dressing - complete mens wardrobe guide 2005 (groomingsuitsself...

COMPLETE WARDROBE GUIDE 2005

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A) Men’s Fashion Tips: Men’s Suits 1) Introduction to Men’s Suits 2) Men’s Suits Fabrics Guide 3) Men’s Suits Details 4) Men’s Suits Fit 5) Men’s Suits Care 6) Recommendations on Buying Men’s Suits B) Men’s Dress Shirts 1) Introduction to Men’s Dress Shirts 2) Men’s Dress Shirts Details 3) Types of Men’s Dress Shirts Collars 4) Proper Men’s Dress Shirts Fit 5) Solid Colored Men’s Dress Shirts 6) Patterned Men’s Dress Shirts 7) Men’s Dress Shirts Care Guide C) Men’s Fashion Tips: Men’s Dress Pants 1) Introduction to Men’s Dress Pants 2) Men’s Dress Pants Details 3) Men’s Dress Pants Fit 4) The Essential Men’s Dress Pants

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mailto:[email protected]

http://www.josabank.com/

http://www.brooksbrothers.com/

http://www.llbean.com/

http://www.landsend.com/

D) Men’s Fashion Tips: Men’s Dress Shoes 1) Introduction to Men’s Dress Shoes Men’s Dress Shoes to Complete Formal Men’s Fashion Style 2) Men’s Dress Shoes Details Men’s Dress Shoes Details That Defines Quality in Men’s Fashion 3) Men’s Dress Shoes Fit Men’s Fashion Tips on Men’s Dress Shoes Fit 4) Men’s Dress Shoes Care The Proper Men’s Dress Shoes Care in Men’s Fashion 5) Classic Men’s Dress Shoes Getting to Know the Classic Men’s Dress Shoes Fashion Styles E) Men’s Fashion Tips: Men’s Ties 1) Introduction to Men’s Ties 2) Details on Men’s Ties 3) Classic Men’s Ties 4) Men’s Fashion Guide: How to Tie a Tie F) Men’s Fashion Tips: Coordinating Colors and Patterns 1) Introduction to Men’s Fashion Coordination 2) Color Coordination and Men’s Complexion 3) Men’s Fashion Color Coordination 4) Same Hue Color Coordination Guide 5) Similar Hues Color Coordination Guide 6) Contrasting Hues Color Coordination Guide 7) Complementary Hues Color Coordination Guide 8) Simplifying the Art of Mixing Patterns 9) Mixing Two Similar Patterns 10) Matching Two Different Patterns 11) Mixing Three Different Patterns 12) Matching Three Patterns where Two are Similar 13) Easy Ways to Coordinate Three Similar Patterns G) Men’s Socks


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1) Introduction to Men’s Socks 2) Coordinating Men’s Socks 3) Choosing the Right Category of Men’s Socks 4) Types of Pattern Men’s Socks

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A) Men’s Fashion Tips: Men’s Suits 1) Introduction to Men’s Suits: Men’s suits are one of the most important formal basic wear in any men’s wardrobe. Every man should have at least one suit. There will always be times when we need to be formally attired like attending a formal occasion or a job interview where we cannot do without a proper suit. Suits projects the man’s confidence and power in business as well as stylish masculinity during formal situations. There is a choice of either having your suits tailored or getting it off-rack. Tailored suits are individualized and customized specifically to fit at its best for each man's different body frame. All these come with a higher price attached. So it is important to know the basics in the making of a suit to make it look best on you. Off-rack suits, on the other hand, are readily available and possibly designed with the latest trend in mind. However, it might not be able to fit you as perfectly since it is produced base on the frame of an average man. Mass-produced off-rack suits usually cannot match in quality against individualized tailored suits. As such, off-rack suits are usually not priced as highly compared to a tailored suit. There are a few types of suit jackets available: 1) Single-breasted suits These are the basic style of most suits. The front buttons on the suits are in a single straight row. There is a choice of two or three buttons for single breasted men’s suits. 2) Double-breasted suits The suit jacket has one its front overlap the other with two sets of buttons. This is often seen as a more formal suit worn by older men. 3) Sports Jacket and Blazers These jackets are more for a “dress casual” look. They can be worn with jeans or casual pants. Usually sport jackets are made of Herringbone or worsted Tweed fabrics which have more informal fabrics and patterns. Blazers are derived from sport jackets and have a more informal cut and design than suit jackets. Traditionally, most blazers are navy blue single-breasted jackets. Having good knowledge on the basics in the makings of a suit will help you in making better choice of your purchase for both tailored and off-rack suits.

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2) Men’s Suits Fabrics Guide: Different men’s suits fabrics define how the overall suit will hold up, feel, and look. Knowing the background of different men’s suits fabrics will provide you with a better knowledge of which one to choose for your tailored or off-rack men’s suits. The Non-Wool Fabrics: Linen: A light and soft material used mainly during summer. It gives a very relaxed tropical feel. However, linen wrinkles easily and has a tendency to fade when prolong exposure under the sun. It is also a material that stains easily and needs constant cleaning. Cotton: One of men’s suits fabrics for the summer due to its airy feel allowing your skin to “breathe”. It has a very nice feel to the skin since it is made from natural fiber. However, it has the same problem with linen in that it creases easily. This can make your suit look crumpled but probably not as much as a linen suit. Polyester: This is a synthetic fabric and can feel like natural fiber fabrics but it can trap body heat. So you can feel quite uncomfortable wearing it for long hours. The advantage of polyester is that it does not wrinkle and its cost is a lot cheaper than the natural fibers. MicroFibers: Another synthetic fabric which is has fibers finer than natural fibers, and hence its name. Due to its finer fibers, it can “breathe” better than polyester and lighter weight than natural fiber fabrics. It is not penetrable by liquid or water but the space between yarns are enough to allow moisture vapor to pass through. One of the lowest costing men’s suits fabrics. My preference for men’s suits fabrics would definitely be the natural fibers instead of synthetic ones. Giving your body “breathing” space is important to make the wearing experience comfortable. It also avoids perspiration retention and so there is a lesser chance of leaving your suit with an odor. The Wool Fabrics: Wool is a common fabric used in men’s suits. It can be processed either through worsted or woolen yarn. Worsted yarn would be spun tightly to give a stronger and smoother feel. Woolen yarn spun results in a weaker, bulkier and fuzzier feel. Tweed: Tweed is a warm and heavy fabric that is durable and moisture resistant. This fabric is usually made from woolen yarn. It has a coarse feel with generally checkered patterns. We would usually see sports jackets made of this fabric. Herringbone: This fabric has broken weave giving a zig-zag pattern like the skeleton of a herring. It is also seen commonly in sport jackets. We seldom see this fabric in style now. But was once a popular fabric in the forties. Flannel: A medium-weight fabric that can be plain or twill weaved. It can also be produced by worsted or


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woolen yarn. It is very suitable for the winter due to it being heavier compared to other wool fabrics. It is a very lasting, rich, and down-to-earth fabric with a soft hand feel. A dark gray flannel suit is a real classic that has been favored by many. Worsted Wool: Worsted wool is made up of fine and long fiber with a tighter weave. This makes the fabric denser and wrinkle-resistant. It also reduces fiber scale ends next to the skin. Worsted wool is light and not bulky like other wool. It has a nice drape and wears very well. Most importantly it can be worn year round. It is more airy than polyester so making it cooler. This is commonly used for both light and heavy weight men’s suits. Of all the men’s suits fabrics, worsted wool has been well accepted as the standard fabric to use. But there are many different types of high quality wool with different grades to take note of. Grading of Wool: Good quality wool comes in grading of Super 100’s, 110’s, 120’s, and 150’s. Higher numbers represents better fineness of the wool fiber. The finer the wool fiber means that more fiber has to be used for the fabric to create a tighter weave, and hence lesser crease and wrinkles on the wool. Naturally, this means that higher the grade the more expensive the wool will be. Other high quality wools: Virgin Wool: This is wool which has not been spun or woven before. It comes directly from the fleece of the lamb. It feels very fine and silky since it made of mainly new wool and no recycled wool within. Merino Wool: It is taken from Merino sheep. It has a finer fiber than worsted wool. The fiber is very short, thin and fine at maximum 23 micron. This is considered premium wool that is best used for clothing. Lambs Wool: This type of wool is taken from shearing of lamb at young age of up to seven months old. Therefore, it gives a very fine and soft feel about it. Men’s suits fabrics suitable for year round would be these types of high quality wools. Its natural fiber provides comfort, allows your body to "breathe", and can be made into light or heavy suits.

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3) Men’s Suits Details: Knowing about men’s suits details and playing around with it can create a man’s individuality and personality. If coupled with the right suits fabric, it can definitely make any men stand out in their suit. Let’s go through the various details before showing you how to play around with it especially when you are getting your suit tailored made. Stitching: Stitching is the foundation for holding up all the parts of men’s suits. It is also the hallmark of quality in the work of a tailor or designer. We should expect neat and firm stitching on all parts on men’s suits. The buttons and button holes are good places to inspect the quality of stitch. There should be several rounds of stitch at the button holes without uneven finishes. As a note, hand-stitching is the best but its finish is usually uneven compared to machine-stitch. An interesting stitching called pic or pick stitching has been used on suits. It threads the outlines on certain areas of the suits. These stitching are clearly visible even using the same color as the suit. It can be hand-stitched or machine stitched but the latter can still give a feel of hand-stitching finish. Lining: The intention of lining is to provide comfort for the wearer. It also cover unsightly men’s suits details like seams and fuses that hold the suit together. The lining helps to avoid contact of these seams and fuses from the body as well as cover up these unsightly sewings. Men’s suits can be “fully lined” (i.e. line 3/8 of the suit jacket) or “partially lined” (i.e. ½ suit lining). Your choice for suit linings should be rayon, Cupro Bemberg, or silk since they provide a smooth and silky feel. One of the important men’s suits details about lining is to avoid it sagging below the suit. A well finished lining should be firm and short of the edge of the suit. Collar and Lapel: Make sure the collar snug tightly around your neck without buckling. One half inch of the dress shirt should be visible under the suit collar. Suit collars extending to the front part of the chest area are known as lapels. Lapels and collars are widely modified men’s suits details during different decades. For example the sixties have much thinner lapels and seventies have much wider ones. Standard lapel width should be 3 to 4 inches. Most importantly, it should be proportionate to the overall size of the men’s suit as well as the distance between the chests to the shoulder. Lapels have to fall flat on your chest. They should not buckle or bunch up. In general, lapels should have the end tip about halfway between the suit’s top sleeve and collar. Pocket: Pockets are important men’s suits details because its styles can vary on different suits. A popular tailoring for pockets is the besom. It is an inset pocket sewn inside the garment with access through a narrow welted slit-type opening. Generally there are three types of pockets on suits.

• Slit pockets are as its name represents a slit style which gives a clean finish on the suit’s hip area. Usually the slit pockets are jetted at the opening of the pockets. It can be double desomed as well to have two welt or jetting at the top and bottom of the pocket opening.


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• Flap pockets are additional fabric on covering the outside of the pocket opening.

• A high quality pocket which allows both a slit pocket and flap pocket. It is required to be double-besomed so that it becomes a slit pocket when the flap is inserted into the pocket. It gives alternate looks on a single suit.

Vent: Vents are vertical slit openings creating flaps at the lower back of suits. These vents are meant to provide freedom and space for movement around the hip area of the suit like putting hands into the trouser pockets or adjusting your pants waist. Vent has an important role in men’s suits details. Without a vent, it can cause the suit to crumble and feel tight at the hip area. Vents should have the one of the flaps overlap the other by about ¾ inch and not reveal the pants through it. There are 3 types of vents to choose from:

• Single vents: The slit opening is at the center lower back of the suit. This is a typical look found among American-style suit. It creates an illusion of a slimmer torso for men. However, the downside is that it can shorten the man’s body and create a stiff look.

• Double vents: Hallmark in English-style men’s suits details, these vents are cut symmetrically on both sides of the hip area of the suit. It provides more freedom of movement than single vents. It also emphasizes the lines of the body. The disadvantage of having this style is mainly for men with wide hips as it can accentuate the width of that area further.

• Ventless: Having no vents on a suit can hinder movement like raising your arm or restrictive like sitting on a soft sofa.

Still many men have taken liking for ventless suits for its clean finish and modern look. It is more suitable for slimmer man since it hugs closer to the body.

Buttons: Buttons involves the most handling during the wearing experience especially when fastening and unfastening. Therefore, it has the highest likelihood of breaking into two for low quality buttons or dropping off if not properly sewn onto the suit. Let’s breakdown a few important points about for buttons as part of men’s suits details:

• Try to avoid plastic buttons. Go for natural horn, pearl, or bone buttons. Other available types of buttons include mother-of-pearl, metal, or ceramics.

• Ensure that they are securely fastened. This does not mean the buttons are tightly sewn onto the suit. There should be some flexibility in the movement of the buttons but not hang from the suit or fall off easily when tugged.

• Good sewing workmanship uses good amount of thread to secure the buttons and yet finish it cleanly without any loose threads on both buttons and button holes.

• Check that the closure is tight when buttoned. There should not be puckering of fabrics around the fastened buttons. Such puckering would mean unleveled sewing of buttons and button holes.


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Shoulder Padding: Do not overlook these inconspicuous men’s suits details. They are meant to make the suit hang over men’s body with firmness and keep the suits in shape. Most suits have padding and the thickness of should pads depends greatly on the men’s shoulder and body shape. Heavy padding will not be suitable for men with wide broad shoulders; otherwise, it will make them look more like football players. Slightly thicker shoulder pads would be suitable for slope shoulder men to make the suit look leveled. Armhole and Sleeve: Armholes are the inside of your sleeves where you slip your arm in. Generally high arm holes would give your suit a nice drape even when big arm movements (e.g. lifting up your arms) are made. The armholes should be wide enough for easier movement of arms and ensure the bottom armholes are not tightly pressing into your armpits. Sleeves are pretty standard in men’s suits details base on its designs and length. An important advice about sleeves is they should end at about ½ to ¼ inch before the dress shirt cuffs worn within. Most likely the sleeve will end at mid-point of your wrist bone. This criteria needs to have the arms resting at the sides. Men’s Suits Pants Men’s suits details encompassing the pants are the drape, the pleats and the cuffs. Drape of the pants over your lower body should be smooth (no bulge or creasing especially under the waist area) and floats over your legs. The rise (portion between crotch to waistband) is important to take note as well. Ensure that the length of the rise complements your height. Taller men will suit higher rise while shorter men should settle for lower rise. There are 3 types of pleats to choose from: single pleat, double pleat, and pleatless flat front. You can also choose either to have the usual pleats or inverted pleats. Now the in-fashion style in men’s suits details is having pleatless flat front pants. It gives a very clean and smooth look. Cuffs are upward folds made at the end of the pants. It is recommended that your cuffs be 1½ - 1¾ inch wide depending on the men’s overall size. Generally pants cuffs look better on taller man. There is a tendency to make shorter man look even shorter with cuff pants. Make sure the cuff at the pants end fall with ease without too much gather.

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4) Men’s Suits Fit: What constitutes a good man’s suits fit? There are some crucial elements to take note of that are applicable for both off-rack suit and tailor-made ones. Most importantly, know these pointers when trying on your suit so that you know what needs to be altered if necessary. But details like shoulders and lapels can never be altered after finishing. Shoulders: The shoulders of a men’s suit are very important. It is where the suit is going to hang and drape from. First focus should be on the shoulder padding used. The preferred style should be one with soft sloping shoulders to give an overall relax, comfortable, and yet a smart look. If you have a very sloping shoulder then it would make sense to have heavier padding to level up the shoulders. Ensure the width at the shoulders provide enough room so that the fabric flows smoothly from the shoulder to the sleeves. If made too narrow, the middle deltoids are likely to bulge out at the area between the shoulders and start of the sleeves. If too wide, it can shrink the overall frame of the man. Of importance to note in men’s suits fit around shoulders is taking the shoulder's relativity against the size of the head, waistline, and neck width. For example: when framed on a average head but shoulders are cut too narrow then there is a tendency to make the head look big in relation to the overall suiting; or cut too widely then the head might look small. The drape from the shoulder should always remain smooth. We should not see puckering of fabric along the front shoulder blade area or at the back scapula area. The fabric around the shoulder back and front has to be wrapped flat with fullness without signs of strain or looseness. Armholes and Sleeves: Armholes need enough space for easy slipping of the arms into it and moving it freely. You can try the armholes wearing a flat knit sweater beneath. It should be able to fit your arms comfortably. As mentioned earlier, high armholes provides a good drape. When trying on your men’s suits, make big hand movements and you will notice high armholes will not lift your whole jacket up. Another important aspect would be the armhole portion at your armpit should not be tight and irritate your armpit. There should be ample space to feel comfortable where swinging your arms will not feel rupture between the armpit and the fabric.


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The sleeves has to end around your mid wrist bone where the wrist breaks with the hand. It will reveal about ½ inch of your dress shirt cuffs. Often than not, we see men in suits with sleeves too long extending beyond the wrist area. General criteria in men’s suits fit assessment is to always do it with both arms by the sides and review where the sleeves end. Gorge: This is the portion where the collar and lapels meet extending down to the first button. Shifts in fashion trends have influenced the highs and lows of the gorge. High gorge would mean the first button is placed higher up the suit and vice versa. Having it too high would closely mimic the 1950s Beatles era while too low resembles the 1980s trend. In order to avoid your suit getting out of fashion over time, it would be recommended to stay classic in design and not get too deep into one particular fashion trend unless you can afford it, of course. I would greatly recommend having the gorge placed on a reasonable level so that the fit is symmetrical to the overall body frame. Collars and Lapels: Collars should always hug around the back of your neck. There must not be any puckering or strain as it means that the fit is not right. Your collar should reveal ¼ inch of your dress shirt within. Otherwise, when you sit down the suit will shift upward and envelope the collar of your dress shirt. As mentioned before, width of the lapels is played around very often during different fashion trends in various decades. Generally there are two choices of lapels: high notch or low notch. Whichever the choice, a good men’s suits fit for lapels is to have it lie flat against your chest without puckering or buckling. Otherwise, they are signal that your suit jacket is too tight. In classic styles, lapels should have the end tip about halfway between the suit’s top sleeve and collar. For proper men’s suits fit, make sure that the size of the lapels is symmetrically to your body frame and shoulders. Waist: Fasten the waist button and then place both arms by your sides. If you see any buckling or pulls at the button holes or buttons seemingly popping out, then your men’s suits fit is too tight around your waist. There are some jackets tapered at the waist, and still we should not see such negative effect after fastening the waist button. Always remember that the silhouette and drape of the suit should be smooth and flat.


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Suit pants: An important man’s suits fit to note for in suit pants is the waist area. It should always rest on your waist and not the hips. Resting on your hips would mean that the waist is too big for you or the pant’s rise has to be adjusted higher. Make sure the pant’s rise provides a good fit at the crotch of the pants but giving enough room for comfort. Drape of the pants over your lower body should always be smooth (no bulge or horizontal creasing especially under the waist area and thigh area). The pants should float over your legs. It must not flare like hip-hop pants or hug your legs skin tight. The natural flow of your suit pants should break at the cuffs with ease. If your pants does not have cuffs, then make sure they are hemmed. Try walking around in your suit pants and make sure that not too much of your socks are being revealed. Pants with suitable length would only show your socks subtly. In addition, the length of your pants will cover about a quarter the top part of your shoes, anything more than that would be considered too long. A proper man’s suits fit will not be complete without the best finishing and ending off with your suit pants.

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5) Men’s Suits Care: It makes great sense to practice proper men’s suits care. Why? It is the only way to make those men’s suits last and these suits are probably the most expensive item in your wardrobe. Besides knowing how to get a well constructed suit with great fit, it is important to maintain your suit in optimal condition as well. Otherwise the suit will deteriorate in its appeal and becomes unpresentable for attending business meetings, formal occasions, or even a job interview. It also depicts the wearer with an attitude of “I can’t be bothered”. Men’s Suits Care Symbols: It pays to read the label attached to your suit that indicates how to maintain it. These labels would generally apply to off-rack men’s suits. It is important to know the symbols and what it represents. You would not want to do anything unsuitable and damage the expensive suit you just bought. The responsibility is yours. Important tools for men’s suits care: Clothes brush Coat hangers Steam iron Clothes steamer Hanging your Suit Jackets: Before hanging your suit jackets into your wardrobe, it will be advisable to use the clothes brush to brush them frequently after wearing. It helps to removes dirt and lint buildup on the suit. It also helps to rejuvenate the wool and prevent it from shining. A very important aspect of men’s suits care is to always have your suit jackets hung on good coat hangers that entail broad, rounded shoulder supports. No matter how long your suit is left on it, the support from the hangers will keep your suit jackets in shape. So avoid those miserable metal wire hangers for your suits. They will never be able to lay a good foundation for hanging any men’s suits. Have ample space within your wardrobe. It allows your suit jackets to hang and drape nicely without creasing. Unbutton the suit jackets and remove any items in the pockets. This will not strain and weigh on the jacket’s pocket to keep it in its original shape. Keep your suit in a garment bag that can “breathe” and not one that is fully enclosed. If you are not going to use a garment bag, then it would be good to just cover the shoulder portion to avoid dust accumulation.


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Hang your suits to “air” for about 24 hours before putting into the wardrobe. It will help dry up any moisture trapped in your suit before being introduced into the wardrobe. It also helps to rejuvenate wool since it is a natural fiber. If a hanger is not available, fold your suit jackets inside out with shoulders touching. By doing so, it prevents any possible dirt or lint staining on the outer fabric of the suit. Then either lay the suit jacket flat or drape it over a chair. Pressing Men’s Suits: If there are wrinkles on the suit, have it ironed with steam before the next wear. Avoid dry pressing on wool suits because it can easily damage the fabric. Use reliable brands like Rowenta to iron away those wrinkle worries. If you do not have enough time or lazy to do your ironing, then a clothes steamer can also help with your men’s suits care by removing those wrinkles and freshening up the suit. I would recommend Jiffy Steamer J-2000 Residential Garment Steamer for its fast heating response, long duration of steam, and quality. Before ironing men’s suits, take note of the heat from the iron or press machine. Too hot an iron will cause wool to be shiny. Always place a piece of clean cotton or linen cloth over the suit to iron. Do not slide the iron over the clean cloth but rather press and lift it up. Turn over the collar and lapels when pressing away the wrinkles on the suit. For both the cuffs and shoulders, you can place towels inside of them and press the iron with a cloth on top. Dry Cleaning Men’s Suits: Always use a reliable dry cleaner since they will provide professional service and care for your suit including pressing and preventing damages like discoloring or “burning” of the wool. Avoid dry cleaning too often since it is involving chemical solvents to steam your suits. Dry clean frequently will eventually damage your suit’s fabric. Once every 3 months would be a good frequency. Point out to your dry cleaner the spots and stains that need pretreatment. If not told and they missed the stain, it can leave a permanent scarring on your suit. Make sure that the clean suit is kept within a plastic bag during collection and the suit is not cramped in it. The suit should be allowed to drape freely within the bag and not jammed with too many other cleaned garments. Take out the clean suit from the plastic bag and air it immediately. Other Important Men’s Suits Care Tips: Never hot press or have heat treatment onto a stain on the suit; otherwise it will permanently “imprint” the stain. Do not rub vigorously on stains or dirt to avoid it embedding into the fabric.


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The proper men’s suits care is to promptly remove any spots or stains. Remember to work on stain from the edge towards the center to avoid spreading out the stain to other parts of the suit. If you are drenched in the rain with your suit, remove it at the soonest and use a towel to pound on the suit to remove the moisture. Then leave it in an airy space for natural drying at room temperature. Never attempt to wring your wool suits. Remember men’s suits care boils down to taking care of the fabric. Wringing will damage the suit's fabric.

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6) Recommendations on Buying Men’s Suits Before buying men’s suits, it is good to note the frequency that you wear your suit. If you wear suits to work often, then it would be advisable to have a greater number of suits. This allows rotation of your suits during the week. It is important that each suit can have at least one day’s rest after wearing to avoid it from wearing out fast. More men’s suits also provide more option of trying out various styles and unusual colors for your suits. In contrast, having smaller number of suits in your wardrobe would mean that it is safer to keep the suits classic in designs and colors. Buying men’s suits should be based on one that provides the best versatility in blending to your lifestyle as well as frequency and occasions of wear. For example, if you are buying men’s suits specifically for attending certain evening function, then avoid wearing light colored suits. It would be advisable to buy darker shades for the night. And some good choices would be navy blue or charcoal gray ones. So here are some basic styles of men’s suits that should be present in your wardrobe: Navy Blue Suits: Through the right mix and match with dress shirts, a navy blue suit can be worn quite often during the week and you can still look different each time. Navy blue generally has easy affinity with many basic colors like white, light blue, dark blue, gray and even purple dress shirts. These colors can be blended within any combination of patterns (check, fine stripes, bold stripes) on the dress shirt and make your navy blue suit look refreshing each time. Gray Suits: Gray suits would generally fall from dark gray to medium gray to charcoal gray. These are the safer shades of gray where it suits both day and night as well as summer or winter wear. Gray suits projects an image of authority, stability, and professionalism. A popular fabric of choice for gray suits has been flannel. But when buying men’s suits, we should consider possibility of one that can be worn year-round. So it would be advisable to have a lightweight worsted flannel gray suit instead of heavy woolen flannel. Stripe Suits: Pinstripes are fine line or stripe that can be straight or broken and runs vertically down the suit. Pinstripe suits are known for its classic styling that is timeless and definitely worth investing for the long term. Chalk stripe are like chalk drawn vertically on a suit which is thicker than pinstripes. The definition of chalk stripes are usually less pronounced than pinstripes. Chalk stripe suits can give a more dressy effect. Both the pinstripe and chalk stripe suits are worn often in the business and strongly favored by many boys in the financial industry, like the bankers and stockbrokers. Needless to say, these two styles give an impression of someone professional with authoritative status. To create a more fashionable look, there can be a play of colors for the stripes over the usual charcoal gray or a medium gray fabric.


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I personally prefer the chalk stripe suits for its subtle and yet stylish feel over the pinstripes that can give a conservative and strict image. Buying men’s suits can also break from the basics if you choose to be different and dare to stand out from the usual. Here are some suits I would definitely recommend for a refreshing touch: Windowpane Suits: The windowpane suits are an obviously understated in men’s fashion. It gives an extremely stylish and dressy effect that differentiates greatly from the usual stripe suits. Instead of a squarish windowpane, you can settle for a rectangular formation that provides an elongating effect for a men’s body as well. Windowpane suits also allow harmonious combinations with more patterns than the usual plaid suits. Windowpanes are very suitable for spring time. Instead of going for a pronounced thick windowpane pattern, you can try one a charcoal gray fabric with subtle violet chalk windowpane rectangular in shape. Or alternatively a light gray suit with pastel blue windowpane rectangular pattern. Brown Suits: A color avoided by many men and deemed as not worth a timepiece suit. However, I beg to differ as this color gives an earthly tone and also a down-to-earth feel. It deviates from the predictable “safe” colors like gray and navy where we should have become overdosed with by now. Brown suits can be easily matched with earth tones from yellow to gold to tan colors. Depending on the tone of your brown, combination with maroon, cream, or even navy blue is also possible. Buying men’s suits can range from classic styles to trendy ones depending on your wardrobe needs, your desired styling, and importantly, one that suits your personality. The classic styling of Brooks Brothers Men’s Suits is the most well-known in the world. They have dressed many famous actors, presidents of America, and even ambassadors around the world. Brooks Brothers’ amazing high quality tailoring has been around for 183 years. Brooks Brothers is about styling and gives men the right choice for a classic suit. If you have the interest of buying men’s suits that are fashionable and trendy, then SmartBargains Men’s Store Suits and Blazers carry a wide selection of designer suits ranging from well-known designers like Zegna, Cerruti, Armani, Hugo Boss, and Jil Sander with good discounts. It is worth taking a look for possible great bargains. Buying men’s suits can be quite an experience since you will be investing probably the most expensive item in your wardrobe. Besides the suit itself, the mix and match with your dress shirts within is important to bring out the best of the suit and yourself.

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B) Men’s Dress Shirts 1) Introduction to Men’s Dress Shirts Men’s dress shirts can do wonders for the man. With the best fit it can definitely flatter the man’s built and frame. And with the right play of colors and patterns it can give radiance to your face as well as rejuvenate any of your dull colored suit. More often than not, there are men who have a preset view that every single men’s dress shirt is the same or about the same. Such men will not pay attention on the details on them. So they will never know what they are going to buy is of good quality with an impressive style. Remember that men’s dress shirts do not need to be homogenous and monotonous in shape, style, and design. Every shirt can be different through subtle detailing of the fabric, pattern, collar, buttons, placket, and cuffs. Knowing about detailing will empower you to make the right decision when buying both off-rack or bespoke shirts. In tailored-made shirts, you can play around with various detailing to create your own style and even a different style for every shirt you tailor. An interesting feature about a man's shirt worn by any two men is that it can still bring about a different feel and style for each man. This is because of the difference in the men’s body frame, personality, as well as the combination with other apparels like suits. The proper pairing of shirts with the right suiting or pants is important in bringing out every man’s individual fashion styling. With the correct mix and match as well as balancing the patterns and solid colors between your shirts, suits, and ties, we can prevent anything too loud (like a clown's suit) or overly understated. Remember that fundamentally, any man will always look good in a clean and well pressed shirt. It provides a refreshing feel that signals also a sense of responsibility in the man. A crisp, well-stitched shirt with firm construction over a soft fabric tells a lot about a man’s attitude and status especially in the corporate world. It definitely pays to learn about caring for your shirt since it is the fundamental to make it look lasting. You can easily imagine how others perceive men wearing a tired and worn out shirt. Furthermore, developing good habits on men’s dress shirts care helps to reduce the need to replace with new ones, unless of course fashion trend has taken its toll on it. So it pays to update yourself about the fashion trends directions once a while just to keep your choice of shirts up to date.

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2) Men’s Dress Shirts Details: Going through men’s dress shirts details will uncover our options available when making bespoke dress shirts or buying it off-rack. Good dress shirts rely on the details to differentiate their beauty and workmanship. Stitching: Important men’s dress shirts details that can judge good craftsmanship is the side seam stitching with single-needle stitch. It involves sewing twice along the shirt seams with one needle. From the outside of the shirt, you will only see a single row of stitch on the seams. In order to give such clean finishing for dress shirts details would mean requiring great skills as well as time. However, most dress shirts are sewn double-needle for commercial reasons. It involves sewing the side seams over a double-needle machine. It helps saves time and holds the seams strongly. Poorly executed double-needle stitch can pucker over time due to tension between the fabric and threading. So single-needle stitch is usually found in bespoke among dress shirts. But there are still some off-rack dress shirts with such high quality stitching available. Collars: Collars are the most important part among men’s dress shirts details for its overall styling because it draws attention to the man’s face as well as giving an illusion of shaping it. For example, men with small faces should avoid wide collars otherwise the collar will overwhelm the face. Similarly for big face men should avoid wearing narrow collars since it will enhance further the size of their head. Such guidance keeps our choice of collar focused on providing compliments to the physical facial structure rather than following fashion trends specifically. Stitching on the collar defines a lot about the quality. The collar is made by folding the fabric and then stitched around the edges to hold the fold in place. The stitch should not be more than ¼ inches from the perimeter of the collar. Cuffs: One of the stylistic men’s dress shirts details is the cuffs. There are two choices of cuffs available for dress shirts: French cuffs and Barrel cuffs. The former consist of a double-folded cuff that requires cuff links to lock it in place. While the barrel cuff involves a single button or double button already attached to hold the cuff points together. French cuffs give an overall dressier feel over the barrel cuffs and also makes a more formal finishing for the dress shirt with elegance. The shirt arm sleeves circumference is reduced from the bigger area of the bicep all the way to the smallest area of the arm, the wrist. The end of the shirt arm is then sewn into the cuffs. We should take note of the fine stitching around this cuff area.


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Further defining quality on men’s dress shirts details is to provide pleating on the sleeves before tucking into the cuffs. It involves folds the sleeves with precision, instead of tapering the shirt arm sleeves, before sewing it into the cuffs. Lots of care and craftsmanship is required to attain such quality. Yoke: Though this is one of the non-functional men’s dress shirts details, we would still look into it since it can still define quality of dress shirts from it. The yoke involves a woven fabric sewn behind the shoulders to attach the front and back pieces of the shirt. In bespoke dress shirts, we will often see the use of split yoke. It is where two yokes for each should is joint at halfway point between the shoulder blades with a perpendicular seam. A split yoke is supposed to allow the custom tailors to adjust the dress shirt shoulders separately to custom fit accordingly. Pockets: The pockets are usually placed on the right side of the dress shirt. My personal bespoke dress shirts do not have any pockets. The reasons are I like a clean finish on my dress shirts and also to avoid the habit of storing items within the shirt pocket. There is always a tendency to damage our dress shirt when putting items into the pockets especially pens. You never know when the pen might leak and damage your dress shirt. There are men who like to keep a lot of things in their shirt pocket making it bulky and bulging out from their chest area. Placket: This is the front portion of the dress shirt where the buttonholes are sewn. There are a few variations for the placket that can be found on dress shirts. Especially on bespoke dress shirts, we can choose to play around with these placket styles to create an individualistic men’s dress shirts details. It is recommended that plackets are made approximately 1.5 inches wide and runs along the center line of dress shirts. It should give a clean finish when shirt sides are buttoned together. Again, the stitching on the placket should be fine such that they are close to being invisible Usually the placket is made by having the fabric folded backward at the edge and the buttons and buttonholes sewn on it to keep the placket in tact. The placket can also have a separate piece of the fabric sewn to the front or the fabric folded to the forward at the edge to give the dress shirt an extra touch of design. To create a buttonless look for your dress shirt, the placket can be sewn by two folded fabrics one over the other and the buttonholes placed at the underneath folded fabric where the front will cover the sight of the buttonholes. Buttons: The most commonly neglected men’s dress shirts details would be the buttons. The material used for buttons should not be fragile since they are handled most often when wearing a shirt. Today many of the buttons on off-rack dress shirts are made of plastics since they are more durable.


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High quality fine dress shirts usually have mother-of-pearl which is known to be fragile. Yet the natural finishing of mother-of-pearl gives nice luster and perks up the finishing of a dress shirt. Stitching of the buttons are important points to take note of. It should be sewn firmly with a cross-stitch and this cannot be achieved by sewing machines. Firmly does not mean tightly because the buttons must have some rooms for mobility when sliding into the buttonholes. Gauntlet: The gauntlet is the placket found on the sleeves where it is an open area before the cuffs. There is a choice to have an additional button sewn on the placket to have the open area closed when wearing the dress shirt. It provides a better fit for the sleeves around the forearms. Gauntlets are another men’s dress shirts details showing quality and style. Generally, I have a gauntlet button on all my dress shirts to avoid showing too much of my wrist to forearm area. Besides helping to keep the cuffs closed, it also allows to roll back the cuffs with ease.

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3) Types of Men’s Dress Shirts Collars: The first priority when buying a new dress shirt is to consider the collars. It is the men’s dress shirts collars that are directly under your face. It frames your dress shirts as well as the face. If it does not complement the shape of your face, then the overall look of your dress shirt will be inappropriate for you. For example, if the collar is narrow and the face is wide and round, then it will further enhance the size of your head. Naturally, this disproportionate design causes an imbalance to the rest of your dress shirt. Men’s dress shirts collars have the ability to counterbalance strong or weak definitions and structures on your face. For example, a man with strong jawlines should go for proportionately larger collar. There are two important details on collars that should be explained first before we continue further. Firstly, it is the collar point which is the width of the collar at the front tip. Another detail is the collar spread. This is the space between the two front collar tips creating the inverted “V” shape. Types of Men’s Dress Shirts Collars: Straight-Point Collar: This is a collar style that can match easily with most types of suit or blazer. Its collar point suitably should have a width of about 2 ½ - 3 inches and this would generally fit most average weight man. It also has a much smaller gap between the collar points and so can be worn without a tie as well. However, there are times when long faced men use a much lengthier collar point more than 3 inches. This is a mistake to make since the collar lies below the face. The collar would create an optical illusion that pulls the face further down and make it look even lankier. A good balance between the length of collar point and your face will frame nicely against your dress shirt. For example, this picture of Jude Law wearing a straight-point collar with proportionate width against his long face. Spread Collar: We have seen this collar style getting into trend recently. It has a much bigger gap between the collar points than a Straight-Point Collar. It gets dressier as the spread widens. The Spread Collar can have many variations by playing around with the width of spread, collar point length, and collar height. The many varieties available can help to frame suitably for different faces. These are some examples of the many variations of Spread Collars available:


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Medium Spread

Wide Spread

Curved Spread

It has to be noted that wide or round faced men should avoid wearing such Spread Collar. It will accentuate the roundness or wide countenance of the face.


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Button-Down Collar: There are two types of button-down men’s dress shirts collars: The Oxford Button-down and the Hidden Button-down.

Oxford Button-Down Collar

Hidden Button Collar

Generally both Button-down collars are less formal compared to collar types. This is because they are usually made softer, less firm, and unstarched. However comparatively between the Oxford and Hidden Button-down, the Oxford would give amore casual look because the buttons are revealed. It makes the overall look less dressy. This casual feel makes the Oxford very suitable with Sports Jackets and Blazers. It can also be worn easily without a tie.


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Tab Collar: This collar derives its name from the special snap to fasten the collar points behind the tie’s knot. This effect pushes the men’s dress shirts collars as well as the tie knot higher up the neck.

Tab Collar

The tab collar has a smaller spread generally and can give a much nattier look for men. With the tab behind the tie knot, it inherently makes your tie prominent with a crispy look. Tab collars would fit very well for long neck men, slender and wide faced men. Rounded faces might look a bit stifled unless the collar points are made longer to give a longitudinal feel. Rounded Collar or Club Collar: A seldom mentioned collar among men’s dress shirts, the rounded collar generally has a short collar width and a stiff rounded collar point or a softer rounded collar point. It creates a stubby look around the neck.

Round or Club Collar

Of all men’s dress shirts collars, the round ones make it look different from the usual men’s dress shirts available. It gives a sartorial look comparatively. This collar can only be found mainly among bespoke men’s dress shirts.


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Pinned Collar: Just like a tab collar, the pinned collar, instead of a tab, has a pin to fasten the collar points. Then the tie knot is fixated in front of the pin. There are a few types of pins available to choose from: the usual plain gold pin, a spring-loaded slide pin, or one that has screws on each end to fit into collar eyelets.

Pinned Collar

Eyelet Collar

The pinned collar also pushes up the collar and tie knot higher up the neckline. With the pin partial revelation of the pin coupled with a high collar makes the Pinned Collar dress shirts a lot more dressy and neat feel. END


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4) Proper Men’s Dress Shirts Fit: Few men know what it takes to have a proper men’s dress shirts fit. It is common for men to wear dress shirts that are too small for their necks, too long for their arms, and even too baggy for their body. Overall these bad fitting aspects destroy the aesthetics of good dress shirts. Men should learn the next few tips on getting the correct men’s dress shirts fit to avoid looking like wearing a clown suit. The ultimate fit for dress shirt should portray a smart and savvy feel for the man. For example, for formal occasions the men’s dress shirts fit should give men a ceremonial effect suitable for the event. If there is intention to create a dressy ensemble, then the fit in different parts of the suit has to be suited to give it that feel. Collar Fit: As mentioned above, the main focal point on dress shirts begin right under the men’s face which is the collar. Most dress shirts runs their collar sizes by half inch, e.g. 14, 14 ½, 15. Measurement for the right collar size should be base on the neck dimension below the Adam’s apple. If the neck circumference falls between the half-inches, then it would only make sense to go for the higher end to avoid the collar size being too tight when the fabric shrinks. Most men buy their dress shirts with collars too wide. We would want our dress shirts fit for the collar to be snug around the neck. The definition of snug here is one that should not squeeze or give a choking feeling especially when bending down the head to allow the chin to touch the chest. There should be room for the head to turn and move the neck. Another criteria indicating a tight collar is by slipping two fingers between the buttoned collar and the neck. It should fit the two fingers comfortably. This additional space also provides rooms for shrinkage after a few washing of the dress shirts. Therefore, the collar fit should not be perfect when immediately tried on and neither should it have more room than sliding two fingers in-between. Otherwise, the dress shirts fit around the collar would be considered inappropriate. The collar points should always touch the chest when worn with a tie. It should not be sticking up or leave a gap between the collar points from the chest especially when the wearer turns his head. Sleeves and Cuffs Fit: There are two lengths of dress shirts sleeves per collar size to accommodate a greater range of arm length in men. We usually find men wearing dress shirts with improper sleeves length and it makes them look funny. In order to attain good men’s dress shirts fit for the sleeves, it is important to measure the sleeve length. The correct measurement should run the tape starting from the center of the back of your collar to along the top of the shoulder, then along the arm and down to the wrist bone. Then add an additional one inch more to allow an extension of about a quarter inch when worn with suits. It also gives additional fabric to avoid the cuffs from pulling back even when the arm is extended in any direction.


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The proper way in men’s dress shirts fit is to keep our arms by your side and ensure that the cuffs ends at slightly further down the wrist bone without too much gather of fabric at the cuffs. The armholes should float over your armpit instead of a tight snug. The cuffs circumference, for both barrel and French cuffs, should not allow your hands to slip in without unfastening the cuff buttons. This is a sign that the cuff circumference is too big. For bespoke dress shirts fit around the cuffs, it should allow some room for a wrist watch and cannot be too tight or snug. Torso Fit: An important criterion about men’s dress shirts fit is always comfort and especially around the torso. There are a few types of cuts: American, French, and English. The American cut is always the fullest, followed by the tapered look for the French cut, and the English would be in-between the first two. Whichever choice you make, the most important is comfort with style. The trend of late for dress shirts is the tight tapered look. Overall, it gives a very lean and clean feel for slim men. However, such a cut is not suitable for everyone and some men just hate the wrapping feel it creates. Most importantly, men’s dress shirts fit should be full but not cause front plackets to gape open especially when sitting down. This is a sign that the fit around the torso is too small. The seam connecting the yoke and sleeves should rest exactly where your shoulders end. It should be drooping over it which means that the dress shirt is over-sized. Finally, the dress shirts tail length should end around the crotch area. It should never be pulled out of the trouser whenever you raise your arms or when sitting down. A proper tug-in is important to avoid looking sloppy and untidy.

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5) Solid Colored Men’s Dress Shirts: It is common to find men choosing white for their solid colored men’s dress shirts. They believe that it is the easiest with other outfits as well as creating a formal appearance. There are people who feel that white dress shirts projects radiance onto men’s face. However, there is an aspect that we need to take note of which is the skin tone as well as the hair color of the man. Imagine a blond man with fair-colored skin tone in a white shirt. The direction of focus will on the shirt or tie rather than his face. The white shirt is not able enhance his overall light colored skin tone. Instead solid colored men’s dress shirts against the skin tone and hair color is supposed to bring the focal point to the man’s face, not the shirt. It applies similarly to patterned shirts as well. White is not the only ultimate choice for solid colored men’s dress shirts, I would say blue color is the other must-have color for every men’s dress shirts. It has the best blend into almost every men’s skin tone and hair color. It never seems to go wrong wearing a blue dress shirt to provide a warmer and richer overtone for any skin tone than white dress shirts. Therefore, men’s wardrobe of dress shirts should be made up mainly of two colors: white and blue; and I would say at least 3/5 should be these colors. Can all blue tones fit different skin tones and hair colors? Generally the best choice is going for medium blue and the suitable shade of medium should always bring the focus toward your face. Here are some medium blues from Shirt Creations

Medium Blue Broadcloth

Medium Blue Sea Island Cotton

Medium Blue Pinpoint Oxford

Men with tan or olive skin tones with contrasting hair color can afford to wear darker blue tones.


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Fair skin men with dark colored hair have the best advantage in their choice of blue tones. Basically all the shades of blue are suitable for them especially the medium to dark blue tones. Men with light colored hair and fair skin has to settle for light and soft blue hues. The overall blend between their hair and skin creates a muted contrast and the lighter blues will balance out this low contrast. Solid colored men’s dress shirts like pink have a feminine touch to it. These colors generally suits men with fair skin especially flattering for those with pinkish hue over their fair skin. Pink broadcloth dress shirts have been a very popular choice for Wall Street bankers and stockbrokers. These are two pinks on different fabrics by Best Custom Shirt.

Pink Broadcloth

Pink Pinpoint Oxford

Tan colored men’s dress shirts blend very easily for men with low difference between their skin tone and hair color. It is also a great color to match with dark brown suits creating a nice layering of these two colors. Yellow and gold colors are not suitable for men with pale skin tone, but look great for blonde hair men or brown and dark skin tone men. It brings out the radiance on these men’s face. It is also an easy color to match against brown suits and even gray or navy suits. On the formality scale for solid colored men’s dress shirts, white still stands out as the most formal followed by blue broadcloth. Blue chambray would be the next formal choice. The sequence thereafter would be pink, yellow or gold, tan, and lastly green. Other very daring shades to choose for solid colored men’s dress shirts would be red and orange. Note that these colors are much more of a trendy choice and might not be able to withstand the ever changing fashion trends. Having a wide array of colorful shades for solid colored men’s dress shirts can allow a nice play against men’s suits. It gives a less formal touch and fits perfectly into our new era of casual business wear making these bright solid colored men’s dress shirts power shirts.

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6) Patterned Men’s Dress Shirts Instead of the usual combination of solid colored shirts, patterned men’s dress shirts creates a nice texture, combination and play of colors for the men. Having a wide array of patterned shirts is quite rare among many men’s wardrobe. It is always the fear of matching these shirts that put men off. However, patterned men’s dress shirts allow men to create fun and style coupled with the confidence to handle out-of-the-box combinations. When the mix and match is done well, it can really make the man stand out from the rest and catch others’ attention. It also works wonders in sprucing up tired and dull colored suits. Furthermore, the work wear has changed dramatically over the turn of the century. People are keen to try out bolder colors with a broader spectrum of colors and patterns as well. It helps many men to take business casual into another perspective and focus on casual dressing instead of careless dressing. Similarly, the choice for the right patterned men’s dress shirts should rely on the skin tone and hair color. It will always bring out the best focus of your face and features. A few general introductions on the types of stripes and check dress shirts available:

Above collection from Paul Fredrick Dress Shirts. Starting from left to right: Blue Bengal stripe dress shirt, Multi-colored stripe dress shirt, Pink/Blue Track stripe dress shirt

From left to right: Blue hairline dress shirt from The Savile Row Company, broken-line stripe and blue track stripe fabrics from Best Custom Shirt, and lastly a pink candy stripe dress shirt by ShirtCreations


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An assortment of designer collections from Raffaelloties.com, from left to right: Dark blue pencil stripe by Giorgio Armani, Variegated fancy Blue stripe by Etro, multi-colored variegated stripe by Gucci, and finally, the two-tone brown stripe by Prada

Interesting check dress shirt collections by The Savile Row Company, from left to right: Sage Check Ground, Lilac Gingham Check, Blue Pastel Check, Burgundy Tattersal Check, Red/BlueUnion Check


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Fabrics and shirts from ShirtCreations, left to right: Dark Blue Checkerboard, Olive/Blue Fancy Check, Navy Mini-Check, Blue Railroad Check, Pink Windowpane Check . From the pictures, you would notice that the blue hairline stripe shirt looks practically blue and no visible stripes can be seen. This is the supposed effect when looking at hairline stripes from afar which it seems like a blue dress shirt. This creates a sense of style and sophistication for a patterned men’s dress shirt. Such an effect applies the same to the mini and micro checks as well. Patterned men’s dress shirts with white background generally give a more formal feel than colored ground fabrics. Dress shirts with finer patterns generally look more ceremonial than those with bold patterns. The mini-checks and gingham checks gives more dressy effect when compared to the other check patterned men’s dress shirts, Windowpane and Pastel Checks. Similarly, the bolder stripes and wider spaced stripes look dressier against the finer stripes as well as closely spaced stripes. Good comparison would be the multi-colored variegated stripe shirt by Gucci against the two-tone Brown stripe shirt by Prada. The latter definitely looks more formal.

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7) Men’s Dress Shirts Care Guide Good men’s dress shirts care is the most important source of making your favorite dress shirts last for years. There are many men asking the question “How do I clean my dress shirts?” Some men cannot even be bothered about it. It is through the improper care that dress shirts get damaged, out of shape, and make the wearers look unkept. So understand the background behind the pointers on men’s dress shirts care below and get into the habit of doing it to have longer lasting and crisp dress shirts in your wardrobe.

• Before wearing a new dress shirt the first time, remember to wash it before wearing. It helps to remove any possible manufacturing chemicals and also make the material softer.

• Check your dress shirt buttons occasionally to avoid it from dropping off without knowledge. Once the buttons are hanging loosely over your dress shirt, have it reinforced by making a firm knot after each sew.

• It is best to wash your high quality dress shirts by hand especially for bespoke ones. If not possible by hand, then use washing machines in luke-warm water.

• An important aspect of men’s dress shirts care is to avoid using dry-cleaning for dress shirts. It can destroy the fabric or even turn it yellow due to the chemicals used during dry-cleaning. Instead, request drycleaners to use laundering for your dress shirts.

• Starching can cause cotton fibers weak and so the threading can break easily. Therefore, try avoiding the use of starch for dress shirts when ironing.

• Always spray your deodorant or cologne on your body and wait for it to dry before wearing the dress shirts. Avoid spraying onto your dress shirts as well otherwise it is likely to stain it permanently over time.

• The best practice in men’s dress shirts care is to promptly wash the dress shirts when it is stained. It prevents the possibility of the stain being absorbed into the dress shirt and creates difficulty in getting rid of it in the future.

• Use only diluted amount of bleach over your colored dress shirts. It is also advisable to separate the dark colored dress shirts from the light colored and white ones. This is to avoid color “runs” staining the light colored especially white dress shirts.

• Do not press the dress shirts if there is a stain. It is likely to heat the stain permanently on to the dress shirt. So it is advisable to check for stains each time after wearing it.

• Always make your dress shirts damp before using a hot iron. It avoids damaging the fabrics especially for finer cotton weaves. Steam irons from Rowenta will provide such good

The last tips on dress shirts care will be on ironing. Let’s go through some of the important steps to create a nice firm dress shirt.

• Begin ironing the collar starting from its underside. Iron away from the collar points toward the back of the neck area. Then turn the shirt over and iron the similar way for the collar at the front.

• Iron the yoke area starting from the neck outwards to the center of the dress shirt. If there are pleats at the yoke, iron the pleats flat in the direction of the fold.

• Similar to the collars, iron the cuffs inside out. Always remember to lay the sleeves flat and start from the cuff upward, then iron the other side as well.

• Lastly iron the torso starting from the shoulders down to the shirt ends. Do it step by step from the right torso panel then to the left panel. This will keep each side equally well-ironed. Remember to iron in-between the buttons as well with the iron tip.


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• To create a nice shape for dress shirts, only hang your dress shirts on wooden or plastic hangers with firm shoulders. There should not be any compromise for wire hangers.

Through these few important pointers on men’s dress shirts care, it helps to provide a good idea on how to avoid unnecessary damage and help make the dress shirts crisp for wear straight from the wardrobe.

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C) Men’s Fashion Tips: Men’s Dress Pants

1) Introduction to Men’s Dress Pants: With the new century of dress casual, the men’s dress pants have been left out from men’s wardrobe. Simply slipping into their khakis or chinos is the easiest way in dressing up for many men. However, this convenient khaki wearing creates an easy route for men to under-dress for various important occasions or a bit too casual for office as well. They start to be unbothered by their dress sense or outlook and mix their casual wear with their business casual wear. The easiest part of men’s wardrobe to fall into this category of things is usually the pants. Well-dressed men should continue to have a pair of nice dress pants at least within an office environment. There are important occasions as well that dress pants plays a significant role in the men’s presentation. It is the cornerstone in any men’s wardrobe to match with sports jackets and dress shirts. It will never be a place for khakis here. It is common nowadays when a lady wearing a beautiful dress for an evening date, but the man has to spoil the whole image of this couple by wearing khakis or chinos. It makes an immediate mismatch in terms of their dress sense. A good quality pants finish up the overall look of well-dressed men when they are donned in dress shirts and blazers. There is no doubt that women appreciate such gesture as a form of respect of the date or appointment. Too many men have relied heavily on khakis. Probably these old khaki pants lovers can consider revamping their wardrobe with pants that gives them a cleaner, sophisticated, and stylish appeal with elegance. We will discuss about the details in men’s dress pants, the fabrics and styles available, the proper fit for pants, and most importantly, the essential pants to have in men’s wardrobe.

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2) Men’s Dress Pants Details: Different men have varying preferences for their men’s dress pants details. There are a few details for men’s dress pants to create a variety for the wardrobe. Most importantly, we want details that bring out the best in the pants as well as for the wearer. Stitching: Just like men’s dress shirts and men’s suits, stitching is the ultimate judge on workmanship and quality of the dress pant. The stitching should not be creating any pucker on any parts of the pants. The sewing technique should be neat and smooth on all parts. Threading should always be of the same color as the dress pants. Waistline: Belt loop is the most common men’s dress pants details around the waist. We should be expecting about 1 ½ inch wide for the belt loop. This should be able to fit most of the formal styled belts. Make sure that the belt loops are all properly sewn firmly against the waistline of the dress pants. To create a less formal styled dress pants for work, there is a choice for bespoke dress pants without belt loops. Such styles were very popular during the seventies especially in flat front tight fitting pants. The beltless dress pants relies precision in the waistline measurement. It will require the dress pants waistline to fall and sit comfortably supported by the men’s hips. If there is worry of drooping too low against the hips, then hanging the pants in a good position by using suspenders is a stylish alternative. An example would be Michael Douglas in the movie “Wall Street”. Pleats: There are a variety of pleats available for dress pants. The fashion of pleats playing its part for men’s dress pants details come and go but the single and double pleats are considered a safe permanent style. A pleat is made by folding the cloth over itself so that there is a double layer and then stitching it into the waistline. Its function is to provide comfort when the man sits or puts his hands into the pockets. The pleat allows room to accommodate these actions that will stretch the dress pants outwards. Interestingly, the current trend in fashion is wearing the flat front for its clean finishing as well as the slimming illusion it creates.


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Brooks Brothers Dress Pants gives good examples of the typical pleats above. From left to right: Flat Front Pleatless Black/White Plaid with Blue Overcheck Dress Pant; Two Pleat Front Charcoal Check Dress Pant; and Single Pleat Front Charcoal Dress Pant

Two types of pleats seldom seen among off-rack dress pants nowadays. From left to right: Polo Ralph Lauren reversed pleats twill pants from Smartbargains Men's Store Pants; and Polo Ralph Lauren Inverted box pleats twill pants from Overstock.com Cuffs: These are folds made at the bottom of the pants bottom. Usually we expect cuffs to be around 1 ½ inches wide. Anything less than that is often not proportionate to an average men’s height. The finishing of cuffed dress pants should be hemmed in a straight line. The flow of the pants will break when the ends reach the instep of the shoes. In cuffless men’s dress pants details, it is usually hemmed with a slant where the back is slightly longer than the front. It back slant should meet the point where the heel and sole meet. Cuffed trousers are not a sought after men’s dress pants details of late. The trend is settling for smooth ending at the trouser ends without cuffs. However, cuffed pants have its role to play


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especially for very tall men. The weight it creates at the ends allows a smoother drape while it can give an illusion that shortens the men’s height slightly.

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3) Men’s Dress Pants Fit: Why is it important to get a good men’s dress pants fit? Even with the perfect dress shirts or jackets, a poor fit for the dress pants is going to destroy your overall look and style. A proven practice for decades is that a good men’s dress pants fit will create an image of professionalism as well as stylishness for both work and casual wear. Pants bought off-rack always has the sizes stated on the outside of the waistband. It should be based on the waist size of the dress pants. Take note that the European and American waist sizes are dictated by different measurement standards, and the European sizes are slightly smaller than the American standards. We will look at a few pointers when fitting for both off-rack or custom tailored pants: Waist: Imagine an oversized pant that needs to be belted and this creates a large amount of gathering of cloth around the waist. It is unsightly and definitely looks untidy for any man. Make sure that the dress pants waist is resting and supported by the hips and fits nicely around your pants. There should be a slight space between the pants and your waist which is enough to slip in exactly your fingers. If your dress pants is a hipster (where it is worn around the hips), then make sure a proper sized belt is used to hold up the pants. Try to sit or squat down with the pants. The waist of the pants should not be feeling so tight that it can not accommodate the bulge of the abdomen. We would not want the dress pants to burst open around the waist. It should form a smooth flow around the stomach with a nice drape. A good man’s dress pants fit around the waist area must not show signs of stretching or puckering or pulling around the pockets. These are signs of tightness of the pants. Line and Drape: Special attention should be paid on the line of the dress pants and its drape. The line of the pants should always be following the contours of the body. It will naturally flow with from the hips to the ends with a subtle taper. Drape of the pants over your lower body should always be smooth (no bulge or horizontal creasing especially under the waist area and thigh area). When fitting into pleated pants, we should expect continuous smoothness in the drape where the pleats are not stretched when standing. For plain or flat front pants, the pockets should lie flat from the sides. No puckering should be seen for a flat front. It should be able to accommodate the fullness of the thighs. The pants have to float over your legs. It must not flare like hip-hop pants or hug your legs skin tight. For stout men or even heavier men with larger thighs, pleated pants have more cloth around the waist and thigh areas. This leads to an illusion of more weight around the abdomen and legs.


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Instead wearing a flat front dress pants can create a more slimming effect than pleated ones. The overall men’s dress pants fit, therefore, should compliment the built of the man as well. A general guideline on the measurements of my bespoke dress pants are 31 inches waist, then flowing to 21 inches around the knees and about 19 inches at the bottom. The taper is so subtle that it can not be noticed visually instead a nice drape is being created. This fitting criterion allows a good men’s dress pants fit for most men even for the short and stout ones. Rise and the Crotch: The rise is the portion between the crotch and the waistband. Ensure that the length of the rise complements the men’s height. Men’s dress pants fit for the rise should be as high as possible to the crotch. However, it can not be too short such that it presses into the men’s crotch area or too long that it hangs loosely under the crotch. Taller men will suit higher rise while shorter men should settle for lower rise. It is always safe to have zipper fronts rather than buttons. It helps most for well-endowed men since it does not have cause fabrics to bunch around the area like button fronts. Pants Length and its Ends: Men’s dress pants fit should be done standing straight as well as walking around so that the drape and length can be reviewed properly. The dress pants should always be long enough such that the socks or hoses are not revealed when walking. When standing straight, its length reaches around the mid-instep of the shoes with a slight single gather of fabric at the ends. The ends of the dress pants cover about a quarter of the top of men’s shoes. As explain earlier, cuffless pants should have a slight slant when hemmed. The back covers slightly lesser than half of the shoes sole with the front higher. So it is always advisable to wear a pair of shoes when trying the dress pants. This effect gives men the effect of longer legs but not compromising the drape of the pants toward the shoes. This criterion sets a neat break at the ends of the pants with the shoes.

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4) The Essential Men’s Dress Pants: Most men do not have much idea about the essential men’s dress pants needed for their daily business wear or even something other than khaki pants during casual occasions. Dress pants can bring about comfort together with style, but many men are confused between comfort and carelessly casual without style. The basis of essential dress pants boils down to the fabric used. Let us review these few: Worsted Wool: You can refer to Men’s Suits Fabrics for details on worsted wool, its grades and the various high quality worsted wool available. An important fabric in men’s fine clothing especially tailored ones; worsted wool should be the most considered an essential men’s dress pants fabric to have in the wardrobe. The fine texture of worsted wool without the fuzz (i.e. no itchy feeling) makes it a comfortable and lightweight fabric suitable for the year round during all seasons. Furthermore, the fine fiber allows a good drape for the dress pants without creating too much wrinkles. Gabardine: A twill woven tightly of either wool or cotton. It is characterized by its diagonal twill lines at 45 or 63 degrees. It is an extremely durable fabric with hardly creases. The fabric itself usually comes in solid colors and can resemble khaki due to its color and twill weave. Relatively to worsted wool, it has a silky touch with a firmer finish giving a good drape as well. The fabric’s weight can depend on individual designer though. In order to deviate from a khaki look, I would recommend going for a navy or charcoal or gray gabardine as an essential men’s dress pants.

Gabardine

Flannel: A medium-weight fabric that can be plain or twill weaved with a nappy finish to conceal the weave. It can also be produced by worsted or woolen yarn. It is very suitable for the winter due to it being heavier compared to other wool fabrics. It is a very lasting, rich, and down-to-earth fabric with a soft hand feel. 1940s was the time when dark gray or charcoal flannel pants showed its prominence as the trouser of choice. It basically matched with any other blazer or sports coat available. During current era, it still has its position as the essential men’s dress pants. It allows an easy match with dark colored sweaters or even medium blue dress shirts. However, we would go for a wider color range as well as designs for flannel dress pants as seen in this light gray flannel pants from Brooks Brothers.


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Calvary Twill: Twill is more of the way either cotton or wool has been weaved which is usually in a 63 degree diagonal direction with raised rib. Of particular, the Calvary twill has been the popular fabric for essential men’s dress pants due to its rugged but stylish feel. Calvary Twill is a durable fabric with a stretch quality. It was originally worn for horse riding. With its sturdier weave, Calvary Twill has a casual feel suitable to be worn with blazers and dress shirts fitting into our current era of business casual wear. Tweeds: This is a heavy fabric suitable for the colder months of autumn and winter. It has a rough surface that can be either plain or twill weave. For dress pants, we would rather consider Shetland which has a lighter weight weave typically in plaids or stripes, and Donegal known for its specks of color nubs such as blue, red, and yellow throughout the fabric.

Tweeds

Linen: This is the summer fabric of choice for essential men’s dress pants. It is known for being a fabric with strong and lustrous yarn. It allows an airy feel because it is being woven from natural fiber. Linen is versatile in that it can be worn casually but still give an elegant and relaxed feel. For example, wearing linen dress pants with sandals or moccasins, tucked out dress shirts with or without a destructed jacket. The fit for linen pants is generally different from usual dress pants. It should be worn loose and free to give a non-chalant styling that linen projects best.

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D) Men’s Fashion Tips: Men’s Dress Shoes

1) Introduction to Men’s Dress Shoes: Men’s Dress Shoes Gives the Foundation in Men’s Fashion Styling It is common to find men neglecting what they wear on their feet. Men’s dress shoes are as important as other things in the wardrobe. It represents a man’s sense of style and social status. Wearing a pair of shoes to many men is usually for practical sake, and that is to provide protection as well as bring them from places to places. Many men could not care less about wearing worn out pair of cheap dress shoe. They forget the importance of dress shoes in finishing off the style with their fitted dress shirts, well-cut men’s suits and pants. The evolution of men’s dress shoes have created many different styles to choose from now. Remember that the trendy dress shoes are designed base on the fundamentals of the classic style dress shoes. So knowing what the classic dress shoes offer covers all the important criteria of dress shoes. Going for men’s dress shoes belonging to the classic styles allow more versatility since it can match with most of your dress shirts, pants and suits. The problem with trendy ones is they are fashionable for a particular season or period only. However, we can still buy those trendy dress shoes to create a striking fashionable piece amongst your classic men’s fashion outfit. We will introduce the various styles of dress shoes available and the necessary quality of good dress shoes. We should always put our money where it can bring out the worth of the product. No point spending every other month on a new pair of poor quality dress shoe when a slightly more expensive dress shoe can be bought that lasts for years instead. Men’s dress shoes encounter a lot of direct wear and tear. It gets bumped, ruptured, and stepped on. In addition, the daily weathering by the sun, rain, and snow puts it under consistent pressure to wear and tear. Therefore, knowledge of the proper care for the dress shoes is important to make it longer lasting as well as retain its luster and presentable style.

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2) Men’s Dress Shoes Details: Every man should know the men’s dress shoes details before even considering buying their dress shoes. It is important to understand that these details define the quality in the shoes. Instead of repeated spending on replacing damaged dress shoes, it pays to have a few quality ones that can last for years. The high quality men’s dress shoes are eventually going to be more cost efficient than the cheap poor quality ones that are not made to last. Men’s dress shoes details are the foundation in building and shaping the dress shoes. It provides the comfort and firmness within that men are always sensitive about. Let us begin going through the men’s dress shoes details: Leather: Most men’s dress shoes are made of leather. It is important to know what constitutes good leather since this material covers about 80-90% of the dress shoe. Leather quality is graded from 1 to 5 with 1 being the highest quality. However, we can never find these grading on the dress shoes and neither would the sales personnel at the shoe department know. Generally, base on laymen’s sight and touch, we focus on a smooth with consistent fine grain on the leather for men’s dress shoes details. The leather should feel rich and supple. A good example of good quality leather would be Napa, a type of calfskin. Calfskin are fine leather from skin of young calf or even lambs. These hides have fine grains and shines with high polish. All leather hides naturally have blemishes or scars on them. The high quality leather will have little scars on it and hence the higher price. The difference in durability for high and low quality leather is small in variation so it is not a determinant in the pricing for leather men’s dress shoes. Blemishes on leather dress shoes can be hidden by using sealant products. It smoothens the leather and cover-up the blemishes. Therefore, if the leather itself has less polished finishing (i.e. glassy finish) or as naked as it is, it represents lesser possible concealment of blemishes. One of the most important men’s dress shoes details lies on having high quality leather that has minimum blemishes and also barely touched-up with any artificial sealants. Still it is difficult for any layman to assess the quality of leather unless you really know leather very well. Instead of trying to assess the leather itself, the focus should be more on the construction of the men’s dress shoes. Men’s dress shoes details start from the inside since dress shoes are made from inside out. Blemishes and faulty workmanship are usually concealed on the outside. So focusing on the inside will allow us to find difficult areas of cover-ups. An important point of focus is the insole. High quality men’s dress shoes have insoles made from leather rather than layers of cardboards. These leather insoles are durable and prevents unnecessary foot odor because it allows the foot to breathe and absorb perspiration. It can also be easily replaced when worn out as well as helps in shaping the bottom of the dress shoes which are not possible with cardboard insoles.


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Lining: Leather is still the focus here. High quality leather should still be used to work on the lining. A good example of such leather would be calfskin. Make sure that the lining is smooth at the folds around the seams and edges. Fine stitch is important along the lining because a fine binding and clean finishing defines the workmanship of the men’s dress shoes details. Stitching: Stitching is something that is not usually noticed among men’s dress shoes details. We would recommend careful inspection of it. Good quality stitching on men’s dress shoes should be as inconspicuous as possible. It should be concealed from the top to the bottom of the dress shoes. Remember to ensure that the inside of men’s dress shoes do not have any exposed knots because these can cause a lot of discomfort for the wearer. On the sole, a welt finishing involves stitching the leather in between the edge of the sole and the turned-in edge of the upper. These stitching should be hidden within the leather and should not have any loose ends revealed. Soles: Soles are the foundation of men’s dress shoes details. It is the easiest to wear out from walking. A good investment for men’s dress shoes would be having leather soles. One good point about leather soles is that it is definitely more formal and refined looking than rubber soles. Leather soles are usually tanned to make it more lasting. The light tanned hue on the sole avoids possible cover-up of blemishes and scars. It also avoids exposed stitching. The stitching along the soles should be well-hidden under the channels cut within the soles. These represents the quality required for men’s dress shoes details. The soles can be made into various layers, from single to three, and it all depends one’s personal choice, or to fit the formal dressing. Make sure these soles are shaped as closely as possible to the foot to assure comfort for the wearer. Dress shoes soles should never be glued to the shoe. We should expect stitching around this area. It allows possible changing of the soles when worn out but not for those with glued soles. Heels: Another important aspect about men’s dress shoes details is the heel. Leather comes into play again. The heels are actually layered with leather and nailed together with brass pins. This creates a tight reinforcement for the leather layers to create a cushion effect as well as sustainable support around the heels. Make sure the heels are not oversized as this disrupts the balance for the men’s dress shoes and can make walking with such heels very uncomfortable. For added durability, some heels are further attached with brass tacks to the sole.

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3) Men’s Dress Shoes Fit: We are always in search of a good man’s dress shoes fit. This is an important criterion prior to any purchase of men’s dress shoes. No men would want to go through the pain and discomfort involved with the “new shoe syndrome”. Having a improper fit for shoes can lead to many problems like blisters, uncomfortable corns, and calluses. These are unnecessary outcomes that can be prevented when firstly understand what constitutes good men’s dress shoes fit. Always have your feet measured by a Brannock device since it covers the toe length, arch length, and even the foot width. If possible, have your feet measured every few years. Foot sizes changes with age and both feet are never of the same size. Choose the men’s dress shoes size that fits your larger foot. For the smaller foot, insert insoles to the dress shoes for a better fit. Let’s start going through the following tips to determine the proper men’s dress shoes fit:

• Never assume that the size marked inside or on the dress shoe would fit. To ascertain good men’s dress shoes fit, it pays to try it on or choose one that conforms to the shape of your legs.

• Wear your usual thickness socks when trying the dress shoe or those socks that you intend to wear with the dress shoes. It would be a good assessment of the fit as how you would be expecting to wear it with.

• Always fit your dress shoes during the end of the day when the feet is most expanded. Then the gauging the men’s dress shoes fit will be more accurate.

• Never assume that the leather dress shoes will “stretch” over time. Some heavy built men’s dress shoes can be quite firm and rigid that does not allow easy “stretching” to conform to your feet.

Certain dress shoes using thinner and softer leather, like slip-ons, can be stretched easily so it can become loose and uncomfortable. Therefore, it still pays for any dress shoes to be snugly fitted rather than letting it be loosely or tightly fitted.

• When trying on the dress shoes, remember to stand on one foot at a time. Do the tip toe motion a few times and make sure the dress shoes creases or break line straight across the top of the foot where it bends.

This will determine the flexibility the dress shoes and softness of the leather that is necessary to be considered a comfortable men’s dress shoes fit.

If the break lines are in front or after the top of the foot where it bends, then it might cause direct rupture against your toes or instep area.

• Make sure there is adequate space between your longest toe and tip of the shoe. A good estimate should be about 3/8” to ½”.


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• The ball of the foot should fit snugly into the widest part of the shoe. The ball of the foot is the starting point of the arch on your foot and the insole of the dress shoes are made to fit this shape.

So ensure the ball of the foot is positioned at the start of the arch of the insole so that the sole of the foot rest comfortably on the insole.

• The widest part of your foot should always fit comfortably to the widest part of the dress shoes. There should not be any consideration for the dress shoe when there is a tight feeling around this area or even leading to overlapping of the toes.

• Do not have the idea that painful, tight dress shoes can be “broken in” or stretched out into comfortable ones. Shoe creams also can not work out such magic. Men’s dress shoes fit should be comfortable right from the start.

• Dress shoes that are too short will always remain short. There is no way to lengthen a shoe by stretching.

• Always walk a few rounds when trying on the shoes. Have a feel of anything that the dress shoes are not making your feet feel comfortable. Look out for loose portions as well where your feet might slip out or even slide around within the insole.

• Some dress shoes are made with higher insteps and side inserts. This can easily come into contact with your ankles. So watch out for such contact between your ankle and the side inserts when “test walking” the dress shoes.

There will not be any pain when trying out the shoes, but even with the slightest contact it can cause a lot of blisters and skin rupture at the ankles after certain amount of walking.

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4) Men’s Dress Shoes Care: Why bother to practice proper men’s dress shoes care? The impression on any well-polished, reasonably price men’s dress shoes will always be deeper and better than those unkept, ill-cared luxury ones. Well-made dress shoes can always last for decades if good care is being carried out. So men’s dress shoes care is important not only for outlook reasons but also to prolong the life of the shoes. Resting of men’s dress shoes: Never wear the same pair of dress shoes consecutively two days in a row. You need to air the shoe to dry the perspiration being absorbed into the leather when worn. It is best to allow the dress shoes to air for more than 24 hours after each wearing, This will prevent possible slow rot from the inside out as well as feet odor. Using shoe trees: Basic men’s dress shoes care should start with proper storage of the dress shoes. It is important to insert shoe trees into the shoes because they are meant to keep men’s dress shoes in shape for many years. They are preferably made of cedar or woodard which is good at absorbing moisture and also gives out a nice scent.

Shoe Trees helps to make good sense by protecting your investment and prolonging the life of your shoes. Cedar trees protect the leather, fabric, stitching, and soles of your shoes by absorbing moisture, Avoid overstretching the men’s dress shoe with extended shoe trees to prevent the dress shoes from going out of shape over time. Generally, lace-up dress shoes require lesser pressure from the shoe trees than the loafers due to the firmer leather with lace-ups than loafers. Using shoe horns: Never be lazy when putting on men’s dress shoes. Commonly men tap the tip of the dress shoes against the floor so that their heels will slip into the shoe. Another typical action is using the fingers to stretch the top edge of the heels to slip the heels in. These two bad habits damage the front tip of the dress shoes as well as the top edge of the heels. Always use shoe horns when putting on your shoes as a proper habit in men’s dress shoes care.


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Shoe Horn made for years of use. Regular use helps support the shoe counter (top of heel) and preventing unsightly wear. In case there is no shoe horn in hand, try slipping your heel by sliding it down a handkerchief after unlacing your dress shoes completely. The process of the handkerchief or shoe horn is to allow smooth entry of the heels into the shoe. Brushing, cleaning and polishing: After wearing your dress shoes, make it a point to brush off the dirt on it. Take note of those tough to reach edges around the sole, inside and outside of the heel. An important step in men’s dress shoes care is to use shoe cream to polish the shoes especially those difficult to reach areas. This polishing helps to clean up any difficult spots and retards scuffs. It also prevents moisture from getting in as well as possible sun damage. As a rule of thumb, polish at least once every three to four wearing. Use soft cloth to wipe and clean your dress shoes. Then use either shoe wax or shoe cream with a slightly damp cloth and start polishing the men’s dress shoes. Wipe off any excess wax or cream. After the dress shoes dry, buff them to a good shine with soft bristled brush. The large horsehair brushes are an efficient way for a quick nice polish. Drying men’s dress shoes: What to do when your dress shoes becomes wet after a heavy rain? First thing not to do is putting them to dry on a radiator or near a heat source. These actions will cause the leather to be brittle and crack in the future. The correct men’s dress shoes care is to wipe them dry and leave them at room temperature to dry. If the shoes are very wet, then insert newspapers into the shoes to soak up any excess moisture. Remember to insert the shoe trees after a few hours to sustain the shape of the shoes. Do not attempt to polish men’s dress shoes when it is wet. If it is only the soles of the dress shoes that are wet, simply lay them on their sides including those shoe trees inserted. This applies similarly for those men with sweaty feet. It is best storing such men’s dress shoes on their sides without those boxes are good since it provides much more room to air. Rejuvenating suede men’s dress shoes: This is a lot simpler than leather dress shoes. The nap of suede shoes can easily be renewed by brushing them with soft-bristled brushes. It just takes regular brushing and polishing with shoe cream to the edges of the leather soles to maintain suede shoes. Men’s dress shoes care had never been easier with suede, especially for those men who do not like polishing their dress shoes. Salt Stains: One the major damages on any leather men’s dress shoes would be this salt used to melt ice and snow. The salt leaves not only stain on dress shoes but also allows moisture to sip into the leather. Excess moisture leads to brittle leather and it is possible to crack over time.


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The correct men’s dress shoes care method to clear this problem is to remove any salt residue on the shoe and then dry the shoes in room temperature. Remember to add in your shoe trees to hold up the shape of the shoes. About one hour later of airing the dress shoes at room temperature, use a damp cloth to wipe the exterior of the shoes with clean water to remove any excess salt. Apply shoe cream or wax thereafter at slightly more amount to let it work into the leather. After one hour, wipe away any excess shoe cream or wax and this will further remove remaining salt on the leather men dress shoes. Then buff up the leather surface to recoat it for prevention of moisture again.

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5) Classic Men’s Dress Shoes: Men’s dress shoes styles are separated into two main categories: the lace ups and the slip-ons. Generally, the lace-ups are further differentiated into two categories: the blucher lacing and balmoral lacking. The main difference between these two lacings is the lace-ups area. Blucher lacing are open-throat lacing while the balmoral lacing are closed-throat with a ‘V’ shaped lacing. The pictures below will clearly show their differences. The left is the balmoral cap-toe oxford by Kenneth Cole and the right is the blucher lacing cap-toe oxford by Cole Haan. Both shoes from Shoes.com

Men requiring high instep or uses high insoles would definitely prefer the blucher lacing. The open-throat allows more adjustment to give way around the instep than balmoral lacing. Lace-ups are the most acceptable styles around the world for businesswear. Dressiness of lace-up men’s dress shoes styles starts from the smoothness of the leather used (rough grain leather are less dressy), followed by the type of lacing (blucher is considered more casual than balmoral), and finally the amount of detailing (the more details like perforation, the less dressy). Slip-ons or loafers are the other option for men’s dress shoes styles that has been regarded as the less formal dress shoes. But we should not assume that all slip-ons are casual. There is a particular category of loafers which are meant for the evening black-tie affairs. Besides its ease of wear, it is also a versatile pair of men’s dress shoes that can is clean in its cut with minimal detailing and suitable for both casual and formal wear. We will go through a few classic men’s dress shoes styles commonly available. There will be some examples of hybrids of these classic styles. It can be difficult to categorize these hybrids, so the fundamental of a well-balanced design coupled with a comfortable fit should be the basis of your consideration for purchase.


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Brogue: This is a term used for all men’s dress shoes that have tiny holes punched to form patterns on it. Brogue can have different degrees of perforations. It can be heavily brogue to cover the whole shoe or at least half the shoe which we term full-brogue and half-brogue respectively. The other style would be called a medallion where brogue is only focused around the shoe toe. As a gentle reminder, the more brogueing found on men’s dress shoes, the less dressy the shoe will be. Cap-Toe Oxfords: These oxfords have a separate leather portion at the shoe toe area. These are smart looking men’s dress shoes styles but not as formal as compared the other oxfords due to its additional cap-toe detailing. Traditional cap-toe oxfords have perforation or brogue (tiny holes punched to form patterns) on the seam separating the cap-toe and the shoe. However, these perforations can be replaced by double rows of fine stitching which is commonly found among cap-toe oxfords nowadays. Cap-toe oxfords can have either a blucher or balmoral lacing on it. The balmoral with a plain cap-toe oxford creates men’s dress shoes styles meant for the conservative men who adore minimal details with a sense of elegance.

Good examples of cap-toe oxfords is illustrated in the picture above. The top left is a Prada Brogue Balmoral Cap-toe and the bottom left is a Prada Plain Balmoral Cap-toe. The right is a Johnston &


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Murphy Plain Blucher Cap-Toe that shows a different cut where the side and cap-toe is made wider to accommodate wider feet. Plain-Toe Oxfords: One of my favorite men’s dress shoes styles. It is simple and yet elegant with an exceptional clean cut. The Plain-Toe Oxfords can have both the blucher lacing and balmoral lacing.

Examples of plain oxford styles, from top left clockwise: Plain balmoral Raffaello Handmade Oxford; Plain Blucher Polo Ralph Oxford; Plain Pointed-toe Blucher Oxford by Obeline from Yoox; and lastly, a Prada Plain Blucher Oxford with a slightly sharper shoe toe. As illustrated in the picture, the Plain-Toe Blucher Oxford definitely has a less formal look compared to the balmoral lacing ones. The Plain-Toe Balmoral Oxfords work well for both business wear as well as formal occasions that require a dressy pair of dress shoes. Its popularity lies on its versatility, elegant, and firm design that draws so many men to it. The Plain Blucher Oxfords can also transform into a casual style suitable for business wear. The use of rougher grains of leather will make it look less dressy, and examples would be using crocodile skin to create such a look.


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Wing Tips: These are the greatest example of men’s dress shoes styles with brogue. Its name is derived by the brogue design on the shoe toe resembling stretch-out wings.

The Wing Tip at the top of the picture has a fine finishing and design by Johnston & Murphy; and the other two at the bottom are Prada Wing Tips. The left one is a hybrid combination of Wing Tip designs and crocodile skin cap-toe; the right is a balmoral lacing Wing Tip giving a more formal touch. Due to its brogueing, Wing Tips look bulkier and less sleek than Cap-Toe or Plain Blucher Oxfords.


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Therefore, it is a less formal man’s dress shoe and meant more for business wear and sports coats. Wing Tips usually come in black or tan brown. Personally, I find the tan brown more exciting because it usually brings out the contrasting colors of the shoes and perforations. Black would be too blend and the brogue would not stand out as much. Pants that are suitable to be worn with Wing Tips would be the heavier weight fabrics to balance out the bulky feel of the shoes. Examples would be tweed and flannels. Buck Oxfords: Well-known as a summer shoe, the buckskin or suede shoes are a break from the usual leather men’s dress shoes styles. These men’s dress shoes were originally made from suede buckskin, but nowadays mostly are from calfskin. It is different from leather men’s dress shoes because of its nap finishing with a velvety texture which resembles greatly that of fabric. So the standard cap-toes or blucher oxfords with or without brogue can have an alternative finishing with suede to finish off your wardrobe with a difference.

These Polo Ralph Suede Oxfords are the traditional styles with the right known as White Buck Oxfords. The white Buck Oxfords are made from white-colored calfskin are most suitable for the summer. However, matching against summer suits have to be careful. We would still want to maintain consistency between the color tones of the dress shoes and the suits. So light-colored cream cotton or linen suits would go best with the White Buck Oxfords. The tan brown suede is one of the most versatile men’s dress shoes styles for all seasons. The earth tone blends in well with light-colored spring/summer clothing. Yet the heavy winter clothing suits the lack-luster refinement of the brown suede. The Turf or Chukka Boots These men’s dress shoes styles have many hybrids in the market now. The traditional Chukka Boots have only two lace eyelets, but nowadays we will commonly see three to four eyelets for these boots.


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Ralph Lauren: Polo dark brown 'Mccallum Chukka' leather dress boot with rubber sole

Chukkas are commonly in tan brown shades for calfskin leather or a russet shade of suede. These pair of shoes is versatile when worn with both formal dress pants fabrics like flannel or worsted wool and less formal ones like moleskin and corduroys. This positions it as a popular men’s dress shoes styles internationally. Split-toe or Norwegian: The most popular Norwegian men’s dress shoes styles were the ones introduced by J.M. Weston in the 1950s.

On the left is a Brooks Brothers Norwegian with calfskin rough grain leather. The right is a Johnston & Murphy Norwegian with fine grain smooth leather. The uniqueness of the Split-toe is the vertical hand-stitched seam at the center of the shoe toe. This seam connects two pieces of leather on the sides as well as the third portion on the top of the vamp. The Norwegians are generally more bulky with heavier leather finishing and thicker soles which are meant for the outdoors. Of course, nowadays we have hybrids which make it sleeker and elegant to suit a wider taste for business wear.


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For this section, we will discuss about the different men’s dress shoes styles for Slip-ons. Penny Loafers: Known as “Weejun” in the 1930s, these men’s dress shoes styles evolved and became known as penny loafer which were popularized by students in Eastern universities then. The distinguishing part about the penny loafers is the slit at the instep portion.

Ralph Lauren: Polo brown leather marsdon penny loafer with rubber sole

Initially, it was commonly worn as summer shoe and weekend shoe but the penny loafer started to gain popularity as part of business wear. Tassel Loafers: Distinguished by its dangling leather florets, these sporty shoes are gaining prominence within American casual business wear. Its appropriateness as part of business attire is still questionable because of its overly casualness among men’s dress shoes styles.

A traditional Tassel Loafer from Brooks Brothers.

Plain Loafer: My personal preference for clean sleek designs leads to my affection for Plain Loafers. These loafers have the same designs as penny or tassel but without their respective slits or tangling florets. Strong emphasis is put on the leather used. Depending on the level of formality, the stiffness of the leather is important. Kid leather would be a lot softer than calfskin and hence a more casual style toward it.


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Ralph Lauren: Polo black leather plain 'Pumbland' dress loafer with leather sole

Side Gusset Shoes: These are only widely found among bespoke men’s dress shoes. It has an elastic side which allows a good fit as a slip-on. The refinement of such men’s dress shoes is the stitching and trimming of the elastic side gussets.

Monk Straps: Its name is derived from the designs of footwear worn by monks in the European monasteries. The unique detail for these men’s dress shoes styles lies on three portions: The strap across the instep to be fastened on the buckle located on a saddle that is on the side of the shoe.


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Kenneth Cole black leather Monk Strap slip-on with leather sole

Actually the monk straps are a combination of both slip-ons and lace-ups, but the replacement of the strap provides a closer fit around the ankle. They are suitable for both casual and business wear only, not dressy enough for formal occasions or functions. Formal Pumps Interestingly, these pumps are considered the most prominent of all men’s dress shoes styles for formal or even black-tie affairs. These are usually black and with patent such that they give off a shiny finishing. This patented leather also has other detailing like silk bows which nowadays are rarely seen among black-tie affairs. The various men’s dress shoes styles covered are basically falling into two main categories: Oxfords and Slip-ons. The style that best suits you should always depend on the occasion for wearing, the comfort, and a well-balanced design with quality detailing.

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E) Men’s Fashion Tips: Men’s Ties 1) Introduction to Men’s Ties: All There is to Know about Men’s Ties The dress shirts collars frames the men’s face. To enhance the overall look, men’s ties are like ornaments to bring out the men’s style and personality. If you ever noticed, most men have their own choice of design, color, as well as ideas in matching their tie with the rest of their clothes. There is also a preferred method in tying their ties. All these are exactly what neckties are supposed to represent, the men’s personality as well as creating personal signatures. But I believe that most men do not see it this way. The idea of wearing men’s ties is choking, stifling and conforming especially in the new era of dress-down office attires. But with the down-fall of the dotcoms as well as high unemployment rates, we are experiencing a slow return for proper dress ups in the office to maintain the professional image. I personally enjoy mixing and matching of my ties with my dress shirts and suits. It gives me the chance to have freedom in self-expression of my styles or even mood for the day, i.e. whether a professional, flamboyant, or sporty image. This is what men’s ties offers: your personal statement. However, we have to take note of the importance of putting the appropriate type of men’s ties for the right occasion. Neckties are separated into various categories and styles that cater for different social occasion. It would never be proper to wear a cartoon print tie during an important business meeting or during a job interview. So we have to strike a balance between the customary requirements and one’s self-expression. Therefore, knowing the classic designs for men’s ties would usually give any men the right style and elegance needed each time. Owning good quality men’s ties involves knowing about the details that made them. It fundamentally provides the knowledge to get your money’s worth for a quality tie. Still the tie like men’s dress shirts are supposed to do enhance and light up the men’s face as well as create a harmony with his suits. Lots of men are interested in knowing how to tie a tie. Learning the right way to tie it and finishing the knot properly lays the groundwork before having neckties look good against the dress shirt or suit. Besides the usual neckties, men also have the choice of wearing a bowtie. This is the traditional neckwear for men where during current era is seldom seen. It is important knowing how to carry oneself with a bowtie and confidence is the key to looking good in it in the first place. Still bowties are actually as versatile as ties when pairing with dress shirts and suits. It only boils down to the right person wearing it.


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Men with the knowledge of tying a bowtie are rare unless they have attended black-tie affair occasions. So there will be a section teaching the art on how to tie a bowtie.

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2) Details on Men’s Ties: To appreciate the details on men’s ties allows the recognition and justification of the quality of a well-made tie. Actually there are very few men out there who really know about these details. Craftsmanship is the determining factor for any well-made neckties. Systematically, we will go through the details on men’s ties starting from the fabric and then to the all the inconspicuous detailing behind the tie. Neckties Fabrics: Whenever we look at a necktie’s fabric, we should take special attention to the weight, texture, and feel of the tie’s fabrics which is termed as the “hand”. A beautiful fuller hand of the fabric is one of the most important details on men’s ties. It is the basis of making men’s ties look attractive. Undeniably, silk or even silk blends are the fabric of choice because of its smooth touch and its luxurious sheen. It has great matching capability against men’s dress shirts and men’s suits to bring out the best of the overall look. Good quality silk ties should always feel smooth to the touch. If there is a rough touch to it would mean it is made from inferior silk. On the other hand, for woven silk ties with a full hand would involve a thick weave and this is likely to create a slightly coarser texture for the silk. Printed and solid colored ties are likely to have a silkier hand compared to woven ties. Besides being smooth, good quality silk ties are lithe because stiff silk fabrics are usually signs of multiple dying. This makes the ties less likely to have a nice drape down. It can also begin to fray over time at the ends. The reason for full hand fabric details on men’s ties is to make it strong and firm in order to sustain the tension made when knotting it. Instead, for those lower quality men’s ties with poor hand will start to waver and go out of shape over time. Fabric with a rich hand will also allow larger knots to be made to fill the gap between the dress shirts’ collar points. It holds the knot firmly as well without it sliding down. Three-piece Construction: Most of the well-made ties are constructed with three pieces of silk fabrics. Let us define the three-pieces of silk: the apron (the wide front piece), the neckband (center portion piece), and lastly, the backpiece (narrow end of the tie). The three-piece, not two, allows the men’s ties to drape nicely and conform to the neck. Width and Length: Out of all the details of men’s ties, the width has made the most significant changes along with trends.


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The 1950s we have seen much narrower and thinner ties compared to the thicker and wider neckties in the 1960s. Classic men’s ties generally have a width of about 2 ¾ to 3 ½ inches. This width meets in proportion to most the men’s body size and shapes and having such a balance is important. It is good to note that wider men’s ties will generally mean a bigger knot when ties. So there would be difficulty tying those thinner knots and vice versa for thin neckties for tying thicker knots. So choosing the right dress shirts collars for such trendy width neckties is important. Straight point and tab collars for dress shirts would definitely fit those thinner ties better. Forget about those spread collars because the small knots made by thinner ties would be able to cover up the gap between the collar points. Generally, we will find ties with length from 52 to 58 inches. As a rule of thumb, men’s ties should have length with tips ending at the belt’s upper edge. Anything longer than that will definitely make men look short-waisted and clowny. The right length details of men’s ties boils down to the height of the men. For taller men, special length ties are less available commercially but can still be found here. Lining: This is the inside fabric which the outside fabric of the tie is sewn onto. It is not easily noticeable unless you unfold the apron at the back of the tie and look feel within. The lining details in this era are fundamentally creating the fullness in men’s ties compared to traditional ones where they relied on several folds of the silk. Make sure that lining runs throughout the neckband of the ties, otherwise there will not be consistency in the finishing look of the tie. The lining details on men’s ties are the pillars holding up the shape. Majority of men’s ties have the lining made from wool. Lighter and finer silk ties usually have heavier wool lining to give more weighting and body to the tie. While the thicker or heavy weaved silk ties have lighter lining requirements. In order to judge the weight of the lining, just take note the number of stripes, the more the stripes means heavier the lining. It is important to differentiate whether it is the heavy silk fabric providing the fullness in hand or was it the lining that made the overall heavy finish. Quality details on men’s ties should always be base on the outer silk fabric giving the fullness and never the lining. Just a note, there are some summer ties where there are no lining inside. So these men’s ties looks a lot skimpier and skinnier than the usual silk ties.


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Bias Cut: Fabrics details on men’s ties have to be cut at a 45-degree angle bias. This bias cut is a quality assurance that keeps the fabric from twisting after tying the knot. The men’s tie should always fall straight down flat. There should not be any case of twisting when the tie is held up, otherwise then it means there is no bias cut being made and definitely not a tie worth buying. High quality details on men’s ties from the outside fabric, lining, and tipping are all involved in the bias cut. Bar Tack: This is a small thread stitched across the back of men’s ties to that joins the main seam of the two folded portions. It provides reinforcement for men’s ties at this point and maintains the shape of the tie. There should be 2 bar tacks one on each end of the tie. Check to make sure that the threading is tightly twisted to strengthen the bonding. It should not in any case become loose. Slipstitch: One of the most inconspicuous details on men’s ties, the slipstitch is actually a loose long black thread that is sews the shell and blanket of the tie to provide elasticity and recovery. It is meant to make men’s ties movable from one end to the other and not break at the seam. When tying the tie tightly, the slipstitch allows the tie to drape properly and not break apart. It also helps the tie to get back in shape upon removal by simply pulling the slipstitch. This unique threading can be found inside the “V” spread within when opening the apron. Loop: This is the most prominent details on men’s ties at the back meant for sliding the back piece of the tie. Generally most loops are made with the label printed or sewn on it. However, well-made men’s ties have an additional loop that is made from the same fabric as the tie. High quality loops are actually hand-sewn to give is a sturdy finishing. To recognize hand stitched loop we focus on stitching at the four corners of the loop to the shell. Machine sewn ones usually have the loop sewn vertically along the edges of the loop. Tipping: The most visible fabric details on men’s ties at the opening end of the back apron. This is usually made of fabric with similar patterns to the tie or of a matching shade as the tie. There are some ties that use interesting contrast for the tipping against the color or pattern of the tie itself as an ornamental presentation. Good quality men’s ties have the tipping made of silk but there are many commercial neckties made with synthetic fabrics.


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There are designers that print their label on the silk tipping to represent ownership for the particular silk pattern.

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3) Classic Men’s Ties: There are generally two categories of classic men’s ties: the woven ties and the printed ties. Woven ties are, as its name represents, weaved neckties. It incorporates interesting motifs or patterns which are actually weaved by different colored threads against a monotone background to bring out the ties attraction. Looking for Neckties? Instead printed ties are printed patterns or diagrams on the fabric of the tie. The difference in its pattern of a printed and a woven tie can be noticed very easily, and basically it is the weaving process on woven ties that sets this difference. Printed ties can go for more complex diagrams not achievable by woven ties. However, woven classic men’s ties are considered the quality ties of choice because of its intricate weaving details as well as projecting a more dressy style. So woven will command a premium over printed ties. Differentiating classic men’s ties are the patterns and colors. Whether it is a woven or printed will depend not on the pattern but the process of making it. Just a simple note, a woven tie can also have printed patterns on it and hence considered a hybrid style. Solid Color: Needless to introduce, the most common type of classic men’s ties because of its versatility in matching against men’s dress shirts and suits. The solid colored ties depend largely on the color combination with the other ensemble to judge its suitability. So no matter how the patterns are in your dress shirts or whether it is worn with a patterned suit, as long as the solid color tie blends in well it is suitable.

From left: Burgundy Solid Woven Handmade by Dolce & Gabbana; and dark blue, yellow gold, and gray woven handmade by Raffaello Solids . Stripes: Originated by the British and worn widely by the British regiments which have a color and pattern combination for each army regiment. So such stripes are also known as regimental stripes. Another group of English people who wear stripes are the public schools students and so another derived name as “Old School” ties. The English striped classic men’s ties usually run downward from the left to the right. This is in the same direction as fastening of men’s suit jacket from left to right. Later the Brooks Brothers introduced the American version in 1920s which runs downwards from the right to the left. Nowadays, the stripe ties have evolved and undertaken more interesting stripe designs with wider variation of color combinations.


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From left: Ivory based with beige, rust, and tan stripes by Kenzo; Gold based with brown, ivory, and orange stripes by Prochownick; next two by Raffaello are blue based with shades of blue and white stripes, followed by red background with white and plum stripes. Plaid These are patterns involving lines or bars crossing each other at right angles creating box-like designs. Intersection by differently scaled lines or more lines creates a deeper effect of dimension compared to those of similar scale lines. The play of colors on the lines can also draw out a richer effect for the eyes. So plaid classic men’s ties can definitely give plain dress shirts and suits an added touch of vibrancy. So plaids comparatively would be less dressy than stripes.

From left: Dark blue based with sky blue and white plaid by Les Copains; Beige, light blue, light brown plaids over sky blue background by Prochownick; lastly, a Valentino brown, red, and yellow plaid tie over gray base. Geometric: These are patterns that can be small or big that runs throughout the tie but not evenly spaced. Examples of small geometrics are commonly seen in woven ties where patterns of small diamonds, squares, and circles are weaved with interconnection. The bigger geometrics, on the other hand, can give a more abstract or gaudy design on the ties.


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From left: First two ties from Raffaello Excellence range starting with pink based geometric patterns with woven stripes and the other ivory and pearl colored squarish geometric patterns; Kenzo using big dark green geometric patterns over burgundy. Dot: This is one of the earliest designs that give a fresh look to classic men’s ties. Dressiness of dotted ties diminishes as the size of the dots becomes bigger. Ties with much bigger dots get a trendier look. The pin-dots ties with its subtleness can combine easily with stripe suits. It has a nice blending effect even though they are highly contrasting in shape.

From left: Red pin-dots over dark blue by Burberry; Another dark blue tie with closely spaced white pin-dots from Les Copains; Bright orange with white pin-dots by Bagutta; Big black, silver, and white polka-dots by the Raffaello Excellence range. Foulard: These are evenly spaced geometric patterns or shapes, other than dots, that cover throughout the tie. These are not interconnected and so differentiate from the geometrics. Foulard designs have evolved as well by designers that created more interesting shapes and patterns over time. Some hybrid are also developed where they are unevenly spaced and give a whole new refreshing feel for classic men’s ties as well as when in combination with dress shirts or suits.


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From left: Golden yellow background with brown floral patterns by Ermenegildo Zegna - Napoli collection; Other range of Ermenegildo Zegna are these brown ties with red foulard patterns and ivory based with green floral foulard patterns. Paisley: These are curved teardrop patterns that run throughout the tie. The origin of paisleys is derived from the Babylonians where it was later spread to India and beyond. The paisleys work similarly as dots where the bigger the designs the less dressy it becomes. So business attire would fit well with those smaller paisleys.

From left: Hot pink paisleys over dark blue tie by Etro; and paisley over copper background by Ermenegildo Zegna. Wool: Due wool's texture as well as weight, it creates a very nice winter ornament for men’s suits. Popularized by the Italians, the wool men’s ties are gaining more recognition for its luxurious combination with winter apparel. Most of the wool neckties are actually made from worsted cashmere or blended cashmere with silk.


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Prada Wool Ties that covers the essential winter colors of black and gray.

Classic men’s ties have evolved into many other hybrids over the years as designers tries out various designs. Therefore, most of the current trendy designs are still based on the foundation of these classic styles.

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4) Men’s Fashion Guide: How to Tie a Tie There are many ways to tie a tie, but the three main ways of doing it shall be discussed below. No matter which method is being used, the criteria to have a good knot are based on the size of the knot against the dress shirts collar size and how snugly fit the knot is between the collar points. The three popular methods of tying a tie would be four-in-hand (the most popular), the Windsor, and the half-Windsor. Four-in-hand: The most common way to tie a tie for decades is the four-in-hand probably due to the easier way of executing the knot. There is a slight asymmetrical appearance for the four-in-hand that gives it a less formal appeal. The smaller and narrower triangle knot created fits into almost all types of collars like the straight-point, tab or even the pin collars. The only collars not suitable would be the spread or wide spread collars.

There is a common problem faced by most inexperienced men tying the four-in-hand would be missing the V-shaped triangular knot as well as creating a distorted knotting eventually. The trick in arriving one nice V-shape knot with a dimple is to have it tightly knotted. When passing the top blade into the partially formed knot, hold the top blade on both edges and then pulling it down gently until the top blade starts to tighten and has a slight convex close to the knot. Using your thumb and forefinger to press the bottom of the knot into a V-shape and the convex will deepen to form the dimple. Then continue to lift the knot up to your collar by using on hand to pull the bottom blade while the other hand holding on to the knot. Generally, in order to succeed to tie a tie this way, the hand of the fabric (explained in the details of ties) is very important. Heavier hand ties will take into V-shape knot and the dimple very easily and with style. Those lighter hand ties will do better with the Windsor or half-Windsor to create a fuller knot. Windsor: This knot is named after the Duke of Windsor who popularized it. Generally to tie a tie this way would preferably for suits with wider lapels or dress shirt collars that are wide spread. The Windsor has a tendency to create larger triangular shaped knots. The knot will also be more symmetrical with more horizontal geometry.


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However, Windsor is not suitable for heavier hand ties since it would lead to really huge knots. The thin or light hand ties would definitely benefit in getting better V-shaped knots with a Windsor.

Half-Windsor: This is a version that is half of the Windsor as suggested by its name. It would be considered as in-between in the size of the knot compared to both the Windsor and four-in-hand. The types of collars suitable for the Half-Windsor would be spread collars as well as wide spread depending on the hand of the tie.


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Pratt (Shelby) Knot: This is close to the half-Windsor and my preferred way to tie a tie compared to the half-Windsor. The tying method is simpler and has an easier way to create the dimple. The tie will also be more symmetrical like that of a Windsor but with a size knot of the half-Windsor.

All picture references were taken from Neckties.com which also provides great reference books like Tying the knot by Andrew G. Cochran.

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F) Men’s Fashion Tips: Coordinating Colors and Patterns

1) Introduction to Men’s Fashion Coordination It is common to face dilemma in men’s fashion coordination. How to match colors for dress shirts and pants? How to coordinate checks with stripes? We will attempt to address these concerns and provide the fundamental information necessary to achieve the best coordination. When we look at color coordination, there are two aspects to focus on: Coordinating men’s clothing against our complexion and creating color harmony between different hues and shades. For pattern mixing, there is coordination between pattern of same design and patterns of different designs. The ultimate challenge is mixing three or four patterns together but not looking ridiculous at all. Overall, the aim of coordination for colors and patterns is to achieve naturalness as well as bringing out the best blend that brightens up the man’s overall look. In order to learn the art of achieving the best coordination, we would have to play around with our clothing to realize the concept. Thereafter, mixing and matching colors and patterns would just come as a natural flow in you. I have put together great information on coordination. Go through them and enjoy!

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2) Color Coordination and Men’s Complexion To discuss about color coordination and men’s complexion is difficult. Most men do not possess the knowledge of distinguishing men’s complexion and so color coordination would be difficult. But there are some men with a good feel about such men’s skin tones and color would appreciate this discussion easily. Firstly men’s complexion encompasses various attributes on a men’s face. Skin tone and hair color influences most part of the complexion, followed by the eye color. Our main objective when matching clothes to our complexion is to divert the focus onto our face, and not the clothes. So color coordination and men’s complexion should be eventually shift the focal point to the man and never the clothes. The reason is we wear the clothes and not let the clothes wear us. Proper men’s fashion coordination brings out the best in our personality and features which belongs only to the person when coupled with the clothes. So make sure the blend of the clothing color strengthen the focal point on the face. Two strategies that we can employ when doing color coordination and men’s complexion:

1. Base on the degree of differentiation between the skin tone and hair color, we would use the same level of contrast to apply toward our clothing color coordination

2. Use similar color hues in our clothing to blend it against our facial skin pigment, hair color, or eye color to accentuate the facial focus.

There are two types of men’s complexion to take note of and their subcategories: Firstly it is the Differentiated where there is a significant difference in color tones between skin and hair. High Differentiation: When the hair color is very dark and the skin tone is fair and light, we would consider it high differentiated. Or even light gray hair with olive or tan skin tones are another example. Medium Differentiation: The skin tone and hair color is differentiated but not extensive. Examples are olive or tan skin tone with dark hair; Light gray hair against a ruddy skin complexion; Medium brown hair and tan skin undertone. Let's look two ex-James Bond actors, Pierce Brosnan, an example of a man with highly differentiated complexion; and Sean Connery, having a medium differentiated men’s complexion.


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Color coordination and men’s complexion of either differentiated types makes it an easy task. This is because the contrasting skin and hair colors allow the men to enjoy a wider range of differentiated colors between their clothing and yet still bring out their facial focal point. Choosing colors between clothing that are muted would hide the men’s face behind the clothes or even blend the facial skin tone into the clothing. These concepts would fail to heighten the men’s face. Second category of men’s complexion is Subdued: very similar color tones between skin and hair. Examples are medium brown hair and dark beige skin tones; light brown and olive skin undertone. There are quite a few people falling into this category and have difficulty color coordinating their clothes. The art of color coordination and men’s complexion of such nature is to keep the color tones earthy, and always AVOID big contrasting color combinations like black and white. What happens when contrasting colors clothes are chosen? They will overwhelm the men’s complexion with the effect of making them look pale and inconspicuous against the clothes color. A good example is the picture showing Larry King's wrong choice of tie that overwhelmed his subdued complexion (light colored hair and light face).

Gene Hackman's choice of both dark color shades, without any contrast, for his jacket and shirt brightens up his subdued complexion.


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The aim is to choose colors that can warm up the men’s complexion on the face. Do not use colors

at give the man a wash-out look.

ilar subdued tones helps to give this warming effect. s sub-category is the Light and Bright:

s to men with light and bright colored skin tones and hair olor.

mples of light and bright with a strong gold overtone are Russian president, Putin, and Brad itt because of their blond hair.

ld apply similar to subdued complexion, but this sub-group is able take up warmer shades of gray and blue.

at are light, bright with blond hair can accept tinge of old, yellow, rusts, and shades of brown in their clothing to accentuate the focus on their face.

o accentuate e face.

bout the various concepts of color coordination.

th Focusing on blending colors with simIt As its name suggests, this category belongc Few exaP The same color combination shouto Color coordination and men’s complexion thgAs mentioned above, following the color of the eye is also a resort of color strategy. It would work especially well for the subdued complexion men to add on accessories tth Find out a Learn the sartorial art of pattern coordination. African or Indian Ethnic Groups: This group possesses a high to medium differentiated skin color. Putting almost all light shades of

attention to their face because of the contrast created.

c roups can be very versatile as long as they choose clothing color contrasting to their skin tone.

olor-based shirts. Their choice of blue shade is very wide. There is no worry on a matching blue

differentiation in this group would generally fall upon those with lighter brown or tan skin nes. They will fare better with lesser intensity of color contrast.

Golden shades, yellow, and light rown shades can present nice blend against their complexion too.

color against their face can still bring So color coordination and men’s complexion among high contrasting African or Indian ethnig Best choice of contrast coloring is, of course, white. So it would never go wrong to wear white-cshade. Mediumto A safe choice of color for dress shirts will be light or medium blue.b

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3) Men’s Fashion Color Coordination Besides personal experience in color coordination, having the knowledge in the concept of the color wheel can introduce more interesting combinations and harmony. Let us begin by looking at the color wheel and the basic colors.

There are three characteristics in the color wheel we need to understand before proceeding to discuss about color coordination in men’s fashion.

1. Hue This is the actual color. Base on the color wheel, we are able to see about twelve hues. From top clockwise: Red, Red-Violet, Violet, Blue-Violet, Blue, Blue-Green, Green, Yellow-Green, Yellow, Yellow-Orange, Orange, Red-Orange

2. Lightness This represents the shade of the color. It constitutes the amount of black and white added to the particular hue. Example, pink is the shade of red due to the result of more white. And Crimson is a darker shade of red due to more black.

3. Saturation This is the vividness or intensity of the color. Red is more saturated than Russet even though they are from the same hue and shade.

4. Similar Colors These are colors adjacent to each other. Examples are Red and Red-Orange, Yellow-Green and Yellow. Or colors with one color in-between in the color wheel. Examples are Blue and Green, Red and Orange.

5. Contrasting Colors This is when there are three colors between them on the color wheel. Examples are like Red and Blue, Orange and Violet, Blue and Yellow

6. Complementary Colors


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When colors are opposite each other in the color wheel, it is considered complementary. Examples are Red and Green, Yellow and Violet

• Light colors involve basic hues with white. • Dull colors involve hues with gray. • Vivid colors are the basic hues. • Dark colors are involving basic hues with black • Achromatic colors are shades of blacks and grays

Light Colors

Dull Colors

Vivid Colors

Dark Colors

Achromatic Colors

Color Coordination base on same hue: These are colors of the same hue but of different shades and vividness. So base on the color wheel they are from the same position, and same column on the color chart. Color coordination base on similar hues: As explained above, they are color adjacent to each other in the color wheel or adjacent columns in the color chart. They have common characteristics in color and yet lot of nice strain between these colors can be felt. Color coordination base on contrasting hues: Do not assume the word contrasting means non-matching. Actually these are colors with three colors in-between and their blend can still do quite well. The concept lies in using varying shades instead of focusing on the same hue or same level of saturation. Color coordination base on complementary hues: These colors are opposite each other on the color wheel. The coordination of these colors require more art and testing out to get the best color combo. It seems that the concept of coordination is not uniform for all.


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Color Coordination with Achromatic Hues: Two colors matching against black, gray, or white can never go wrong. We usually get a harmonious effect from these combinations. However, we have to understand that certain colors works better with certain shades of these achromatic hues over other shades. So these color coordination are base on theory and practice makes perfect. So play around with the colors and refer to these theories to better understand how color coordination works. Happy coordinating!!!!

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4) Same Hue Color Coordination Guide Looking at the color wheel, same hue color coordination involves variations of one hue. So the colors are all from the same position of the color wheel as well as coming from the same column of the color chart.

As you can see whether we base on two colors or three colors combination, there is hardly any chance for the color coordination to go wrong. Especially with the three color combination, the harmony between them are beautiful and soothing. Such color coordination concept will always make any men go on the right track with their clothing. There is never any conflict between the colors. The whole concept is to vary your order of colors in order to attain variety and yet synchrony.

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5) Similar Hues Color Coordination Guide Similar hues color coordination involves hues that are adjacent in the color chart. Or the shades that are on adjacent columns in the color chart. Because of this relationship, these colors have a lot of common characteristics. Let us look at some examples of this concept. When light colors are paired with dull colors, the combination gives a spring feel.

Dull colors combined with dark colors are fantastic color coordination for an autumn style or wintery somber.

Vivid colors combined with light colors are vibrant with a summer touch.

We would avoid combining vivid colors with similar vivid colors. The combination can be kind of harsh.


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Using three similar hues color coordination can be even more interesting. When combining two light colors with a dull (first four combination) or vivid color (next four combination) creates a fantastic harmony.

An autumn feel can be better achieved with one dark color against two dull colors compared to all three dull colors.

Avoid working with three vivid colors because of their ability to overwhelm each other and give a confusing illusion. Instead separate two vivid colors with one light color would be a better harmonious blend.

The light color should work to become an accent against the two vivid colors. Two light colors against one dull color can work out as great color coordination as well.

Adding three dark colors or dull colors devoid contrast and does not bring out the best in the color combination.


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Do not assume similar hues color coordination will always turn out well. Creating contrast will bring out the best in the color harmony and flow.

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Unfolding the Solution on Contrasting Hues Color Coordination Do not assume that contrasting hues color coordination will look discord. Inversely, the correct concept adopted can allow beautiful color harmony to be created.

Even matching two light colors can give a soothing effect as illustrated.

But to get an even better harmony in contrasting hues color coordination is by coordinating light and dull colors.

They create a nice contrasting blend compared to combining that of light against light or light against vivid or dark colors. Let's see some examples below:

Color coordination with contrasting dark colors can be very ugly. But there are a few combinations that are widely acceptable in men’s fashion.

Three colors coordination for contrasting hues involves three colors that are separated by three colors in between them.

The art of creating harmony with these colors is combining different shades involved rather than having all from the same shade or of different hues.

Let's try using two dark colors with one dull color.


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Two vivid colors against one dull color.

Another way is one vivid color with dark colors. But the vivid color is supposed to be used sparingly or as an accent.

The whole concept here is trying out contrasting hues color coordination base on different shades to create the harmony. There is no hard and fast rule about how to do it. Most importantly is experiencing it!

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Great Harmony Through Complementary Hues Color Coordination

Complementary hues color coordination is not easy creating harmony compared to the rest.

The hues are opposite each other in the color wheel. And they supposed to complement which makes it easier when three colors are included.

Combining complementary colors should not be between two dark colors, vivid colors or dull colors. Only light and light can mix well.

Some light and light color coordination:

Try coordinating different shades with each other. Light and vivid color coordination:

Dark and dull color coordination complements well:

Interestingly, dark and vivid color matching is not uniform in its harmony. It seems that coordination between dark blue, purple, and magenta hues against vivid looks better.

The dark colors of red, orange, and green hues can create a nice combination against the vivid colors.

Some examples of the nicer complementary hues color coordination between dark and vivid colors:


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Three color coordination involves two complementary colors and one in between color the two.

To coordinate three colors of contrasting hues have a tendency to be skewed toward a certain hue. So it is best to balance one of the complementary hues with a light or dark shade.

Personally, I feel that complementary hues color coordination is the most difficult of all even though the word "complementary" makes it sounds easy.

The best way to master coordination well is trying many ways to have a real feel of the color flow and rhythm.

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8) Simplifying the Art of Mixing Patterns Whenever I start mixing patterns for my wardrobe, I discover boundless combinations and versatility in men’s fashion. The challenges get more intense when attempts are made at coordinating three or four different patterns at the same time. It seems that there exists a certain level of skill in achieving harmony between the patterns on men’s clothes. And this skill is attainable by any man through various trial and error. The capability to ascertain and visualize the art of mixing patterns becomes better with each successful or erroneous combination. Practice makes Perfect! Problem with combining similar patterns or different patterns is that there is always a chance of ending with a crowded or discord look. This happens when the patterns looks congested on the man. We want to attain a sense of balance between the patterns with a sophisticated appeal without the impression of being too trying to be one. Naturalness about the men’s personality should be reflective by mixing patterns with style. It is exactly these stylish matching of patterns that catches people’s eyes or at least my eyes. There is a clear representation the man knows what he is doing and what he wants. Business associates or customers will usually have a better impression of a man with good matching sense – a sign of meticulous touch. Let us go through a few types of pattern coordination for our further understanding about this interesting topic: Two Similar Patterns Two Different Patterns Three Different Patterns Three Patterns Where Two Are Similar Three Similar Patterns

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9) Mixing Two Similar Patterns Ever wondered how to get the best dress style when mixing two similar patterns? The main objective is to prevent an optical illusion of discord and extensive vibration between the patterns. We want to have a natural and smooth transition between the two similar patterns. The art of doing so is to have different scales for the two same design patterns. Let us begin by looking at mixing stripe patterns first. Mixing two similar patterns like stripes boils down to the size of the stripes as well as the spacing between the stripes. Make sure these two factors be as different as possible between the stripes. If two small size stripes are put together, the effect can create quite a bit of tension between them. When having two different stripes yet with similar spacing makes it difficult to put the attention on either stripe. I have some examples with from my own wardrobe: When different stripe shirts are matched with my pink stripe tie, the transition between the pink stripe tie and stripe shirt varies.

The pink stripe tie against the pink hairline dress shirt does not give our eye the illusion of tension. Because of the two types of stripes are differently scaled giving us a compatible transition between them. Instead this other combination of the same pink stripe tie with a closely scaled and spaced dress shirt creates a lot more vibration.

Coordinating my stripe suit and stripe dress shirts have come up with various results as well when the spacing between the stripes differs.


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The left combination has stripes with very similar spacing for both the suit and dress shirt. Compared to the right combination, the suit has a much different scaled stripe spacing compared to the dress shirt. From this, there is a higher preference for the right combination because it allows a more distinguished transition for the dress shirt from the suit. The brown tie gives an easing finish from the two stripes. Mixing two similar patterns like checks applies the same theory as the stripes. But checks have more intense pattern compared to stripes, so it can be more difficult in coordinating especially for plaids. Some examples by combining dress shirts from The Savile Row Company and check ties from Brooks Brothers Men's Collection.

A pink Prince of Wales Check dress shirt matched with a tattersall tie looks weird because of the similarity in size of the check. While the blue Prince of Wales Check dress shirt when matched against a houndstooth tie looks a lot smoother in transition even though with more contrast.

The same houndstooth tie put on a classic check dress shirt instead creates disorientation because of its intense and vibrating effect on the eye that is confusing and blurry to the viewer. So always avoid using two similar sized checks together but use contrasting scaled checks. For the overall best effect on men’s fashion dress style, mixing two similar patterns boils down to the concept of using two designs with different scales and different spacing.


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This applies for suit against shirt, shirt against tie, or even suit against tie.

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10) Matching Two Different Patterns To create harmony by matching two different patterns continues to involve scales of the patterns and size of the patterns. However, the concept of this matching differs from that of two similar patterns. Some examples of matching two different patterns are check suits and stripe ties or dress shirts, stripe dress shirts and polka-dot ties, as well as plaid suits and foulard ties. The focus when doing such combination is to understand which one is the first pattern and which is the second. Naturally, the first pattern is usually the one that takes up most of your body and the second should be the one creating the accent. Avoid having the second pattern overwhelming the first. And also maintain good color coordination between the second pattern against the first pattern. When in doubt, it is safe to have colors of the same hue or similar hue from both patterns. The art of achieving a soothing effect matching two different patterns involves getting the scales of the two patterns as close as possible and this applies mainly to those with bigger and medium-sized scaled patterns. This is to prevent having one pattern overwhelming the other especially the one with the more complicated or smaller scaled design.

When this Theory chalk stripe suit from Bluefly is placed with the two types of ties available from Raffaello Ties, we notice that the Ermenegildo Zegna small geometric patterned pink tie overwhelms the suit more than the other Raffaello hand-made wide spaced square patterned tie. The impact that the square patterned tie makes is more soothing and in-balance because the scale of the pattern on the tie against the stripes on the suit are closely matched. The blending color of dark blue and gray creates a nice flow between the two apparels. Instead the Zegna tie placed on the suit has a lesser blend as well as taking the focus away from the suit. We would want to remember that the tie is an accent and should avoid taking too much attention from the suit.


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I would not say that it is not a nice play of contrast for this way of matching two different patterns, rather it would take men with a great savvy attitude and character to carry this dressing style well. So for men who are not sure what to wear, choosing a bigger scale pattern would always be a safer choice.

This The Savile Row Company tattersall check dress shirt and this polka dot tie is another good example on matching two different patterns. Even though the polka dot is small but the spacing between the dots and the tattersall size are well-matched. Then the pink polka dots reflected against the pink dress shirt gives it an even smarter combination. But when the first pattern involves a small pattern, matching two different patterns needs another perspective of things. As explained before, smaller patterns are more intense and can capture more significant attention. Imagine two small patterns put together? It will be a very intense and vibrating transition between the patterns that might not be too pleasing to the viewers. To avoid such a discord between the patterns, choosing a wider second pattern over a smaller first pattern can definitely relief the intensity emitted by the small pattern.

This Zegna Houndstooth Suit from Bluefly is a prime example of how three different types of Prochownick stripe ties available from Raffaello Ties placed against it will look. The first example is a closely scaled stripe tie with a nice shade of brown stripe that matches against the suit nicely. It is this repetition of color on the stripe tie against the houndstooth suit that is relieving the tension between the two patterns. Too closely matched in their scales are creating a very uncomfortable vibration to the viewers’ eyes. Instead the other two would not create such problems for the viewer. The second pattern though has a similarly scaled stripe tie but it is the wide spacing between the stripes that counteracts against the houndstooth.


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The third stripe tie has big and wide scaled stripes and offers an even nicer counter-balancing from the small patterned. Further enhancing the excellent style in the two stripe ties combination is the use of similar hues like gold and brown to match the light brown color of the suit.

To further illustrate the concept on matching two different patterns, let us look at the Prada stripe dress shirt which is going to be matched by two differently sized Burberry polka dot ties. Both apparel from Raffaello Network. The small scaled stripes on the shirt and the small dotted tie created too much discord for great appreciation. The bigger polka-dots did not create this problem but instead gave it smooth transition on the small stripes on the suits. The only down side I feel would be the color of the tie. If it dark blue instead of black, the overall look will definitely be enhanced to another level of sophistication.

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11) Mixing Three Different Patterns Before we begin discussing about mixing three different patterns, the escalation toward mixing more patterns makes it more complex in its coordination compared to matching of two patterns. However, the basic concept behind coordination of two different patterns and two similar patterns still applies. Mixing Three Different Patterns: When coordinating three different patterns, most men would consider it the most difficult. But it is also the most sartorial style to achieve if successfully done. Scaling between the patterns is very important when involving mixing three patterns where all are different. Whenever there is involvement of larger patterns starting out from the suit, the choice of the other patterns should naturally be preferred to be of the same scale. Keeping the scaling consistent between the patterns gives any man a safe choice when mixing three different patterns. To illustrate, I have coordinated three different patterns with a Polo Ralph Lauren plaid suit, Gucci brown stripe shirt and a Kenzo golden floral tie from Raffaello Network.

Notice that the sizes of patterns are all large and their spacing against one another is consistent. This gives an overall nice sartorial balance for the wearer. None of the patterns overwhelm the other and looks very natural in coordination. Further using similar hues color coordination between the three patterns makes the blend well-balanced and enhances the classiness of the overall combination without making it look too trying. Below is another example where the scaling and spacing of the patterns are tighter. The coordination would involve balancing between spacing and the scales of the patterns. I have put together a Theory blue stripe suit, Dolce & Gabbana light blue check shirt, and Prochownick floral tie from Raffaello Ties.


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The checks on the dress shirt being smaller scaled and when paired against the medium-scaled stripe suit, the coordination easily balances out. The tie brings accent to both the check and stripe. Even though the floral spacing is tight but its large scaled floral print avoids possible discord between the tie and the small check dress shirt. For simplicity in mixing three patterns where all are different, it is always good to play around with different scales between the patterns when one of them is smaller scaled or spaced. Using wider scaling or wider spacing for the other two patterns helps to make the patterns visually compatible. Below are some other coordinations involving three patterns: Three Different Patterns Two Similar and One Different Pattern

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http://www.mens-fashion-tips.com/mixing-three-different-patterns.html

http://www.mens-fashion-tips.com/three-patterns-coordination.html

12) Matching Three Patterns where two are Similar We will step into another method of three patterns coordination where two are similar patterns. This is slightly less difficult in coordinating compared to three different patterns from my personal experience. It is important to continue the concept of balancing between the patterns. So we should segregate the two similar patterns in terms of their scale and space while having the third pattern to match with the two similar patterns. For an easy start, it is advisable to focus the third pattern on the tie. This makes coordination a lot easier and avoids any possible clashes between the patterns on other different apparel.

I have used two examples to illustrate the concepts of three patterns coordination where two are similar patterns. The left picture is made up of a Theory pin-stripe suit, a Prada striped dress shirt, and a Burberry polka-dot tie from Raffaello Ties. The right is a Gianluca Isaia subtle stripe suit from Sierra Trading Postwith hairline stripe dress shirt. Notice that the scale of the two similar patterns, stripes, between the suits and the dress shirts are different. Generally, suits have larger scaled stripes and so it is better to use a smaller spaced stripe for the dress shirts. The use of larger spacing polka-dots as well as a large dotted floral print gives a good balance on the finer stripes found on dress shirts. Ties with larger patterns or wider spacing are safe choices to create a more soothing effect for the eye.


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We show another example of three patterns coordination using two checks and one stripe. This combination is made up of The Savile Row Company windowpane suit and 2-button wide check with a Prochownick stripe tie from Raffaello Ties. Again we choose the smaller checks on the dress shirts to harmonize the bigger check pattern on the suit. Then the large scaled stripes provide an accent to the whole combination that blends easily to both check patterns. The use of similar blue hues between the suit, dress shirt, and tie enhances the sartorial effect for such coordination. Remember that the proper use of color coordination is important here as well because of the many patterns used. Without blending colors will make any pattern combination confusing especially when it involves small and big similar patterns. A safe method for men without experience in mixing and matching is to have the patterns use similar hues coordination, same hues coordination, or achromatic hues coordination between the apparels. Only when the experience picks up further in matching men’s fashion clothing, we would definitely recommend trying out the other arts of color coordination with contrasting hues and complementary hues. Overall, the concept for three patterns coordination is always use one large scale pattern to balance out the other two similar patterns. This is the reason why we can easily use ties with large scales or patterns or motifs is the easiest way to off-set the similar but different scaled patterns on the suit and dress shirt. END


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13) Easy Ways to Coordinate Three Similar Patterns Base on my experience, having to coordinate three similar patterns is the most difficult. In order to do it beautifully, it would take a lot of trial and error as well as ability to visualize the aesthetic of pattern combination. The usual failure in creating sartorial styling with three similar patterns is the failure to understand about scaling. If not properly done, most men would be deemed as being too “trying” with their attempt to show themselves. As mentioned in matching two different patterns, we need to know which part of the outfit is the first pattern. When we coordinate three similar patterns, the first pattern should be the outfit that is considered as the inner one. Start off with the inner pattern, usually the dress shirt, with smaller scale and increase the scales for second and third similar pattern. The second and third patterns would be the outer clothing and apparel, for example the suit is the second pattern and the tie/pocket square is the third pattern. To coordinate three similar patterns creates strong tension between the patterns. Without proper scaling base on the sequence of the clothing will create confusion and discord to the viewer’s eyes. Personally, putting three checks together is of a much greater task than stripes even though the theory applies. Examples like tattersall checks and plaids are patterns that are closely knitted compared to stripes. The tension effect toward the eye is a lot stronger than stripes. To further illustrate, look at the first picture where I have put together 3 check patterns together. A Zegna houndstooth suit from Bluefly, a Charles Tyrwhitt Windsor check dress shirt, and a Prochownick plaid tie from Raffaello Ties.

Notice that the transition between the patterns can become intense with three check patterns. But the dress shirt's small check combined with the houndstooth allows the difference in scale to break up this intensity.


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The larger plaid pattern on the tie takes away the possible discord against the small check dress shirt and houndstooth suit. Imagine it was a small check pattern tie, the vibration between the three similar patterns would definitely disrupt and overwork the viewer's eyes. Another example of three check patterns, this time we put together a Zegna gray plaid suit and a Balenciaga small blue check wide spread collar dress shirt from Bluefly, and a Raffaello plaid tie.

The difference in scales once again sets up nicely for this combination. Start from the small check dress shirt, then working outwards we set up a nice large plaid suit as well as a large check pattern tie. There is further ease toward the viewer's eyes for both illustration when we practice similar hues for the three patterns. The second example, also showed great coordination of blue hues against achromatic hues like gray. Applying the same theory, we can coordinate three similar patterns with stripe by breaking up the monotonous dimension of the lines. We set the stripe scales to graduate outward and create a nice layering effect with sartorial style for observers.

I have put a Gianluca Isaia stripe suit from Sierra Trading Post with a small scaled stripe blue dress shirt and a Prochownick wide scaled stripe tie from Raffaello Ties. This combination once again shows the play of scales focusing with smaller scaling from the first pattern on the inside then graduating the scales outwards.


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The large stripe and wide scaling of the tie takes away the possible strain involving the closely scaled stripes of the dress shirt and suit. It is always easier said than done. To coordinate three similar patterns can always make the wearer look ridiculous if not done properly done. The best way to learn is to play around with various patterns in our wardrobe to gain experience.

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G) Men’s Socks

1) Introduction to Men’s Socks: Most men would not be bothered or know how to put together their best outfit with men’s socks. I have never felt its importance until noticing that too many men are wearing light colored socks (e.g. white) against dark colored pants (e.g. black) which is a definite no in its coordination. It is commonly felt that these hoses are hidden behind the pants and shoes so there is no big deal about them. But an observer’s eyes no matter how impressed with the men’s face down to the dress shirt, suit, and dress pants can still be easily disappointed by simple mismatching of the socks against the shoes and pants. It should be a smooth and satisfying flow of vision from top to the bottom without breaking the attention with inappropriate coordination of the men's socks. It is always easy to coordinate base on the colors of the socks. But things get murky when introducing patterned socks into our dress up. So we are going to go through a few important concepts on creating harmony for the socks against our overall attire. These hosieries belong to a category that manages subtle detailing to bring out fantastic individualistic styles in men. Coordination Resources on Men’s Socks: Basic Concept on Matching Men's Socks Coordinating the Right Category of Men's Socks Types of Patterns for Men's Socks Nice Simple Weaved Men's Socks

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2) Coordinating Men’s Socks What is the best way in matching men’s socks against your overall apparel? We will go through a few simple concepts that are simple to understand and apply as well. Probably the difficult part of the coordination would be involving patterned hoses against pattern attires. I have received a question from one of my lady visitors who asked: “Could you please tell me if a man’s socks should match his shoes or pants?” This is one of the most commonly queried issues about matching men’s socks. It is also the most common mistake men make in their coordination with socks. We should always match our hosieries against the dress pants rather than the shoes. The reason is the focus of an observer’s eyes. If the socks are matched against the shoes, then the observer’s focus will be broken when the eyes reach the end of the trousers because the socks and shoes are viewed as a separate item. Instead when we match the socks against the dress pants, we are able to let the flow of vision all the way down to the sole of the shoe without a broken link. This sets apart the apparel and accessories but at the same time well-coordinated. For example, a navy suit and brown shoes should be worn with dark blue socks rather than brown socks. Charcoal suit and black shoes appears more stylish with dark gray socks. Now that the basics have been covered, let us take one step deeper in our knowledge on coordinating of men’s socks:

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3) Choosing the Right Category of Men’s Socks Men should be wearing different men’s socks category for different attire. The dressiness of the attire is the determining point for which type of socks to put on. The suits fabrics or dress pants fabrics and the style of the shoes when placed against the hoses should be smooth and blending. It is important to note that the more formal an attire, the men’s socks should be finer, smoother, and plainer for a balanced coordination. For this reason, silk hosieries are the most suitable for formal wear. Silk is the best men’s socks category to be worn with tuxedos because the shimmer on the silk hoses coincides very well with the silk lapels as well as the fine luster on the tux and the patent shoes. We will be able to envision a natural flow of gorgeous fabrics from head to toe. However, silk men’s socks need not be just for formal wear like tuxedos. Even our usual suits can be coupled with silk hoses to enhance the sartorial styling of our attire. This is especially so when we are wearing a pair of dress shoes with subtle luster leather rather than matt leather. The overall stylishness is taken a step higher and balanced coordination. When our overall outfit gets thicker in fabric, the men’s socks category should follow suit, i.e. choosing thick socks to step up the look. Imagine wearing a fine pair of cotton socks against heavy fabric flannel suit or even tweed jackets. The overall ensemble overwhelms the cotton socks and makes it inconspicuous. Instead the better choice would be thick woolen socks to blend in the texture between the socks and the other ensemble. The main basic concept here is putting together men’s socks that are similar in weave and proximity in physical properties as the outfit. It would be harder for any mistake in fitting the right men’s socks category. Base on the opposite concept to silk hosieries, the thicker the fabric, the greater the weaves, and the busier the patterns, the formality of the socks decreases. So the men’s socks category to coordinate with your attire should be base not solely on the fabric of the overall outfit but also to balance the characteristic of the socks against the formality of our attire. To further enhance an image of a well-dressed man, we can always match the pattern on men’s sock to the patterns on our neckties or dress shirts. This is especially so when the suit is plain where the socks adds vibrancy to the plainness. Not many men are able to achieve this sartorial styling. It is not necessary to coordinate the same pattern on the hoses against our neckties or dress shirts. For example, we can always wear stripe hoses against check or square geometric ties.


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The main focus here should be putting on similar scale for different patterns on both apparels for a coordinated balance. As for similar patterns, the scaling can be different and yet the blending effect of the patterns on the apparel would not be disturbed. Imagine wearing a check dress shirt and matching against with a pair of argyle socks. If it is a plain dress shirt that is being worn, then coordination with the socks can be played around with either its color or pattern against the shirt. The use of similar or same hue coordination should be able to help synchronize the apparels’ relationship. Patterned socks should not be worn with heavily patterned suits to avoid a busy perspective of the whole attire. It is preferable for this category of men’s socks to be worn with plain suits or slightly subdued patterns. But for odd jackets or sports coats, especially tweed or houndstooth weaves, worn with plain dress pants or casual chinos can be matched with patterned socks of similar check-like patterns. Likewise for such thick fabric sports coats, the coordination with thicker socks would definitely be a splendid blend than finer ones.

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4) Types of Pattern Men’s Socks We will understand the various pattern men’s socks to enable us to choose the right category of socks. There are basically two categories of men's socks commonly found; those with patterns and those with weaves. Let's begin to discuss about pattern socks: Argyle: These are the socks with a sporty feel because of its diamond motifs. These are usually worn for casual occasions.

Merino Argyle Sock

So sports jackets and odd trousers would work well with such pattern men’s socks. To give it an even better match, coordinating it against a check dress shirt of the same hues or similar hues would create a very blending feel. Bird’s eye: An easy to recognize pattern where it covers the socks with closely packed numbers of tiny dots that resembles the eyes of birds.

Birdýs Eye Anklet Sock

Such socks are very common and they are always a nice addition for plain men’s suits or even men’s suits patterns.

Clocks: Whenever we find single embroidered designs on the sides of the socks, these are what we call clocks socks. There is no specific design to be considered clocks (do not be mistaken that it has to be literally clock designs). Instead any figurines or artistic designs can be considered as clocks. I personally do not have preference for Clocks especially those with cartoon characters. It pays to have subtle patterns that provide easier coordination against my overall attire. We will definitely not attain sartorial styling with colorful and funny figurines together with my suits, and neither can it look casually stylish with my sports coats and odd trousers.


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Herringbone: This is a very nice pattern men’s socks because it creates texture when placed against plain suits that are dark gray, charcoal, brown or navy. It adds vibrancy and a subtle style to the plainness. However, we try to avoid such herringbone pattern socks when worn against herringbone or tweed dress pants. The patterns will create a very busy effect to an observer’s view. Houndstooth:

Cotton/Cashmere Houndstooth Anklet Sock

The concept for houndstooth is similar to that of herringbone. But to establish great coordination, we can always match houndstooth men’s socks against a houndstooth sports coat but always maintain it with a plain odd trouser (avoid the busy effect between pants and socks). Dots: This pattern men’s socks create the same effect as bird’s eye. A fantastic way to coordinate with dots is playing with the lighter colors on the dots.

Wool Dot Anklet Socks

We can easily use the similar hues color of the sock to match the dress pants while applying the same concept on the dots to match either the ties or dress shirts.

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Handkerchiefs

Many men do not understand why and what is the role of pocket handkerchiefs in men’s suits. This is not surprising because men in this era view wearing a it as cumbersome or even over-dressed. There are some who would love to try it for its stylishness but avoid it because they do not know how to do it right or they do it very badly. During the 19th century, donning a simple finish at the suits angled breast pocket creates a nice completeness in every man’s dressing. But the habit later died off and has since gained back its presence with more demand for sophistication in men’s dressing and wardrobe with the birth of more metrosexual men. There are amazing styling perks with a pocket handkerchief which most men do not realize besides finding it overly conspicuous for their liking. Any mediocre or worn out jacket can be instantly livened up with an inexpensive casually folded pocket handkerchief. This effect is quite phenomenal. I did not know of this fascinating capability until my brother wore one on his leather sports jacket. It naturally transformed it into an expensive looking jacket and spiced up the coordination with a simple puff-folded white handkerchief in the breast pocket. The impact of having this handkerchief gives an unsurpassed refine effect to the suits and sports jackets that it is donned on. It is even more so if the suit and sports coat is totally bare and simple. We should not treat this simple accessory as outdated or old-fashion elegance. The role it can play during less than formal occasions is unimaginable and yet not a fashion overstatement. The terms pocket squares and pocket handkerchiefs are used interchangeably by many but what are the differences between them? Pocket handkerchiefs are linen woven cloths or white cotton cloths. The linen handkerchiefs were very popular during the 19th century for its clean and fine finishing when placed in a breast pocket. These handkerchiefs are usually stiffer and crisp in its texture due mainly to the linen fabric. It also has sharper corners that can be folded to accentuate these four points or even create the so-called TV fold where it is folded neatly in parallel to the breast pocket. Pocket squares is defined when the material used are wider in its range of fabrics used other than silk or cotton. We commonly see silk fabrics, silk blends, cashmere, or wool used in squares. There is a tendency for these materials, especially silk, to have a much softer feel. So the most appealing method for squares on breast pockets is making it into a “puff”. However, a pocket handkerchief and pockets square are not differentiated by their size. The best size to choose from is a 16-inch to 18-inch square.


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