What’s with the cobwebs here? (Ahem…)
Anyway, I received an email from a customer requestding a dressy tie for a dressy formal occassion. I am sure I have posted about this before but we did a quick shoot of the metalic colored ties which I felt were the right match of statement yet classic on a black suit white shirt. Althogh Unrequested I stuck in a floral black and white square. They all work but I think that the last one is the most elegant of the group
Sizing Matters.
It the single most important factor in men’s and children’s tailored clothing as well and its so often done incorrectly. It will take an otherwise perfectly planned ensemble and destroy it.
Granted, for men’s people are less reluctant to sacrifice correct size considering that the useful shelf life on a man’s suit can be as long as the suit lasts however with kids clothing, people like to try to squeeze a few seasons out of the item and the results are borderline if not completely ridiculous.
Here is an example that I pulled off a “competitors” website.
Note the shoulders coming off the kids frame and the lapels that go down to the kids belly button. Furthermore the torso of the jacket extends halfway between the thigh and the knee. It doesnt look good opened and pulled back, and when buttons or hanging closed it will look dreadful.
Don’t wast your money on an item thats two sizes too big because you will lose the entire effect that you are going for. Unless of course you are going for that unemployed unkempt “I can get away with wearing my Dad’s Jacket” look, but after having spent between 250 to 400 for the jacket alone, we highly doubt you are.
I have been away doing this, which was written up here, but a few days back I received the following comment in the about me page:
First off, I just want to say I stumbled by your site by accident–well, kind of; I was trying to figure out which tie to get for my outfit–and I’m so glad I did. Your site absolutely rocks. Men need your help! Without you, we’d just pair blue with blue, red with red, etc. That is no way to live! 
Also, I was hoping you could steer me in the right direction regarding what I should wear to my wedding, which is two weeks from now. I have a very nice, black, three-button suit, as well as a ecru-colored shirt with a basic straight collar. The bridesmaids are wearing deep orange/rust-colored sarees similar to this one:http://media.photobucket.com/image/rust%20saree/acedistributors/Ace%2520Sarees/pari.jpg
My groomsmen are in black, two-button suits with white shirts. I need to find ties and pocket squares for me and them. I’d like them to have ties and squares that match the bridesmaids in some way. As for me, I just want to (a) look good, (b) stand out from the groomsmen, and (c) not stick out in a bad way. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated. I’d even take photos and upload them for you, giving you full credit for “dressing” me. Thanks so much, and I hope to hear from you! Keep up the great work.
Best, Adrian
Here are my thoughts (and I am slightly rushed here due to the Holidays). After the holidays, i.e. Sunday, I hope to be back full swing! See you then 🙂 For the Groomsmen with the white shirts I thought to go this way. They can afford the colored squares, and the square gets toned down with the tie which is black and Orange in the warp and weft and gives the impression of a speckled orange. The closeup tells a better story. (forget about suit style , 2 or three button. Here we are concerned with color)
Shown here in the pocket and in play:
If you are looking for some more color then you can go this way:
For the groom, I chose a more simple yet very rich Orange twill weave shown here and with the off white linen square to match the ecru shirt chosen: 
Of course I would be remiss if I were to not bring in one of my all time favorite ties, the raw silk stripe against the bronzy rust silk, shown here with the always elegant white linen square.
Hello ye faithful…I have been busy. Very busy. But regardless, I missed you.
Late today I got a chance to snap a few easy shots of some of this Falls collection. I call them easy shots because in all cases the background didnt budge. White Shirt, Black Suit and White Linen Square with light Blue trimming. You could have done the same in all three ties with a navy suit and achieved the same results. Clean and classic looks.
This season there were two groups that I did. Your typical wovens which included jacquards and satin weaves and for something new I did a run of silks from the world renowned Mantero Seta the first of which you see here. Vivid and wonderful prints.
Looking forward to getting back in (and I am probably hiring a new person in the store so that will allow me a little more time to work on other things).
PS: Some New Hickey Freeman items in for Men this season. Lets see how that works. 🙂
Using the pictures that were posted in the comments last night (shown below) I suggested the following:
For the sari that will be worn at the day wedding (note the greens and plums with bronze and gold trimmings):
I suggested the bronze tie and green paisley square shown below. If you examine the colors in the sari and the tie I think that no explanation is necessary as to why it works well.
Here is the reception dress fabric. I felt as mentioned in the comments that the pinkish coloration in the polka dots called for this tie in gold satin with pink and a soft color pink or white with pink linen square.
Or with the pink trimmed white square.
Damn, I am good! 🙂
Well, the song goes a nice day for a white wedding but still…
Here is a request from a phone call that on my say so became a written request.
“On May 25, 2010 at 11:37 am Sachin Said:
Hello,
I am attending a wedding this weekend and need to pair two suits to match with what my fiance has planned. For the actual wedding I have a dark charcoal suit to be matched to a pink, green/gold sari. The evening reception is a black suit to be matched to a black with bronze metallic highlighted sari.
What would go best with these combos? Please help!
”
This weekend, eh? Nothing like the last minute I always say :-).
In the phone call there was no mention of the pink, green and gold sari so I didnt concentrate on it, choosing rather to concentrate on the Black with bronze. Luckily I happened to have taken a shot in the bronze theme that will probably work perfectly, having a pale bronze, green AND pink.
For the square I used an orange one from the new collection for a little color but of course a nice white will do quite nicely, and of course as its a wedding a white shirt is in place.
The rest are for the Black Suit with bronze Dress. Although the suit shown is charcoal, black will work here as well however offering greater contrast. Incidentally, bronze is a hard color with multiple shades and I don’t really know what color bronze we are referring but regardless, these will probably work.
With the second recent request I will be dedicating a page for requests.
Hey. If we are gonna do this then there has to be an element of trust, and when I tell you that silver works well with black and navy believe me.
But I know that you didn’t trust me so I took pics anyway. 🙂
Here you have the silver tie with a Pin Stripe suit in Navy, and a Hickey Freeman His First Shirt in Blue and Grey Check. The Square I used was a light blue linen as I felt that that ensemble was otherwise busy enough.
The Black Suit below and the silver Satin Tie against the soft blue makes this ensemble an elegant one which is why I used the white linen square.
And of course the elegance level is raised a notch or two when you introduce the white shirt.
I will be off for two days for religious observance. Cheers!
Occasionally we get requests from passers by. Here is a recent comment posted on the about me page.
“Hello,
I am getting married soon. I looked at your website and specially the pictures and thought you might be the best person to answer this. Its a pretty useful website. Great job man!
So my fiancee has already bought a dress which is pink along those lines (http://seoulcurry.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/colorpink.jpg). I am wearing a charcoal suit and trying to match up with her on this color. I know a white shirt with a pink tie would be perfect, but I don’t want to wear a white shirt (as much as possible). Here are my preferences:
1) I love bright ties.
2) I don’t want to mix match a lot of colors. Fewer the colors the better.
3) I want to be very careful with the pink.
Could you recommend me a few combinations of shirts, ties and pocket squares?
Thanks in advance,
ADG
Being that the Pink is a fuchsia and any tie that is closely related to it would be really bright I thought to introduce ties and squares that were of the same tones (pinks and burgundies and the colors in between.)
Here are some things that came to mind (it has been a long day so I will reserve comment and links for the AM):
Greetings all Amateur Economist Readers! Do stay a while and enjoy or just pop in when the need/desire arises, and feel free to comment or request at any time!
As promised last night, here is that purple tie against a black suit, white shirt. For elegance sake I left the square as a white linen.
I think you will agree that it works best against this backdrop.
Here the lighter lilac dotted tie.
And here with a purple Attolini six fold. Even tough this is a darker color purple and belongs bunched up with the first tie and not the lilac, I put this last as I will run with it tomorrow.
Have a great day!
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.
From The Waist Up 
