Blue and Orange

The Pics go up and elucidation to follow :-)

Comments while they are as of yet uncommented by me are always welcome (heck, comments are always welcome always :-)

EDIT:  OK, here is what I wanted with this first post.  What this does is show some of the various colors that Blue and orange can come in.  As Steve in the comments mentions the Blue and Red (they are orange) is too contrasty.  Well...that really depends on what its with and thats why I didnt show it with the grey suit that I photographed (a blue Hickey Freeman His first for the kids/young men.  Next week I will  bring that tie in with a Navy suit and you will see how nice it can be.  For the same reason I wouldnt use the third from the right.  Too Blue.

 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Not all Blue and Oranges are created equal!"][/caption]

This first  tie works well in the color scheme.  Not too bold, Not too contrasty yet with some life.  whats nice about this particular tie is that its woven with two colors.  So depending on which way you turn it you get the different color dominating .  Turn it one way you get morer blue, the other you get strong (but not too strong)  orange.  The square is the classic Linen blue giving a shock of solid color in an otherwise almost too peaceful ensemble. Works well with the ensemble in a proffessional setting I think.



Of the sets, this is my least favorite.  Its not that the tie isnt nice.  It is.  I just think that it might be a little too "washed out" in the look and not offering enough pop.  I do however like the concept of bringing in the polkadot pattern into the ensemble and iot works well in a square later on.



here you get a houndstooth Orange and Blue stripe and again with the same square.  This tie gives more pop without being over the top.  Its orange is stronger as well as the other colors it has. (Blues as well).

 



Finally, the sale tie with the polkadot square.



The tie gives enough color and the square is interesting without being over the top.  I like the result.

For Work and for Play

Using a  Hickey Freeman jacket that can be used in both a work and a play setting, I ended up with something like this for work which when you swap out the serious black tafetta tie, you get a whole different look.

SO here we go with the Taffeta Tie.  Nice serious Mature look.  I think certainly business like enough (unless you are in a suit and tie office.  The square gives a little life to the look without making it too much.  (Incidentally, I think that they square has no less than NINE colors in it.  Vintage silks.  They dont make them like they used to.) and the Shirt is a Grey twill.



Swpa the tie out for the Burnt Orange/Rust Taffeta and Raw Silk Stripe number... (I love that tie) and tone the square down a notch (or you dont have to) and you get this: (as an aside the tie works really well with a black or charcoal Grey suit)



Swap the square for one from the vintage group ( Also not on the site) for this look:  This gives the contrast on the breast along with the orange complementing the tie.



A real burst of orange in the tie will yield this.  may just be too much.  Incidentally, the tie is a little darker than this shows like you see in the linked photo.



If orange is not your thing then try livening the black up with some plum colored articles, be it the tie (Again this is for more fashion related jobs and not your usual Law Firm office) to get this look:



And Adding to the tie the Crepe White Silk Square with Burgundy Hand Stitching.  (I swaped out the shirt here for a fine plum stripe but the gray works as well).



To add a little more life to the square, keep the tie and add the Satin Silk Square with hand rolled edges.



And shown with the same square simply reversed.

Some more and were done

I promised Steve, my defacto inhouse webmaster that I would add tags and categorize and do all that boring stuff that I had posted and that I just wanted to get the pics online but he didn't believe me and in truth I find the putting the stuff together just that much more fun, so I am gonna do a few more and then we will be done with this particular sportcoat/Shirt ensemble.

Same Shirt and Sportcoat, but mixing things up a bit here is some greens with Navy, and a square (never did get that up onto the site, for shame!) that should pick it up a bit.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Navy Tie with Green and Light Blue/Blue and Green Square"][/caption]

Here is the same tie with a different square.  The squares olive tones work with the jacket but some may be uncomfortable with how it comes to the tie.  remember thought that the square provides just a touch of color to the ensemble, and shouldn't be the focal point.  Generally it shouldn't be sticking that far out of the pocket, I just do that to show you how it goes.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="With the Olive Toned Square"][/caption]

I like this next tie.  I like how it complements the jacket and I like it for itself.  Soft celadon color with the browns and beiges make it perfect for the jacket.  The square was chosen to sort of shock a little more life into the ensemble.  The Browns and Ecru in the square works with the jacket and the square's burgundy gives the shock (in a good way).

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Celadon Minty color in the Ties works with the beige light Blue tones"][/caption]

Rounding it out with the same tie and a more fitting square.  I like this square for the multitude of colors it has (pretty sure its more than 9 colors, and vivid too!).  the burgundy gives it a real jolt but the other colors match it well to the ensemble.  Bear in mind that with an off white square you will great in any of the above sets.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="The Right Blend of Color and contrast"][/caption]

Running With It

I kinda Like the Blazer/Shirt combo we last posted so I am gonna run with it.

 

Blues, Browns, Beiges and a little color (in this case Orange).  They work really well.

Here you have a small herringbone striped tie which brings in alot of colors, blue and lighter blues etc. but you get a look at the orange as thats the strongest color here.  The square give a nice contrast to the ensemble.

 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Some can argue that this tie has too many (similar in size to the shirt) stripes."][/caption]

Some may feel that the Tie in this picture is a little too light for me. Matches too well with the sportcoat.  I cant argue with that line of logic but it doesnt disqualify the tie despite it. 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Too Light a Tie? "][/caption]

The following tie is always a classic.  In fact I will revisit it soon because dots this size and anything under this size really works well almost everywhere.  Any larger sized dots tend to look clowny.  The square being off white tones down the contrast that the tie brings in, while working well with the jacket in its own right.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Nice!"][/caption]

Brown And Blue Revisited

In The Last post we showed the versatility of one tie and where it could go.

 

To be fair and honest, light blue is fairly easy as it really goes well everywhere.  Also I dont know that I would have done the brown with Blue and Blue like this:

 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Brown and Blue"][/caption]

 Instead given that shirt and suit I might Have Opted for something like this which shows the contrast of Brown and Navy against the lighter blue shirt:

 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Blue and Brown Tie against Brown Suit"][/caption]

Lets discuss though, how we would use a tie like the one above which seems to be a little more stylish?

 

So we paired it with a Lighter sportscoat and shirt giving the coat a little pop along with the square that contrasts in the pocket.  The result is this:  Incidentally I like the plain off white linen square that shows up a few posts from now.

 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Blue/Brown and Contrast"][/caption]

Versatility

Going forward I am gonna be taking one tie and mixing it up so that you get to see in how many places and how many variations you might be able to do.  Of course this is in no way conclusive and restrictive as to what you can pair a tie with, the purpose is simply to show some option and where you can go with a tie.

Feel free to experiment on your own!

Now I know that this is not what you were thinking when I said versatility, I just want to use these to show how a slight change in some color (in this case the square) will change the look. form a more spring look as in the case of the pink and yellow square to a slighty more somber look as in the case of the green.

Blue Pin stripe suit with pink shirt, nothing new here.  Solid light Blue Tie, with Green Square (Blues/Pink and Green works) and the same  with a  Pink/Navy and Yellow Square. 





Now...Using the same tie I will bring it in to a dark Navy suit, with a yellow/ecru shirt, and a Yellow with blue and orange square.  It works!

 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Midnight Navy with Blue and Yellow"][/caption]

Rounding out the versatility in the Solid Blue, we have it together with a Brown and Blue suit, Blue Striped Shirt and Red with Blue Square. (a bit monocrhomatic on the shirt perhaps) 

 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Brown with Blue"][/caption]

 And Finally Charcoal Suit with White Shirt and again red and Blue Square:

 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Charcoal Suit with Blue Tie"][/caption]

Soft Peach with Blue or Grey

So you know that I like orange and blue already (or was I just thinking about it and never got a chance to post?) , but here is a soft orangish peach that works into a blue gingham shirt with a pin stripe suit.  I took the shots and while i do like the light tie against the navy suit I think that the square might be too close in color to the tie. 

First is with a Navy pin stripe suit and second with a Grey stripe (I need to retake all my suits, oh...the time...).

 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Peach with Navy Suit"][/caption]

 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Grey with Peach Tie"][/caption]

OK. Time to get back in it

After picking up two new customers from this blog I have come to realize that people are actually seeing this and THAT warrants some activity :-)

I am gonna randomly choose a tie and work it into some shirts and suits! Any questions please feel free to ask!

OK. This little number is from the Current New Collection (Spring 09). I avoided the light blue shirt here although as in previous posts Light Blue works with Brown, because I felt that sometimes light blue with light blue shirts can be off depending on the shade of blue.

Paired it with an ecru (cream) twill shirt (yes I know I have to retake all the shirts, the pics are terrible), a brown suit with blue stripes ( For some really odd reason that suit is NOT on the site) and this square a personal favorite.

The result is what you see above. Like? Love? Hate? We wanna know!