Secondly, keep the complementing palette minimal and pared back. First, avoid accompanying them with more stripes or garish patterns on your top half. There are a couple of simple rules worth abiding to avoid any faux pas. For less adventurous dressers, it’s also an easy and accessible way of adding a touch of character to otherwise minimal looks. Traditionally seen in smarter looks, it’s perfect in an office two-piece but it can also carry a certain level of neatness into more casual ensembles, instantly giving your outfit a sharper edge. Sure, you can’t go wrong with plain navy or black pants, but pinstripe trousers offer surprising levels of stylish versatility.

The New Rules Of Wearing Pinstripe Trousers Worn the right way, they’re only a few rungs up from loungewear. Pinstripe trousers are now as much a part of slouchy tailoring or rule-breaking streetwear as the average Wall Street uniform. Think baseball jerseys, casual shirting and most notably, legwear. Today, the subtle striping has returned with a new and more effective role, away from the confines of tailoring and gangsters and into the diverse world of casual dress. Precise and domineering, but ultimately monotonous because every banker dressed the same way. For a long time, the pattern was predominantly found on the same-ish suiting of city types and Prohibition-era mobsters.

The fine-line print hasn’t always been seen as a key piece in a man’s everyday arsenal. If, like everyone else, you have long been confused and frustrated by the smart-casual dress code, base a pair of pinstripe trousers at the core of your wardrobe and you’ll make the job a whole lot easier.

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