Dont let them tell you otherwise…

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.

Minding the Chill

You people still there?

I took these pictures some time ago with the intention of posting them here, but never got around to it.

Unless your business is breaking legs while collecting money, in your typical business setting there really is no room for a dark shirt.  However in a clubbing setting (not the “Pay me or I will club you” Clubbing, I mean a night out on the town with some friends either male or female) it has a place as well as a more relaxed kids setting which is why we bought it in the first place.  If in fact you are gonna wear that dark shirt then make sure you do some sort of contrasting color in a jacket so that there are clear lines between the jacket and shirt.

So if you are in the mood to chill out feel free to don that dark navy shirt with a pin stripe cotton blazer from Hickey Freeman or Armani Junior as shown below.  In all cases shown with the contrast edge linen square to just throw a little brightness in.  A tie will defeat the goal you are looking for.  (Unless you do in fact break legs for a living…)

For some deep contrast go all the way out with this white/light blue cotton blazer from Hickey Freeman

Buildup to Spring Summer

As we enter into the final month of the calendar year and head into the Winter (which doesn’t actually start till December 22th,) its always nice to focus on the bright spots of the future. With that in mind I bring you a buildup to Summer called so as I ran the pics here in a buildup of how one might get dressed.

Shown here is the first delivery of Spring 2011 from the Hickey Freeman His First collection for TuesdaysChild.com and the Brick and Mortar store.

Shirt (Blue, Yellow and White Medium stripe):

Shirt with Scrolling Vines Tie (also from Hickey Freeman.)

Shirt and Tie Paired with Hickey Freeman Wool and Cotton Sportscoat in a Whitish Blue.

Looking to give a little oomph of color to the ensemble I threw in the striped square.  Very vibrant and rich colors here which all work back to the shirt and ensemble as a whole.

Finally your finished product here.  Sharp and Elegant.

And oh…I happen to love the Winter 😉

Better with Black

I mentioned that things would be hectic and posts would be sporadic and so it is. Sorry for that but its just a for a few weeks more.

Here is a shot that I had taken a few weeks ago. Off white and white will work with most anything but of course some colors work better with others. In this case I have in mind that a darker suit, navy or black or even a bright white suit would work better with this color green tie.  Perhaps I will get a picture sometime tomorrow when I am in the store.

But it certainly works this way as well.

Here is the square detail.  Note the green in the square that pulls it together with the tie.

Rock The Contrast

If you are gonna wear a light color jacket take advantage of it and rock the contrast with a really dark tie for this effect.

With the square detail shown here.

Of course you can still look nice with a tie toned similar to the jacket while working off the contrast of the shirt as so:

If you will note, in the next photo I repositioned the square so as to leave out most of the red and just show the yellow hand rolled edge against the blue.

Have a great weekend!  🙂

And yes, for the Title of the post, I was inspired by the 80’s The Clash hit, Rock The Casbah

Snakes and Sticks

As I sit down in my bedroom tonight to compose this post and I look over the pictures I took today I am reminded of a joke I heard from my Father and Mentor, Of Blessed Memory:

“A Ranger from a Green Berets unit was retelling his dreadful adventures in the boondocks in Vietnam.
“One day, I was walking on patrol along a path in the boondocks, and suddenly saw a snake.”
“What a horror!” a lady listener gasped.
“But when I came closer to it, I saw it wasn’t a snake at all, but a stick. My, wasn’t I terrified!”
“But if it wasn’t a snake but only a stick, why were you terrified?” asked another listener.

“Because,” the vet explained, “the stick I picked up to hit the snake with was a snake!”

When I snapped these pics I thought that the stronger contrast looked better in the ensemble. Now, in reviewing before posting, I am not so sure. I kinda like the soft blending of the tie and the shirt. The square gives a burst of color.

My snake was a stick, and my stick tuirned out to be a snake.

Your thoughts?

White, The New Black

Black works with everything. Its true.

And much in the same way that Black works with everything, so does white and off white.  Here you have the off white blazer with a lilac shirt and a deep dark purple tie.  The square is a floral pastel print with pinks, greens and soft purples.

The pics were taken quickly and the color needs to be adjusted (the dark purple of the tie doesnt show well enough, at least on my screen) but I think you get enough of a visual to get the basic idea. Maybe I will snap better shots tomorrow. Probably Not 🙂

Have a great day. 🙂

Here is an alternate option for a square  Lots of colors in this new paisley square and while they dont match per se, they do coordinate.  (Personally I prefer the first):

Hot and Cold

Although there is the general consensus that certain colors are better suited for certain seasons, (Light Fresh colors are better for Spring/Summer and Dark forboding ones for Winter etc.) A classic style and color tie will not be restricted to any particular season as shown below:

This seven fold tie shown first with the cream jacket and orange floral Square:

And the same combo show here for your Winter wear, i,e, Navy Suit.

Happy First day of Summer to you!

The Backup Tie

So after deciding on square number 3 due to its vibrancy (as mentioned before this square and others of its ilk can probably go with most anything due to the colors it has)

Mr. Wedding guest was advised by Mrs. Wedding guest to take a tie just in case.  I like Mrs Wedding Guest.  :-).

My feeling though was that a very busy tie will play against the vibrant square and in light of the fact that it was a wedding albeit in California, we were best off with a more plain (relatively so as you will soon see) tie to work into the ensemble.

Here are my choices (and I add that we arent limited to these, they were what came to mind quickly and any form of blue against blue (lighter blue preferred) would work)

Tie 1

Tie 2

Tie 3

Tie 4

In case the blue is a little to sedate for you folks I did include two orange ties.  Heck it is California 😉

If

Tie 5

Tie 6

I have attached a Poll so that viewers can vote and of course I have refrained from voting even just to get the ball rolling:

The Missed Wedding

I dont know if I have said this before but it bears mentioning and reviewing nontheless.

My Main business, I mean the “pays the rent business” is a kids shop clled Tuesday’s Child.  You can see what we do on Tuesday’s Child’s website.  Sometimes it gets in the way of the little on the side men’s stuff that I do here.  With buying season in full swing for the kids shop this was one of those times.

A customer emailed me last week that he was heading to a wedding in California and needed a pocket square (no tie was being worn, “Heck Jonathan,  its California”  was what he said.) to go with a white jacket, blue pants and either a pink shirt or a light blue shirt.

I had already sold him a square before and thought it would work well with either choice shirt, being that it was a bold colored square and would pop against the white jacket but then promised him I would send some more options.  I got busy and didn’t and he is leaving tomorrow for the west coast :-(.

Saving grace is that the wedding is Saturday so I may have time to send it overnight to him in California assuming he likes.

Here goes:

The white jacket is from the kids shop and was used just for the photo.  Some may notice the lapels are small.

The square is from the most recent collection.  I like it for its soft pastelly colors.