Wardrobe Essentials: The Chambray Shirt

Shirts, shirts, shirt. You can never have too many and its almost as if every time you're putting together an outfit, you never have the right shirt. That's when you end up going with a simple white, classic blue, or new-school pink. All these options share the characteristic of being dressy, but where's the shirt that you can wear with a suit and tie as well as jeans and sneakers.
Catch the chambray fever if you haven't already.
That need can be met in the form of the chambray shirt. Granted, they can be found in a variety of colors and styles, but all will do the trick. Grey work shirt chambray? Yep. Red sport shirt chambray? Yep. Light blue dress chambray? Yep. Getting the picture here? They all work as easily as the next and its up to your discretion to pick the right one for you.
Brady. Gyllenhaal. West. Celebrity endorsement?
They could be paired with just about any tie, but one of the best looks I have come across is when the chambray shirt is paired with the knit tie. After that, throw on the suit or sport coat of your choosing because chances are you won't be able to go wrong. As for the casual look, just make sure the pants don't closely match the top and you'll be in the green. This piece is a no-brainer and is guaranteed to be in stores all year round and in your closet for years to come.
Check with GQ for some affordable chambray options.
Check in tomorrow for a style piece that deserves your consideration and next Wednesday for another essential wardrobe addition!

Tech Tuesday: Smell Good Jeans

Jeans are probably the greatest thing in your arsenal of bottoms, going with just about anything simply because they are classics. There are a variety of denim options in different fits, fades, treatments, weights, etc. But nothing very radical has really been done to jeans up until now.
Naked & Famous: $158
Granted, this is somewhat of a gag, but Naked & Famous Denim Co. has just released its latest line of jeans featuring scratch-n-sniff technology and the newest scent is mint! The company features a variety of other fruity and fantastic scents for you to choose from. I'm a personal fan of the raspberry scent, but let your personal "taste" shine through; they'll act as another level of body odor prevention at the very least.
Denim on denim on denim brought to you by Naked & Famous.
All jokes aside, Naked & Famous is a Canadian company under the umbrella of Tate + Yoko specializing in Japanese selvedge denim. This isn't what sets them apart from Company X or Y, its the experimentation they do every day to come up with new and exciting denim choices. Just for fun, they made a heavy weight denim pair that stands on its own and turned another pair into a mood ring for your legs with thermo-chromatic technology. Check them out and have your mind blown by the choices at your disposal.
The famous "Stand Alone" denim, so cool!
Check in tomorrow for another style piece that needs to be in your closet and next Tuesday for some exciting new tech!

Monday Outlook: Spread that Collar

One aspect of your everyday outfit is the type of collar on your shirts. If you walk into any Brooks Brothers location, their made-to-measure department will feature a wall of all the different collar types that you can have. Oxford, point, club, name a collar variety, they're all out their and your closet should have a good variety of them.
Most men have been purchasing the semi-spread collar which is the middle ground between the classic point collar and spread/cutaway collar. The latter is the type that is going to be your go-to dress shirt for the office this summer. It will be a subtle change to your outfit, but the spread collar adds a since of European style and an element of power that you don't get with other collars. 
David Beckham looking summery in his spread collar.
Seeing as you can never have to many white dress shirts and its probably time to cycle out some old ones, this would be an easy option to incorporate into your closet; throw in some other classics as you see fit, you'll be wearing these more and more as you move up the corporate ladder. The only thing stopping you from getting this type of shirt is the fact that they are hard to find in stores, so your best resource will be the Internet.
Ralph Lauren: $325
Hugo Boss: $175
Hugh & Crye: $85
Check in tomorrow for some exciting new tech and next Monday for some more trend outlook!