It's a color thing. Depends on the shirt, shoes, and pants. The only real rule IMO is not mixing browns and blacks. You also want to pick and appropriot tie for occasion, like, don't where your loony toons tie to a wake.
You can wear your Looney Toons tie to a wake as long as you have the appropriate personality to go with it. Hey, sometimes people just expect that type of thing out of certain people.
Usually I just look in the mirror and think to myself "Does this tie stand out?" If not, it's probably fine.
Non-navy blues and grays go with charcoal or black suits.
Blues, yellows and browns go with navy suits.
I try to avoid purples, greens and oranges, but sometimes they sneak in on "casual Fridays" when the suit is replaced with a sports coat.
I would differ slightly from the above response in that between the suit, shirt, and tie, one thing is allowed to stand out. So if I'm wearing a rather staid charcoal suit and white shirt, I'm probably also wearing a bright red tie.
Also, you didn't ask, but if the suit is patterned, then I generally go with an unpatterned shirt and vice versa.
1) By the book
Stick to something simple by pairing a minor color from your tie to a major color from your shirt. This works both ways, should you want to match a major color from your tie to a minor color of your shirt.
2) Alternative
It's harder to pull this off without previous experience but you can pair a bold geometric tie with a striped shirt without inducing nausea. Don't be afraid to go very bold, in both color and the scale of the pattern.
Lastly, since it has been mentioned here, no novelty neck ties. Novelty has a tendency to wear off so nothing of this nature, regardless of the accessory.
I'll also mention a few tie tips for looking professional:
-Your tie should conceal the neck band behind it. If it doesn't, it's too loose.
-A pocket square can stand in for a tie.
-Your tie should dimple. If you need to do this manually, stick your index finger up into the not to create the cleft.
With that said, there are certain color combinations that work better, and others that kind of clash;
For example a black shirt with a black tie; the black tie better match the shirt or you'll have some weird color clashing going on.
One of my personal rules for ties; They shouldn't include more than 2 colors. I think 3 color ties and plaid ties look awkward on men and are reserved mostly for kids in prep-school.
Only one thing should be bright; i.e. bright green shirt? Better use a pretty matte and reserved tie. Is your shirt a pretty dark purple? A brighter silver tie will pop.
Personally i prefer vests over jackets; so while not directly related to your question, I think it looks sharp when the vest either matches or goes really well with the pants and adds a 'depth' to your tie selection, too. Pocket squares (with vests or jackets) can also add a depth to your tie choice, you can really make the square and tie 'pop' if you do it right.
One of the more important things, imo, is tying a proper knot for the tie. For example on thicker ties i prefer a double windsor. And on skinnier ties i really like a prat knot. This, i think comes down to personal taste mostly.
With a suit, I wear a tie that has a minor color from my shirt and a major color from my suit. So with my grey suit with thin blue lines, with my pink shirt I wear a Blue tie with pink stripes, and with my white shirt, I wear a grey tie with white lines.
I go by the "sports team" rule - colors generally go together if a number of sports franchises use the color combo. Totally simplifies things. I even keep it simpler and wear mostly white and black shirts, so pairing is usually simple.
Basic colors, stripes, and simple patterns are good. Surprisingly, so is paisley, and you can find paisley ties where the design is close in color to the tie so it's not totally garish. (I own three, burgundy-red, black-white, and black-black.)
Avoid brown-black and red-blue combos like the plague.
Oh, and if you want to inspire a Mafioso feeling in people, wear black shirt, black pants... and white tie. I own a white tie explicitly for this purpose.
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There's no real hard-and-fast rules to fashion or your own style, and you have to work it out yourself with time and experimentation. You either get it or don't. You either know what goes or what doesn't. That's about it.
They aren't enjoying the surge of popularity rumored elsewhere here in SF. But since OP is in NY, that's probably not at all relevant.
I just have trouble taking them seriously.
"It's the truth that you should never trust anybody who wears a bow tie. Cravat's supposed to point down to accentuate the genitals. Why'd you wanna trust somebody whose tie points out to accentuate his ears?" (State and Main)
Thanks for all the tips, lots of good advice here. I'm engaged and so yes, I do ask her when she's around. But we don't live together yet so she's not there when I'm getting dressed in the morning.
The guy who mentioned sports teams basically nailed it for me. Makes all the sense in the world and is totally easy to remember. Think I'll go Minnesota Vikings purple & gold when I want to be spicy, Houston Texans red/white/blue is always a nice look, and New York's official colors are a fun but underused combination - orange & blue.
They aren't enjoying the surge of popularity rumored elsewhere here in SF. But since OP is in NY, that's probably not at all relevant.
Hyperbole and my being flippant. Apologies. Seriously though, when done right, cravats and bow ties are classy/sexy.
"It's the truth that you should never trust anybody who wears a bow tie. Cravat's supposed to point down to accentuate the genitals. Why'd you wanna trust somebody whose tie points out to accentuate his ears?" (State and Main)
Thanks for all the tips, lots of good advice here. I'm engaged and so yes, I do ask her when she's around. But we don't live together yet so she's not there when I'm getting dressed in the morning.
Congratulations and good on you (how refreshing!) for not co-habiting.
The guy who mentioned sports teams basically nailed it for me. Makes all the sense in the world and is totally easy to remember.
The basic principle is that a tie can't be too similar in color to the shirt, and that a tie can't be in a color that explicitly doesn't go with the shirt color.
First off, the easiest shirts to pair ties with are plain white and blue dress shirts; most any tie whose color is reasonably darker than the shirt itself (darker than cream, say) goes fine with those, except red ties with blue shirts, which I would save for white shirts as a rule.
With other solid-color dress shirts you have a little bit less range for expression. Pink shirts look great with dark red or navy ties; yellow shirts with navy ties and most rep (striped) ties; light green shirts with navy ties and dark green ties. I personally wouldn't wear a solid-colored shirt that wasn't a relatively light color, at least not while you're getting used to it; most darker shirts are both more difficult to pair ties with (because the color shades are too close) and because with a lighter tie, it creates a strangely inverted effect.
With patterned shirts (checks, stripes, plaids, etc) you're going into the land of pattern matching, which is a bit of a minefield. Generally speaking, don't wear a striped tie with a striped shirt unless the stripes are of very different size and color, lest you look too matchy-matchy. Match it to the predominant color of the shirt, but keep in mind how the less-dominant color looks up close with the color(s) of the tie.
If you have any particular combinations you're not sure about, I'd recommend posting them here.
Sing lustily and with good courage.
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
Some colors are seasonal. If you look at the color of a shirt, you should be able to assign a season to it in ~3 seconds. That being said, don't wear a summer color in winter, for example.
Some colors look really nice on certain people. Find a store specializing in formal wear and try stuff on until you find something suitable (pun very intended :P).
For simplicity, opt for a black suit jacket and black pants whenever conditions allow. Black goes with everything, hides food stains the best, and it's slimming.
Usually I just look in the mirror and think to myself "Does this tie stand out?" If not, it's probably fine.
Because we care about facts.
I would differ slightly from the above response in that between the suit, shirt, and tie, one thing is allowed to stand out. So if I'm wearing a rather staid charcoal suit and white shirt, I'm probably also wearing a bright red tie.
Also, you didn't ask, but if the suit is patterned, then I generally go with an unpatterned shirt and vice versa.
1) By the book
Stick to something simple by pairing a minor color from your tie to a major color from your shirt. This works both ways, should you want to match a major color from your tie to a minor color of your shirt.
2) Alternative
It's harder to pull this off without previous experience but you can pair a bold geometric tie with a striped shirt without inducing nausea. Don't be afraid to go very bold, in both color and the scale of the pattern.
Lastly, since it has been mentioned here, no novelty neck ties. Novelty has a tendency to wear off so nothing of this nature, regardless of the accessory.
I'll also mention a few tie tips for looking professional:
-Your tie should conceal the neck band behind it. If it doesn't, it's too loose.
-A pocket square can stand in for a tie.
-Your tie should dimple. If you need to do this manually, stick your index finger up into the not to create the cleft.
With that said, there are certain color combinations that work better, and others that kind of clash;
For example a black shirt with a black tie; the black tie better match the shirt or you'll have some weird color clashing going on.
One of my personal rules for ties; They shouldn't include more than 2 colors. I think 3 color ties and plaid ties look awkward on men and are reserved mostly for kids in prep-school.
Only one thing should be bright; i.e. bright green shirt? Better use a pretty matte and reserved tie. Is your shirt a pretty dark purple? A brighter silver tie will pop.
Personally i prefer vests over jackets; so while not directly related to your question, I think it looks sharp when the vest either matches or goes really well with the pants and adds a 'depth' to your tie selection, too. Pocket squares (with vests or jackets) can also add a depth to your tie choice, you can really make the square and tie 'pop' if you do it right.
One of the more important things, imo, is tying a proper knot for the tie. For example on thicker ties i prefer a double windsor. And on skinnier ties i really like a prat knot. This, i think comes down to personal taste mostly.
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Basic colors, stripes, and simple patterns are good. Surprisingly, so is paisley, and you can find paisley ties where the design is close in color to the tie so it's not totally garish. (I own three, burgundy-red, black-white, and black-black.)
Avoid brown-black and red-blue combos like the plague.
Oh, and if you want to inspire a Mafioso feeling in people, wear black shirt, black pants... and white tie. I own a white tie explicitly for this purpose.
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And if I've offended you, I'm sorry, but maybe you need to be offended. But here's my apology and one more thing...
I love my bow ties, but you cannot get away with them in some places. People in Japan would keep asking whether I was going to a party after work
In the Carolinas, I get away with them easily. Plus, wind does not screw them up and they don't get potentially messy when you eat.
Bow ties are cool.
What?
There's no real hard-and-fast rules to fashion or your own style, and you have to work it out yourself with time and experimentation. You either get it or don't. You either know what goes or what doesn't. That's about it.
I just have trouble taking them seriously.
"It's the truth that you should never trust anybody who wears a bow tie. Cravat's supposed to point down to accentuate the genitals. Why'd you wanna trust somebody whose tie points out to accentuate his ears?" (State and Main)
The guy who mentioned sports teams basically nailed it for me. Makes all the sense in the world and is totally easy to remember. Think I'll go Minnesota Vikings purple & gold when I want to be spicy, Houston Texans red/white/blue is always a nice look, and New York's official colors are a fun but underused combination - orange & blue.
Sure.
Congratulations and good on you (how refreshing!) for not co-habiting.
IMO, it looks gaudy.
More links that might help you (learn for yourself):
http://askmen.com/fashion/fashiontip_150/193_fashion_advice.html
http://askmen.com/fashion/fashiontip_250/297_fashion_advice.html
http://finestitch.com.au/2010/11/what-tie-to-wear-with-what-shirt/ Hyperbole and my being flippant. Apologies. Seriously though, when done right, cravats and bow ties are classy/sexy.
The basic principle is that a tie can't be too similar in color to the shirt, and that a tie can't be in a color that explicitly doesn't go with the shirt color.
First off, the easiest shirts to pair ties with are plain white and blue dress shirts; most any tie whose color is reasonably darker than the shirt itself (darker than cream, say) goes fine with those, except red ties with blue shirts, which I would save for white shirts as a rule.
With other solid-color dress shirts you have a little bit less range for expression. Pink shirts look great with dark red or navy ties; yellow shirts with navy ties and most rep (striped) ties; light green shirts with navy ties and dark green ties. I personally wouldn't wear a solid-colored shirt that wasn't a relatively light color, at least not while you're getting used to it; most darker shirts are both more difficult to pair ties with (because the color shades are too close) and because with a lighter tie, it creates a strangely inverted effect.
With patterned shirts (checks, stripes, plaids, etc) you're going into the land of pattern matching, which is a bit of a minefield. Generally speaking, don't wear a striped tie with a striped shirt unless the stripes are of very different size and color, lest you look too matchy-matchy. Match it to the predominant color of the shirt, but keep in mind how the less-dominant color looks up close with the color(s) of the tie.
If you have any particular combinations you're not sure about, I'd recommend posting them here.
Be aware of singing as if you were half dead,
or half asleep:
but lift your voice with strength.
Be no more afraid of your voice now,
nor more ashamed of its being heard,
than when you sang the songs of Satan.
Patterned shirts with solid ties are okay.
Some colors are seasonal. If you look at the color of a shirt, you should be able to assign a season to it in ~3 seconds. That being said, don't wear a summer color in winter, for example.
Some colors look really nice on certain people. Find a store specializing in formal wear and try stuff on until you find something suitable (pun very intended :P).
For simplicity, opt for a black suit jacket and black pants whenever conditions allow. Black goes with everything, hides food stains the best, and it's slimming.