The 3 Most Versatile Ties I Own.

My three most versatile ties. Save the red one, they can be worn with everything I own. The entire rainbow and hues in between can be worn with the blue Churchill dot ties. Only a few colors don't work with the red spotted tie. For example, yellow and purple are horrible with it.

How to pull it off:

• Get dressed except for your tie.
• Throw on one of the Churchill patterned ties.
• Get in front of a mirror and make sure the combination of shirt, tie, and jacket harmonize.
• Check to see that you don't clash with your skin tone.
• Finally, smile, this is the easiest type of tie to wear.

Where to get them from:

• Ebay
• Bowties.com: R. Hanauer makes them in a variety of colors by hand in the US.
• Drakes of London: Drakes of London is an English tie and pocket square maker; they specialize in formal patterns like this one. Everything is handmade in England from some of the best silks.
• Thrift shops or Second hand stores: This pattern in those two colors is one of the easiest patterns to find, thanks to Winston Churchill.

Prices:

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1. Ebay under $25 but typically $3 - $5.
2. Bowties.com between $45 - $65
3. Drakes of London $120 + shipping from London.
4. Thrift/ Second Hand stores between $0.25 - $5.

My ties (starting from the left):

1. Navy Churchill patterned Chaps tie: $6 Burlington Coat Factory
2. Navy Churchill patterned R. Hanauer bowtie: $50 made to order by R. Hanauer all it took was a 5 minute call.
3. Red Churchill patterned Vintage ??? tie: $7 purchased in a lot of 6 bowties on ebay for $42 shipped.

*Note: I love charts, bullet points, graphs, and all sorts of mathematical visuals. I plan on including them as much as possible.

Accenting Your Skin Tone Part 1

Accenting one's skin tone is a big deal when wearing unorthodox and hard to wear colors. With a little practice and observation one can gain major insight into what works for them and what doesn't. This series will begin with the color brown and is brought to you by the cloth hop sack and regimental tie... All kidding aside,as with most things, examples, rules, and images; help to initiate the novice.

Wearing ties, shirts, and suits that work together is the easy part; complementing and accenting your skin tone is really difficult to pull off consistently. The Gentleman pictured above pulls it off marvelously. The orange punches up the color in the suit and really glow next to his face. If you look at everything separately then together it even gets more brilliant. Also, orange ties are questionable on the face of things but more so on dark skinned black men yet, somehow he brings it altogether in harmony.

My Advice on this matter isn't to hard to follow. For dark skinned black men, I should know from experience, stick to suits in a lighter shade of brown than your skin tone. In suits if you go near or darker than your skin tone you would be wise to use texture. Make sure the texture, flannel or tweed are nice, causes a significant visual contrast from your color. If you heed this advice the color brown can be one in your suit or odd jacket arsenal.

Men of lighter complexions can wear pretty much any shade of brown but the darker shades are better suited to their fairer complexions.

Rust and other orange-ish shades of brown seem to look dashing on all when worn with attire that accents the particular shade of skin. I wear my rust colored hopsack odd coat with a cream shirt and red striped tie. The look seems to get the right combination of amazement and confusion as all unorthodox pairings do.

In conclusion, brown is a suitable color for all men. It should be worn with care to make sure the shade neither blends nor has a low contrast with one's skin tone. One should also take care to wear a shade that accents their skin tone. The right combinations of shirt, tie and suit make this color wearable.

Tune in for part two in Accenting your skin tone.....

Picture attributed to The Sartorialist at thesartorialist.blogspot.com