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STYLE
The new new casual
BY NINA WILLDORF

Once upon a time, in the ever-changing world of men’s fashion, khaki was king; shopping for work clothes involved a quick trip to the Gap; and sandals and shorts somehow moved from cringe-worthy to cool.

Those days are long gone. Casual clothes at the office now make only one fashion statement: style-oblivious slacker. Ever attuned to the latest, Louis Boston is sponsoring the Artisans’ Collaborative, a trade show of sorts, featuring 14 menswear designers who will come to the shop to meet with men, discuss the New New Rules, and show off their fall 2002 wares. The mix will include Brioni, Truzzi, Luciano Barbera, and Silvano Lattanzi, among others.

Back in the day, rules about what to wear were as loose as expectations about turning a profit in a dot-com: i.e., there were none. And clothing companies jumped in to outfit the new Palm Pilot–toting, digiterati-speaking masses. Vogue-magazine stylists joined up with casual-khaki purveyors Dockers a year ago, rolling into town in a van as part of a "Style@WORK tour," where "experts" dressed corporate honchos in cities across the country — in Dockers of course.

Former Esquire executive editor Scott Omelianuk (author of Things a Man Should Know About Style) took a podium at Saks in late 2000, where he led a dressed-down fashion show featuring clothes by menswear designer Corneliani. Male models displayed alternatives to the suit and tie. In the audience, an elegantly put-together attendee got an assessment of his outfit from a Saks employee. "Very good, very good," nodded the salesman. "Neat corduroys. That’s exactly what we’re talking about here." The man smiled proudly at the woman sitting next to him.

On our own turf, Murray Pearlstein, the chair of Louis Boston, held "Mondays with Murray" seminars, where he taught men how to work the trendy new duds of the store’s hip first floor with the classics on its more traditional second and third floors.

But as the economy tanked, ties tightened, casual lost its glint, and Tevas mercifully got tossed. As a result, many men found themselves with a closetful of khakis and nary an appropriate suit for job interviews. "Business casual, which is now on the way out as a term, gave people opportunities to open their nose a bit," says Pearlstein, who has started contributing fashion advice to the testosterone-addled Maxim magazine, "but it also taught them that if you want to be taken seriously in the workplace, you can’t look like you’re going on a picnic." He adds, "What happened when we went from suits into business casual is that we went from one uniform to another."

The time has now come for men to think within the lines of the new new casual. Just don’t go looking for rote rules from the folks at Louis. "That’s what gets us in trouble," notes Pearlstein. He says corporate casual just needs a few snips and tucks here and there. Men should concentrate on finding artistic, quality garments and buying less while still buying the best. Style-conscious gents need follow only this dictum, he says: "Function is the new fashion. If it doesn’t have function, there’s no need to wear it."

The Artisans’ Collaborative takes place on Friday, May 17 and Saturday, May 18, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at Louis Boston, 234 Berkeley Street, in Boston. Call (617) 262-6100 or (800) 627-2248, or visit www.louisboston.com for more information.

Issue Date: May 16 - 23, 2002
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