Tailored with Trainers

If you've seen any issue of GQ, Details, or any other men's style publications, you have probably noticed that they all have infatuations with wearing sneakers with tailored suits. Some conventional style connoisseurs will say you are dressing down the suit and that you look very juvenile, and are having trouble committing to maturity (can't say I don't have that problem). Other, more modern gentlemen of style will say that you are killing two birds with one stone. You are shaking the very roots of fashion and questioning it's black and white ways, and that you are also being utilitarian in the sense that you are wearing your gym kicks to work because you walked from home, or what have you. I believe there is a time and place where it is ok to wear your trainers with a suit, but nothing in my eyes will ever beat a nice suit and a classy pair of monkstraps. Either way, sneakers with suits is the sure fire trend and I'm going to show you some ways that it has been popping up lately.

The gentlemen in this picture are wearing pretty similar outfits, a slightly different from the mundane colored suit, solid colored shirt, and a pair of kicks. Pretty solid fit's on both of their suits, the taper on their trousers are just right, especially with the cuff on the powder blue pants. The sneakers add that mix of casual style with the refined look of the suit to balance it out pretty well. As you can see, these guys look as if they are just out and about walking around town, not necessarily hosting an event or going to a dressier occasion. I feel the sneakers here work just fine.

Here is Mr. Suit-and-Tie-Shit, Justin Timberlake. Now, he is a singer/songwriter/producer/actor/dancer/entertainer/jackofalltrades/GOD so he is going to be an exception. When on stage, you can wear pretty much whatever you want. Hell, KanYe wears leather leggings and kilts. A$AP Rocky wears women's dresses. Now this is not as extreme as the aforementioned, but its still a pretty different look. White sneakers none the less. Anyone can put on a pair of Adidas Shelltoes but with a suit, it takes a different type of guy. With an outfit like this, there are some serious attitude, confidence, and swagger requirements.

 Ok, you are thinking to yourself, 'When the hell am i going to be in a khaki suit on a yacht?". Even if you aren't a billionaire playboy philanthropist enjoying a day on the water, you can still wear your lightweight suit like this to the office in the summer. Yes, you still have to dress up even when the weather heats up. As seen here, this gentleman has a pair of casual lace up sneakers with no socks. This is such a polished look, and the sneakers are subtle enough that it makes everything look like it goes. The aesthetics of the outfit are on point. The sneakers you would wear with a suit should not overpower the suit itself. So, no big swooshes, no reflective 3M material patches, and no high octane colors. Did I contradict everything from the first picture? Yes, but different styles and different occasion. The Nike trainers in the first pic are worn in an office environment, and sure it is ok if you are working in a hip, modern but casual work space, but if you are walking into Charles Schwab offices, you probably shouldn't look like you ran from the gym to make it into work. As easy as it is to do right, it is just as easy to do the sneakers with a suit look wrong. As follows...

Dwayne Wade, one of the most stylish men of the NBA. Here, we have him in a pair of Black Cement Air Jordan III's with his grey sharkskin suit. What I gather from the image is that the event is not too, too formal due to him not wearing a tie, having an opened button shirt and a scarf. The sneakers look a little too out of place for me here because he is already dressed pretty casually, he really just could have done a dark denim, dressy-ish blazer, unbuttoned sport shirt and scarf, and had gotten away with it. This is one of those cases that the sneakers do make it seem like it's an immature look, that he was disengaged with being in attendance at the event to begin with, and that he doesn't really care how his image was represented at the time. Obviously we all know D.Wade is a sharp dresser. This was just a faux-pas. It happens to the best of em. Life goes on...

All in all, I feel like if you are going to do the sneakers and suit look, stay away from looking like Turtle from Entourage when he wore kicks on the red carpet. If you feel the need to wear something lighter and more sporty with a suit, check out the Cole Haan Lunargrand's. Nike's collaboration with CH adds a lunarlon sole to a wingtip shoe giving it that pop of color and sporty style on a more traditional dress shoe. They also make them in a plethora of colors.

Sneakers and suits. The blend of street and office. Trend and Traditional. Just the perfect balance of youthful spunk with the proper gentlemanly aesthetic of a finely tailored suit. Fashion is subjective, and to each their own.

"Fashions fade, style is eternal."

-Yves Saint Laurent