Despite the tie being a long-standing formal accessory, many men still struggle with balancing the colour, texture and pattern of their shirt with their tie. That is without even considering throwing the baffling pocket square in the mix. InStitchu are here to help; below you will find an eclectic collection of simple rules to help better coordinate your shirt, tie and pocket square.
Fabric and Colour
If you are like many men out there and are not confident matching colours, keep your shirt plain (white or blue) and experiment with the pocket square and tie. If you are not looking to make a bold statement, choose ties or pocket squares that are slight variations in colour to your suit or shirt. Your pocket square should complement your tie and shirt – not match them. If you are experimental enough to consider a pocket square then use it to add a little colour to your outfit.
In terms of fabric choices, if you are wearing a suit, shirt, tie and pocket square, try to fit two to three fabrics in. These are generally wool, cotton for the suit and shirt and potentially silk for the tie and pocket square.
Buy versatile ties that can complement a range of shirts and patterns. Think darker or lighter colours; bold primary colour choices can look nice but are not as re-usable. One interesting things to note is that your tie knot width should closely resemble your lapel width. Try and keep your tie knots between 2.5 to 3.5 inches.
Matching Patterns
Vary your pattern type – Try not to pair two complex patterns. If you have a loud shirt with a lot of colour then your tie should be mostly plain.
Vary the pattern size and colour – The smaller matching pattern should be on your shirt. A striped tie/check shirt (thin) would match with a striped/check tie (wide).
Match/complement a colour detail in your tie with a dominant colour of the shirt – If you had a blue and white checked shirt then you could consider pairing that with a block navy or light yellow tie.
Images via Institchu
Ms Chinoiserie Says: Great advice on achieving an ‘on trend’ look with sartorial style – right down to the size of the tie knot! Wonderful!
About Institchu: We believe that every man should be able to afford high quality tailored suits and shirts. Our customers order by designing their own tailored suit or shirt from scratch or can use an existing design from our collections page. With a guaranteed fit policy, we have strict quality control procedures to ensure our tailored suits and shirts meet the highest quality standards expected by our customers.
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