Dress Like a Man by Antonio Centeno, Geoffrey Cubbage, Anthony Tan, Ted Slampyak
Tags: Health; Fitness & Dieting, Beauty; Grooming; & Style, Men's Grooming & Style, Style & Clothing, Beauty & Fashion
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large spot in the wardrobe.
It's a common choice for both patterned and solid shirts, a staple of neckties, and -- in its most subdued forms -- a natural color for slacks, especially those paired with blue blazers.
For most men, this will be the best-represented of the bright colors. That doesn't mean it'll dominate the wardrobe, but it should be in there, and the more blue you have the more yellow will come in handy for creating complementary color schemes.
Emotionally, yellow represents energy, optimism, and extroversion. The brighter the hue, the stronger the emotional association.
Green
At this point we're well into accent colors that have only a small role in the wardrobe. Green, and all the following colors, will have as large a part in your wardrobe as you want: most men will have a favorite accent color or two (hopefully ones that go well with their complexions), and very little of the others.
Green blazers are not unheard of, especially in East Coast prep circles. Other than that, greens mostly appear in patterns on shirts, or as an olive drab in casual and business-casual wear. Green overcoats are not uncommon, and bright green pants (usually denim or corduroy) are available for the fashion forward.
The color is most commonly associated with health, vigor, and nature.
Purple
Like green, purple can occasionally crop up as a rich jacket or suit color, but it mostly appears as part of a pattern.
Lavender striping is sometimes used in place of traditional white pinstriping, and the color is popular for dress shirts and neckties as well. It's seen as a "safe" way for men to work some color into their business wardrobes.
Associations for purple are exoticism and royalty -- a holdover from times when purple dyes were extremely expensive to make.
Red
There are really only two main uses for red in a men's wardrobe: as a "power" color, generally used for neckties and pocket squares, and in light shades of pink or deep oxblood hues for shirts (solid and patterned against a white background).
Some men may also end up with red-tone leathers. Traditional cordovan, still used for casual dress shoes, has a bloody red tint, and has spawned imitators as well.
Red is associated with power, sex, and flamboyance -- all of which are "a little goes a long way" sorts of associations.
Orange
Neckties, pocket squares, contrast stitching on dark-colored jeans, and not much else -- that's the lot of orange in the man's wardrobe.
It can work as a shirt color, especially for dark-skinned men, but orange is mostly just too bright to serve a role beyond small accents. The only place you'll see orange suits or jackets is at proms and at universities with orange in their school colors.
If orange has an emotional association, it's with wacky, over-the-top fun and extroversion. Use it sparingly.
C HAPTER 22: U NDERSTANDING P ATTERN
Big blocks of solid color aren't necessarily the most flattering look out there.
Some guys can pull it off (especially high-contrast men -- see the previous chapter for more discussion about contrast), but most of us look better with varied lines and shapes in there to break up the colors.
Patterns are not as challenging as they might seem to fashion novices. You can mix and match them pretty freely, following one basic rule:
Never put two different patterns of the same scale directly adjacent to one another.
That means if you're wearing a jacket with thin, wide-spaced pinstripes, don't wear a shirt with broad, thin-lined checks underneath. The patterns are different, but there isn't enough difference between their physical scales.
The same pinstriped jacket would work just fine with a small-scale microcheck shirt, or even with thick vertical stripes. It's about varying the scale up more than it is the specific patterns.
Most available patterns break down into stripes (lines going a single way), checks (lines intersecting at right angles), and figures (repeating arrangements of a small design
It's a common choice for both patterned and solid shirts, a staple of neckties, and -- in its most subdued forms -- a natural color for slacks, especially those paired with blue blazers.
For most men, this will be the best-represented of the bright colors. That doesn't mean it'll dominate the wardrobe, but it should be in there, and the more blue you have the more yellow will come in handy for creating complementary color schemes.
Emotionally, yellow represents energy, optimism, and extroversion. The brighter the hue, the stronger the emotional association.
Green
At this point we're well into accent colors that have only a small role in the wardrobe. Green, and all the following colors, will have as large a part in your wardrobe as you want: most men will have a favorite accent color or two (hopefully ones that go well with their complexions), and very little of the others.
Green blazers are not unheard of, especially in East Coast prep circles. Other than that, greens mostly appear in patterns on shirts, or as an olive drab in casual and business-casual wear. Green overcoats are not uncommon, and bright green pants (usually denim or corduroy) are available for the fashion forward.
The color is most commonly associated with health, vigor, and nature.
Purple
Like green, purple can occasionally crop up as a rich jacket or suit color, but it mostly appears as part of a pattern.
Lavender striping is sometimes used in place of traditional white pinstriping, and the color is popular for dress shirts and neckties as well. It's seen as a "safe" way for men to work some color into their business wardrobes.
Associations for purple are exoticism and royalty -- a holdover from times when purple dyes were extremely expensive to make.
Red
There are really only two main uses for red in a men's wardrobe: as a "power" color, generally used for neckties and pocket squares, and in light shades of pink or deep oxblood hues for shirts (solid and patterned against a white background).
Some men may also end up with red-tone leathers. Traditional cordovan, still used for casual dress shoes, has a bloody red tint, and has spawned imitators as well.
Red is associated with power, sex, and flamboyance -- all of which are "a little goes a long way" sorts of associations.
Orange
Neckties, pocket squares, contrast stitching on dark-colored jeans, and not much else -- that's the lot of orange in the man's wardrobe.
It can work as a shirt color, especially for dark-skinned men, but orange is mostly just too bright to serve a role beyond small accents. The only place you'll see orange suits or jackets is at proms and at universities with orange in their school colors.
If orange has an emotional association, it's with wacky, over-the-top fun and extroversion. Use it sparingly.
C HAPTER 22: U NDERSTANDING P ATTERN
Big blocks of solid color aren't necessarily the most flattering look out there.
Some guys can pull it off (especially high-contrast men -- see the previous chapter for more discussion about contrast), but most of us look better with varied lines and shapes in there to break up the colors.
Patterns are not as challenging as they might seem to fashion novices. You can mix and match them pretty freely, following one basic rule:
Never put two different patterns of the same scale directly adjacent to one another.
That means if you're wearing a jacket with thin, wide-spaced pinstripes, don't wear a shirt with broad, thin-lined checks underneath. The patterns are different, but there isn't enough difference between their physical scales.
The same pinstriped jacket would work just fine with a small-scale microcheck shirt, or even with thick vertical stripes. It's about varying the scale up more than it is the specific patterns.
Most available patterns break down into stripes (lines going a single way), checks (lines intersecting at right angles), and figures (repeating arrangements of a small design
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