What I wore yesterday...to a wedding.

I wore this outfit yesterday afternoon/evening. It was for a solemnisation ceremony that started at around 530pm which continued with a dinner later in the evening. It was a momentous occasion for the newly weds and according to the invite we were supposed to be dressed 'Smart Casual'. 

The women folk are usually dress up with their gowns, baju kurungs, kebayas and other proper garments. With the necessary makeup too. The men are usually a more casual bunch. The older folk would come in a batik shirt and trousers. Quite appropriate as batik is considered as formalwear in these parts of the world. The younger chaps would come in a dress shirt and chinos. It was warm evening actually. Temperatures were soaring due to the equinox and the el nino so they say. 

But I still chose to dress appropriately. A cotton-linen unstructured, unlined double vented hopsack blazer by Massimo Dutti. A thin white cotton dress shirt. A bespoke pair of trousers, beltless with side adjusters, cuffed. I actually decided to wear over the calf socks too with a pair of brown chisel toe wholecuts. Pocket square and boutonniere to complete things. Yes, I knew the function was going to enter into the night but I actually decided to dress down a little in the shoe department and not wear a black pair of shoes. I also chose not to wear a necktie.

I was actually quite right to do so as there were only three people wearing a suit, blazer or a sports jacket that evening. The groom (who wore a modern slim fit suit with slim lapels and he wore a necktie), another chap in a less than fitting corduroy sports jacket and I. The bride, who is a close friend of my other half actually said I was appropriately dressed for the occasion. I suppose I was. 

Was I actually dying in the heat? No. It was hot and ridiculously humid but as I was indoors most of the time it was never unbearable. And wearing linen and cotton actually helps. You sweat a little and the hopsack linen fabric allows air to pass through cooling things down faster than you think. The right fabric and the right weave is what you really need.