My hates to dress up for anything. We have compromised with dark jeans and either a button-down or one of his two wool sweaters. He wears solid black sneakers. I have yet to find an occasion where this outfit doesn't work (though we don't go to church or a country club). He even wore this combo to a job interview (yes, he got the job).

They're just clothes. It's not worth fighting over, IMO. If the kid looks like he made an effort, it's fine.

Anonymous wrote:Gosh, I haven’t seen khakis in 6 or 7 years at the prep school I teach at. Get dress pants and untucked button down shirts.

My son is required to wear khakis at his prep school (no jeans). They can be any color, but they must be khaki style. What I don’t see the boys wear is jeans. No teens wear jeans anymore. It is sweatpants or khakis only.

Anonymous wrote:GF’s mom told me dress at their club for dinner where they are eating is “casual,” which is why I assume no blazer there either, but again I am not letting him wear sweatpants.

I will look at athleta and lululemon pants - I never would have thought of that. But sounds like DS’s khakis and sperrys or sneakers would be fine, too, I just need to get him some kind of shirt and suggest he roll up the sleeves. Do your boys leave the shirt untucked or tuck it in? Also any suggestions where to shop for the shirt? DS’s “dress clothes” are from Brooks Brothers and he will NOT voluntarily wear his light blue button doen from there as he considers that “dressy.” He is a conservative dresser not fashion forward, but he will not want to look like a 40 yr old man .

I would check on the sneakers. If no traditional sneakers allowed, this thread on "dress sneakers" could help. https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1086119.page

Anonymous wrote:Your 17 year old isn’t a child anymore, they should be moving away from sweats and t shirts in public. Boston dress is also different from DC dress- less casual overall.

Tell my you don't spend any time in Boston without telling me....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS age 17 dresses almost exclusively in sweats and tshirts. If he needs to dress up, he wear khakis and a blazer, very traditional. In the summer, he wear khaki shorts and a polo type collared shirt if he needs to look nicer, say dinner with grandma. We have a few things coming up over the next few months that he should wear something nicer than sweats but not starched khakis and a blazer - e.g., dinner with grandparents in downtown Boston, dinner with girlfriend and her parents at their country club, June graduation parties. I’d appreciate suggestions of what clothing is appropriate. My husband will be wearing khakis and a sweater with button down underneath to the upcoming dinner in Boston, but teens don’t really dress as stuffy as that, right? My guess is for the grad parties he’ll wear khaki shorts and a polo, so I guess it is the two dinners I need advice for. Thanks a million.

What's wrong with the navy blazer for dinner at the country club?

Because he looks like he is wearing a uniform for an all boys prep school.

And that seems appropriate for a country club. If you were talking a hip new restaurant, that would make sense.

Anonymous wrote:Gosh, I haven’t seen khakis in 6 or 7 years at the prep school I teach at. Get dress pants and untucked button down shirts.

What pants do the boys wear if not khakis??

Anonymous wrote:Your 17 year old isn’t a child anymore, they should be moving away from sweats and t shirts in public. Boston dress is also different from DC dress- less casual overall.

Most adults I know wear t-shirts frequently when they aren’t at work. Where do you live? DH and I both had on athletic pants, tees and hoodies today and we were out and about. We dress appropriately at work or for a nice dinner but this is what we wear on the weekends.

Gosh, I haven’t seen khakis in 6 or 7 years at the prep school I teach at. Get dress pants and untucked button down shirts.

Anonymous wrote:Your 17 year old isn’t a child anymore, they should be moving away from sweats and t shirts in public. Boston dress is also different from DC dress- less casual overall.

I also told my kid starting at 16 that khaki shorts were not considered “dressy” anymore. If it’s a function where DH wouldn’t think it was appropriate for him to wear jeans or shorts then DS couldn’t either. For us, this was church or a family dinner in nicer restaurant where it was fine to wear shorts as a 10year old. Granted, at 6-2, my teen son looked like a grown man :)

He had a pair of tan/khaki pants and a pair of gray dressier pants that he pair with a polo style shirt or a plaid button-up or quarter zip sweater. The hardest thing was shoes, since it’s hard to keep shoes on hand that only wears 1-2x per year for fast-growing feet. He ended up wearing white Nike Air Force 1s once; but now that his feel have pretty much stop growing he has a pair of brown leather sneakers that works as “dressy”. He also has a navy suit he wore once for a wedding in 2019. He’s work the jacket as a sport coat with the khaki or gray pants a couple of times since.

Anonymous wrote:Your 17 year old isn’t a child anymore, they should be moving away from sweats and t shirts in public. Boston dress is also different from DC dress- less casual overall.

Tell that to every kid in his high school who wear sweats or shorts and tshirts daily.