Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Navy Suit/Pink Shirt

Customer wanted to match a light pink shirt/Navy Suit with the tie pictured. I hesitated on that tie due to the twill nature of it Its a lightish weight) but its the nicest of the pin dots that I have currently so I say yes. The other pin dots that I had were too muted. Of course options for the Blue Suit, pink Skirt combo are numerous.



Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Pinks and Blues

I like Pinks and Blues together. Here is a Pink Stripe Shirt with a Light Blue Paisley Tie and a Vintage Pocket Square. I took a muted colored square (not really muted but you know what I mean) to blend with the colors of the suit without competing with the tie and shirt contrast which is the highlight of the ensemble.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

In a business setting

For the professional on a working day. Customer will wear it sans square, but I though it looked nice anyway. (Not sure about the last one, may be too dark)



At the Symphony, Narrowed Down.

The Customer decided on this tie (The wife liked it who can, better yet, WHY in G-d's name argue :-) ) and the white linen square , but to confuse them both I threw in two more square options.


Tuesday, May 13, 2008

A night at the Symphony

I have been really busy but here is a question and a request from a customer.
"The occasion will be for the Symphony once a month, and for rare social occasions that I cannot foresee, and all for evening. I am retired from business with no contacts. Perhaps 25% of the men at the symphony wear ties, and maybe 10% wear suits - including me. My wife is inclined towards red. I am inclined to something more "winey" but not as dark as burgundy. That is why I was wanting to compare the two. The blue tie was just my idea as an alternative, and something to go with a medium gray suit with muted blue windowpanes."

OK. The customer suggested two and a third in the blue family. I offered some suggestions centered on the Burgundy theme.

Here are the shots. More information to follow:










Friday, February 8, 2008

Forgive me, I have been Away!

I have been away on Business for 10 days and have therefore been slacking off here but ya gotta cut me some slack.

The tie pictured below is from our Spring 07 Collection and is a Satin finish with Purple stripes. A rather elegant tie.

I have paired it with a lilac shirt and gray suit. Grays, Lilacs and Purples always work well together, at least IMO (In My Opinion).





Friday, January 18, 2008

The conservative Law Interview

At request (yes, we welcome your requests) I was asked to match some conservative ties to a navy suit/white shirt. Square not being worn due to the interview. Of course there are much more conservative (to be read, "boring") colors for an interview but the feel that I got from the interviewee was that he wanted a color similar to the light blue tie in pic 1.

Here is what I came up with (one I know is not all that conservative but what the heck).

I will just post them all for now and leave comment for you the reader. Havent now got the time to comment or link the ties, I will get to that later.



And the not so conservative (not due to color but due to size of the stripes)

Brown (and Blue) Around Town Round 2

Rounding out the Blue and Brown, here is the a suit and shirt combo with three different ties each creating a different look. I was undecided with the pocket square if I should go the route of good ole tried and true white which I probably should have in the first ensemble with the print tie, and in the end I ended going with the ecru square.



Same suit/Shirt/Square with a lighter color tapestry which really worked together with the cream colored square.



And finally a stripe which I could have used any from that particular group. I used the Blue square and the ecru because here I thought you could do both. (I like the blue here better)



The possibilities are actually huge, I hope that you are convinced.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Brown (and Blue) Around Town

Much like Rodney Dangerfield, (may he rest in peace) the brown and Blue combination "dont get much respect." Here is an example of a combination that uses the Stripes of the Brown suit (its a deep brown despite what your monitor says :) ) with a patterned Brown tie with Blue Field
























I like the fact that the suit is striped and the tie is patterned.

Not to say that the striped tie wouldn't work here.


In both cases complimented with the crepe silk square which is officially white but lends itself to a cream with brown stitching.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Greens and Blues Round 3

Just to round out the Greens and Blues I wanted to offer a deep green tie against a Navy Suit/Blue shirt.
Here the green pops against the shirt and here I thought that the white square worked well as the tie speaks contrast, and pop so the square underscores that contrast in the other direction.
Ultimately unless you are interviewing, I suppose thats the whole point of the tie, isnt it?

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Greens and Blues Round 2



Here again, I took a Tie from our Fall Collection with a Navy and Green beehive like weave. Its a slightly textured tie which blends together with the Navy/Blue/Green look.
I wasnt sure where I wanted to go with the square as I felt that the Blue was too much in the dark color and the which ws a little too outta left field being that the tie was a darker than the previous one. I dunno I just wasnt crazy about it.
I think that in this case it would have been better off with a white with a hunter green trim or my trademark stitched squares with the green stitching.

Thoughts?

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Greens and Blues

I am a big fan of Blues with greens. I think that green gives the blue, much needed life and gives a pop to a Navy suit without actually jumping out off the page like Reds or oranges might.

Here is an example. Soft Blue Shirt and Blue and Green and Blue Striped tie. Notice how the Blue and green work together in the tie complimenting and picking up the shirt. I left a white pocket square here because I felt that it would be too monotonous with the matchy matchy blue square.



Blue (shirt) works with Navy. Green (in Tie) Works with Navy (suit) and works with the shirt.

I like the look. Feel Free to differ.

Monday, January 7, 2008

The Principles/Rules

Sorry...You came to the wrong place. I generally don't do principles for the simple reason that I think that in many cases people follow principles more than feelings.

I had a teacher that once told me that when you are faced with a problem, a question, a test, and you have solved it (or so attempted) in accordance with the rules that you have been taught, before submitting your final answer, run it by another set of tests called the idiot test. Thats when you look at the answer and it simply cannot be.

My Dad and mentor used to tell the following story:

The king has a son that to put it mildly isn't the brightest bulb in the pack. Knowing that he has to one day tender the reigns to him he hires the best instructors and professors that money can buy and locks him away for years. Finally the day and the son enters the palace beaming from ear to ear. The King, eager to see what kind of intelligence his money bought him slips a ring into his hand and asks his son, "son...can you figure out what I am holding in my hand?"

The prince measures the Kings hands and weighs them whips out a pad and begins scrawling numbers, and diagrams, filling up page after page with equations and geometric symbols and after about a half hour says, "dad, I have come to the conclusion that its ROUND". The king is amazed and says "go on son, go on". More Diagrams, more equations, again measuring the kings hands, and weighing them and finally says "ITS GOT A HOLE IN IT".

Slowly the king begins to smile and says "tell me son, tell em what I am holding in my hand?" and the Prince grinning like an Idiot says, " Dad CLEARLY YOU ARE HOLDING A WAGON WHEEL".

I digress but you get the point.

Its not always what the principles say, its how you think it looks.

PS: That being said, I own a copy of Flussers Dressing the Man.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

So what do we want here?

My most favorite part of my Men's business (HOBBY) has always been seeing it all come together, How the shirts match the ties, (and how they often don't).

Often I get requests to match a tie with a shirt or how it would work with a suit, so I figured that I would chronicle or better yet illustrate how FIH see's it all coming together "from the waist up".

Thoughts? Concurring opinions? Dissenting ones? Love It? Hate It? Indifferent?

Its all welcome and its all good. We dont look alike, we dont have to all think alike.

Lets Begin!