March 10, 2014

Pick ‘n Mix

This week I’m doing a little coffee cart leaning for the good folks at menstylefashion.com.

For regular readers, these shots were, of course, taken at the recent London Fashion Week at Somerset House. MSF have dusted them off and used them to highlight the possibilities of purchasing a bespoke suit. As a retailer of fine men’s shirts I can’t preach too long and hard about the virtues of always buying bespoke, though I will say having one bespoke suit is a good investment.

What I will preach in my column is the importance of bespoke dressing. As I mentioned last week, dressing for the Oscars is largely a matter of adhering to the dress code. All the men are dressed identically, look equally smart and perhaps that’s the point (unless you’re picking up an acting Oscar this year it would seem).

Going off-code, customising your look so that it isn’t a carbon copy of everyone else’s can be a tricky business, especially when you’re dealing with suits. If you’re recently out of short trousers then probably play it safe for a while. If, however, you’re confident you know your way around a three piece and can wear a bow tie without resorting to irony, then try a little mixing and matching. Learn the rules, then smash ‘em up!

On this occasion I wore French navy blue suit trousers, a slightly different hued waistcoat, subtle pink Pin Collar Shirt (naturally) then a third, bolder blue for my tie with a light grey blazer.

It seems I’m not alone in believing clashing can be dashing either: