The Sub-$400 Outfit You Should Wear This Week

Outfit of the Week is a recurring series in which GQ Recommends helps you figure out how to dress for the M-F grind like a champion. 

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: It’s Monday morning, and you wake up in a daze to a cluttered inbox and a calendar littered with Zooms. Cooking up a quick plate of eggs—let alone an outfit worthy of your coworker’s judging eyes—feels like a daunting task. If you’ve ever experienced the particular kind of dread associated with figuring out what to wear after a weekend of thinking about anything but, you know exactly the type of ennui we’re referring to. Which is where your pals at GQ Recommends come in: To help you jumpstart the week, we cobbled together an unbeatable office-ready fit you can reliably turn to from now until it’s time to sign off again. 

And because the ol’ wallet is likely feeling a smidge lighter than usual after a weekend of boozy park hangs and late-night Ubers, we capped the budget here at a friendly 400 USD. (In return, all we ask is that you put the extra dollars towards a ticket somewhere without fluorescent lighting.)

As soon as the weather inches above 60 degrees, it’s hard to miss the telltale rustle of thousands of fellas slipping into Patagonia’s nylon shorts. Baggies are classics for a reason, but the shorts we’re feeling right this very second look a whole lot like the ones above: breezy cotton-linen joints outfitted with a crisp set of pleats. They read a little geezer, sure, but the spot-on fit—a couple of inches above the knee, just the way we like ’em—upgrades the erstwhile country club staple with a jolt of 2023 cool.  

Their blue-blooded pedigree means they’ll look killer with a rumpled Oxford shirt and beefed-up boat shoes, but if a button-up feels a little too buttoned-up for a lazy Monday afternoon, throw on Todd Snyder’s blanket-soft vest and a pair of knockabout kicks and crush that post-lunch meeting blitz like the Energizer bunny on speed. Round out the look with J.Crew’s retro-y tube socks, add a little arm candy to the mix to juice up your Zoom icon, et voilà: The only outfit you’ll want to wear this week, for approximately 352 buckaroos. Now get out there and carpe that diem—and every diem after that—until it’s time to check back here again. 

Looking for more outfit inspiration? Keep scrolling to see last week’s picks.

The hero of today’s get-up is J.Crew’s groovy camp shirt, printed with an aquarium’s worth of cheery marine critters and cut from a slinky cotton-viscose blend that promises to flutter satisfyingly in the breeze. Pair it with Banana Republic’s preternaturally relaxed linen pants, anchor ‘em both with Melissa’s rubber fisherman sandals, and set your vibe—if not your automated response—to OOO. (Your feet might shvitz a little, but it’s worth every drop of perspiration.)

When you’re headed out the door to grab a mid-day macchiato, top off the whole shebang with Uniqlo’s crushable bucket hat, add a gleaming pair of frames from the indie eyewear maestros at LA’s Bonnie Clyde, and get on with your day in exquisite style. 

Total cost: $379