Waist Coats of Envy.

I just bought this from a thrift store. For some reason, I'm starting to wear green. I still don't think olive green goes well with my skin tone so I avoid it. These other shades seem to work well with me. The mustard waistcoat seems to work well with me. It brings out the brown undertones in my flesh. It almost imitates the effect orange and red have against my face. The darker greens work too. As long as they aren't too close to olive green, they work. The fact that green is a very versatile color works for me as well. Expect to see them in an ensemble soon. I'll try and give you an idea of what these hues of green can be worn with.

Side Note: These buttons look really bad and I plan on changing them to an orangey brown horn ones. Hell! I might even go with a metal button type because this is an odd vest I can do that. We'll have to see.

Another Pair of Socks!

These socks aren't just interesting because they are my favorite color but also because they are textured. The pattern is sort of like a crocheted sweater. It is called seeded by the sock department at American Apparel. I'm loving there socks over there. On sale I picked up 2 for a $10er.

Enjoy!

By the way, I don't only wear Bill's Khakis even though it seems like it.

Orange & Gray

Tonight, I was browsing a few ties after work and stumbled upon a a bow tie in oxford gray at BB. It was interesting and It reminded me of this orange striped shirt I've been waiting to wear for sometime now.

Now, this got me thinking what exactly can you wear with, tie wise mind you, with an orange shirt. Orange is a pale enough color so I thought I could pull off a dark green. For some reason I just wasn't feeling it. I let my mind blank and grey came to me. I think I got this idea that I could treat it like pink and it would pop out at me against a grey.

I was really right. The darker grays such as charcoal make it seem brighter. Oxford and medium grays make the orange appear normal; not too bright and not too pale. Light grays or gray patterns on a white ground make the orange look like a pastel or pale color. Take a look and my photos. The bow tie was purchased today and the straight Glen Check patterned tie I've had for at least a year.

With the darker gray the shirt appears to be brighter.

With the white ground underneath the stripes this appears to make the orange a pastel almost a salmon pink color

See what I mean. Play around with this and discover what you like and what looks good with you. Also, know this, depending on the seasons you can use this to play on the suit you are wearing. In Winter and Fall, darker colors are worn more frequently so, we could use a darker tie and contrast with a brighter orange shirt. The reverse is true for Summer and Spring so, a lighter tie will bring the color down and let you play with a pocket square or lead with some go to hell pants.

What I Wore Today: "60s Bow tie Edition

Here I am on an errand day, I dislike these mornings so, I take it as a chance to wear something I normally don't. I find it really hard to wear this particular bow tie. I decided to let it take center stage. It is a slim, '60s bow tie and therefore hard to wear with most colors I
own. Also you have to wear a particularly high v-neck collared sweater or a crew neck sweater. If you have a particularly high closing vest or waistcoat you could wear this.

So, here it is:

Vintage, yellow bow tie with my Aeropostle multi stripe shirt and an argyle, Perry Ellis sweater

The side view shows that it really is a high v-neck.

Close-up of the stamped patterned belt against my shirt and some Bill's Khakis

Happy Socks in a staid blue pattern

New saddle shoes thrifted from the Salvation Army. Pebbled like textured leather on the vamp in a dark brown and regular brown leather on the rest of the shoe with a rubber brick sole

Flecked Socks

As a lover of colorful socks and a member of the group of gentlemen that display their socks prominently, I've found that I'm always keeping an eye out for interesting socks. These I accidently ran into at American Apparel when I was looking for a present for my younger brother. He loves some of their printed shirts. They have some really nice socks. Most of them are made from cotton blends and wool blends. They make use of recycled materials and their are made by immigrants in L.A. Overall a very well run outfit in the sock department.

These particular ones are made from cotton and feature recycled wool as the flecks on the socks. I wanted the socks because they remind me of fleckled tweeds. I only have one tweed jacket and this is a nod to it. By the way, Atlanta rarely gets cold enough to warrant tweed plus we drive everywhere. I used to make use of it when I was still in University because walking to class was at least a 10 minute affair. Anywhere there you have it a rare sock find at an unusual source.

What I Wore Today: Career Fair Edition

Today I attended a career fair and got to have a little fun in the wardrobe department. They were telling us to keep it semi-business formal. What does that mean. There really is no such thing as semi-formal. You can't straddle the fence in matters formal.

I and most people took it to mean you can wear a suit but your only expected to wear an odd jacket and dress pants. As usual I prefer to wear suits when most dress down. I also wanted to send an informal tone yet business. I ended up wearing my lucky suit with my new sweater vest. The rest was just plain fun. I stuck to wearing stripes and didn't really consider the colors I was wearing. I just made sure the colors didn't fight each other.

Sometimes it is easier to avoid consciously choosing the colors you wear. I just went with my mood. This can lead to discoveries of color combinations that work for you. A recent one I discovered was pink and darker oranges. Another is dark green can match most colors, stick to the hunter green-ish colors. Chew on that for awhile and see where it takes you!

Here are the photos:

What I Wore Dec 16th.

I rarely post my looks online. I've been meaning to and here is one. I wore this to see the Nutcracker on a date with my current lady friend. The lapel pin gives off the Christmas vibe.

The suit is a hand me down from my God-Father's friend. It was tailored in the '60s, late '60s mind you. The db vest was imported from an English thrift shop via eBay. The shirt is also importated from Old Blighty via TM Lewin's traders and it is worn with a Donald Trump tie from Marshall's. My pocket square is J-Press picked up at a horrible men's store near Lenox Mall and Phipps Plaza that wont be named. Lastly, I'm wearing Allen Edmond's Park Avenue shoes bulled to perfection. The socks are some simply dotted wool patterned socks from J.Crew I bought a year or two ago.

Dressing With the Color Wheel

We are all familiar with the color wheel yet few of us look to it for guidance. It can definitively give you an answer about what colors to wear and with what. So, this post is all about how I used it today.

Today I used analogous colors, colors that lie next to each other on the wheel. First, let me explain what forced me to use the color wheel. One of the colorful sweaters I received yesterday was a heather dark bluish-green, someone called it peacock although it isn't the color of peacock feathers. Well, what do you wear with it? I had an idea that green and blue look good together but, what else? What tie should I wear? I just didn't know what to wear.

I referred to the color wheel. Now, I drew a line bisecting the wheel; one side is purple all the way to bright green and the other half is yellow to a purplish-red. Since, I dislike yellow most of the time, I ignored the yellow side. Since, I'm focusing on the purple and green side I started to play around with the colors. Since I have a dark green I know, I have to use bright or lighter colors. So what I did was I said I'll try a purple and a light blue. I put on a blue shirt and immediately moved on to the tie. It didn't look good wearing a solid purple tie; my plumb and bright colored purple both looked strange. Next I thought how about a geometric using a purple as a significant color. This approach worked much better because I landed on the tie I decided to wear. It is a checked pattern with a dark purple, a bright purple, a light blue, and a navy repeating check.

Using my methodology wont guarantee success. Like I did, you have to play around with it. You also need to use the basic skills you learned about dressing, such as contrast, scale, and the rules. Also you'll never have the exact colors you have on the wheel. This is neither desirable nor a disadvantage. It just means you have to use your imagination and slant the colors to fit what you have in your closet. Now you have no reason you can't wear something that is a hard color to coordinate with. Seriously it isn't very hard to do.

Good Luck!!!

Colorful Sweaters

As you layer for winter warmth consider brightening up your appearance with a colorful sweater.

Throw on a mid-weight one underneath a casual suit or an odd coat. Either way you can't go wrong. I recently ordered these after the after christmas sales. Lets just say they were the last pickings and because of it I got them dirt cheap.

These were purchased for two reasons:

1. I can layer with them for winter
2. I can wear them on their own for Spring and Fall

Always purchase 1 to two seasons ahead. You can get incredible deals this way and it gives you time to consider how to put it all together.

I plan on wearing these sweaters with my usual blue striped shirts. The greenish one will look particularly well with a purple checked shirt I haven't worn in awhile.

How to wear it? You're on your own for this one! Try out different combinations and try something you like. For a last resort use a color wheel triad, at least I think that is what its called it has been awhile since high school art classes. Make an equilateral triangle and the three points touch will touch three colors that look great together. The brightest color should be your sweater and the next one your tie.

The Sweater as Waist Coat

Hybrids are interesting creatures they usually don't work. Take the mule, for example. Yet, when they do they really push the envelope.

Here I have a sweater vest that is made like a regular waistcoat. It has the peaked bottom, buttons, and even is pinstriped. This waistcoat although a sweater vest, it is still a waistcoat. I plan on wearing it like a waistcoat. So, that means I'll be wearing it under a jacket and with a pocket watch. The surprise with this garment is that Ralph Lauren could execute something this daring and yet still conservative in nature especially with their Rugby line.

Check it out.