The dress code in my office is business casual, and most of the men wear a long/short sleeved button down shirt or 3-button shirt in a lighter color with a pair of slacks.

I wore a wine colored long-sleeve shirt without a tie to the office. In speaking with another co-worker, he felt that wearing a darker color creates a dressier appearance, and maybe would be too dressy for the office.

Do darker colored shirts (red, blue, green etc) reflect a dressier appearance than lighter colored shirts?

Answer:

If you are wearing a Sea Island Cotton shirt with well-tailored finishing for the collar, sleeves, button holes, and buttons that is light-colored, then the quality of the dress shirt would make it anytime dressier than a dark colored shirt without all these qualities.

Another example is that oxford dress shirts are less formal than pinpoint or spread collar dress shirts. It is not relevant to the color of the shirt.

Assuming that both shirts are of the same quality in finishing, then indeed colors like light yellow, light wine, light green, light blue, are lesser in dressiness than medium blue, red, pink, olive, and black.

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