry.

Think about it.

Manolo says, indeed the Manolo he has thought about it. First, he will reply by posting again the picture of the Vivenne Westwood’s lastest fashion for the man.

Manolo says, the friend of the Manolo she seems to have misunderstood the difference between looking good and calling attention to one’s self.

The Vivienne Westwood, she has long specialized in the fashion for the adolescent who cries out for the attention. The perfect look for the angst-ridden, rebellious teenager, but not the look for the serious adult. The grown up peoples they require the grown up clothes.

Do not denigrate the importance of looking “normal”. Fashion it is about looking good, not seeking out the look of the abnormal, or the outre, or the purposely ridiculous.

Manolo says, the true radical in the serious well-cut, well-tailored clothes is the one whose thoughts, talents, and actions will change the world. The attention-seeking adolescent in the motley clothes of the fool, this person is merely the comedic sideshow.

Manolo says, undoubtedly many of the readers of the Manolo they have been wondering why the Manolo he started an entire blog devoted to the fashions and personalities of the Prada and why he was resistant to starting the blog about the mens fashion.

Here, in this article about the Milan menswear show, the Miuccia herself she tells you why.

By her own words, Miuccia Prada has decided to take menswear seriously. “It’s time to put the avant-garde behind, and analyze what men really want from fashion,” the designer said after her Monday preview presentation of a no-fuss, classical look for next winter. [...]

“Let’s face it, men are conservative at heart,” Prada said.

Manolo says, this it exactly expresses the philosophy of the Manolo with regard to the dressing of the mens. The fashion of the man, it is about the classical forms and materials, this despite the long-standing attempts of the confused GQ-reading peacocks to bring about the radical change.

Manolo belives that if the man he can keep his shape, he can wear the same suit, if it is of the high quality and the classical tailoring, from the young manhood into his grave. The same it can be said of the mens shoes.

This it is why the Manolo, he did not initially want to start the blog about the fashion for the man, because it is not as exciting to the Manolo as the shoes for the women. (Ultimately, only the out crying of the masses in need presuaded the Manolo to relent.)

Manolo says, the Miuccia, she knows.

Manolo says, in honor of the Miuccia show in Milan, the Manolo he presents to you these items from the last winter collection for the mens. They are very much to the Manolo’s liking with their simplicity and traditional styling.

Manolo says, the Manolo he enjoys this site. However, he reminds you that the fashions of the past, they are difficult to enact in the present. Worse, the nostalgia, and the desire to stand too far out from the crowd, it is the seductive combination, one that leads perhaps to the error.

The Manolo, he rejects the term “dandy”, and favors the more prosaic, “well-dressed”. The goal it is to be at all times exceptionally well-dressed, well-polished, and well-tailored, but not to the point where the clothes they are more more worthy of the comment than the man who wears them.

Manolo says, you wear the clothes, the clothes they should not wear you.

Manolo says, there are some men who are beyond the petty dictates of the fashion, whose presence and talent obviate the need to worry about the fashion. The young Elvis, so handsome, so talented, so super fantastic.

And yet the old, fat Elvis, he was still the Elvis, even if he was bloated, and his clothes they were ridiculous and did not fit properly.

For the rest of us, we must worry about the expansion of the belly, and the grooming, and the clothes, and the shoes, for we, sadly, are not the Elvis.

Manolo says, the Manolo he recommends this book to you. There is simply no better book available about the fashion for the mens. Buy it. Read it.

Manolo says, in the blogging for the men thus far the Manolo he has taken the pains to talk about the man of seriousness and business. He has done this because he is ultimately the conservative with the regards to the dress for the man. Unless the man, he is one of those people who are born with the riches in his silver spoon, the man he must work for the living.

It is trite, but it is none of the less true, that the success she must be dressed for. Likewise, one must dress for the job that is desired, not just for the job that is held. This it is why the Manolo he has devoted the attention to the clothes for the man of business. However, the Manolo he will soon address the clothes for the times of casualness, in which the man, he is allowed the greater room for the creativity in the dress (although, even this it must be modified by the circumstances).

Manolo says, as you can see this necessity for the success, which requires the certain conformity, it is one of the reasons why the Manolo he has resisted giving the advice for the men. The clothes for the men, they are not as much of the fun.

Worry not friends of the Manolo, the discussion of the clothes and shoes for the times of casualness they are coming.

Manolo says, many of the Manolo’s internet friends they have been asking the Manolo, “Manolo why do you not give the advice of the fashion for the mens?”

It is no secret that the Manolo he is obsessed with the shoes for the women, and so at the first the Manolo he was not in the favor of the idea. After the all, the Manolo his fashion tastes for the men they are restrained and classical, not peacocky and flamboyant like those of the mens who are obsessed with the GQ.

Yet the friends of the Manolo they persisted, “Manolo help us return dignity to the standards of male fashion,” they cried. And so the Manolo he has relented and will give the advice for the men.

Yes, the fashion for the men, it is not as exciting as the fashion for the women, but it is important none of the less, and so many of the men, they do it so badly that the Manolo he knows he can only help.

Manolo says, let the men’s fashion blogging begin!