Years ago in a thrift store, I found the perfect pants. The formal look of slacks but without the obnoxious vertical slit pockets. The stiffer fabric and sensible pockets of jeans but with a more genteel cut. I now know these were golf pants, and I wear them every day for work.
I have an upcoming wedding, semiformal, indoors. I’m not in the bridal party, nor am I escorting anybody in the bridal party. Can I wear golf pants to this event, or do I need to go buy slacks, or even a full suit? I’m not opposed to buying a suit, I just want to know what my options are.
Edit: The specific pants I wear to work are these but I might buy something a little nicer for the event.
Every wedding is different.
A five-pocket layout (the jeans pocket style) is very casual. (I also personally hate it and love slant pockets, not sure why you think five pockets are sensible, but it’s personal preference, whatever).
I’m not sure what you mean by “genteel cut.” And you say the fabric is stiff, but golf pants are usually made of stretchy poly blends nothing like stiff denim.
Are you talking about five pocket chinos? Or what?
Can you show us the pants? What color are they? Dark or light? What about the material tag? Is there a pattern? Are the legs creased? I would never refer to pants as “formal” if they didn’t have a crease.
And then… Semi-formal is a weirdly vague dress code. Way back in the day, “Formal” meant White Tie, and “Semi-Formal” meant tuxedo. Nowadays, in the US, “formal” either means a tuxedo or a dark suit or… something like that, and then semi-formal means “idk, kind of what formal means, but I’m not that picky about it.” So maybe a nicer pair of dark chinos + a navy blazer would get the job done, but it’s really hard to guess what people are actually going to wear from the dress code.
I can’t stand slant pockets because whenever I sit or crouch, everything falls out of my pockets.
I was describing the vintage pair I first found, not much like contemporary golf pants in that regard.
Edited to include a picture of the ones I wear to work.
I’ll probably buy new for the event, but dark.
I feel the same way. My work ones are uncreased, but I’d want something with a crease for the wedding.
Yeah, that’s about it. Nice enough to ride sn airplane or open a bank account.
Can you now describe what you think a genteel cut is, and what you think a contemporary cut is? A lot of people think that “contemporary” means “slim,” which is just not true. And I still have no idea what you mean by “genteel” here.
Okay, these are polyester five pocket pants with no crease. They are extremely casual. I would not wear anything remotely like this to a wedding, myself… although I wouldn’t wear these in any event, but I suppose that’s a separate issue… Try to find some chinos with a crease. Maybe from J. Crew? Eh, all I’m seeing on sale is these, but they’re straight up white, so maybe something else.
In 2023, people do both of those things in sweatpants. Dress standards have melted away for most of life. And that’s mostly a good thing, but it gets tricky when you need to know what to wear.