“Just smart casual is fine.” It’s the five words capable of delivering the world’s biggest eye roll. A dress code that is as nebulous and hard to pin down as our great galaxy. When does it end? How can you smarten it up? With a collar? Can you wear shorts? Is it leather shoes only? Do I wear a tie? Thankfully, help is here.

With a jarring recommencement of red carpet appearances from Hollywood’s biggest names, the Venice Film Festival has been the first instance we’ve seen some (those that have agreements in place with SAG-AFTRA and the WGA) of these figures on the red carpet. The canals of Venice, while home to plenty of dazzling formal looks, have also played host to some more pared-back outfits as celebs buzz around the Italian city. Both off-duty and red carpet looks have been proving to be winners for those of the opinion that smart casual is a state of mind, and while the outfits are no less sizzling in their chicness, they are also a little easier for us to pull off back home.

These actors and directors arriving to the piers and red carpets, are serving up some of the louchest, rakishly alluring, and subsequently appealing examples of smart casual—ripe for the picking for our upcoming warmer weather in Australia. Top buttons are left undone, ties are tied loosely around necks, if worn at all. Trousers are baggy, linen shirts are perfectly wrinkled and worn untucked. There’s an air of formality—it is a Film Festival after all—but there’s the understanding that it’s hot, and comfort comes first. There’s sandals with suits, sneakers with suits, as well as seersucker suits. Smart casual inspiration doesn’t come any better than in Italy.

Director Wes Anderson, in his traditional sartorial fare, is your best inspiration for a good summer suit. Seersucker, naturally, underneath Anderson’s relaxed blazer was a custom poplin shirt, embroidered with Anderson’s initials. Of course, you don’t need to go that far for your summer look, but the shirt—with cuffs undone and slightly sheer—is the perfect dressed-up outfit for a balmy summer’s day when the dress code does call for something a little formal. Add a square-edge knitted tie, and you’re set.

But if the full suit isn’t quite up your alley, director David Fincher has your answer. Another striped-suit acolyte, Fincher replaces the button down underneath instead with a breezy t-shirt, and a silver chain underneath. It doesn’t quite exude the formality of your suit and tie, but the effort with the blazer is enough to reap you the rewards of even the slightest elevation in dress code expectations.

Taking the suit in a different direction, Patrick Dempsey dropped the socks and threw on a pair of brown loafers, the Jon Hamm-approved outfit enhancer. Although in this context, it felt more reminiscent of a summertime look spent by the sea. Matching your undershirt with the colour of your pinstripes is a suave statement reserved only for the boldest of sartorial veterans

Otherwise, you can look to the talisman of Italian smart casual living, George Clooney. Venice Film Festival is something of a second home to the adopted Italian, with Clooney never failing to bring his timeless sense of luxury style to the Venetians. Clooney, as per usual, keeps things simple; seersucker trousers, an unbuttoned polo, and suede loafers. Granted, Clooney could make a tank top look smart casual, but his love of the basics is enough to get you by too.

Adam Driver exalted the timeless appeal of a perfectly worn-in linen shirt in his take on smart casual. Rolling through to the Ferrari photo call in a pair of black trousers and sneakers, with a cloud-grey linen shirt. Buttoned-down to the sternum, Driver’s simple but effective fit is a reminder that at the end of the day, it’s never worth overthinking it.

Reinstating the knitted polo’s claim to the smart casual throne, Mads Mikkelsen. Lighter in hand, fresh off the back of polishing a 25er of House of Prince, Mikkelsen is primed for a day in the sun. In varying earthy tones, as Justin Bieber did in a similar vein, Mikkelsen again reiterates the need for a knitted polo in the modern man's wardrobe. The do-anything top, here reimagined in a waffle-knit construction, is ideal for the sun of Venice, while the collar makes it perfect for the day’s formalities. It’s a can’t-miss classic, and with a tailored pair of trousers and minimal sneakers, should get you into just about any smart casual affair.

Cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, a longtime collaborator of Fincher, also brought another smart casual take on the suit: swapping out leather shoes for Adidas sneakers. There was a time when the idea of wearing a suit with sneakers was a horrific, feintworthy departure from the staunch conventions of traditional menswear, but these days, it’s just a fact of the new world. In fact, swapping into sneakers is the best way of bringing the formality of a suit, down to the realm of smart casual. This move generally pairs best with suits like Messerschmidt’s which is already a little more relaxed in the cut. Easy as.

Even shorts have their place in the off-duty rotation in Venice, and thus, a spot in the smart casual wardrobe. Peter Sarsgaard hightailed it through Venice with wife Maggie Gyllenhaal—equally as comfortably stylish, we might add, in a pair of linen shorts, worn with a sage green polo under a moleskin chore coat. Rounded out with a pair of velvet Clarks Wallabees, featuring an intricate Damask pattern. It was simple, elevated in the right places, and more proof that you can wear shorts and be considered dressed for the occasion.

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