What color goes with...Does this match?

Does this match?  I hear this question so often I chuckle each time I hear it.  Men, please take a deep breath and repeat after me..."I don't match, I coordinate!"

The man in this photo for example; captured and documented on The Sartorialist, is a nice, mainstream example of how you can wear four different colors together at the same time.  Sure, the pin dots play off each other in a potentially matching way; but nothing "matches" the blue shirt.  It's just a pop of color that coordinates wonderfully with the brown suit and burgundy tie.  Additionally, it's a great example of how you can mix different browns together.

Since you men like rules and guidelines, I will educate you in this format:

Matching Rules:

1.  Your socks should match the color of your PANTS.

2.  When wearing a formal suit, your suit jacket should perfectly match your suit pants (thus, always wear and dry clean them together).

3.  Another rule about formal wear; your dress shoes and dress belt should generally match (same color!).

4.  For a sleek, elegant look, go for the monochromatic style: your shirt, pants, shoes, belt, etc. are all the same color.  Or, wear all black clothing and a rich dark brown for the accessories (shoes and belt).  Yes, you can wear dark brown with black!

5.  If you are wearing black separates (items bought separately from different dye lots or different brands) make sure the black perfectly matches the other black pieces.  Nothing looks tackier than a man wearing black pants and a completely different hue of black jacket or shirt, etc.  Black is one of the toughest to match to be honest.

6.  Your pocket square does not need to match your tie.  Yes, you can, but you can also pick a coordinating color to add interest and a pop of color.  See the photo above for example.

 
How to Coordinate color:

1.  Don't match!!!!

2.  If you are wearing brown shoes, wear a brown belt, but they don't have to be the exact same color brown.  They just need to coordinate and be "similar" in hue (same type of brown-dark, light, red undertones, etc.).

3.  Think about colors that coordinate well together.  For example, turquoise and brown coordinate beautifully.  Olive green and pink/purple are awesome.  They don't match, they coordinate and add interest to each other. 

4.  Orange is a fabulous accent color, even for the timid.  Don't be afraid to coordinate orange accents into your wardrobe.  See how nicely the orange and lavender look together?  An orange tie like this would look fabulous with most dress shirt colors and would really add interest to a brown, black or navy suit or sport coat.

5.  When coordinating a tie to a dress shirt, you don't need to match the color of the tie to something in the dress shirt pattern!  Instead, make sure they coordinate (do these colors look good next to each other?).

6.  Dark brown shoes look amazing with black pants (and most other colors to be honest).  I repeat, yes, you can wear brown and black together!

7.  Grey also looks amazing with brown.  The lighter the grey, the lighter the brown (and vice verse).

8.  People who wear their style well and get a second, third, etc. look from others are those who wear a completely monochromatic look OR those who understand that matching is for the birds and coordinating is the key.  They mix different colors, sometimes incorporating bold, subdued and contrasting color all into one look.  See photo at right.

9.  Next time you get dressed, don't think "does this match?"  Instead, think "does it coordinate?"

The man in the photo to the right is a great example of a man who would get a second look.  While I feel the balance of his choices is a little off (his long legs are overly accented due to the short vest), his overall look is interesting and sophisticated.  The turquoise blue shirt pops and complements the mixture of browns.  I love how he mixes black and near-black accessories into his look.  And his hat is amazing and I would love to see more men wear hats (I think you might enjoy the weather protection too for those of you with short hair cuts!).

I'm curious... if I came up with a "manly" version of Garanimal-inspired tags for men's clothing, would you like this?  Basically, it would be a clothing tag where fashion-challenged men knew which items "match" and thus take the guesswork out of getting dressed.  I'm curious to hear what your thoughts are.

Kudos to Trunk Club members Mr. MD and Mr. MC for helping me formulate the idea!

-Lisa Bruckner, Trunk Club Expert

Comments

[Chris B]

Loved the article Lisa...glad we could provide some inspiration. I saw a man on tv today wearing all black with brown accessories...and I wondered if that was cool. Amazing timing with reading the article.

Being that guys are visual, the pics really helped...would appreciate more such examples in the future.

I would be interested in the matching tag...would certainly be helpful in the beginning.

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I bookmarked your post will read this latter

Regards

Johny

[Doug]

The matching tag is a great idea. Color coordinating can be such a hastle and having a tag would make shopping for the items much easier and save time and the hastle of taking my wife. Great article

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