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I can’t believe I even have to make this argument, but the folks over at the WSJ style section clearly have a vendetta against the simple beauty that is the untucked shirt. Why, you might ask? They blame untucked shirts for the scourge of the casual dress code, lazy apparel choices and a rash of wrinkled tail ends. They even blame it for covering up the Dad Bod.
I know a lot of guys my age, and no one willingly wants to tuck in their shirt these days. The negatives far outweigh the benefits. I mean, if you’re not asking for a raise or visiting a client, the business impact between tucked and untucked is nearly zero. Rocking an untucked collared shirt that drops a bit below the belt works in 99% of social situations and also provides you with a myriad of other benefits that your apparel-restrained brethren can never enjoy.
Eliminates Constant Adjustments
As soon as I tuck in a shirt, I already begin to think about the next time I’ll have to re-tuck. There’s nothing worse than the gradual feeling that your shirt is starting to turn you into a walking air balloon. Having a shirt that’s puffy on the sides and improperly tucked is a huge confidence suck as you know you’re not looking your best. Keeping a shirt tucked in is both a mental and physical time drain. Yeah, you can cover it up with a sweater or blazer, but what’s the point. Keeping your shirt untucked throughout working hours gives you unlimited freedom and one less responsibility to take care of during the day. Look good, feel good; feel good, email good?
It’s Way More Functional
In most offices today, especially in tech, dressing to impress typically means not looking like a slob and showering every day. Tucking in your shirt is definitely overkill. And while I agree that you should dress for the job you want, the flexible dress code that many workers now demand has even infiltrated the C-Suite. I feel for the poor saps I pass in The Loop who are basically mandated to the blue oxford and slacks lifestyle, I really do. Because keeping your shirt untucked gives you added freedom in your other apparel choices as well. You’re no longer regimented to slacks and dress shoes. Keeping the shirt untucked draws less attention to your pants and even less eyes to your shoes, so things like denim and sneakers become much more accepted. Headed to a happy hour after work? Instead of the awkward, upward pull release of the shirt to signal that you’re ready to let loose, your shirt is already situated that way, so you can shift from bus to boardroom to bar with ease. I feel that the younger generation of workers value this type of functionality over flare when it comes to their clothing – look no further than athleisure – and the popularity of the untucked shirt is yet another example of this.
Makes Actually Dressing Up More Meaningful
I will admit, there is absolutely a time and a place for tucking in a shirt, rummaging around your desk for that skinny tie clip and getting your shoes waxed. Donning a suit or even a nice blazer with dress pants is a valuable weapon for the modern worker when they’re making a value ask of their peers or trying to impress a higher-up in an important meeting. But don’t overdo it. Bunching up your shirt into the refinements of your waistline on a daily basis is soul-crushing, and it also loses the potency typically associated with nice dress clothes. When you tuck-in your shirt everyday, people are going to expect you to one-up that apparel choice every time you enter a potentially higher-impact situation. You’re already in a pressure-filled meeting, you don’t need other people mercilessly critiquing your clothes as well. Keeping a standard, untucked shirt portfolio lets you keep equilibrium in your wardrobe and keeps the expectations of others reasonable. You can dress down and dress up with ease…let’s keep it that way.
If there’s anything that the millennial has killed, it’s the constant need for tucking in your shirt. I’m more than okay with that. Cheers!.
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@TaylorLaabs
@taylor1laabs
As long as you aren’t doing the half tuck
had the tailor add that rubberized strip into all my dress pants, holds the shirt in place so you never have to retuck. 100% worth it (i think it was like 8 bucks per pair of pants)
I dunno man, those 12 years of Catholic school really imprinted the ‘tucked-in, belt-on, one button-open’ mantra
The problem wouldn’t lie in the younger population, but moreso in the middle aged male co workers who would end up looking like a “cholo on Easter Sunday”. As sourced from an article earlier this week.
Recently rewrote the company dress code. You’re welcome, company where I work, for the relaxed af dress code.
I’d love to untuck my shirt at work, but we have a business casual dress code and untucked dress shirts with slacks just don’t work.
Button-up and slacks is basically a tuxedo in SF.
Pretty much. But if a client who’s about to give our company 7-8 digits decides to drop by and see the people who will be managing his 7-8 digits, you best be wearing a tuxedo.
Fair.
Check out the clothing brand UntuckIt. They make collared shirts that are meant to be worn untucked. They fit really well and don’t make you look like that drunk guy at a wedding whose shirt is untucked 2 minutes into the speeches (usually me).
It really depends on your pant/shirt/shoe combo. You won’t see my in oxfords without a typical dress pant thus I must tuck. But… here in Michigan (shouts to Will) we embrace summer and then I will have my mock-loafs on, no socks, cotton pant, polo untucked.
In most jobs people should wear whatever they want as long as it’s clean. Formality of dress really doesn’t have any bearing on productivity and its just another way for The Man to control you. If you do something particularly client-facing then you gotta look sharp, but wearing khakis and neckties for your co-workers is just a circle-jerk.
I almost exclusively buy work shirts that are meant to be untucked