Every season there’s one sacrifice we Brits make that no other country can match: changing out of work clothes straight into party ones. Americans go home and change; the French wouldn’t dream of turning up to a soirée in shirt and tie. And us?
We grin and bear it. Or rather, we grit our teeth, root around in desk drawers for a party hat, and try to “make do”. After all, what’s Christmas drinks without at least *trying* to wear something from your actual wardrobe?
The problem isn’t new to me. When I started my first real job at a glossy magazine back in 2016, one of the first things I realised was that, no matter how many years spent poring over GQ magazines, I didn’t actually know how to change for work drinks.
The email would come towards the back end of November: Christmas drinks, Friday 6–late, immediately following work on December 15th.
That “immediately following work” bit is where they fucking sell you. Because it doesn’t actually mean: wear something festive. It means: wear what you turned up to the office wearing this morning, but with a paper hat if you’re lucky.
My first Christmas at that job, still blissfully unaware, I rocked up wearing exactly what I’d worn to the office that morning: navy chinos, blue Oxford shirt, grey crew neck jumper. By 7pm, surrounded by colleagues in glitter, sequins and – in Tom’s unforgettable case – an actual full-on Santa suit, I looked like a barely-past-secondary-school kid who’d wandered in to complain about the noise levels. “Didn’t you get the email about the Christmas party?” Patrick, our Editor asked, twinkly-eyed and grave serious save for the flashing antlers protruding from his chest tie. “Mate, tis my party outfit” I halfheartedly gestured at my sleeves down-jacketed torso “look at me”, and that pitying look he gave me will follow me to my grave. Fast forward four years and I consider myself something of a hardened veteran.
I’ve since mastered what I like to think of as “work-to-party morphing”, the thing that separates wannabe-from-the-gents laundry employees from mid-tier-menswear-bloggers-with-delicate-compound-eye-care-routines who just look like they’ve somehowEndedUp At A Christmas Party. It’s time we burned that bridge together. Like with any transitional wardrobe wizardry, the key to pulling this off starts with your daytime attire.
For once, this actually calls for some forward planning. Admittedly something most men – myself included – aren’t renowned for. But don’t worry too much – what you wear to work that day can – and should – work double duty.
First up: trousers. You want a pair that’s dark but not jeans (unless your office is that kind of office), and smart but not suit trousers. Think sharp-fit, interesting-but-not-too-interesting fabric.
A wool blend with a little stretch is perfect. Go navy, grey, or if you’re feeling bold a deep burgundy. Something that’ll work well for whatever last-minute-meeting you thought you’d have to dash to before Christmas drinks but won’t look completely incongruous onstage doing karaoke after your fifth white wine Spritzer.
I love a pair of Reiss or COS around the £90-120 mark for this. Bit pricier, but Officine Générale make some goddamn beautiful ones that are cut impeccably (and come with a matching price tag). Important detail here: get a slightly higher waist than your day-to-day trousers.
Trust me. You’ll be sat at your desk all day, scoffing turkey and pastry by evening. You need that extra breathing room.
Next up: shirt. Layering is your friend here. Start with something classic but nothing too bland.
No white or blue Oxford shirts. You want that office-to-party shirt to have a little character without screaming “put me in a dark club and fuck me over”. Something with a pattern is great.
Checks? Go for small ones. Stripes?
Horizontal ones work best, but stick to subtle rather than full-on gangsta rap Zendaya onstage at Glasto stripes. Texture too. An oxford or chambray shirt can work wonders.
Or you could go bold with a dark green, deep burgundy or even a luxe purple. Just make sure whatever you pick would fly at your office daytime meeting but would equally not look totally shit if Santa stuck his head round your bedroom door and caught you partying from it. Now, cover that with a plain jumper or cardigan.
Something that’ll mute out your not-at-all-party-shirt just enough that you can get from the office to the pub without anyone questioning your professionalism. Navy, grey, camel; anything that’ll smarten up your bold-ish shirt without taking away from it completely. Ok, we’re nearly there.
Time for the magic. As soon as it hits 6pm and someone’s produced the first warm paper cups of prosecco, strip off that wooly jumper and reveal your borderline-not-boring shirt underneath. Science fact: taking off a jumper is somehow enough of a party uniform change for everyone around you to know: “Hey, this dude is cool and at a party now”.
It’s ludicrous, but it works. But we can go further. Dig around in your desk drawer or sling bag for a belt.
Better yet, change into a nicer belt than the one you’ve been wearing all day. It needs to be something with a bit of texture to it; something a bit more interesting than your bog-standard every day leather belt. I’ve got this woven leather number from Anderson’s that was about £100 but god does it come in handy for evenings like this.
Don’t worry about shoes – mostly. If your office dress code allows, I 100% encourage throwing a smarter pair than your day-time wear by your desk so you can slide those on come party o’clock. Edging dangerously close to how American men get ready here, but God do I love a good pair of leather Chelsea boots that I can wear to both the office and party looks.
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Just make sure they’re not your work Docs. Nothing screams “I worked really hard at morphing my outfit” quite like still wearing the same shoes you rocked up in that morning. Now spray.
Smell. Odor. Fragrance.
Whatever you wanna call it. You smelled like coconut and office musk at 7am. No one – least of all your mates at the Christmas party – wants to smell you coming like that.
So take a little atomizer of something a little lighter than your day time smell and spritz it on just before you leave the office building. Tom Ford Oud Wood is always a winner. So is Penhaligon’s Halfeti if you’re feeling like spending £90 on a bottle of cologne you’ll probably never wear again outside of December.
And finally: your coat. You arrive at the office wearing some bastardisation of a coat appropriate for a yeti’s winter habitat. You leave the Christmas party wearing about three layers less, considerably warmer from a mix of ambient beer garden heat and alcohol, and are still expected to walk home without dying of pneumonia.
There is no easy answer to this, I’m afraid. Short of sending your coat home with a friend or… keeping it at the office all weekend, your best bet is compromise. Buy a coat that matches both your day AND night wear.
I tend to go for something relatively unstructured; a wool overcoat in either navy or black that looks smart enough to work, but won’t look wildly overdressed if you crack on three whiskeys and find yourself ordering a burger from the kebab van at 2am. Try and avoid anything too technical,or too casual. That shiny North Face puffa jacket might as well be a binbag over your party-worthy clothes.
Conversely, that beautiful camel coat you love to wear to meetings will soak up enough Guinness to drown a small dog if you take it partying. Wild card for the truly committed: the Jamie method AKA “bag your coat”. Yep, same Jamie as in me and my wife co-running a (what I like to think is) pretty successful menswear blog.
Jamie – whether via foresight or just because he’s that kind of operationally efficient – has been leaving his coat at the local hotel whenever we’ve got Christmas meals or parties to attend for years. “It’s worth paying that extra tenner to the concierge,” he tells me, ”than having to sit outside all night with it or, worse, losing it.” Whether you utilise your friends’ cars, offices with lockable drawers, or – like Jamie – your local Premier Inn’s concierge, find a safe spot to leave your coat pre-party and you’ll never look back. Ok, one more thing coat-related. If you can, avoid bomber jackets.
Christmas is cold and yeah, technically you “could” get away with wearing your favourite jumper and Yankees jacket in both situations. Don’t. It’s Christmas, not Streetwear Thursday.
A note on Christmas-specific accessories. It’s a fine line between tacky Christmas club land asshole and pulling off some subtle festive flair. Novelty Christmas jumpers are thankfully no longer en-vogue (thank fuck) but all of that still applies to all the flashing tie variants out there.
And Santa hats. You’re welcome to a Santa hat, but not until 9pm sharp or until you’ve had your third drink. Whichever comes first.
If you must sprinkle a little Christmas on your outfit, do it with tasteful restraint; a pocket square with a little snowflake pattern nobody will notice until you specifically point it out, a flash of seasonal colour on your socks nobody can see until you’re sat down, or maybe a pair of subtly festive cufflinks. Just stop before you’re literally jingling. Paul Smith do some great understated-but-still-Christmas accessories if you want to avoid looking like your local pound shop got burgled on December 1st.
Alternately, why not go full winter, seasonal colours and textures rather than Christmas theme-related? Burgundy knitted tie? Green pocket square?
Rich jewel toned shirt? Same shit, different month. And velvet.
Velvet is always a good idea and screams winter without literally spelling out “merry christmas” You’ve mastered the work-to-party transition. Now let’s up the ante. Say you’ve been invited to a Christmas drinks *with clients*.
Or, heaven forbid, you have to attend an entire Christmas event “straight from the office”. So now you have to figure out how to make the work/party crossover while also not upsetting your clients/customers/fucking investors because you looked like you just rolled out of bed. Welcome to the tier above tier menswear blogging.
Time to deploy what I like to call the “business plus” technique.
Essentially, you wear your best work clothes but with just *two* improvements: Tie swap. Wear a slightly nicer/bolder tie than you would to the office.
Maybe something with a little subtle shine mixed in? Or a deep, wintry colour? Keep it at your desk and crack it on in the (loo) bathroom before you head out.
Good cufflinks if you’re rocking a French cuff shirt. If not, a nice watch. Ta-da.
Office-to-client Christmas party morphing, done. You look like you made an effort but not *too* much of an effort. And that, folks, is how you adult at Christmas.
