The Formality Scale: How Men's Clothes Rank From Formal To Informal

About this video

The Gazette team provides a comprehensive guide to understanding the formality scale in classic menswear, explaining how colors, textures, patterns, structure, and design details determine whether garments are casual, formal, or somewhere in between. They systematically break down formality principles across jackets, pants, shirts, ties, and shoes, then demonstrate how to cohesively combine pieces at matching or intentionally mixed formality levels.

Key takeaways

• The Gazette team argues that smoother, shinier fabrics and darker colors are more formal, while textured, brightly-colored fabrics are more casual—and that structure in garments (through interlining, canvas, and starching) increases formality
• The Gazette team explains that jacket details like peak lapels, jetted pockets, and no vents are traditionally formal, while patch pockets, notch lapels, and center vents are casual; similarly, shirts with stiffer collars and French cuffs are more formal than soft button-down collars and barrel cuffs
• The Gazette team recommends that highly formal outfits maintain consistent formality levels throughout all pieces, while casual outfits allow for mixing formality levels more freely—and they demonstrate this principle by deconstructing their own outfit’s mixed-formality approach

Episode details: published July 20, 2020 · 303K views · 25:39 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. The style guidance summarized here is the Gentleman’s Gazette team’s own teaching and opinion, presented for education; product recommendations are theirs, not ours. Summaries are written by Self Growth Videos from each video itself.

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