Suit pants worn separate

[LosRockets]

I was admiring the navy suit from BR that Joe recommended this morning when I noticed the Italian label on it. Imagine my surprise when I realized that the awesome navy blue BR dress pants I bought on Ebay a few weeks ago for $35 had the same label. So...it seems I have the pants but not the jacket.


I have two options.

1) Buy the jacket (okay I think we all WANT me to do this, haha, but it may not make fiscal sense at the moment)

2) Wear the pants as dress pants.


As Joe said, the material is very nice, and they clearly look a step above average dress pants... so I was hoping to get your thoughts on just wearing the pants on their own, and not getting a jacket. Will it look weird? I didn't think it looked off but the one time I wore them a female friend (who admittedly doesn't care for men's fashion and thinks it's strange for men to care about clothes) mentioned they looked "too nice, like suit pants." Thoughts?

[bj]

I do it all the time. It's too hot in Texas to wear jackets all the time and my workplace is too casual.

[LosRockets]

Tell me about it...Houston's on fire today.

[shad0w4life]

IF you have a suit and pants, it's highly recommended to get an extra pair of pants if you plan on wearing them separate.


If you wreck the pants(or they discolour over time etc), you're jacket is pretty much done for, unless you want to try and pass it off as a blazer which many people will know it's not.


Wearing suit pants as a separate, very standard thing to do, the above is just recommended IF you have the jacket

[JT10000]

What's the problem with a suit jacket alone as opposed to a blazer?

[hornsup84]

Suit jackets tend to look like suit jackets and not a stand-alone blazer/sportcoat. It'll look too dressy typically. Some suits you can do it with better than others (IMO, seasonal suits--tweed, linen, etc. are easier to pull this off), but your normal wools will look slightly off.


As for suit pants without a suit, you can absolutely do this for business casual. Pair with a blazer (not the same color, obviously) and rock a no tie look, etc. or go full on pants and buttondown, no coat. The only caveat I'd say is that certain patterns will not look good like this (traditional pinstripes of any kind come to mind; they just beg for a full suit). However, suit pants are generally harder to pull off casually as just some pants than some khakis and other "dress pants".

[jessy_diamond]

What's the difference between suit pants and "dress pants" ?

[hornsup84]

Not a real difference in my opinion, but was trying to capture those pants which aren't at the level of being part of a suit (actual wool trousers, finished properly, etc.), but that are worn as dress pants.


Trying to find them, I found these right away as an example:

http://bananarepublic.gap.com/browse...&clink=5142910

[shad0w4life]

I view it typically as dress pants are bought alone where suit pants are made of the exact same fabric swatch as the suit jacket for matching purposes.

[LosRockets]

Wow thanks for the fast responses everyone. I agree that there isn't a real difference when you consider proper wool trousers vs. the pants that come as part of a suit, but I was mentally contrasting them with exactly something along the lines of what hornsup linked or even just the LE tailored year'rounders. I think that since these are a solid navy I'll be okay!

[hornsup84]

Agreed, hard to go wrong with solid navy slacks as a stand-alone.

[zerostyle]

I wear a pair of Uniqlo tasmanian wool dress pants all the time that were meant for a suit. No big deal.


I think with suit pants you just got a few extras occasionally like a button latch or rubber lining to help keep your shirt tucked in.

[zerostyle]

Also, regarding suit jackets vs blazers, while some are obvious, I bet if you did a blind survey with a simple navy jacket and blazer, almost no one would notice the difference.

[kenneth]

I suppose I'll echo the traditional objection to wearing just one part of a suit at a time: be wary of wearing one piece of a suit much more often than the other because they may fade at different rates, making their shades disparate and awkward looking when you wear them together.


Having said that, I bought a seersucker suit and wear the hell out of both parts separately.

[zerostyle]

Oh, to clarify, I never wear a pair of pants that's part of one of my suits separately for reasons you mentioned.


I just happened to buy a pair of "suit pants" that I liked the fit of to wear as business casual pants.