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.

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.

The Atlanta College Boy Look in Fall

In Fall, Atlanta boys still in university dress something like this:

• Medium Weight Cardigan
• Spread Collar Shirt, light blue is the favorite
• Alternatively you could go for a polo or rugby shirt worn without a tie
• Chinos, light colors are favored un-ironed too hungover to wake up in time to do so
• Wool Knit Tie, red, blue, green tones are favored
• One could also wear a paisley bow tie
• The dandies finish up with colored socks, blue seems to be the standard
• Loafers of any variety finish off the look, this is where you see whom is rich or not, the rich boys wear Gucci bit loafers and the rest of us wear penny loafers in various forms.

Here is my take on this. In case you are wondering, I'm wearing a Sekonda 2209 caliber movement watch on a NATO strap.

These knit ties arch so beautifully.

Layering Right

Sweater Vest

Odd Tweed Waistcoat

Ribbed Cardigan

V-neck Sweater

Wool Tartan Waistcoat

In my opinion you should have 3 basic colors and then work your way to other colors.

Basics:

1. Navy
2. Gray/Charcoal
3. White/Cream

You can wear the basics with virtually anything. A few other colors to have are reds(bright tomato, maroon, etc), a bottle green, and maybe lighter shades of blue. Tartans should be kept minimal and make sure you know how to tone it down if it is loud. As far as tweed, whatever you like. I personally like grays and orange browns. Occasionally, I'll get a salt and pepper tweed; kidding I have 3 in my closet.

If you are layering similar colors make sure the first layer is lighter than the subsequent layer and darker than your tie. In other words, if you are wearing a charcoal suit a medium grey makes the best layer. Otherwise, just go the other way. I like to wear bright layers under dark jackets and dark layers under light jackets. The contrast is awesome!

Photo Credit: Paul Stuart, Jcrew, Everyday Elegance Blog, & a Japanese blog I can't remember.

Of Sweaters

I'm back from from my hiatus. Hope everything has been well with you all in blogland.

Moving on; sweaters are the go to item in fall and winter. I'm partial to cardigans and sleeveless sweaters, or vests. The cardigans if thick enough can be worn as a jacket of sorts and if not can be worn under a jacket as another layer to keep you warm. When I used to ride a train to University it really came in handy to have that extra layer. Sleeveless sweaters are really nice for days that aren't really cold but are breezy. The wind in Atlanta cuts through bones and you really need that extra layer over your solar plexus. Plus they don't get too warm since your arms are exposed. V-neck sweaters are the last kind I wear regularly; don't get me wrong I wear crew necks and toggled button sweaters too just not as much as the former three. V-necks are excellent with bow ties and are at home with wool and knitted ties. The textures really work well when you vary them like that. I avoid the professor look by not wearing jeans and opting for checked pants or corduroys.

So, lets proceed to some photo analysis to give you some ideas my friends.

This is a Ralph Lauren image from 2 years ago. This entire look is something I'd wear with some minor changes; pink OCBD, orange-brown tie, brightly colored watch strap, and a real expression not a ridiculous model look. What do I like about this look? Well, the herringbone tweed is something I'm fond of. The Fair Isle patterned sleeveless sweater and corduroys add textural differences that are really nice. The corduroys could go one of two ways, they should be darker or lighter the color is too close to the vest and it is my preference to break up colors. All in all very nice!

Winston, a fellow blogger and free lance writer, wears the sweater as jacket. He wears a very English look with the bright striped, contrast collar, french-cuffed shirt and an even brighter bow tie. Winston follows this with an olive corduroy pant. Again I would wear this entire look except I would wear different pants. I dislike olive, it doesn't work very well with dark skin tones. I think a brown or navy would work well. Maybe even a moleskin pant in persimmon orange. A minor gripe is I don't wear very much red so, I would wear a navy or charcoal grey tie. This is almost identical to what I would wear out during winter. In fact I'm wearing a V-necked light weight navy cardigan with a pink striped shirt, cuff-linked of course. I'm pairing that with cream corduroys and a Churchill dotted bow tie. Very close right?Photo coming very soon.