Since I’ve had to employ a steady rotation of button-downs and oxford shirts five days a week at work for the past few years, I’ve made a conscious decision to look for ways to break up the monotony within the confines of office-appropriate attire.  Trovata, the California-based label and favorite of artfully tousled prepsters everywhere, is always good for some unexpected, quirky design details to mix things up a bit.  I picked up this striped shirt last week at Gilt at a pretty good discount.  In addition to the hidden placket and the lone buttoned pocket, the shirt features some of the signature contrast piping inside both cuffs and a button-down collar fastened from underneath.  More photos after the jump.

Sometimes in life, you make promises to yourself.  You tell yourself things like, “You haven’t done any Christmas shopping yet, and you’re moving next month, and you just spent an absurd amount of money on iTunes even though you can get all of those songs for free on Hype Machine, and God knows you’re going to be spending a ton of money on booze with all of the holiday parties coming up, so let’s try to be reasonable and not buy superfluous things like a blazer made of sweatshirt material that looks like something from “The Prisoner.”  But then, in some crazy coincidence, you happen to be in Topman looking for a gift for your little brother, and there right in front of your eyes is a blazer made of sweatshirt material that looks like something from “The Prisoner!”  What are the odds, right?

Budgeting doesn’t really fit into embracing the Christmas spirit, anyway.  More pics below.

If you have no self-control either, you can buy it here.

You can find a used denim jacket at pretty much any vintage or thrift store and on eBay for very little money.  Urban Outfitters also carries them this fall for around $60, if you must.  See some more photos after the jump.

(Shirt by Topman)