The Menswear Poll

This poll is intended to take the temperature of menswear at a particularly interesting time for the industry, with a resurgent interest in more formal attire and explosion of debate and discussion online. Thank you for taking the time to fill it in. I will be fascinated to see the results.

Many assert that style goes in phases, with daywear or office wear being relegated over time to semi-formal wear, and semi-formal to formal. Tails, for example, have fallen through all three stages, and the lounge suit has gone from casual wear to smart office wear today…

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Know Your Palette

When I was a younger man, still an undergraduate and still naively optimistic about my future, I used to believe, in that customary fashion of youth, that I was capable of anything and undoubtedly suited to everything. On a brief shopping trip to a Polo Ralph Lauren factory store for ‘essentials’ – crew neck and v-neck sweaters – I grabbed a white crew neck jumper, which my other male companion had also selected for trial, and after pulling it carelessly over my head, marched triumphantly from the changing rooms to be appraised by the third companion, a female. She looked at us and winced in that peculiar way; a warning indication of the discomfort and awkwardness they were about to cause. My companion, she pointed out, was tanned and toned and the brilliant white looked magnificent next to his skin. I was rather pale and slight and, when compared to the sun-kissed specimen standing next to me, looked, as she put it rather indelicately, rather horrible indeed.

As degrading and puzzling it was to a young man who was stubborn in his resistance to defeat, I had to admit on reflection that she was exactly right. It is a glorious folly of youth to believe that we can do anything; limitations are forgotten, mistakes are made, albeit in the most honourable and admirable way. I eventually selected a navy blue jumper which, both of my companions agreed, suited me well. Although, I was still disappointed.

‘Know your palette’ has since been a mantra of mine when gazing upon the racks of the rainbow in countless stores. It is perhaps unfortunate for many people that some of the colours we adore are the most inappropriate and impractical. Like the doomed lovers; hearts aflame for one another, passionate and even devoted - but tragically unsuitable as partners. Such is my relationship with pastel greens, orange and purple: glorious colours that deserve to be worn, but not by me.

1. The Pale Caucasian

If you are, like me, a Caucasian of light brown or blonde hair, light skinned and perhaps a little freckly with green or blue eyes, then you might already be aware that some colours are not as appealing on you as others. Summertime might give way to a little tanned skin and generously highlighted hair, but generally speaking I find that strong ‘fruit’ colours; orange, banana, kiwi and the like, tend to overpower the subtlety of our features. In moderation white looks acceptable but when I use too much of it, my skin looks blotchy; it’s quite incredible how much redder a slight shaving rash can look wearing such quantities of this colour. The best tones to stick with are navy and mid blue, black, dark and moss greens and deep red. Ferrari reds do look delicious on the shelf, but when I see a ‘dark haired olive skinned lothario’ casually considering such a tone, I begin to realise my limitations.

2. The Dark Haired Olive Skinned Lothario

You are a fortunate chap. The appealing depth and patina to your skin tone, coupled with the shock crop of dark hair means you possess the striking qualities to compete with even the hardiest of difficult colours. Violets, purples, bright reds, tangerine yellow…it seems no bright colours can affect your image negatively. Having said that, certain shades don’t do as much for your overall image; weak navy blues flatter the Pale Caucasian and the Exotic tone, but against the dark chic of your visage they are rather something and nothing. Secondly, think ‘saturated’ when choosing unconventional colours such as pink – the just-about-pinks can drag your ensemble down from a fabulous to a mediocre.

3. The Exotic

If you have rich dark skin, you are also very fortunate. There are few colours that pose a challenge to the luxuriant tones of your face. However, it is wise to choose colours like white, bright blue, greys and red over browns, blacks and navy as the contrast is magnificent and much more appealing than wearing colours of the same palette as your skin tone. The fact that you are most likely to possess dark eyes means you can experiment wildly in terms of colour; watermelon, imperial purple and the like are all at your disposal.

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Odd Colour Combinations

There are a good few ways to stand out in a suit, almost as many as the chapters of a style book: cloth, cut, pattern, accessories etc. But one of the most rewarding and hardest to master is colour. It is so easy to get wrong – everyone can summon some lurid combination from his or her memory. I saw someone in a suit recently that had bulbous red chalk stripes on a grey/green ground. It was hideous.

Colour is also relatively easy to get right – blue suit, white shirt, blue tie; grey suit, pink shirt, black tie; grey suit, white shirt, almost any tie. What is genuinely difficult is a colour combination that is right but unusual. Something that stands out because it is not safe, and therefore is rarely worn; but that works.

Combining colours does not come naturally to many men. It is an artistic talent at heart, and one that few have pursued or developed. Most would ideally have a colour combination chart to refer to, but disliking such artifice, choose to re-wear the same few combinations.

I cycle to work most days, and keep a few suits and pairs of shoes in the office. So every morning I have to pack a shirt and tie, trying to picture how they will go with the suits, shoes and other accessories I have at work. It makes picking combinations even harder.

There are three combinations that I like particularly because they are different, and that I think stand out because they work. They are pink and green, purple and yellow, and blue and brown.

Pink and green works best as a shirt/tie combination: pale pink shirt, bright green tie. The tie I have is a sharp green polo tie, complete with small red insignia. I’m sure the red helps a little to harmonise with the shirt, but the pink and green themselves work wonderfully. Unusual, yes; but it works. I also have a dark green handkerchief with brown detailing that works just as well to complement an open-necked pink shirt. Red and green are of course contrasting colours, but they are too strong on their own to pair off well. With the red diluted into pink, it works.

Which segues nicely into purple and yellow, as they are also contrasting colours (for those who can’t remember art class, a primary colour’s contrasting colour is the result of mixing the other two primaries). Now purple and yellow are hard to match in a shirt and tie. I have one very pale yellow shirt that does work with a dark purple tie, but I think the two are best put together in bright but separated combinations – shirt and pocket handkerchief or socks and tie/handkerchief/shirt. Mostly I think yellow works best as the first of these pairings. Try a purple paisley handkerchief with your yellow shirt; or bright yellow socks with an otherwise sober purple tie.

My last combination is less unusual, but it is a perennial favourite. All too often I feel men reach for a drab or washed-out tie to go with their blue shirt – grey, black or a pale version of one of the colours above. Instead, try a brown tie, perhaps with a white stripe. The richness of the colour is unusual and draws the eye; the same works with a brown handkerchief (perhaps yellow/orange pattern) to an open-necked blue shirt. The same rule applies to brown shoes with a blue shirt, as is often said. The Italians like brown shoes they hardly wear anything else. Black is reserved for formal wear. Get a nice pair of chocolate Oxfords and you may find yourself doing the same.

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Thanks, and the Influence of Others

Thank you to all of you that took the time to respond to the question I posed in my last posting, on the best material for odd trousers – something between flannels and jeans. You’ll be pleased to hear that I found a good compromise in a pair of dark khaki cotton trousers from Zara. Not the most luxurious pair in the world, but then they are an experimentation still. The next pair may be made by Mr Tam in Hong Kong.

Cotton trousers are clean and crisp, yet light and casual enough to do without a crease, for example, and be more casual. This weekend, to use one commentator’s advice, they may find themselves paired with loafers. Perhaps even Converse, which are the only trainer slim and simple enough to work with trousers such as these.

The shoes and the accessories are as important as the clothes they complement. And given that my tastes are always screaming for an opportunity to wear a pocket handkerchief, everything else needs to run down the other end of the spectrum.

The responses to my question also highlighted a thought I often have – the surprising extent to which the people around us affect what we wear and what we think about what we wear.

This has several levels. First, working in an office will have its own dress code and expectations. In mine many people wear jeans. Senior management wear suits, but a t-shirt and jeans are perfectly acceptable in junior staff. I dress smarter than most, and give it more thought than most. But given the low average, the upper reaches of sartorial expression are probably inadvisable. I should have described these circumstances in detail in my question, as they affect the answers more than anything else.

Second, most people have insecurities and fears, no matter how small, about their clothes. Especially if they put a lot of thought into them. Every stylish man has moments he would rather forget in his past, and is a little afraid of it happening again. You check yourself in shop windows, tug at that handkerchief even though you know you shouldn’t, or straighten and tighten your tie. Confidence builds with age and experience. But it’s a long time to wait.

Third, other people affect you in subtle ways no matter how confident you are. Would you wear a handkerchief so often if everyone else did? Absolutely everyone else? You might like to think you’d feel gratified that everyone embraced a piece of clothing you love so much. But would it hold quite the same importance for you? And how about if no one else wore the same thing? Not in magazines, not across history – if it had no precedent, all of a sudden? Does it not almost entirely determine your impression of an item of clothing?

No matter how confident we are, what we see around us affects our more than we realise or would wish. The question I posed is one of personal taste, only to a certain extent. Fuddy-duddiness is a question of attitude, only to a certain extent. After all, we see what other people wear far more than we see our own outfits.

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Avoid the Herding Instinct

I like to read my fellow MensFlair columnists articles when I get the chance. Managing my own blog as well as drafting regular columns for arguably one of the best menswear sites on of the Web can be a bit challenging at times. As we all search for new, thoughtful, educational or just plain interesting columns in which to espouse our views on any given subject, we sometimes find ourselves in the role of oracle.

This is a tricky thing. While it is, in my service-oriented opinion, a social obligation for someone with an expertise in a given discipline to render assistance when needed, it is easy for those on the receiving end to accept that advice as sartorial law. Luckily, most of you are not shy about telling us when our arguments are flawed and where our viewpoints are just plan off. And that’s the way it should be.

I say all this without any disrespect to my fellow authors, of course. I think they are some of the best style bloggers out there. We all have our particular angles when it comes to menswear. Yet we also know that our particular proclivities are just those – a personal inclination unique to each of us when it comes to dressing. We write about that we know and what we like.

If you don’t already, take some time and think about your own stylistic likes and dislikes before you start looking to us for any guidance. Do you like pleated pants even though we almost uniformly tell you not to? Are you an ardent fan of patent leather white shoes? Do you prefer baggy deconstructed suits with padded shoulders to tailored, elegant models?

While I may disagree with almost all those choices, if they’re what you happen to like, who I am I to dictate otherwise? I will tell you this however; make your clothing choices relevant to today.

Too often I see men who are stuck in a particular time period or fashion cycle where they happen feel most comfortable. While this in and of itself is not a crime, not adapting those styles to the modern world is, to me, a serious crime because you typically look silly where you could have looked distinctive.

I once worked with a political consultant who had some remarkable suits that were without a doubt made in the late 1970s. They were custom jobs that he had handmade in London and was still clearly fond of each and every one. The problem was that he wore entire outfits that belonged in the 1970s. From shoes to ties, shirts to belts, he looked laughable but just couldn’t see it. It was his comfort zone and that was that.

The suits, with their pronounced patterns, wide lapels, wide bottomed trousers and overall exaggerated cut could easily have been tweaked into a stylish, slightly retro look. By updating his shirt and tie, investing in new oxfords and trying out new belts or braces, this very intelligent guy could pull together a hip and unique style all his own that still belongs in the modern world.

Be your own man and establish a personal style that is right for you. Take the advice and expertise that sites like MensFlair have to offer but filter it though your own likes and dislikes. And if you totally disagree with one of our pronouncements, that’s great news because it tells me that you still have your own style goals.

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