Shirt Meet Tie

Some men have terrible taste in shirts and ties – a quick glance around your work place will confirm it.

For those unfortunate enough to be confined to suits for the majority of their working week, fashion has to take a back seat. Corporate suits can often be mind-fumblingly dull and the sea of miserable faces trudging to work every morning is, to my mind, a mix of both work-based hatred and the realization that they really don’t know how to match up their shirts and ties.

Getting creative with your shirt and tie combinations is one of the best ways to showcase your love of fashion and style within a formal environment, but they’re extremely easy to get wrong. After all, colors and patterns can be confusing individually, but when you start mixing them together, all hell can break loose.

The Unstructured Suit

With tailoring continuing its resurgence in menswear circles, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to set your formal looks apart from the crowd. However, sometimes the smallest alteration to a classic style can help you achieve your goal. Our suggestion this season? Make the move from structured suiting to unstructured.

Due to its minimal padding and lining, the unstructured suit conveys a naturally relaxed vibe that will give your work-to-weekend ensembles a whole new outlook. Not only that, this type of style is, again, often made from lighter materials such as cotton or linen, ensuring you stay cool and comfortable as the temperatures rise.

The Checked Suit

With the majority of men still purchasing suits in standard shades of navy or grey, a subtle check is all you need to mark yourself out as a confident, stylish gent who is aware of the latest trends, but not a slave to them.

From windowpane to gingham, there is certainly a lot of choice on the current market – but to ensure versatility and longevity, we recommend you opt for a timeless neutral hue and a classic, muted pattern such as Prince of Wales check.

Those who don’t want to make so much of a statement should try breaking up the suit and wearing the jacket with solid colored trousers and brogues for an evening out – heritage chic at its finest. Alternatively, team your check trousers with a neutral blazer, white shirt and smart leather Derbies for dinner with the other half.

The Light Blue Suit

Timeless and highly versatile, the navy suit has long been touted by menswear publications as the only one you’ll ever need. Yet while navy is often the most admired, this season we suggest opting for a lighter shade of blue.

Seasonally-appropriate, a pastel or petrol blue suit will help give a contemporary twist to your smarter aesthetics without having to push your boundaries too far.

In terms of styling, keep it simple with a plain white shirt, linen tie and brown suede loafers for summer events, removing the tie and switching to white Jack Purcell for a modern take on smart-casual.

But don’t restrict yourself to wearing just the full suit – with blue continuing to dominate men’s wardrobes, you are bound to get endless use out of both the trousers and blazer when you split it into separates.

For instance, try teaming your jacket with selvage denim and brogues for a night on the town, or combining the trousers with a neutral colored polo and smart loafers when heading to the office on dress-down Friday.

Know why you're buying a suit

Are you hunting for a suit that you’re going to wear to the office once or more a week? (If so, keep it dark and classic.) Or are you looking for a suit you’ll wear a few times a year to weddings and funerals? (Black or navy is a safe bet.) Is it a suit you’ll wear to job interviews? (If so, you want to be well dressed but not better dressed than the guy interviewing you, so nothing too pricey.) Or is it the kind you’d wear with sneakers and a T-shirt, or wear just the jacket with a pair of jeans? 

It's Not About You, It's About Your Style

Suit styles haven’t altered course by any great degree over the past few years, sticking largely to classic and slim cuts where the mainstream is concerned. For the less conventional there’s the roomier option of pleated pants or the daring option of super-skinny. The latter, of course, comes down largely to having the physique to pull it off.

This suit  marries a skinny cut with rolled-up bared ankles and contrasting panels for an overall appearance of one both daring and yet not too far away from classic.

The Shoulder Of A Suit

A lot of suit terms can be mixed and matched, but I’m a fan of something I’ve always called the ‘British rolled-shoulder.’ Others might call it something else, but it is effectively where the shoulder padding finishes. A lot of Italian and US based designers prefer to have the shoulder padding finish precisely where the bone does. A British rolled shoulder has the padding extend over the shoulder and roll down into the sleeve. It’s a technical difference, but it’s also a visual trick that makes the shoulders seem broader and the arms better built.

Such a padded shoulder is perfect for the masculine figure a modern suit is meant to convey, hence it isn’t an element of the preceding sack suit

What is a Sack Suit?

The name gives it away. A sack suit is a largely unshaped cut of suit. Though not literally like a sack, it features the same natural shoulders of the drape cut, but is devoid of any front darting. The front darting results in a suit that is hard to marry with the hourglass or V shaped cut preferred by most men. And despite being a classic, a quick check of my Mad Men DVDs reveals that the sack suit has even been abandoned by Don Draper for a drape cut come season two of the series.

Which Pattern Should You Pick?

For those looking to invest in a suit that isn't made in a solid color, the following are classic suit patterns perfect for the season and beyond, but don't forget that you can also work these same cloth patterns into components of men's suiting without making it and actual suit; that is, sport coats, blazers and trousers. In no particular order, there are the dominant suit cloths / patterns available this year that sit at the more conservative end of the spectrum.
                                            GLEN PLAID               DAMIER CHECK
                    

A Tie Bar For Your Custom Suit

The tie bar. A quintessential menswear accessory that has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity thanks to a revitalized interest in classic men’s style. A tie bar is a small detail that can have a big impact on a look. Here’s how to wear it properly.

– Purpose: A tie bar is meant to keep your tie fastened to the placket of your shirt. It sounds obvious, but bears repeating lest a perfectly fine tie bar be attached only to a tie and simply left to swing in the breeze.

– Styles: Tie bars come in two styles: pinch clasp and slide clasp. In general, I prefer a pinch clasp as I find it holds the tie more securely and stays in place better. However, if you have a thin tie, a slide clasp may be more appropriate as many pinch clasps are made to secure thicker fabrics and may not lay flat in that situation, making the clasp visible.

– Size: A tie bar should never be wider than your tie. It should range in size between one inch and the width of your tie. 3/4 the width of the tie is just about perfect.

– Placement: A good rule of thumb is to fasten the tie bar between your third and fourth buttons, around the sternum, and just below the pectoral muscles.

– Detail: Just before fastening the tie bar, pull your tie upward to blouse it slightly. This will add a nice bit of depth and visual appeal and will also keep you from feeling constricted or like the tie bar is holding you in place.

– Angle: Always wear the tie bar perpendicular to your tie; never at an angle.

– Color: You can’t go wrong with silver. It’s classic, matches almost anything, and looks great on everyone. But if gold is your thing or you’re wearing gold accessories, then go for it: it’s always best to make sure your metals match. Avoid colorful tie bars; it will just look like you are trying too hard. As with most menswear details, a tie bar should be an accent, not the topic of conversation.

– Bonus Tip: A tie bar should not be worn with a waistcoat or cardigan. Remember, the purpose of a tie bar is to hold the tie in place. If you are wearing a waistcoat or cardigan that’s already taken care of and at that point, a tie bar just becomes unnecessary and redundant.