Listen Up Guys: Dress Pants

Ok, I know you all have dress pants out there. Not suit pants, but those dress pants that you wear to work and not much else because making them look casual is a little tough. Last week I saw the most perfect dress pants outfit that I have ever seen at Barrique's and really wanted to ask the guy for his picture but wanted to avoid being creepy so I'll just have to verbally re-create it for you. You can wear them anywhere you want to appear to have some style (like dates or out on the town) and look so much better than if you wore jeans and a button down (and so much more personality) First things first:
1) Shoes - Dress pants do NOT need to be worn with dress shoes. This is the best way to make them look more casual. You can wear them with this kind of shoe:

Victorinox
or rock them with these. Ignore the grey pants this guy has on and imagine the grey pair of dress pants that you have sitting in your closet for Monday morning meetings or interviews. They have to be a little tighter at the bottom (you can have them tailored to fit this way and this look is huge right now). They go really well with beat up Converse as well.

2) Belt. Another great way to make your dress pants look cooler. Take that boring leather work belt and put that away for weekday wear, if you're brave, rock a studded belt instead. If that's not your style, try a belt buckle that you can find at just about any vintage store.

Rag and Bone
3) Shirt. This one is important. Blazer and T-shirt is the easiest so I suggest starting there. There are a couple of rules with this. Do NOT go with the T-shirt from the 5K you did last summer. In other words, use one of your good T-shirts. I'd suggest one that's black if you're unsure but I've seen some really cool pairings with colored and vintage shirts (like the D.A.R.E shirt you still have in the closet somewhere.)
If you want to go with a white tee and a casual blazer, that looks good too if you went the belt buckle route.