Flipping through the dictionary to find the accurate meaning of the phrase smart casual can be one hell of a task!
However, these days it is not unusual that smart casual is the dress code for most places. A long-sleeve T-shirt can cut as smart casual, given that it’s high caliber, well suited, plain, and not over washed or faded.
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On the contrary, business casual excludes long or short sleeve t-shirts and sweatshirts. Let’s have a deeper look into it:
A Short History of Smart Casual
Narrowing down the roots of smart casual is as difficult as uncovering its meaning. The earliest documented usage of the phrase dates back to 1924 although that was a sleeveless dress and not a long-sleeve T-shirt.
We know for a fact that business casual and smart casual are interchangeably connected even though they each have their unique differences.
In earlier times, people used to dress up as business casual not only for office but for everywhere else too. Nevertheless, as time went by smart casual’s reign significantly influenced the fashion world.
What Smart Casual Means?
The phrase smart casual does not have a specific meaning so it can mean anything at all. Mr. Porter’s Style Advice page classifies it as “pretty much anything smarter than a tracksuit, but less formal than a suit”.
Gratefully and to a certain degree affirmative, he effectively informs, “An ideal answer is a blazer, white T-shirt, neat jeans, and brown loafers.”
Still and all there is no clear explanation of the phrase. Ridiculously, in an attempt to clarify the meaning of the phrase further, complicates the situation more.
Debrett’s Guide for the Modern Gentleman extracts contract and Description Sea between the two phrases “formal smart casual” and “informal smart casual”.
While Formal smart casual refers to a coat or blazer, woolens or flannels, needle cord trousers, or chinos but excludes jeans, a shirt with a collar, but unfortunately not a long-sleeve T-shirt. The look finished off with a pair of classy and smart shoes
On the other side of the coin, the meaning of informal smart casual remains unclear, however, mostly refers to a pair of elegant, spotless, and mostly dark-colored jeans, and long-sleeve T-shirts.
Finally…
A long sleeve, well-fitted T-shirt in its best condition falls under the category of smart casual. However, upgrading it to a Polo T shirt will instantaneously furnish the casual look.
The added collar and buttons with the long sleeve sure raise the look to be more formal and make it look more like a shirt but it is still flaunting. But collarless equals more casual.
Regardless, all of these may paint an ambiguous complicated hand obscure picture in your mind. A big part of the reason is that smart casual is difficult to define categorize and its meaning varies depending on the situations and context. It is more of a state of mind as much as an outfit.
