Dressing the Part
Tips for Clubland Fashion and Avoiding Faux Pas
If you’ve ever thought, “what do I wear to the club?”, you’ve come to the right place.
For starters, by Clubland’s standards, I’m quite well-styled, but alas my limits are to men’s clothing. To help me on my quest (and fill the gaps of my knowledge), I spoke to Lindsay Nicholas, founder of Lindsay Nicholas New York.
Nicholas has styled members of the University Club, among other New York Clubland staples, and her husband belongs to the Melbourne Cricket Club in Melbourne, Australia.
Clothes are not merely clothes. They’re expected to do more than simply keep you warm or cool or cover your thighs, shoulders, and everything in between.
The big challenge of what to wear in Clubland is being able to talk through your clothes. When you put together an outfit, do you wonder what your clothes signify? It’s a “secret language”, Nicholas says, “that people speak to each other through their clothing”. Nicholas put it rather succinctly: wearing “something that’s really special that isn’t overt”.
What you wear can also get you into trouble.
Lesson Number One: never wear ripped denim at your club, but frayed OCBDs and chinos are a-okay.
“When I was much younger”, Nicholas recounted, “I wore a pair of denim with a tiny little rip that cost a fortune to get the rip in it”. She then proceeded to go to the Melbourne Cricket Club, where she was denied entry into the members’ area of the club. While many clubs have relaxed their opposition to denim, yours truly has avoided it (so far).
If you wear a tee-shirt outside a club locker room or the courts, you should voluntarily resign your membership. Forever.
Even if it feels right, you never want to wear Madras, linen, seersucker, polos, or white pants too early in the spring or too late in the fall. Many clubs socially enforce the Memorial Day through Labour Day rule: don’t wear linen or white pants before or after. But these rules are meant to be broken, only in style (and jest). Some rules are more malleable than others: white pants and seersucker in clubs west of the Hudson is more generally acceptable after Easter, but a strict no-no in most clubs east of the Hudson. The rule about linen shirts and polos can be broken with some abandon.
I’ve tried to put together six outfits: one for each season, and one for exercising, and another for cocktail hour.
Summer
Elongated days, warm weather, afternoon showers: what’s not to like? The summer is what we all look forward to, whether we’re sailors or tennis players or simply enjoy the outdoors. The natural instinct in the summer is to take it easy, and choose the most comfortable option—after all, you’re going to be smothered in some level of sweat anyways, so why not wear sweats or athletic clothing all the time? Nicholas points out that “it’s just disrespectful” to show up in sweats or athletic attire outside of the gym, a sentiment I find myself agreeing with increasingly (the baseline was high, though, to begin with).
For women, Nicholas recommends “a beautiful, classic midi dress with a floral motif”—it’s “something that’s lightweight but still has body to it”. Of key import is both the feel of the texture and the movement of the fabric, the way it drapes, Nicholas advises. Pair it with flats or short heels, and you’re golden.
Whilst different clubs have varying rules for men, you can never go wrong with a polo and chino shorts or a lightweight chino. If you want to dress up for the evenings, Nicholas recommends a button down shirt with “a little bit of flavour and flair”. Madras, linen, and batik are the name of the game in the summer.
If you must dress up, a linen, seersucker, madras, or tropical-weight wool sports coat is key: you don’t want to be sweating through your clothes.
I’m always there for a jumper, light cotton sweater, or even a quarter-zip draped over the shoulders or tied around the waist: New England summers can get nippy in the evenings.
Sneakers are a strict no outside the gym. Boat shoes are all-time classics, as are penny loafers and moccasins, preferably without socks or with no-show socks. Keep the dress shoes for the fall and winter.
Fall
It’s finally cold enough to start layering. For women, Nicholas recommends “a beautiful tailored short [dress] with a pair of knee-length boots”, paired with a sweater or a blazer that can be taken on or off. It’s perfectly acceptable to throw a blazer over your shoulders for that all-too-important dose of spezzatura, studied nonchalance, which the Italians are the masters of. To accessorise, a silk scarf can never go wrong.
For men, Nicholas recommends trousers with a jacket over a jumper or a sweater. You can never go wrong with a sports coat: the khakis-OCBD-navy blazer combination is always beyond reproach, and retains both a schoolboyish charm and a quintessential air of sophistication without much ado.
If you want to change things up, Nicholas recommends plaid trousers. I’m not averse to a plaid tuxedo, either: just make sure that they’re shawl collared, and not with peak lapels.
The only exception to the no t-shirts rule is a turtleneck in the fall or the winter. Nicholas recommends turtlenecks with added texture, including cable-knit turtlenecks, for an added dimension of style.
Both men and women ought to bring out their Barbour jackets in the fall. Make sure you don’t wax them too religiously; you want the rips and the tears and the slightly un-waxed look on them, only to show that it was a hand-me-down or you’ve owned it for some time now.
‘Tis the season for duck boots and knee length rubber boots for men and women. If you can pull off jodhpurs or riding breeches for an easy equestrian look, go for it, but if you don’t tuck your jodhpurs’ calves into your boots, you’ll get a hand-written note of admonishment in middling cursive from yours truly.
A Brief Note on “Holiday Attire”
The end of fall marks the start of holiday season, and you’re bound to receive an invitation to a holiday party of some sort, religious, temporal, civic, or otherwise. Don’t be a schmuck and go in khakhis and a navy blazer, men, because I know that’s your default.
Get a shawl-collar tuxedo, a shirt with wingtip collars and a frilled bib, and a bowtie that doesn’t fasten via velcro. Either cumberbunds or suspenders suffice. Never wear a belt with a tuxedo. Never. Ever. And neither of these should have even a touch of polyester in them—a 100% virgin wool or silk.
If you want to add colour to your holiday attire, a velvet green or blue tuxedo jacket, or even a green plaid, is thoroughly acceptable and much appreciated.
Winter
The snow beckons. The wind turns against you; the very thing that gave you respite in the summer is now the bane of your existence. You’re probably wondering what the point of waiting until 5PM to have your first drink is (thankfully, you’re in Clubland, where cocktail hour begins at 3PM on Tuesday).
Most winter clothing follows the same pattern as fall clothing, but with added warmth. The following apply to both men and women.
The key to surviving the winter is a good sweater. I’m a partisan for lambs wool, which can be had relatively inexpensively, and brushed Shetland wool sweaters, both of which are staples of clubland style.
Shearling-lined leather gloves are a vital part of the look for those gnarly windy days, as are camel-hair and wool scarves.
Layered with a beautiful coat—Nicholas says that the very best coats “pool on the floor when you drop it”, not that you should. The best coats are warm, but take their structure from your body, without added padding. Remember, Nicholas reminds, “you don’t want something that’s physically heavy on your body”: you want your clothes to drape you elegantly, not hem you into a box.
Spring
I’ve never made my peace with pollen allergies. I’m not sure I ever will. But spring is the season of hope: hope not only for the summer, but also for a new lease of life. The dark depredations of winter are over. Trees and shrubs thrive again; flowers are replanted; the birds return, with their chirps and calls.
Spring marks the triumphal return of the popped collar. A staple of prep—the polo with popped collar under a shirt—is now back in fashion, Nicholas advises. Lighter than a sweater, but better than wearing nothing. I’ve also been seen wearing a shirt or a short-sleeved polo under a rugby polo, which is quite a fun look, methinks. It’s time to step away from the seriousness of winter and re-enter the playfulness of the spring leading into the summer.
Another poignant spring and summer accessory is the embroidered, braided belt: you can find them with whales or with your school or club or college logo embroidered throughout.
Exercise
Whites only: you can never go wrong with tennis whites whilst playing club sports or exercising, preferably with no logo whatsoever. However, not everyone’s as staid as me, and depending on whether your club demands you wear tennis whites, you can experiment with different colours. Nicholas recommends polos and shorts for men whilst exercising, and swears by Lululemon herself for exercising.
And the final rule: Never cover your head indoors. The only exception for this is religious headwear, but otherwise, no hats or caps inside. But outdoors, by the pool, on the terrace, walking in or walking out, they’re perfectly acceptable.
Remember, in Clubland, clothes speak volumes. Whether you’re tying a bow tie for the holiday party, brushing off your Barbour jacket in time for fall or slipping on a pair of boat shoes for the derby party, always be sure that you’re the best conversationalist possible.