Harmony is the easy part, tension is the hard part. Learning to build harmonious outfits is just about learning how to match formalities, aesthetics, silhouettes, and colors, in a basic, pleasing, straightforward way. Tension is contrast, discord, surprise, juxtaposition. It directs your attention to some unusual pairing. It challenges you to see the intent behind the outfit. But if there is no such intent, or the intent is some ill-conceived take on comfort or "just what all the guys wear“ (when said guys are notoriously bad at clothing), the tension can only read as a bombastic mistake. The "midtown uniform" is one of these mistakes, driven by history. The top half of the outfit is a confused, Pareto-optimized casualization, where guys just took away one element of a formal outfit at a time over the last 70 years instead of actually trying to make it more casual. The bottom half is a symptom of the slim-fit-everything era, when men wanted dress pants to fit like low rise skinny jea...