Dress Like a Man (13 page)

While matching contrast levels isn't a hard and fast rule, it is a good guideline. Lower-contrast men make strong, bold contrasts look more vivid, which can become overwhelming, while high-contrast men tend to seem a little washed-out in muted color schemes.

Men looking to add contrast to their outfits should be thinking in terms of clear, sharp dividing lines between very dissimilar colors: white against black, blue against yellow, and so on. To reduce color, men should lay similar colors side by side instead: blues next to purples and greens, reds next to oranges and yellows, and so on.

Matching Schemes - The Color Wheel

Figuring out your general level of contrast is a lot easier when you know which colors "go together" and which colors "clash."

A lot of the language people use to talk about colors is subjective. Some of it is downright misleading -- for example, a lot of people will talk about clothes as "matching," as in "does this shirt match this jacket," when what they're actually talking about is a good color relationship.

The color wheel -- a circular diagram of the visible color spectrum -- is a handy cheat-sheet for wardrobe planning here.

You don't need to understand the scientific theories of how light strikes our eyes and sends signals through our optic nerves to see how the colors relate to one another on the diagram. A glance shows you how any one color relates to all the others, and with that information you can plan a coherent color scheme:

• Complementary color schemes
  are a visually-appealing, high-contrast strategy. Colors that are directly opposite one another on the color wheel, called "complementary colors," relate in a way that seems natural and harmonious to our eyes. However, they also register as very distinct and separate colors, making them a better option for high-contrast men than low-contrast.
  
• Analogous color schemes
  take the opposite approach, using two or three colors that are directly adjacent to one another on the color wheel. This provides variety, but little contrast, creating a flattering color scheme for low-contrast men.
  
• Triad color schemes
  use three colors evenly spaced from one another on the color wheel (purple/green/orange), for example. They work well for men who want variety, but still want to keep their colors balanced. It's a good approach for men of any complexion when they want a bright, vibrant outfit that doesn't clash.
  

There are more complicated varieties you can get into (split-complementary schemes, for example, where one color is paired with the two colors directly
adjacent
to its complement), but those three -- complementary, analogous, and triad -- all represent effective, balanced approaches that make good use of color wheel relationships.

Should you feel bound to the color wheel? No. Not entirely, at any rate.

It is a good way of testing how "natural" a color scheme is. Our eyes and brains like things that balance nicely along the visible color spectrum.

But the color wheel also only works in "pure" colors, at their brightest and most unadulterated. It doesn't take into account hues and shades (created by adding white and black, respectively, to lighten or darken a color), and it doesn't represent earth tones (made by a mix of colors) or the black-to-white grayscale at all.

That makes it a good guideline when you're working with bright colors -- but not the sum total of color for men.

A Color-Balanced Wardrobe

At the end of the day, matching is going to be easiest when you have clothes that work well together.

This goes back to the core idea of an interchangeable wardrobe (see Chapter 5 for more detail on that subject). Ideally, you want to be able to "match" most of your clothes with most of your other clothes.

That means having a wardrobe that's long on versatile, flexible pieces, with a few more unique and colorful items for spice. Here's a rough breakdown of the colors found in menswear, in order from the most-useful to the least-useful:

White

This is the default "blank slate" color -- plain, neutral, and above reproach. A white dress shirt is pretty much always acceptable, from the most casual settings on up to anything short of formal attire. (Even then the shirts are white -- just a little more specific in construction).

White works best as part of an outfit's "background" rather than the dominant color. Shirts will always work; jackets and trousers are more iffy. Save them for fancy events like weddings, or pair them with some colored shirts and accents to relax them a bit.

Emotionally, white is associated with purity and health.

Gray

Like black and white, gray is color-neutral. It's less stark than those options, however, which makes it a prime choice for a good deal of menswear, especially business attire: suits, trousers, and jackets all do well in any shade of gray, with the darker shades more formal than the lighter.

Gray shirts are less common, but can be a good neutral base when white would be too stark or formal.

Typical emotional associations for gray are strength, authority, and dignity, as well as age and maturity.

Navy Blue

This is your most colorful option for business suits, as well as for the more conservative end of blazers and jackets. It's the only accepted alternative to charcoal gray and plain black for strict business wear.

Blue is a youthful color, making navy a good color for older men who want to add a hint of vibrancy without seeming frivolous. It goes naturally with yellow (they're complementary colors -- remember the color wheel?), making navy blazers and khakis an enduringly popular combination. 

Deep blue has emotional associations with stability, responsibility, and conservatism.

Black

For all its formal associations, black isn't actually as common in menswear as the colors we've listed above.

Its main role is as an accent color to other dark clothing: black shoes, belts, watches, and sometimes ties go well with gray and navy suits, jackets, and slacks.

Black suits do exist, but they're excessively somber for many occasions, and less flattering to most men's complexions than charcoal or navy. Broadly speaking, it works better as an accent color than a core color.

Emotionally, black is associated with formality, solemnity, sadness, and mystery. The latter also sometimes makes it a "sexy" color -- black jeans and black jackets have bad boy appeal.

Blue (Non-Navy)

The above colors represent the most business-formal end of menswear: black, charcoal gray, and navy for suits, and white for shirts.

Now we start moving into brighter, livelier colors, of which blue has the largest role in menswear.

Through various accidents of history (primarily the specific costs of dyes and soaps at the start of the Industrial Revolution), blue became the default color for many working men's cotton shirts. We get the phrase "blue collar" from the days of detachable shirt collars, when working-class families dyed the white collars blue to keep them from showing wear and tear as quickly.

Light blue shirts, as well as white shirts with various blue patterns on them, make up the majority of non-white dress shirts. Blue oxford if the iconic material here.

There are also blue jeans, in shades ranging from light powder blue to deep indigo, and many different shades of blue used in necktie patterns.

If you really don't
like
blue, it's possible to avoid it. But for most men, it'll be the dominant color in the day-to-day wardrobe, so plan to own lots of things that go well with it.

A few emotional associations with bright shades of blue: youth, hard work, middle class values.

Brown

On the subject of things that go well with blue: brown items do it very well.

Brown enters men's wardrobes both as an accent color (brown leather shoes, belts, watch bands, etc.) and as a core color (brown slacks, sports jackets, and occasionally suits).

Because brown is a blend of visible colors, rather than a color on the color wheel, it tends to not clash with anything. It can look awkward with black, but -- depending on the brightness -- brown is usually a safe, neutral pairing for any color.

Various lighter browns and earth tones make up the bulk of tweed jackets and suits, as well as most of the non-dark dress slacks. Even khakis generally read as a light brown, verging into yellow depending on the shade.

It's a practical functional color, and it deserves a lot of room in your wardrobe. Most people associate brown with trustworthiness (it's been a favorite color of salesmen for generations), common sense, and comfort.

Yellow

Once you take into account the full range of golds, light yellows, yellowish tans/khakis, and yellow-greens, yellow has a surprisingly large spot in the wardrobe.

It's a common choice for both patterned and solid shirts, a staple of neckties, and -- in its most subdued forms -- a natural color for slacks, especially those paired with blue blazers.

For most men, this will be the best-represented of the bright colors. That doesn't mean it'll dominate the wardrobe, but it should be in there, and the more blue you have the more yellow will come in handy for creating complementary color schemes.

Emotionally, yellow represents energy, optimism, and extroversion. The brighter the hue, the stronger the emotional association.

Green

At this point we're well into accent colors that have only a small role in the wardrobe. Green, and all the following colors, will have as large a part in your wardrobe as you want: most men will have a favorite accent color or two (hopefully ones that go well with their complexions), and very little of the others.

Green blazers are not unheard of, especially in East Coast prep circles. Other than that, greens mostly appear in patterns on shirts, or as an olive drab in casual and business-casual wear. Green overcoats are not uncommon, and bright green pants (usually denim or corduroy) are available for the fashion forward.

The color is most commonly associated with health, vigor, and nature.

Purple

Like green, purple can occasionally crop up as a rich jacket or suit color, but it mostly appears as part of a pattern.

Lavender striping is sometimes used in place of traditional white pinstriping, and the color is popular for dress shirts and neckties as well. It's seen as a "safe" way for men to work some color into their business wardrobes.

Associations for purple are exoticism and royalty -- a holdover from times when purple dyes were extremely expensive to make.

Red

There are really only two main uses for red in a men's wardrobe: as a "power" color, generally used for neckties and pocket squares, and in light shades of pink or deep oxblood hues for shirts (solid and patterned against a white background).

Some men may also end up with red-tone leathers. Traditional cordovan, still used for casual dress shoes, has a bloody red tint, and has spawned imitators as well.

Red is associated with power, sex, and flamboyance -- all of which are "a little goes a long way" sorts of associations.

Orange

Neckties, pocket squares, contrast stitching on dark-colored jeans, and not much else -- that's the lot of orange in the man's wardrobe.

It can work as a shirt color, especially for dark-skinned men, but orange is mostly just too bright to serve a role beyond small accents. The only place you'll see orange suits or jackets is at proms and at universities with orange in their school colors.

If orange has an emotional association, it's with wacky, over-the-top fun and extroversion. Use it sparingly.

C
HAPTER 22:
U
NDERSTANDING
P
ATTERN

Big blocks of solid color aren't necessarily the most flattering look out there.

Some guys can pull it off (especially high-contrast men -- see the previous chapter for more discussion about contrast), but most of us look better with varied lines and shapes in there to break up the colors.

Patterns are not as challenging as they might seem to fashion novices. You can mix and match them pretty freely, following one basic rule:

Never put two different patterns
of
the same scale
directly adjacent to one another.

That means if you're wearing a jacket with thin, wide-spaced pinstripes, don't wear a shirt with broad, thin-lined checks underneath. The patterns are different, but there isn't enough difference between their physical scales.

The same pinstriped jacket would work just fine with a small-scale microcheck shirt, or even with thick vertical stripes. It's about varying the scale up more than it is the specific patterns.

Most available patterns break down into stripes (lines going a single way), checks (lines intersecting at right angles), and figures (repeating arrangements of a small design or shape). Those three basic approaches lend themselves to a startling array of options; here we list the most common in menswear, along with their dimensions.

Pin Stripe

The most restrained pattern a man can get short of a solid color, pinstripes are often seen on business suits, jackets, and trousers. White stripes against a dark background is the most traditional approach.

One of the defining features of a pinstripe pattern is that the stripes are spaced substantially further apart than their own width. That leaves a lot of "empty" space in the base color of the fabric, relative to larger, busier patterns.