Grey Pin Stripe Redux

FTWU, welcomes all NikeTalk readers, I hope you enjoy.  Feel free to stop by any time and feel free to request! (and thanks NiiDawg3 for the link. Much appreciated.)

Back to the matter of a matching purple tie to the charcoal grey that was requested a few days back.  I worked up a few purple or purple themed ties that went well with a charcoal grey pin stripe suit.  This first one was interesting because it used a dark navy satin based tie with mixes of lilac fuchsia (hot pink) and beige in it.  The shirt is a Hickey Freeman His First shirt (purple and light blue stripes) borrowed from the kids store and the square is white with a lilac trim to keep it simple.

Second up, the satin based tie with the black warp.

After seeing the photograph here I am thoroughly convinced that this tie is best at work against a white or white based shirt (like this)  for optimal contrast which is contrasted against a BLACK  or solid charcoal grey (really dark) suit.  Similar to this look (the flash photography makes the shirt look close to white.  In reality it’s grey.

Black Suit

Finally, here with a lavender colored dot tie.  Of the three I personally think that the last one is the best. (and to avoid the square trim matching the tie I swapped for a solid white.

Tomorrow a few more lighter color ties with this set and the black and white for the first tie.

Right Tie, Wrong Shirt

I have mentioned in the past but I cant say it enough that contrast is generally your friend. Colors of items can match yet if you group too many of the same color together invariably one or the other item will look wrong.

Here is an example of the colors being correct but the applications being wrong. Rust and orange, works with black and nicely so, yet the use of the rust tie here together with the rust colored check shirt will leave you wanting.

Better in the same pattern is the green shirt, which works well with the black jacket and the contrasting rust tie. The square has a little bit of everything in it so thats no problem.

You might feel that this square is too closely color related to the rust tie and I wont disagree, so to change that you have this square.

Finally, if you absolutely love that orange shirt, change the tie so that you gain your contrast in other ways as so:

Incidentaly, my first Orange Shirt writeup at least the first tag created for an orange shirt that is. Kewl!

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Радушный прием всем читателям Gommeux.ru

I had planned on this combo before the earlier request came in so here you go.  Again, most of the items are from the Hickey Freeman His First collection so dont expect to see links.  The only thing that is linkable is the square, from the Spring 10 Collection at FIH.

The jacket is black check with a slight brown thread running through it.  Green and the green families (olive etc.) work well with black and the shirt and tie combo are right at home here.  The detail of the square shown just below shows the dark olive green in the square that bring it all together.  The burgundy, black and green.

The detail of the square.  Patterns and colors all well played out here.

If the monochromes of the shirt and tie were not what you wanted to see or if the green tie wasnt to your liking we can also do well with a charcoal grey colored tie in the same family.  No harm done.  Interesting is that the flowers in the tie come back to the paisleys in the square.  That same orange color, showing successfully that there are no colors here that simply don’t belong.

Da Plane, Da Plane!

Remember the opening scenes from Fantasy Island?  Da Plane Boss, Da Plane!  Anyway, last week I emailed a post from the lounge at Newark international as to what I was wearing on my flight to Italy.

Here is the breakdown and it included a Hickey Freeman Sportscoat, One of my blue shirts, the large painted paisley square, and a Zimmerli V-Neck Merino Sweater (available at CustomShirt1.com .

Here is the detail of the square.

I didnt wear a tie as it was travel but if I had to for any particular occasion I suspect that something like this wool striped tie would have been appropriate.

Shown here without the sweater.

And here is the youtube of the opening scene of Fantasy Island for you.  (Was it really 1978?????)

Tie By Tie # 3 (Variations by Request)

Yesterday I got a request to mix these ties up a little with patterned sportcoats, and today I deliver:

Here is yesterday’s tie paired with 2 Hickey Freeman His First sports coats.  I used the His First line as that is what I had ready and available from my kids shop.  In fact I liked the black check one so much I ordered it for myself.  The texture in the wool jackets works well with the texture of the tie and this time fearing texture overload I left the shirt a non textured blue tone on tone.  For the square I used the parasol but this time in the Navy version to bring out the Navy in the black jacket and to complement the brown jacket as well.

For your viewing pleasure:

And the square up close.  Note how the Square works against the shirt and picks up the blue in the jacket:

Switching coats to the Brown Hickey Freeman His First gives you this. (Brown and Blue is great together so the shirt is really nice here:

With the square tucked away:

3 up 3 down

PS(As in Pre Script):  If you noticed I added a tagger link on the right where you can Tag these posts on Delicious.com, please feel free to do so (yeah, spread the word, thanks!).

Anyway, I was informed that the following jacket which I have been labeling as a sports coat is in fact part of a suit but that would not make a difference here.

Here are some suggestions for the Black Check suit sent to me, I welcome thoughts and comments.  (Votes are nice too )

I was torn between these two squares, the ovals or the painted Paisley in rust and Black  which I show in this shot.  Meanwhile I went with the one on the right, a rich favorite of mine.

This tie shows more red here in the pic but its a ruby red grapefruit color in actuality.  A rather rich color as well.

The burgundy cashmere/silk blend works but it doesn’t much more than a subtle hello. (which is fine )

I love this tie, and I like the way that it gives color and life without having any burgundy in it. Its got greys, purple, rust and I think  it looks really nice here.  Quite probably my first choice with this jacket.

For some more on the subject, if you have been following my blog for a bit you will know that I posted about a similar jacket with similar coloration.  It was a Brioni suit but withlarger window panes.  Here is the post as well as here.  It bears looking over as I think the colors are similar even if the Brioni was more slated to a grey brown and this is a more distinct black check.

Two down, one to go…

Much in the same way that paisley patterns can be any color, its important to note that the name glen plaid cannot be categorized nor limited to a color as the term merely indicates a pattern (see link for history on GP).  That’s why one cannot simply state rules to follow when pairing shirts, ties and squares to glen plaid.

This particular Glen Plaid had a very feint (almost imperceptible) light blue check in it which invited in the light blue shirt.  Youc an see it in the pictures below, and I will add another on Wed (11/4) as a closeup detail)

Otherwise it was primarily a black check.  This is where the ties I used (Blacks and  Burgundies) came in as follows:

First up is a Cesare Attolini weave with a lovely hand.  The grey in the tie would be acceptable in and of itself as it works well with the Black of the glen plaid.  This had the added benefit of being a slate gray which is tinged with blue.  The burgundy stripe in the tie wakes it all up.  Again for the square I used the same universaly colored square as in the previous post.  Its got so many colors it works with ALL the ties below. (PS:  MB, I didnt accidentally leave it in the pocket, enjoy!)

The second is a burgundy dotted weave. I thought it a nice subtle entry of burgundy which is a great color for the ensemble.

For a bold contrast, this twill print, with both burgundy and blue dost in the neats pattern works well.

Finally in the same vein of contrast is the black weave with the light blue flowers.

Tomorrow, the plaid suit/sportscoat.

Been there done that

A time ago, on the way out of my kids shop, I snapped three iffy”ish” pics of a beautiful black sportscoat from the Hickey Freeman His First line together with tie and shirt that I had paired.  The combo sold well, and here you see it with sportscoat.  The black coat has a blue stripe running through it which is why I put the light blue striped shirt in there as well.  Not that Black cant go with light blue, it can and does so well.  I just thought it so well matched.  Elegant and sharp.

The tie being burgundy and gold works into the black of the coat.  The square puts it all together with pretty mch all the colors combined.  A lovely square.

Here you get a close up of the colors in the square.

For Work and for Play

Using a  Hickey Freeman jacket that can be used in both a work and a play setting, I ended up with something like this for work which when you swap out the serious black tafetta tie, you get a whole different look.

SO here we go with the Taffeta Tie.  Nice serious Mature look.  I think certainly business like enough (unless you are in a suit and tie office.  The square gives a little life to the look without making it too much.  (Incidentally, I think that they square has no less than NINE colors in it.  Vintage silks.  They dont make them like they used to.) and the Shirt is a Grey twill.

Swpa the tie out for the Burnt Orange/Rust Taffeta and Raw Silk Stripe number… (I love that tie) and tone the square down a notch (or you dont have to) and you get this: (as an aside the tie works really well with a black or charcoal Grey suit)

Swap the square for one from the vintage group ( Also not on the site) for this look:  This gives the contrast on the breast along with the orange complementing the tie.

A real burst of orange in the tie will yield this.  may just be too much.  Incidentally, the tie is a little darker than this shows like you see in the linked photo.

If orange is not your thing then try livening the black up with some plum colored articles, be it the tie (Again this is for more fashion related jobs and not your usual Law Firm office) to get this look:

And Adding to the tie the Crepe White Silk Square with Burgundy Hand Stitching.  (I swaped out the shirt here for a fine plum stripe but the gray works as well).

To add a little more life to the square, keep the tie and add the Satin Silk Square with hand rolled edges.

And shown with the same square simply reversed.