The modern smart casual look

Smart casual wear is an ambiguous style. Its definition and meaning will vary based on the season, location and the people that you’ll be meeting. It can thus be complicated for men to know exactly how to dress smart casual appropriately.

In general, smart casual means neat chinos or a pair of dark-coloured jeans with a shirt, a blazer, and a pair of leather shoes. Your outfit should be well-fitting but slightly less formal than a business casual or business professional style. As Mr Porter’s Style Director put it, smart casual is “pretty much anything smarter than a tracksuit, but less formal than a suit.”

Smart casual is neat, conventional, yet relatively informal in style.”
– Oxford dictionary

If you received a wedding invitation that calls for smart casual attire, forget the jeans and go with nice chinos instead. A tie might not be required, but you should pack one just in case and dress up your blazer or jacket with a pocket square.