Color Coordination In Menswear

More New, Same Ole

2012-01-02T14:01:00.000-08:00

Here is the balance of the squares that I purchased for Immediate Delivery Winter to Spring. They are now on the site at $35 a piece and can be purchased here. I say more new for they are new. Yet the same ole story works with these, Burgundy tie and Grey suit. Same ole, same ole...

The Weakness of Something New

2011-12-15T05:41:00.000-08:00

For the most part we have been winding down the men's department in the store but I do have a certain weakness for new things when I find them. Here is a new square that I recently received in three colors, crimson, grey and purple. I was particularly beguiled by the rich colors of the square.

Shown here with a black suit to emphasize contrast (black and crimson are nice) and first with a grey shirt (black, crimson and grey = thumbs up) and then with the white shirt. The square is $35 and is not yet on the site.

in play with grey:

then with white:

Overworked but Overpaid!

2011-12-13T20:19:00.000-08:00

We are used to the expression of overworked and underpaid. Today I present to you the concept of overworked and overpaid as evidenced from this Ralph Lauren Purple Label (or so I recall) ensemble that I pulled off the back (hence the rip) of a Departures magazine last year (just getting around to cleaning out the digital closet, cut me some slack :-) )

The Chalk Stripe is a nice concept but in this case gets overused as the tie and suit almost blend together not allowing the eye to discern between the two. Regardless, Ralph seems to command and get the premium that he does, hence the Overworked (Chalkstripe) and the Overpaid (Ralph).

Sigh. :-)

Random Navy Musings

2011-12-12T20:51:00.000-08:00

Here are some shots that were taken a while ago from what was then new stock.

All paired with this Hickey Freeman Navy Pin Stripe Suit and assorted Hickey Freeman Shirts.

The General idea was the blending of the Navy with the Lilac which as illustrated before, works.

First up Hickey Freeman Lilac Striped Shirt, Diamond Neats Navy Tie with yellow and Lilac (Go ahead and click on the link, the pic and color matching is better there) and the ever practical and appropriate white linen square with contrast border in lilac.

Same suit, shirt and square with an orange/lilac tie (I say orange/lilac because it has the weft of the silk in a lilac hue). See this post about the nature of the catena and how it plays a role in the tie colors). Incidentally Orange/Rose and Lilac work rather nicely together as you can see in this tie.

and this starburst pattern tie with this Awning Stripe Hickey Freeman shirt, shown here with this square, a combination which I rather like:

Moving Back to Blogger!

2011-12-08T05:56:00.001-08:00

I am starting blogging up again and are moving back to Blogger in an attempt to get a host of blogs under one roof.

Stay Tuned!

Precious Metals for Precious Occasions

2011-09-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

What's with the cobwebs here? (Ahem...)

Anyway, I received an email from a customer requestding a dressy tie for a dressy formal occassion. I am sure I have posted about this before but we did a quick shoot of the metalic colored ties which I felt were the right match of statement yet classic on a black suit white shirt. Althogh Unrequested I stuck in a floral black and white square. They all work but I think that the last one is the most elegant of the group

Dont let them tell you otherwise...

2011-03-14T15:51:00.000-07:00

Sizing Matters.

It the single most important factor in men's and children's tailored clothing as well and its so often done incorrectly. It will take an otherwise perfectly planned ensemble and destroy it.

Granted, for men's people are less reluctant to sacrifice correct size considering that the useful shelf life on a man's suit can be as long as the suit lasts however with kids clothing, people like to try to squeeze a few seasons out of the item and the results are borderline if not completely ridiculous.

Here is an example that I pulled off a "competitors" website.

Note the shoulders coming off the kids frame and the lapels that go down to the kids belly button. Furthermore the torso of the jacket extends halfway between the thigh and the knee. It doesnt look good opened and pulled back, and when buttons or hanging closed it will look dreadful.

Don't wast your money on an item thats two sizes too big because you will lose the entire effect that you are going for. Unless of course you are going for that unemployed unkempt "I can get away with wearing my Dad's Jacket" look, but after having spent between 250 to 400 for the jacket alone, we highly doubt you are.

We're Half Way There (or, Kudos to Rich)

2011-03-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

Rich is the senior sales person in the kids shop. This ensemble put together by him (minus pocket square) shows that he has it in him when he chooses to work on it. The coral tie works with the navy seersucker blazer and the yellow shirt. The seersucker (this particular one at least) is a navy seersucker blazer as opposed to the sometimes light blue. That being the case, we are now half way towards a navy jacket/suit with a coral tie.

FTWU approves.

Let's Get Wild

2011-03-08T16:08:00.000-08:00

Get a little frisky by using the same suit as yesterday throw in the hot color of the season...Coral, to get something like this:

And if you want to tone it down a drop swap the multicolor floral square for this square which has greys, yellows, and taupes:

The New Crop Is In

2011-03-07T16:08:00.000-08:00

If you have stayed the course with me, you are about to get rewarded. A new crop is in in Kid's and Men's with new pricing as well (Buy one, get the second with some restrictions at half price). The sad news is that I am skipping next season in the men's department due to the kids business pulling at me in a good way. I also will probably adapt the blog to more complete ensembles for kids as well which will not limit this blog to ties and squares but in general a color blending blog. Stick around and you can still learn something. Heck I learn something every day in color/texture combinations.

The first group is the starburst collection. Available in 5 colors, (if you count white as a color). Blue, Pink, Red, Green and White.

The ties are paired with a tan linen blend suit from Detomasso, our children's line of suits made in Southern Italy and a house brand cotton spread collar made in Italy shirt. The tan and Blue work well together with the green tie in the first few pics adding a fresh color that works well with both. The square is also new in the first group as a multi color which I will add and update on the site later tomorrow.

Here is a better shot of the tie against the shirt and suit.

For those that are less comfortable adding too many colors, here you have the same pattern in blue against the blue shirt. Definately safe.

And the full shot here.

As always, your comments are welcome.

Minding the Chill

2011-02-14T16:52:00.000-08:00

You people still there?

I took these pictures some time ago with the intention of posting them here, but never got around to it.

Unless your business is breaking legs while collecting money, in your typical business setting there really is no room for a dark shirt. However in a clubbing setting (not the "Pay me or I will club you" Clubbing, I mean a night out on the town with some friends either male or female) it has a place as well as a more relaxed kids setting which is why we bought it in the first place. If in fact you are gonna wear that dark shirt then make sure you do some sort of contrasting color in a jacket so that there are clear lines between the jacket and shirt.

So if you are in the mood to chill out feel free to don that dark navy shirt with a pin stripe cotton blazer from Hickey Freeman or Armani Junior as shown below. In all cases shown with the contrast edge linen square to just throw a little brightness in. A tie will defeat the goal you are looking for. (Unless you do in fact break legs for a living...)

For some deep contrast go all the way out with this white/light blue cotton blazer from Hickey Freeman

Lessons in Lavender

2011-01-11T16:10:00.000-08:00

Indulge me here. It is after all a color coordinating blog so we aren't off topic.

I have mentioned in the past my main business is a children's clothing store Tuesday's Child Boutique which has a web presence at www.TuesdaysChild.com. Of the many European brands we carry, there is a line from France for girls called Lili Gaufrette. One of their strong points is that each season almost every piece from the line can interact with the other pieces of the line.

And with that in mind, while photographing a light lavender t-shirt with some skirts (the same skirt in multiple colors) I realized visually just how versatile and universal lavender can be. Granted there are some colors that are strong (i.e. the last coral with the lavender) but the pont here is that it works, so you can take from here that lavender will comfortably fit into most every ensemble and nicely at that. (Its great with blacks and any combination of grays and works well with browns too. We have already covered that elsewhere in this blog. Here are some visuals on other colors.

Lavender Top with Light Green

With Darker Brownish Olive:

With Navy:

With Lavender:

With darker Lavender:

With Coral:

For Bill

2011-01-10T15:27:00.000-08:00

Hey Bill:

This bud's for you. The contrast square with the previous ensemble, sans tie. (The tie would have worked, I was just photographing a Fendi houndstooth vest for the kids shop and the v-neck wouldn't handle the tie well)

What say you?

More Spring Addendum

2011-01-05T16:11:00.000-08:00

For those that didn't care for the orange square in the last ensemble, I offer up two options here in alternate squares:

And the classic off white linen shown here:

If ya didnt like the tie then you can swap with a more lively one and stick with the linen square to otherweise tone the ensemble down.

More Spring Buildup

2011-01-03T15:57:00.000-08:00

Happy 2011 to All!

Who am I kidding, its no longer a buildup to Spring. As far as fashion is concerned, Spring is happening as we speak.

Here is a second suit from Hickey Freeman His First Line that we received for the spring and here is the buildup, from shirt to complete ensemble:

Also a His First HF Shirt: Soft Stripe almost Blue without being a solid Blue.

Added a tie that works well with the suit. HOWEVER, its close to the suit color so some may not like it and I cannot argue. For that reason I chose a bright square as you shall see.

With the suit. The suit color is a slate type gunmetal blue, not quite a navy.

Here is the square option I had. Orange and blue tones make this right and Springy as well.

And here, the square in play completing the ensemble.

Have a great day!

Some Background and Some Resolutions

2010-12-30T17:00:00.000-08:00

Here we are again, at the changing of the calendar year. To think that just a few years ago there was that whole Y2K problem and now we enter 2011. Where does it go?

In the migration of the www.FourInHand.com site to its new home, I have been retaking pics and relabeling items and I am up to these. The Double Sided Silk and Cashmere Scarves, perfect for an elegant night on the town. I hand picked the vintage silks from my tie makers stock (some of them you might recognize as pocket squares) and backed them with what I thought was an appropriate colored Italian cashmere scarf. Of course, the joining of the two was done by hand, and the result is what you see here:

As the Vintage Silk here has the Burgundy Field I Chose the Burgundy Colored Scarf. Easy.

Here is the Back front Detail:

Same with the Navy Vintage Paisleys and The Navy Cashmere Scarf

Back/Front:

Here I took a Black Cashmere Backing to work off the Burgundy of the Vintage yet classic Pin Dot Twill giving you a Burgundy/Black Contrast.

Back/Front:

Here I felt Visually that the yellow worked nicely with the charcoal grey cashmere scarf.

Back/Front:

As far as the resolution part of the post...last year at this time I posted about the need for readers to resolve better. Now its my turn; as I have been remiss (for a good cause, but remiss nonetheless) in posting my resolution is to spend more time on this blog, and incorporate it into the new website. This way we can all be happy. :-)

Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy 2011, I remain, Yours truly.

Jonathan J. Fischer

Something Personal for the Mailbag

2010-12-07T15:09:00.000-08:00

I fielded a recent request from a reader about a yellow polkadot tie with blue shirt and blue suit. The question was as follows:

Hello, great blog!

I have a navy suit, a light blue shirt and a yellow tie with blue polka dots. Do you have any tips about a suiting handkerchief?

This picture is almost identical to my suit combination (except my tie has blue dots instead of blue squares):
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/05_01/richard180507L_468x612.jpg

Thanks in advance,

Johan

I was slightly embarrassed because I did not actually have a yellow tie with distinct blue circles in it. I did have yellow and blue which is a nice combo but not dotted.

So I went home and tapped into my private stash for the photo shoot which wasnt a big deal since the object of the post was the square. Shown below is a Marinella-Like thick twill four fold tie which ties a great knot. Paired with a light blue shirt and a multicolored square. Is it the only option in squares for this ensemble? Of course not. In fact a light blue works (but I think its too much blue), and a white linen or cream (not a bad idea since the white is too bright and the cream is a blend between the yellow of the tie and blue of the suit without being too contrasty and out of left field). I like this square because its got rich colors and all the colors coordinate.

Here the square poofed in the pocket:

And here with rolled edges showing:

Buildup to Spring Summer

2010-11-29T15:28:00.000-08:00

As we enter into the final month of the calendar year and head into the Winter (which doesn't actually start till December 22th,) its always nice to focus on the bright spots of the future. With that in mind I bring you a buildup to Summer called so as I ran the pics here in a buildup of how one might get dressed.

Shown here is the first delivery of Spring 2011 from the Hickey Freeman His First collection for TuesdaysChild.com and the Brick and Mortar store.

Shirt (Blue, Yellow and White Medium stripe):

Shirt with Scrolling Vines Tie (also from Hickey Freeman.)

Shirt and Tie Paired with Hickey Freeman Wool and Cotton Sportscoat in a Whitish Blue.

Looking to give a little oomph of color to the ensemble I threw in the striped square. Very vibrant and rich colors here which all work back to the shirt and ensemble as a whole.

Finally your finished product here. Sharp and Elegant.

And oh...I happen to love the Winter ;-)

Some more Wintry mix

2010-11-26T07:58:00.000-08:00

To dress it down and make it a bit more hip i propose swapping the regular four in hand ties for some knits. Both the green and the brown work well here.

Have a great weekend!

PS: While browsing elsewhere I came across a reputable merchant selling winter white cream pants in cotton... winter white in cotton? Huh???

A Wintry Mix

2010-11-24T05:06:00.000-08:00

I am a hypocrite. OK, I admit it. For the purpose of this post I am claiming that this jacket is a Winter color and texture. Is it? It certainly can pass for one. So why am I a hypocrite? because a few seasons back a customer loved it for Spring/SUMMER and I went against my grain and told her it was acceptable for Summer. Acceptable for Summer? yeah, probably. better for Winter? Most certainly.

Shown here is the Hickey Freeman Hist First Blazer, with a Brown striped shirt from HF His First and an assortment of ties. Some from the new collections and some older. The theme of the ties were dark and browns /coffee colors. The square is a fiery rust square from the vintage collection.

Your thoughts?

First off the Burgundy rust from the new collection.

I like the way the square here shows more black than anything. This works against the grey in the jacket for great contrast. The rust, gold and mustard also work nicely off the brown in the jacket. Again, this is great proof that Brown and Grey work well together. A pox on the house of those naysayers!

Swapped the tie for another brown based tie.

Some may feel that the above tie is too much in pattern so I swapped that for this brown solid. Perhaps a little too shiny.

Certainly better with the wool brown coffee colored tie.

Vlog, Shmog

2010-11-16T08:13:00.000-08:00

So here we are trying something new. It seems that the Video Blog i.e. VLOG is the New Blog. Here is FTWU's forst foray into Video Blogging. I think though that until we get the lighting and etc in place we will still take some pics. Especially of finished product.

Meanwhile though here you go. Please take the poll at the end if you liked the concept.

The end result should be this:

Vote!

[polldaddy poll=4098036]

IP Man

2010-11-15T16:25:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you see something in passing (IP = In Passing) that strikes you as done well even if it wasn't intentionally done so.

After working with a customer a few days back some of the shirts and ties that were left in disarray were the lilac shirt with this blue and brown stripped tie lying on top. I thought it looked lovely together and came up with this look. Pairing it with a navy striped suit, unfortunately the exposure of the camera doesn't correctly reflect the blended look of the ensemble but as I was mainly trying to show the combination of the lilac shirt with the blue and brown of the tie I let it slide.

First I show the tie and shirt together showing how it works.

Next with the suit without a square:

Finally with a pastel floral square: This particular square picks up the lilac of the shirt and matches well with the blue of the suit.

If you felt the square was a little too Summery I show a darker one here. The browns of the square Winterize the look and i like the brown burg of the square with the suit. (The pic is not as clear as I thought it was, pardon me)

In play here:

Finally, as I am sure some of you were expecting something from the movie IP Man (amazing Martial Arts film) here are two great scenes from the movie:

Hickey Freeman - Four In Hand - Tuesday's Child, Togetha!

2010-11-11T10:47:00.000-08:00

If you have been following me for a little you know that FTWU (From the waist up) is in reality the Blog of FIH (www.FourInHand.com) which is in reality a branch/division of/subsidiary of www.TuesdaysChild.com which is wholly owned by Tuesday's Child Boutique, Inc. (which is pretty much the largest Luxury Brands shop for kids in the US if not the whole world.)

TC happens to sell Hickey Freeman His First and lots of it. In fact many of the sportscoats pictured in this blog are Hickey Freeman Hist Firsts. This past season I took in some Hickey Freeman Suits for men as well. Suits and some shirts etc. (Unlike in my kids shop however these will be discounted.) Lets see how that works.

Here is a solid Hickey Freeman suit with a Hickey Freeman pinstripe shirt and a navy dotted FIH Tie. Nice in and of itself. The square I chose was predominantly brown with traces of blue the color of the field of the tie. I thought it worked well.

Again with the layering theme I added the beige Colombo Cashmere vest which worked in nicely with the blue suit and the tie. It especially worked well to bring out the brown of the square. If I thought that the square worked well before, here I was convinces. (in truth I was angling for that so I wasnt surprised ;-) )

Here you have the look of the suit in its entirety. Sharp!

New Tie, Old Theme

2010-11-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

I have discussed earlier (yeah, g'wan and click it, its a good post) the idea and look of a textured sweater underneath a suit and the ensuing contrasting that you can use.

Here I was in the mood of retaking the cashmere vests from colombo cashmere and also in dire need of retaking a tie that I have taken yeterday but due to bad lighting chose to go to sleep instead of actually posting the darned thing with the following result:

I started with this the charcoal vest, the blue shirt and a green and black tie striped small patterned tie. All three colors work well enough for a sedate look.

I then added the Hickey Freeman Madison Suit in a Navy, thinking that the navy works well with the charcoal, the charcoal with the black and green and all the above well enough with the shirt. To liven it up just a little I chose a vintage floral green square.

Here I opened up the jacket just to show how nicely it blends together.

Of interesting note I probably wouldn't have chosen the tie with the strong black presence in it as a first option for the navy suit but being buffered by the charcoal vest it went fine.

Have a great weekend!

A Little Bipartisanship (Election Day 2010)

2010-11-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

On this mid term election day of 2010 with the Dems retaining the senate and the GOP taking the house I thought it worthwhile mentioning that bipartisanship goes a long way shown here in the Blue and Red colors worn well together: Suit, and Shirt, Hickey Freeman. Tie, FIH made of Monterra Italian Silks with squares made of vintage italian fabrics:

This following square is bothering me a little together with the shirt. The colors may just fight with each other.

'

Shown in play here:

With a small floral neats pattern: I prefer the red in this tie to the first.

And for those that can never think in bipartisan terms I offer this:

Cheers!

You Talk Too Much

2010-11-01T15:32:00.000-07:00

It seems that in my absence due to being quite busy I garnished more views and picked up more supscribers that when I was actively posting which leads me to believe that I should just shut up :-)

Here are some new items from the Fall collection. Shirts are Hickey Freeman, Ties are FIH and are all available on (here's something new) the Men's part of the Kids Site. The Fall Scarf Collection, (Alex Begg, Colombo and FIH Wools) is there as well.

And in the spirit of the post name...heres a blast from the past.

RunDMC "You Talk To Much": Enjoy (the song...The Video is meh...)!

Orange Saree'd Bridesmaids

2010-09-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

I have been away doing this, which was written up here, but a few days back I received the following comment in the about me page:

First off, I just want to say I stumbled by your site by accident–well, kind of; I was trying to figure out which tie to get for my outfit–and I'm so glad I did. Your site absolutely rocks. Men need your help! Without you, we'd just pair blue with blue, red with red, etc. That is no way to live! Also, I was hoping you could steer me in the right direction regarding what I should wear to my wedding, which is two weeks from now. I have a very nice, black, three-button suit, as well as a ecru-colored shirt with a basic straight collar. The bridesmaids are wearing deep orange/rust-colored sarees similar to this one:http://media.photobucket.com/image/rust%20saree/acedistributors/Ace%2520Sarees/pari.jpg

My groomsmen are in black, two-button suits with white shirts. I need to find ties and pocket squares for me and them. I'd like them to have ties and squares that match the bridesmaids in some way. As for me, I just want to (a) look good, (b) stand out from the groomsmen, and (c) not stick out in a bad way. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated. I'd even take photos and upload them for you, giving you full credit for "dressing" me. Thanks so much, and I hope to hear from you! Keep up the great work.

Best, Adrian

Here are my thoughts (and I am slightly rushed here due to the Holidays). After the holidays, i.e. Sunday, I hope to be back full swing! See you then :-) For the Groomsmen with the white shirts I thought to go this way. They can afford the colored squares, and the square gets toned down with the tie which is black and Orange in the warp and weft and gives the impression of a speckled orange. The closeup tells a better story. (forget about suit style , 2 or three button. Here we are concerned with color)

Shown here in the pocket and in play:

If you are looking for some more color then you can go this way:

For the groom, I chose a more simple yet very rich Orange twill weave shown here and with the off white linen square to match the ecru shirt chosen:

Of course I would be remiss if I were to not bring in one of my all time favorite ties, the raw silk stripe against the bronzy rust silk, shown here with the always elegant white linen square.

The Event

2010-08-30T08:28:00.000-07:00

Craaaaazy busy here, gearing up for major changes on our kids web site.

But I break for a customer with some options for an event to match the color of the following dress.

The Dress (At least the color):

And here are some options. The True color of the shirt is only visible at the last picture of the post, the rejection.

The square will not be the white linen and instead this one was chosen:

Oh...Incidentally...Mrs. Event Like the following combination but it was rejected by Mr. Event:

Things to come

2010-08-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

Hello ye faithful...I have been busy. Very busy. But regardless, I missed you.

Late today I got a chance to snap a few easy shots of some of this Falls collection. I call them easy shots because in all cases the background didnt budge. White Shirt, Black Suit and White Linen Square with light Blue trimming. You could have done the same in all three ties with a navy suit and achieved the same results. Clean and classic looks.

This season there were two groups that I did. Your typical wovens which included jacquards and satin weaves and for something new I did a run of silks from the world renowned Mantero Seta the first of which you see here. Vivid and wonderful prints.

Looking forward to getting back in (and I am probably hiring a new person in the store so that will allow me a little more time to work on other things).

PS: Some New Hickey Freeman items in for Men this season. Lets see how that works. :-)

Still Alive

2010-07-19T09:31:00.000-07:00

Was it Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) that had said that "The
reports of my death are greatly exaggerated"?

Same here :-). But I am working myself to the bone and spare time has been few and far between.

To prove I am alive and well... Here is a Hickey Freeman suit from the kids like, with a twill hickey freeman shirt and Vines Tie. Very elegant tie I think and brightens up the shirt (which I intentionally chose dark due to the tie)

Later in the week, new ties arriving! Dont give up on me just yet!

Blue or Black, whats your poison?

2010-07-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

Blue or Black with that green tie from yesterday? Which do you prefer? They both work :-)

And if you cant tell which is blue and which is black...The Red Square is a navy suit, The green is black.

Finally, the darker green with the black for a more elegant look.

Better with Black

2010-07-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

I mentioned that things would be hectic and posts would be sporadic and so it is. Sorry for that but its just a for a few weeks more.

Here is a shot that I had taken a few weeks ago. Off white and white will work with most anything but of course some colors work better with others. In this case I have in mind that a darker suit, navy or black or even a bright white suit would work better with this color green tie. Perhaps I will get a picture sometime tomorrow when I am in the store.

But it certainly works this way as well.

Here is the square detail. Note the green in the square that pulls it together with the tie.

A Belated 4th of July

2010-07-07T16:42:00.000-07:00

Greetings to all FTWU readers. Its good to be back home but the perfect storm in the retail industry which is what happens when the buying, and selling season as well as many changes in our business is upon us.

Here are some shots that will pretty much cap off the Summer season for me (unless requests are made) that I took and intended on posting from abroad, but you know the saying "the best laid plans of mice and men" and as it turned out, despite the wireless connectivity in the room, I was unable to get FTP access and therefore was unable to upload photos from there.

Not quite the red white and blue that we all know but the tones are there and while the first two ties are red, I prefer the boldness of the first one. The green square in the first two ensembles is laced with red and adds more color to the outfit.

Bad is the New Good (Apparently)

2010-06-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

Posting from London's Heathrow Airport again as I am on the road all this week I marvel at the fact that what looks really bad in my eye seems to garnish lots of rave reviews as being really nice and sharp.

Case in point is some praise that was given over in another forum about a particular men's store for the following ensemble.

Although they have been in business for decades, FTWU says, "Just Say No".

;)

Cheerio.

PS: The rest of the week will be spotty as far as posting due to the travels.

Mix it up with Brown and Green

2010-06-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

A quickie tonight. Busy days and nights preparing for the trip.

This takes the brown stripe shirt and adds a sage green tie for a lovely look IMO. Again, no square shown as its for the little 'uns.

3 For the Little/Not So Little Guys

2010-06-27T15:52:00.000-07:00

Greetings all!

After a very enjoyable and restful weekend I gear up for an Italian Trip this week for our kids shop Tuesday's Child but not before Fall/Winter gets underway in the store. In fact UPS quantum view tell me that 21 boxes of Diesel will be rolling in tomorrow which promises for a busy day.

Here are a few items that came in from our Hickey Freeman Fall Line. I left out the pocket squares simply because they are less used in kids wear. In retakes that I will (or wont) take over the next few days I may show some options but due to the tight schedule I will probably have I doubt it.

Paired here with a Brown trouser.

Olive base, Black checks and fine Orange/Rust Checks make the rust tie appropriate as wall as the black pants shown below. A dark black/green tie would also work here.(And that I might just force myself to fine the time and retake as it was what my minds eye first visualized.)

With the Black Pants:

Finally, a Medium Grey Suit with a feint blue pin stripe which I thought classy to pair with the shirt and tie below.

Have a great week all!

PS: AE, I expect this post to rate a link :).

Wednesday

2010-06-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

Rock The Contrast

2010-06-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

If you are gonna wear a light color jacket take advantage of it and rock the contrast with a really dark tie for this effect.

With the square detail shown here.

Of course you can still look nice with a tie toned similar to the jacket while working off the contrast of the shirt as so:

If you will note, in the next photo I repositioned the square so as to leave out most of the red and just show the yellow hand rolled edge against the blue.

Have a great weekend! :-)

And yes, for the Title of the post, I was inspired by the 80's The Clash hit, Rock The Casbah

Snakes and Sticks

2010-06-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

As I sit down in my bedroom tonight to compose this post and I look over the pictures I took today I am reminded of a joke I heard from my Father and Mentor, Of Blessed Memory:

"A Ranger from a Green Berets unit was retelling his dreadful adventures in the boondocks in Vietnam.
"One day, I was walking on patrol along a path in the boondocks, and suddenly saw a snake."
"What a horror!" a lady listener gasped.
"But when I came closer to it, I saw it wasn't a snake at all, but a stick. My, wasn't I terrified!"
"But if it wasn't a snake but only a stick, why were you terrified?" asked another listener.

"Because," the vet explained, "the stick I picked up to hit the snake with was a snake!"

When I snapped these pics I thought that the stronger contrast looked better in the ensemble. Now, in reviewing before posting, I am not so sure. I kinda like the soft blending of the tie and the shirt. The square gives a burst of color.

My snake was a stick, and my stick tuirned out to be a snake.

Your thoughts?

White, The New Black

2010-06-22T16:47:00.000-07:00

Black works with everything. Its true.

And much in the same way that Black works with everything, so does white and off white. Here you have the off white blazer with a lilac shirt and a deep dark purple tie. The square is a floral pastel print with pinks, greens and soft purples.

The pics were taken quickly and the color needs to be adjusted (the dark purple of the tie doesnt show well enough, at least on my screen) but I think you get enough of a visual to get the basic idea. Maybe I will snap better shots tomorrow. Probably Not :-)

Have a great day. :-)

Here is an alternate option for a square Lots of colors in this new paisley square and while they dont match per se, they do coordinate. (Personally I prefer the first):

Hot and Cold

2010-06-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

Although there is the general consensus that certain colors are better suited for certain seasons, (Light Fresh colors are better for Spring/Summer and Dark forboding ones for Winter etc.) A classic style and color tie will not be restricted to any particular season as shown below:

This seven fold tie shown first with the cream jacket and orange floral Square:

And the same combo show here for your Winter wear, i,e, Navy Suit.

Happy First day of Summer to you!

Got (more) Kids?

2010-06-20T15:30:00.000-07:00

Greetings readers, I hope your weekend was nice!

Here is the second installment of Hickey Freeman Hist First shirts from my kids boutique with matching ties.

Have a great successful and happy week!

Got Kids?

2010-06-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

As listed before the bulk of my day is spent either buying or selling high end kids clothing in Tuesday's Child Boutique. The Men's stuff is an extension of that and at that a minor one at that. Call it a hobby. MEANWHILE, however, hobbies don't pay the rent :-) which brings me to todays post. Knowing that I would be spending the bulk of the day at the Armani showroom in Manhattan, and knowing that I needed to post some Hickey Freeman kids shirts online on our web site I figured to kill two birds with one stone and take the pics and use them for my post today (and probably tomorrow as well).

I will reserve comment and let the pictures do the talking. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

(PS: I wouldn't mind some feedback if anyone is of the mind to say hi. I dont need it but its nice to hear. Thanks!)

Just Foolin'

2010-06-16T16:01:00.000-07:00

With our kids shop at 50% off and us short staffed filling orders, yours truly has been wearing the sales associate hat these days and I've been a bit behind on other things I would have been doing. The end result is that I didnt put major thought into the ensembles today so feel free to vote negatively if you want to. They arent bad by any means, and in fact better than just passable, but still. Of course they all keep to general coordinating rules but for whatever reason we will call them products of me just fooling around. Feel free to agree, disagree or of course abstain (The ties are loosies by the way, Loosies with a lovely rich hand):

Green/with a slight tinge of brown His First Hickey Freeman Sportcoat, Light Blue shirt and brown with red vintage square. Here the tie used was a yellow with blueish flowers to give some contrast against the shirt.

The square detail here:

Shown here with a cream shirt and different square option that had more coordination with the tie (square not on the site) :

And here is the square detail where you can see the colors working well with the tie:

Swapping ties for a blue twill (again, a lovely loosie twill print) I come up with this number. It looked terrible against the blue shirt as sometimes blues can clash or simply look wrong so I swapped it for the cream one giving better contrast. I also changed the square for one with traces of blue in it and green coming back to the jacket:

With the square detail here. Note the blues in the square.

And Then There Were None

2010-06-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

Finally, the last installment of the "time to say good bye" group of ties.

This particular set is perfect for the person that wants the tie to whisper like the people of Who-ville "we are here". These two ties are sedate and offer just enough to be seen without really being heard. Shown first with the ecru shirt as a light blue would have (totally camouflaged the tie to the background of the shirt), and accompanied with the sky blue and cream floral square. All against a navy suit. First the Blue and Silver Version:

And with the square in play:

And then the blue with beige version of this same tie

Here though I felt that the beige version did more against the blue shirt since it had the beige in it and was getting lost against the cream shirt.

Have a great day! :-)

Pre Wrap Up

2010-06-14T15:54:00.000-07:00

Heading into the final stretch for the seven and four fold series of ties that have to go are two more groups, shown first is the reddish burgundy seven fold against a blue shirt with a his first Hickey Freeman sports coat and accessorized (not a word) with a paisley thats got burgundies in it.

With the square detail shown below:

I think though that this square while not being quiet is better matched with the brightness of the tie as the orange in the square was rubbing me a bit wrong. Finally the shirt was switched for a soft lavender color one as well as swapping the jacket for the charcoal suit.

With the square in play here:

Of course the lavender shirt and charcoal suit calls for the lavender tie as so:

and once we swapped out the burgundy square we are probably best served with the linen square and lavender trimming shown below:

Enjoy the day!

Some Changes - While You Were Out

2010-06-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

As we enter our second year of active posting on this undertaking here with readership at 300+ a day and growing I finally came to the conclusion that with weekend readership decreasing by about 30+% I might be better served to skip the Friday post and instead push it off till Monday, and here we are:

The second part of the title, "While you were out" addresses the Hickey Freeman sports coat that I had out already from the previous posts. I figured that I could bring back the blue seven fold tie and work it in well to this jacket. Here are the results:

Notice that the Brown in the tie works well with the brown in the jacket, the blue in the tie works well with the blue in the shirt as well as the royally blue pattern in the jacket. For the square I left the blue version of the parasol square which has blues, burgundies (to work well with the brown), and creams as well.

Take a close up look at the detail on that square. She is a Beaut!

Following the burgundy in the square I introduced the burgundy twill loosie (One of a kind) that I had on hand for this look. Granted, its a little bit different.

Finally, using another thick twill loosie print I show the blue brown combo in a tie in play with three different shirts. Technically this could have been the second post of the week but I think I short changed you a couple last week. Oops! :-)

With the solid Blue Shirt:

Swapped for a cream shirt (Cream and Brown is a go).

Then with the Hickey Freeman His First Brown Stripe.

Great Tie. Great Ensembles.

Have a great week!

The Old Ways Are The Best Ways

2010-06-10T16:28:00.000-07:00

;lYesterday and the days preceding we worked with the ties I wanted to move being highlighted and not the backdrop. For comparison, here is one of the combos. Go ahead and blow up the square photo and see how well it goes with the jacket and tie:

Lets look a little at changing up the backdrop and see what we get:

Here I introduced a vintage print tie (The old ways are the bet ways, get it?) The blue surrounding the circles work in to the blue in the jacket. Same with the blue in the square.

Here as well the blues in the tie work back to the blue in the jacket.

Tomorrow some more variations.

Cheers!

Drowning in Pictures

2010-06-09T15:37:00.000-07:00

To make up for the lost pics of yesterday I will drown you tonight in photos :-)

The downside on all that is that until tomorrow when I have more time I will not be writing all that much text. Lets face it though, you don't come here for my words, you come here for my pictures, and here they are:

Until tomorrow, friends! Cheers!

Lost Marbles

2010-06-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry about yesterday, I was in the city all day shopping Burberry for our kids shop and although I had taken pics earlier that I intended to post, I was too tired last night to post them!.

Tonight though I am not that tired but I seem to be losing my marbles because the pictures that I took yesterday and while I had taken a third group I cannot seem to find the first two, so here is what I have for tonight and tomorrow I will post the remaining ties:

Again, these are included in those ties that will be going at 40% off

The Blue/Orange theme is one that has been discussed at length and here it is in action again:

Blue Shirt, Navy Blue Suit and Blue, Beige and Orange Tie, accessorized with the orange and cream floral square:

Shown in play here:

I Was Right!

2010-06-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

Again :-)

Well, at least I think so.

Yesterday I suggested that this combo and blue and brown tie would look better with the blue version of the parasol square.

Here is the blue:

With the ensemble looking like this:

You might find the square looking a little dark but the nature of these squares is that since they have so many colors on them we can adjust them to how we want them to be seen, more blue, more beige, more brown, or some burgundy and light brown.

Now if only I be right with the stock market... :-)

Have a great weekend!

PS: As I mentioned these ties (the past few days as indicated) are offered here at 40 off to readers of FTWU before I email blast the sale out which will be on Sunday some time. Thanks to those that have bought already. Enjoy!

Yet More Goodbyes

2010-06-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

This series of seven and four fold mixes together some great color combos that we have discussed and pictured at length in the past. Green with Blue as well as the blues with browns. Pretty ties, but like the others, its time for them to go.

Yesterday I pretty much kept it to one pocket square. This time I mixed and matched to get a little more variety and to match up what i thought was a better and more correct option.

I started with the celadon green and sky blue four or seven fold tie again, against the light blue shirt with the navy blue suit and matched up the geometric vintage square for this look.

I thought though that with the green and blue in the tie we could do better with a green square and decided on this large paisley floral piece:

Which looks like this in play:

Below is the navy version of the same tie. Again, the predominantly blue color invites the earth tones of the brown right in. While I probably would have been better off with the blue version of this parasol square I went with the brown for this look:

Which looks like this:

For another option at the square I took this brown small paisley pattern for this look:

In play here:

Tomorrow maybe I will do some options on the navy version. Meanwhile, have a great day!

More Goodbyes

2010-06-02T15:43:00.000-07:00

Really tired tonight. Here are some more ties that have to go. I will be linking tomorrow as I am now literally falling asleep.

Cheers!

Con Te Partiro - Time To Say Good Bye!

2010-06-01T15:18:00.000-07:00

No Sillies, not to me. I am having lots of fun here :-)

But its time to say good bye to some of the older merchandise that I have in the store, like this series. (and the next few days of posts).

Before I put them on the clearance page I offer them to my readers at 40% off for hand made in Italy saddle stitch four and seven fold ties.

All shown here with a navy blue suit and light blue shirt with a blue and cream flowers square.

Viola!

The blue and brown horizontal stripe

With the Square detail here:

Navy Tie:

Orange Tie:

And Burgundy:

And finally as I "borrowed" the name of the song for the title of the post, I would be remiss in not posting the you tube video of Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman:

Enjoy (I always do)!

Flash Forward

2010-05-31T12:24:00.000-07:00

Greetings all with wishes for a Happy Memorial Day to all and a special thanks to all those that have or are still serving in the Military. G-d bless and protect!

Using the same sports jacket from last week (yeah, it was still on the floor and ready to go, oops.) I switched the ecru shirt for a light blue shirt and decided that while a navy tie would work well, I wanted to go with brown to lead back to the olives and navy in the jacket. For the square I went back to the ecru linen square for toning down purposes.

Here are the results:

(Brown Pin Dot Tie, Ecru Square, Blue Shirt):

Brown Satin Tie with yellow dots. I like how the brown works with the greens and navy in the jacket and the dots in the tie work back to the square.

And back to a little vibrancy with the blue shirt here is a vintage print that never made it onto the site but may already be spoken for, shown with the navy floral square:

Have a great and successful week!

Flash Back

2010-05-28T10:47:00.000-07:00

In yesterday's post I referenced how I had worked the small check olive sportscoat from Hickey Freeman.

Here is pretty much what I had done, shown with the ecru twill shirt and Navy and Green Tie. I kept the floral square in the first shot:

Liking the navy introduction I swapped the earthy tones of the square for a navy and green vintage square

Which comes together looking like this:

And here it all is when you swap the green tie for a predominantly navy polka dot tie.

Have a great weekend all!

In a Flash

2010-05-27T15:47:00.000-07:00

On my way out of the store today it dawned on me that I hadn't taken any pictures for tonights post. Having had a long day I wasn't in that much of a mood to work that hard at it, so I pretty much pulled what was within arms length of me in the office where I photograph the items.

This is what I came up with. Not too shabby if I say so myself!

Whats interesting here is that in the past I had worked this jacket with a blue shirt and a navy and green tie. Here I used the brown pin stripe shirt to pick off the olive nature of the jacket (a hickey freeman his first sportscoat, and the solid green tie, along with the earthy toned version of the floral vintage square.

With the square detail shown here:

Bronze Wedding; Take 2

2010-05-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

Using the pictures that were posted in the comments last night (shown below) I suggested the following:

For the sari that will be worn at the day wedding (note the greens and plums with bronze and gold trimmings):

I suggested the bronze tie and green paisley square shown below. If you examine the colors in the sari and the tie I think that no explanation is necessary as to why it works well.

Here is the reception dress fabric. I felt as mentioned in the comments that the pinkish coloration in the polka dots called for this tie in gold satin with pink and a soft color pink or white with pink linen square.

Or with the pink trimmed white square.

Damn, I am good! :-)

A Nice Day for a Bronze Wedding (From the Mailbag)

2010-05-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

Well, the song goes a nice day for a white wedding but still...

Here is a request from a phone call that on my say so became a written request.

"On May 25, 2010 at 11:37 am Sachin Said:

Hello,

I am attending a wedding this weekend and need to pair two suits to match with what my fiance has planned. For the actual wedding I have a dark charcoal suit to be matched to a pink, green/gold sari. The evening reception is a black suit to be matched to a black with bronze metallic highlighted sari.

What would go best with these combos? Please help!

"

This weekend, eh? Nothing like the last minute I always say :-).

In the phone call there was no mention of the pink, green and gold sari so I didnt concentrate on it, choosing rather to concentrate on the Black with bronze. Luckily I happened to have taken a shot in the bronze theme that will probably work perfectly, having a pale bronze, green AND pink.

For the square I used an orange one from the new collection for a little color but of course a nice white will do quite nicely, and of course as its a wedding a white shirt is in place.

The rest are for the Black Suit with bronze Dress. Although the suit shown is charcoal, black will work here as well however offering greater contrast. Incidentally, bronze is a hard color with multiple shades and I don't really know what color bronze we are referring but regardless, these will probably work.

With the second recent request I will be dedicating a page for requests.

Loosies

2010-05-24T15:45:00.000-07:00

I hope your weekend was wonderful!

Here are some loosies that were taken yesterday, as I was away from the store all day today. By loosies I mean ties that I didnt get in quantities but instead got as a closeout from a supplier alot of different styles but only a few or in some cases one per style. I still am not sure why I buy them as they arent worth the effort, but here we are.

Shown here with a striped suit and striped shirt Both from the Hickey Freeman His First (and here the stripes may be overdone as the purple dominant stripes in the shirt downplay the light blue stripe and the resultant effect is similarly spaced stripes between the suit and the shirt, a no no in many cases) and a white linen square with purple trim.

Switched the tie for the burgundy version as so:

And here with the patterned four fold which also serves to tone down the stripes.

Have a great week!

Trust

2010-05-18T09:56:00.000-07:00

Hey. If we are gonna do this then there has to be an element of trust, and when I tell you that silver works well with black and navy believe me.

But I know that you didn't trust me so I took pics anyway. :-)

Here you have the silver tie with a Pin Stripe suit in Navy, and a Hickey Freeman His First Shirt in Blue and Grey Check. The Square I used was a light blue linen as I felt that that ensemble was otherwise busy enough.

The Black Suit below and the silver Satin Tie against the soft blue makes this ensemble an elegant one which is why I used the white linen square.

And of course the elegance level is raised a notch or two when you introduce the white shirt.

I will be off for two days for religious observance. Cheers!

The Unlikely Combo (A/K/A Outside the Box)

2010-05-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

I may have mentioned this before but I find the following story humorous and revealing as to the nature of how people think when it comes to putting looks together. A few years back my wife and I went store browsing for my birthday. Not to buy of course, but simply to look at how the "upper end" department stores put it all together.

Our first stop was at the Men's Department of Saks Fifth Avenue, where we chanced upon a mannequin that was totally mismatched. The shirt and tie was right but they didnt belong with the suit. Off to the side there was what I had perceived to be the perfect accessories, a complementary shirt and tie. The store manager was standing there and I asked him why the merchandising department would do something like that when there were so many beautiful ties and shirts that would work so well with the particular suit, to which he responded "What you are suggesting is a "no brainer". Anyone can do stuff like that. Here they were thinking outside the box". My response was that thinking outside the box is nice so long as you are still on the planet. In this case it simply did not work. He took a look at the suit in question and remarked...yes, you are right, what probably happened was that the previous suit worked with that shirt and tie and the merchandiser got lazy and left the shirt and tie on while changing the suit!

My job and goal here is to get you to think a little outside the box and with that lets take a look at tonights pictures. (in which I sneak another escapee in without drawing too much attention. How I missed these ties is beyond me. Oops.)

Silver works naturally with Black and with Navy, so putting a silver tie with a white or blue shirt and a black or blue suit is what Mr. Saks Fifth Ave might call a no brainer. Lets think a little outside the box and try brown. (If you have been reading me for a bit you will know that its not that far outside the box, as Brown and Charcoal work well together. Silver being a different shade of grey should work as well. )

Here you have the Brown suit with a Brown pin stripe Shirt (from the Kids Hickey Freeman Kids Line) paired with a silver satin tone on tone dotted tie and a floral earth tones square.

Now if you look at the square detail which is pretty of its own right you will see that the inspiration for colors can come right off the square. You have Browns, Blacks, Beige's, Green and you guessed it...Silver.

Alternatively you can use a more monochromatic square as so:

Personally, I would go with the first.

Escapees in Brown

2010-05-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

As mentioned yesterday and earlier as well, we can use a pink tie for both navy and brown suits. (Black and gray as well but thats not the subject of our discussion just now.)

As promised, here is the same pink tie with a brown suit. I could have left the blue shirt but felt it worked better with the ecru (cream).

For the the square you can use an earthy toned one like this floral print.

Shown in play here:

Or you can swap for a more visually rich one, like the parasol in brown shown below.

Have a great weekend!

S10 Tie By Tie (Yet More Escapees)

2010-05-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was nauseating for me. I spent the day in the city for the first buying appointment for the Spring 2011 season. Heck, its just May of 2010. Leave me alone! Anyway, thats why you didnt hear from me yesterday.

Today though I was cleaning looking for a tie for a customer in the boxes or Spring 10 when I chanced upon a tie from the Spring season that I seem to have missed. Fascinating!

This Rose pink Tie is what I believe the last of the Spring 10 Collection. I have it paired here with a blue suit and shirt, and rose pink linen square. Blue and pinks go well together even when the pink is this shade which is sometimes called rose, or shell pink. Its not a pure pink but rather an orangey/peach pink.

If you are looking for a little more variety in the square then move away from the linen and into a silk like this one, which has feint brown/burgundy notations.

While I maintain that pinks go well with blues, care must be taken to not mix colors of pink with each other. This concept is generally true of many colors. Here to my eye, the pinks clash and care should be taken to avoid placing them together.

Tomorrow we will take a look at the tie with a brown suit which works equally well.

Too Close

2010-05-11T17:01:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the colors of your ensemble will work so well together that you will look at them and say, no, its just too close.

Take for example the pink twill tie and square below. The colors (but for the navy in the square) are so right that even though its not a matching square, it looks too much alike.

In that case, you may want to switch it for other complementary colors as found in this sqare:

Which will add a different dimension to your look which essentially is what you want from the square.

Or for the toned down type try something like this white linen with contrast border:

From the Mailbag

2010-05-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

Occasionally we get requests from passers by. Here is a recent comment posted on the about me page.

"Hello,

I am getting married soon. I looked at your website and specially the pictures and thought you might be the best person to answer this. Its a pretty useful website. Great job man!

So my fiancee has already bought a dress which is pink along those lines (http://seoulcurry.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/colorpink.jpg). I am wearing a charcoal suit and trying to match up with her on this color. I know a white shirt with a pink tie would be perfect, but I don't want to wear a white shirt (as much as possible). Here are my preferences:
1) I love bright ties.
2) I don't want to mix match a lot of colors. Fewer the colors the better.
3) I want to be very careful with the pink.

Could you recommend me a few combinations of shirts, ties and pocket squares?

Thanks in advance,
ADG

Being that the Pink is a fuchsia and any tie that is closely related to it would be really bright I thought to introduce ties and squares that were of the same tones (pinks and burgundies and the colors in between.)

Here are some things that came to mind (it has been a long day so I will reserve comment and links for the AM):

In the Black and In the Red (The Stock Market Today)

2010-05-06T15:39:00.000-07:00

Considering that it was an historic day on wall street what with a 1K drop and the subsequent recovery to "only" 350 points down, I would be remiss in not doing a post about it today.

I believe that I have said before that black and red are closely related. Its why black and red go so well together.

Here is an ensemble with red tie against the blue shirt as well as the grey sportscoat. The one question you might have on the jacket is the beige colored check. It doesnt bother me. I used the linen cream square to tone it all down. Light blue shirts work almost anywhere.

Here I swapped it for a Black taffeta tie with raw silk tone on tone stripe. The black against the gray coat work perfectly with grey essentially being a shade of black. The raw silk stripe makes it better matched texture wise with the textured sports coat. Cream linen square again makes it all classic.

Here's to wishing you all have a great Friday and if you are in the market remember that age old adage.

"Bulls make money. Bears make money. Pigs get slaughtered" :-)

More and Less

2010-05-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

Carrying forward yesterday's results but in the reverse, here you have a brown tie against a yellow shirt that garners more attention than the orange against the blue pictured directly below due to the fact that the orange is a softer orange and the satin brown is strong. (yes, I know the jackets are different but the contrast is created mainly with the shirts with the sports coats complementing.)

Shown here with the multicolor square and the Petronius seven fold tie.

To Stare or Not to Stare

2010-05-04T15:39:00.000-07:00

What I wanted here and the way the pics I took turned out didnt exactly meet on the same page so I will just give you the pics that I took and we will illustrate again just how different the same jacket and shirt can look when accessorized differently.

The orange tie and multicolor square brighten it up and make the statement of "Go ahead, try not to notice me" ;-)

The Darker brown pindot tie and cream linen square say, "I look classically sharp yet understated, Go stare at the guy with the orange tie" :-)

Which one is correct? Depends on the mood!

KIFS (Keep It Fresh, Stupid)

2010-05-03T15:21:00.000-07:00

Greetings All and a very Happy Week to you.

In the Spring the idea is to keep it light and fresh. To that end here you have a wool check sport coat from Hickey Freeman His First paired with a yellow shirt (always a Spring Color) and a brocade woven silk green and blue tie (which works well with the sportscoat which has green and blues in it). I thought the choice of square was appropriate here as the colors in the square bring it all together. (Pair it here with navy slacks)

A Fresh Combination!

Here the square detail:

Have a successful week!

More Blank and Purple

2010-04-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

Yes...It is supposed to say Blank and Purple, not Black and Purple. Thats because Yesterday I ended with this Attolini Tie and promised to start with it today and the suit choice was open for consideration. (we settled on charcoal because Blues and Browns didnt work here) (pardon any typos I am rushing!)

As you can see its paired with the white shirt and black suit, and a white square. However we don't have to stay with that.

So I tried a bunch of different shirts that on principle might have worked but they didnt pass the eyeball test. First of all I swapped the black suit for a more versatile Charcoal. Then I was left to find acceptable shirts.

The pink fell short because it looked fruity even with the traces of pink in the tie. I wont even post the blue

I then tried this Hickey Freeman Hist First lilac striped which was perfect for both the suit (this suit has a lilac stripe in it. Also a Hickey Freeman) and the tie. I tried the pink trimmed pocket square because I wanted that pink in there. It wasnt the best option. Better still was the light blue pictured just below.

Swapping suits for a plain Charcoal Pin stripe but keeping the shirt and tie I added the blue trimmed square for a nice look. The blue in the square pulls the shirt which also has a blue stripe together and the traces of blue in the tie. I like the look.

Have a great weekend!

Black and Purple - Together Forever!

2010-04-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

Greetings all Amateur Economist Readers! Do stay a while and enjoy or just pop in when the need/desire arises, and feel free to comment or request at any time!

As promised last night, here is that purple tie against a black suit, white shirt. For elegance sake I left the square as a white linen.

I think you will agree that it works best against this backdrop.

Here the lighter lilac dotted tie.

And here with a purple Attolini six fold. Even tough this is a darker color purple and belongs bunched up with the first tie and not the lilac, I put this last as I will run with it tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Grey Pin Stripe Redux

2010-04-28T16:51:00.000-07:00

FTWU, welcomes all NikeTalk readers, I hope you enjoy. Feel free to stop by any time and feel free to request! (and thanks NiiDawg3 for the link. Much appreciated.)

Back to the matter of a matching purple tie to the charcoal grey that was requested a few days back. I worked up a few purple or purple themed ties that went well with a charcoal grey pin stripe suit. This first one was interesting because it used a dark navy satin based tie with mixes of lilac fuchsia (hot pink) and beige in it. The shirt is a Hickey Freeman His First shirt (purple and light blue stripes) borrowed from the kids store and the square is white with a lilac trim to keep it simple.

Second up, the satin based tie with the black warp.

After seeing the photograph here I am thoroughly convinced that this tie is best at work against a white or white based shirt (like this) for optimal contrast which is contrasted against a BLACK or solid charcoal grey (really dark) suit. Similar to this look (the flash photography makes the shirt look close to white. In reality it's grey.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Black Suit"][/caption]

Finally, here with a lavender colored dot tie. Of the three I personally think that the last one is the best. (and to avoid the square trim matching the tie I swapped for a solid white.

Tomorrow a few more lighter color ties with this set and the black and white for the first tie.

Right Tie, Wrong Shirt

2010-04-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned in the past but I cant say it enough that contrast is generally your friend. Colors of items can match yet if you group too many of the same color together invariably one or the other item will look wrong.

Here is an example of the colors being correct but the applications being wrong. Rust and orange, works with black and nicely so, yet the use of the rust tie here together with the rust colored check shirt will leave you wanting.

Better in the same pattern is the green shirt, which works well with the black jacket and the contrasting rust tie. The square has a little bit of everything in it so thats no problem.

You might feel that this square is too closely color related to the rust tie and I wont disagree, so to change that you have this square.

Finally, if you absolutely love that orange shirt, change the tie so that you gain your contrast in other ways as so:

Incidentaly, my first Orange Shirt writeup :-) at least the first tag created for an orange shirt that is. Kewl!

Double Header

2010-04-26T16:04:00.000-07:00

Радушный прием всем читателям Gommeux.ru :-)

I had planned on this combo before the earlier request came in so here you go. Again, most of the items are from the Hickey Freeman His First collection so dont expect to see links. The only thing that is linkable is the square, from the Spring 10 Collection at FIH.

The jacket is black check with a slight brown thread running through it. Green and the green families (olive etc.) work well with black and the shirt and tie combo are right at home here. The detail of the square shown just below shows the dark olive green in the square that bring it all together. The burgundy, black and green.

The detail of the square. Patterns and colors all well played out here.

If the monochromes of the shirt and tie were not what you wanted to see or if the green tie wasnt to your liking we can also do well with a charcoal grey colored tie in the same family. No harm done. Interesting is that the flowers in the tie come back to the paisleys in the square. That same orange color, showing successfully that there are no colors here that simply don't belong.

Faster than a speeding Train!

2010-04-26T09:23:00.000-07:00

In response to a request, posted in this thread, I suggested the following few options. As he posted I was already gathering options. Indeed faster than a speeding train :-)

Here is a tie that is a little misleading. When looked at it with the PC you dont get the true colors in it. Due to its Plum warp (catena) you get a shimmering purple color in there. Well matched with this suit and shirt combo. I used this square as its a flash of color that works.

This tie is too dark I fear for this suit and darkish shirt. Not my favorite.

Just like Goldilocks, I think that this color in this tie is just right. It livens up the darker shirt by giving contrast. reverse contrast perhaps but contrast nonetheless.

And this tie gives a pop with the pink and lavender stripes against the black.

Finally, when linking posts, I was reminded of the ties in this post will work well as well.

Not Giving Up My Day Job

2010-04-23T01:59:00.000-07:00

If you got a chance to read the about me page to the right you would have noticed that I dont just do this for fun, although I enjoy this part of the business immensely. I actually do this for a living in our kids shop. The men's ties/accessories etc. is not yet a self sustaining (read, cant support a family on it just yet). And thats where you people step in :-).

Below are a few looks that I put together yesterday, mostly from our Hickey Freeman His First line. I'll spare the links as most of it is only available in our kids store, but if you have a need of anything from the kids line, please feel free to reach out to us either here or at www.TuesdaysChild.com

Dissenting Opinion

2010-04-21T16:01:00.000-07:00

Last Night Almurtadza, commented that he preferred the rust tie combo with the jacket since it complemented the jacket, shirt and pocket square.

Here is the pic in discussion:

While I cannot argue a personal preference, my own personal preference is to avoid a jacket of this hue with a tie of that color for the simple reason that the tie brings out the orange in the jacket and really highlights it.

Other options that can tolerate a tie of that nature might be something like this, which uses a cream shirt, Hickey Freeman brown plaid jacket, the orange tie and the orangeish square.

If the orange square appears too matchy to the tie (I cant say you are way off there, ) here is a multicolor square that uses the earth tones of the jacket and adds some other colors to the mix (burgundy, blue etc.)

Here is the square detail:

And your complete ensemble look.

Springier Spring Looks

2010-04-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

Keeping the jacket (since almurtadza liked it so much :-) ) we get a brighter look by swapping out the shirt for a yellowish one and brightening up the tie a bit. Here we can afford this color blue tie which works well against the yellow but might not have worked as well against the blue shirt as the tie has a bit of aqua green blue in it.

For squares I give three options before changing the tie for an rust orange one which makes the ensemble all that more serious and somber.

Yellow Shirt, Blue Textured Tie, orange Square and Hickey Freeman Jacket:

Switching square for Square:

And for a little more color in the square we try this multicolor baby:

Finally, with the same square in place I moved over to the rust tie. Not at all bad, but a different less bright look.

Spring Looks

2010-04-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

Here is a Hickey Freeman Silk and Wool Jacket with a light blue shirt, shown first with a rose pink linen square and then with a light blue square. In all cases the shirt is the same as is the tie, this satin based tri stripe number from the Spring 10 collection.

In this case I introduced some more color and pattern with this vintage floral paisley square. I thought it gave a nice shock of color and being green with burgundy highlights blended well with the other elements of the ensemble.

With the square detail here:

Equal Time For Her

2010-04-15T15:37:00.000-07:00

We are coming up on a years worth of posting here and I realize that we haven't spent much time for that accessory that money can't buy. The "She" of our lives. Maybe not equal time here but at least a favorable mention and something for her.

Here is something that she can wear from her waist up. All from Alex Begg and soon to be on the site. This is the stuff that they were promised the emperor in the Emperor's New Clothes

The chiffon silk collection of still life patterns. A first for Begg as they normally don't do silks being a cashmere company. Personally I usually skip the spring season from Alex Begg but when I received the catalog from them I thought the colors were wonderful and was hard pressed to pass.

The Wispy Cashmere collection (I recently received another two I havent photographed yet)

And the cotton silk collection:

Available in these three colors:

The Right Green

2010-04-14T16:12:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you might realize that a sport coat and shirt combo is well paired with a certain color accessory (tie or square) but you wont be too sure of which tone of that color works. In that case its best to put them all against the counterparts and eyeballing them all to see which you are most comfortable with.

Here is what I mean:

The brown jacket works well with a light blue shirt and the orange square and all those colors would work really well with a green tie (as you saw yesterday) but which green is the right green?

The Marinella Hunter green tie with flowers?

The navy and Green beehive?

The lime green Marinella?

The Deep Dark Bottle Green?

Or the pistachio green? They all work but personally I am leaning towards this one. And you?

More or Less (Or Less is More)

2010-04-13T15:25:00.000-07:00

Some times too many patterns and colors looks just like there are too many patterns and colors in that case you dont want to overdo the look with a loud tie and square. Keep one or the other, but not both. This is illustrated with the below shots. Here the red and green vintage patterned tie with the heavily pattered sports coat from Hickey Freeman, which is served well with a solid blue linen square.

With a more sedate colored tie we can get more lively with the square (a new issue, and quite vibrant at that).

Shown tucked away like this:

While the blue works as the colors simply do and in fact there is a blue stripe in the coat (go ahead, blow up the pic and see) some might find the tie too much. To that end I offer this green twill weave\. Soft and nice.

Tucked away and complete like this, a nice look.

\

S10 Tie By Tie 15 (End Game, sorta)

2010-04-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

Well...At least its end game for the Spring collection of Ties for one tie maker of mine. A nice season if I dont say so myself.

Here I finish up with a classic pin dot burgundy tie. I did a similar one a few seasons back but this is less textured. Strangely I havent been able to get a detailed shot of the tie, but this is close. First shown with the pink shirt and navy pin stripe suit. The square is a new one received a week ago.

Now with a blue shirt and royal, black and beige floral square:

Square detail shown here:

And finally with a mini floral multicolor square:

Using the same square/shirt and suit I swapped the tis for a Brown and Blue textured tone on tone Polka dot.

With the square detail here.

S10 Tie By Tie 14B (Pre-Weekend Escapees)

2010-04-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

Some more stragglers for your viewing pleasure.

A lilac ribbed twill weave with a grey pin stripe shirt against the charcoal suit with white linen square.

A silver satin tone on tone dot tie against a lilac shirt with the same charcoal suit. I could have used a white shirt and left the white square and that would have been very elegant which is why I bought this tie in the first place but instead went with the lilac shirt to play the two colors against each other, a color combo that I have mentioned before, I rather like.

Have a great weekend all!

S10 Tie by Tie 14a(Escapees # 1)

2010-04-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

Ahem... Rather embarrassing but I noticed that I missed a couple of the new Spring 10 ties so here they are, plus some squares that I received last week. (Perhaps they were trying to escape?)

The light blue tone on tone textured circles works well with navy suit which in turn works well with the pink shirt and the abstracts square which having all the color tones pulls it all together.

Looking like this:

Alternatively you can use the burgundy colored square of the same pattern for a different and stronger look.

With the detail here.

My Friend the Dentist

2010-04-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, my uncle used to slap us on the back and say "guess whose back" and we would would look at him quizzicaly and he would say YOURS! (Pretty corny I know but we love him :-) )

Anyway...Guess who's back??? Yours truly! The Holidays were lovely and of course too short.

I have posted before from my friend the dentist from Canada (I know, I never thought I would have a dentist friend but whatever) who has made requests (yeah, we do that) and this swatch is from his most recent. He mentioned to me that he wanted some purple so thats where we went here but I had to offer up that first one in bronze/rust which is magnificent against black and charcoal. And for the record, the reason why its important to send it a swatch even for a charcoal is because not all charcoals are created equal as some have a blacker hue and some a browner one. This one proved to be more towards black.

The burgundy pindot with a light blue shirt.

As per the request here is a twill weave solid in purple which is a new item and available in limited quantities.

This is THE One IMO. A marinella in light purple.

A little lighter color here for a more springlike look, also a limited quantity. Note the trace of lilac in the stripe.

Finally for something a little bit different, a green and pink Marinella against the light blue shirt and charcoal suit.

Of course on all of these squares would add another dimension. If the good Doc would let me know which he likes I will work a square or trwo into the mix.

It's good to be back!

:-)

S10 Tie By Tie 13 (Some then a Break)

2010-03-28T05:32:00.000-07:00

I trust that all are having a great weekend.

Here are a few of the balance from the Spring 10 collection of ties (from one supplier that is. I have about 50 loosies from another supplier but those don't warrant a full set up shot since they are singles). I did receive belts and about 8 new squares from Italy on Friday, but those will have to wait till after the Holidays. Also got an email from Vanners to look at their collections of silks, which I will do after the Holidays as well. For those that arent familiar, Vanners is world class English stuff.

Anyway, I think that I have one or two ties to go but this is close to the end of it for Spring 10. I will be offline for the Holidays and will hopefully return late next week. If you order anything online from the store this week we will be closed Tuesday, wed and Thursday, shipping Friday and Sunday but off again on Monday and Tuesday of Next week. Cheers All!

Here are the retakes from last weeks post. I think the color shows better here.

Just look at the colors of that square. Great Combo Orange and Brown.

Some more dots of brown, with beige and blue dots against the blue stripe shirt and brown suit.

A loosie here. A satin orangeish rust stripe tie with the brown suit and blue stripe shirt / orange square.

Finally, a Satin Dotted Brown with the same as above.

Enjoy your time off and Happy Holidays for those that are observing them (Passover and Easter).

S10 Tie By Tie 12 (Final Stretch)

2010-03-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

Coming in for the final stretch, here is a brown with blue and the blue/grey striped shirt from Hickey Freeman with a blue striped shirt. The square is a beige with light blue.

Pardon the brevity (yet again) it was a very long day.

The correct color is closer to this shot of the square detail. Maybe tomorrow I will retake.

S10 Tie By Tie (Mixing it Up)

2010-03-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

For my kids shop, I love the Hickey Freeman His First. They use great fabrics and the construction is off the adult line. The result is a kids suit made like a mans suit with detail and attention given to all matters. Iits not a canvassed suit but its a well made fused one.

Anyway, in search of more than the typical shirt fabric that I have on the FIH site I borrowed a Hickey Freeman's kids shirt for the next tie. The shirt and suit had enough stripes to warrant a plain (non patterned) silk tie. I spiced it up a little with the square.

Here is the square detail. Blow it up and see just how well the colors go with the navy of the suit and green of the tie.

for a different spin on the square, a red with green trimmed vintage square here:

And shown in play here:

S10 Tie By Tie 10 (Yin and Yang)

2010-03-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

I hope everyones weekend was wonderful and restful.

Even if not, here are some mild and soothing positive and negative looks for you to enjoy.

First the Satin Tone on Tone dotted tie in light blue against a cream shirt with complementing square. In both cases against te navy pin stripe suit.

And the same patterned tie this time in a gold-ish cream against the light blue shirt.

S10 Tie By Tie 9b (Pre Weekend Edition)

2010-03-19T09:44:00.000-07:00

To take this tie from yesterday a different direction I thought to change the shirt giving the tie more prominence with better contrast for a Spring like look.

Therefore, this:

Becomes, This:

(Note how well this square works, as the orange in it complements the navy suit and stripes of the tie, and the blue in it comes back to the tie, the burgundy in it pairs up with the burgundy of the tie and the cream in it highlights the shirt.)

S10 Tie By Tie 8c and 9 (Doubling Up)

2010-03-18T15:58:00.000-07:00

In keeping with yesterday's theme here is the same 7 fold with a darker blue shirt. You get to a much clearer picture of how its supposed to look.

And with the suit and shirt out we moved along to the next tie from the new collection, a light blue satin based with beige and brown/burgundy stripes. Lovely tie. To enhance it I used the orangeish with blue highlights square.

Shown here with a detail of the square.

S10 Tie By Tie 8c (Still More Navy and Purple)

2010-03-17T16:35:00.000-07:00

Now for some more navy and purples. Perhaps if I have time tomorrow I will work a little harder at getting the blue color of the shirt right.

Meanwhile, here are some more navy and purple sets:

This first baby is a 4 fold (perhaps more folds than that) not yet on the site. It was a domenica Vaca 11 fold at one time but was dismantled by my supplier for width of blade adjustment.

With a purple and black or dark navy from the new season.

Good ole, dark purple although I admit that I am not sure if the tie works that well due to its black catena

Finally with a soft pale lilac and green.

Have a great day!

S10 Tie By Tie 8b (purple Eater Redux)

2010-03-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

While purples go nicely with greys and charcoals, they also work with navy.

Yesterday's Tie shown here with a Navy Suit, Light Blue Shirt (looks whiteish but is nicer with blue), and green and burgundy Square.

Tomorrow some more purple ties with the blue.

S10 Tie By Tie 8 (Flying Purple People Eater)

2010-03-15T15:29:00.000-07:00

Busy busy days and short staffed leaves me with little free time. This shot was snapped Friday with the intent of posting then but as I ran out of time I was forced to resort to the post by email of the pic of the week.

From the Spring Collection here is a textured floral design in strong purple. You wont go unnoticed with this baby which is incidentally the wildest tie of the season. Shown with the purple and black square, a soft lilac shirt and a pink stripe charcoal suit.

Links and whatnot, tomorrow. Gotta get some sleep :-)

Photo of the week!

2010-03-12T09:51:00.000-08:00

No time to post now but wanted I leave you with what I thought was a great shot. Spotted this fortune teller earlier inte week. Note the arrow on the sign. Heck, she may be able to tell you what's in your future but who said her sign has to point the right way???

:-)

Have a great weekend.

Jonathan J. Fischer
www.TuesdaysChild.com
www.FourInHand.com
1-718-252-8874 x 200
Fax 1-718-504-4197

Another Unspoken Request

2010-03-11T14:40:00.000-08:00

Recently someone over at Ask Andy (or was it Style Forum?) asked if it were possible to pair a gingham type tie like the one in the picture below.

Here are two ensembles that I think do the patterned shirt be it mini checks or stripes and IMO do it well (enough).

Of course, I welcome your thoughts.

First with a navy suit, floral square.

Next with a Charcoal suit, Purple and Grey Pin Stripe shirt and Burgundy Paisley Square.

Oh, Sorry about yesterdays non existent post. Got overwhelmed.

S10 Tie By Tie 7 (Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme)

2010-03-10T00:59:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delayed post, attended a wedding last night and then had to troubleshoot a PC system so getting to the PC to post was virtually impossible.

With the Navy suit out and the navy red and green square in play it was time (no pun intended) to move along to the next tie in this new season, a sage green solid repp weave. As I have posted before, greens go beautifully with blues of all colors.

Here is the result.

S10 Tie by Tie 6 (Revenge of the Dots)

2010-03-08T15:41:00.000-08:00

Hey, I told you that there would be lots of dots this season. :-)

Shown here is a satin tone on tone light blue dotted tie, first against the pink shirt (always a nice combo) with the charcoal grey suit. Not sure if you can see but the suit has a faint light blue stripe in it which welcomes the tie back as a color (not that it needed that invitation to be at home with a charcoal suit, but still). I paired it with a navy blue with red and green square just because.

Here you see the square detail:

And finally, as the colors are all there, the combo works wonderfully with a navy suit as shown here.

Rejoice! I included these links, and I have actually prepped the site for the links to the previous few posts ties and squares. Gimme one more day fellahs and I WILL have those links.