Smart casual – one of those hard to define, entirely subjective phenomena that always seems to be sprung on you at the most awkward of times. Is it a blazer and a t-shirt? Or maybe a knitted sweater and chinos? Possibly even a button-up and jeans?
It’s almost impossibly hard to pin down what that phrase actually means. But every now and then we’ll spot something that we can only describe as smart casual – and the latest thing to fulfil that juxtaposing criteria is a collection from DESCENTE All Terrain.
For their latest release, the Japanese outdoor brand have turned their attention to urban activewear – although you won’t find any neon colours or reflective detailing that we’ve come to know the genre for here in the UK. Instead, the I/O collection blends muted tones with technical fabrics to produce a cohesive wardrobe that’s suitable for the outdoors, office and everything in between.
The garments in the collection appear across a spectrum of formality – beginning with blazers, skirts and shirts and ending with tees, sweats and a particularly fetching Harrington jacket. There’s genuinely an answer to everyone’s idea of smart casual in this release.
But our favourite thing about this DESCENTE drop, is how cohesive everything is. The entire collection is designed to be mixed and matched, and the campaign visuals prove it – these are items that can be dressed up, or down depending on the formality expectations of whatever event you’re attending.
As always with DESCENTE, everything in the collection is constructed of technical fabrics that bring performance into the everyday. The AW26 Allterrain I/O collection is built around subtle performance, using stretchy, water-repellent materials and sportswear pattern technology to allow movement without compromising its polished aesthetic.
And that’s exactly the achievement here: smart casual may be one of fashion’s most baffling, mind-boggling near-on infuriating phrases, but DESCENTE Allterrain has brought clarity to it.
Shop the DESCENTE Allterrain I/O release at allterrain.descente.com
