For me, one of the strangest things about aging is that I actually enjoy giving more than receiving. 15 years ago, had you asked me if I ever thought that would happen I would’ve vehemently denied it. Now, I love the feeling of someone receiving something they genuinely love. Speaking of receiving something you genuinely love, I just recently got this whole outfit Bonobos.

In order to do the best giving you can this season, dressing the part plays a huge role (as it does with everything, in my humble opinion). I particularly love the dark color palette of this outfit. This black plaid blazer from Bonobos, for starters, is automatically making me feel better about myself because it’s crazy stylish and fits really well right off the rack. I’m 6’3 185 lbs and ordered a 40R slim.

Additionally, underneath the blazer I thought it would be fun to go with a monochromatic base layer. This purple merino sweater is totally machine washable and the color is really nice to grab some attention in all of the right ways. I layered it over this Bonobos grey button up shirt because winter is the perfect time for layers and a neutral tone like this light grey combines really nicely with the pop of color from the purple.

For my pants, I saw these dark burgundy slim fit corduroy pants and loved the idea of almost matching them with my sweater to form a cohesive base layer for the jacket to pop against. By matching your pants and your shirt or sweater, you create a uniform canvas for your outerwear to contrast with and it makes two individual statements. I love color, so I went with the purple, but you could do any other color and it would work similarly.

This is an outfit that makes me feel so good, I don’t care about receiving anything from anybody. I’m all about trying to make everyone else feel as good as I do by giving them whatever I can!

Shop this whole look below, just hover over different parts of the outfit and you can click directly to shop the pieces. Pretty cool!

Thanks for reading! Questions? Comments? Find me on social media @parkeryorksmith or email me directly at parker@thelooksmith.com!