Charlotte men, drop the blue shirts and khaki pants. It’s not 1995 anymore.

“Do you remember that guy in the khaki pants and blue shirt?”

…said no one ever.

Last week, I was walking through Latta Arcade in Uptown when I saw something that was both too good and too bad to be true. I couldn’t believe my eyes or get my phone out fast enough to snap a quick picture.

Before me, I saw 15 twenty-something year old guys wearing blue button down shirts, khaki pants and black shoes. Exactly the same thing.

It’s been a joke around town for years that this is all you see during the work week, but this many together just blew me away.

I have a little different take on this than everyone, because I have been a banker in the Charlotte area for 15 years now, but I do not own a single blue dress shirt, pair of khakis or black dress shoes.

I’m 35 years old, and I know that the previous generation of professionals was all dark suit, white shirt and red tie. And for business casual, they wore khakis and a blue shirt.

But never, ever in my wildest dreams would I have thought that this new generation (with all of their independence, energy, and enthusiasm for life) would carry on this exact same “style” – or lack thereof.

I guess they look at their dad and mimic that.

And then they look at each other, and make sure that they all look exactly the same.

The thing that baffles me most about this is that I feel like one of the most exciting and challenging things in life is to differentiate yourself from others.

Get that big client assignment. Win that promotion. Get that girl or guy. Make that team. And that involves being different, even if just slightly, from everyone else.

With these guys I saw the other day, if you lined them up in a police lineup, I would have not a clue.

It’s not that hard to make some minor tweaks that go a long way.

Make sure your clothes fit correctly.

Try a pair of brown or tan shoes.

Navy pants are usually cool, with a light purple, pink, or gray shirt.

Invest in a quality belt that generally matches your shoe color, and think about getting a nice watch and pairing it with a cool bracelet.

Your day-to-day style game has just been upped 100%, and you no longer look exactly like everyone else. People will take notice.

Blue and white shirts can look fantastic when worn with a nice suit and tie, but by themselves paired with khakis or black pants are so 1995. And it’s not 1995 anymore, Charlotte… it’s 2017.