Fall is All About Textures

When Fall arrives, the game changes from vivid colors on display to a little bit of colors and heavy doses of texture. Textures begin to take over the sartorial landscape. Textures are extremely easy to match. You simply keep rough textures with rough textures. Also some contrast with smooth and shiny textures is okay. A good compromise is keeping everything rough and contrasting with a tie, pocket square, or both.

Let us consider the following images for analysis:

In this Apparel Arts Fall/Winter accessories image you see the color splashed in between the staid colors of the gentlemen's suit and coat.

This image from an ebay auction. This is a 1940s style DB suit. It is a herringbone with a double over stripe in a lighter reddish-brown. This over stripe is a nice way of playing with the herringbone pattern and adding some color to it. It is finished with a bright and playful pocket square which breathes life into this otherwise plain ensemble.

Here, the image in the left box, the gentleman mixes many textures. Gray flannel pants, a v-neck sweater, and a tweed over coat. The color in this grouping is done with what looks like a knit tie
Apparel Arts gives us another example. While in brown tones mainly the gentleman in the left brightens up the look with a red, Churchill dot tie. It looks like he is wearing a medium brown tweed coat and some heavy chinos in a British khaki color. Note, I hate the shoes I remember wearing them to private school. In different colors they are awesome; I personally like a brown toe and heel with an oxblood vamp.

Another Apparel Arts image is presented for analysis. Here the textures are the main focus. The suit underneath this over coat appears to be a calvary twill pattern, this can be a very distinctive texture that only shows up at a close distance. The overcoat is a herringbone tweed in a relatively wide scale it appears. Like pattern matching it helps to keep the visible elements of a texture varying in scale. This is more evident in herringbones and twills.

Lastly another photo from ebay. This time the color is from a shirt. Keeping with the Season's colors, the hues are somber yet punch brightly. Against the heather brown surface this shirt really stands out.

To sum up, textures are where you want to show your dandy side during winter. Don't be afraid of colors just keep it to a minimun. Contrast lightly and do mix several textures.

Photo Credit: various ebay sellers and Apparel Arts.