Not So Simple

Sometimes you come across a sportscoat that looks really great by itself but when you try matching it with something it just doesnt work.  When that happens and it occasionally does, I find that you can use the construction of the jacket to determine what you shirt color should be.

In the case of the sportcoat pictured below, a Hickey Freeman,  you have an olive based jacket.  The dominant color is olive and even the base of the jacket (the color that the olive is against) is somewhat greenish.  So the typical thought would be colors that go with olive.  But that didnt work.  Looking at the lining of the jacket, the buttons and the stitching around the buttons (see the first close up pic) you see a heavy basis for medium grey so that's what I used in the shirt.  Any grey would have done thie trick (and not because grey is universal and therefore worked passively, but because it worked actively.)  You can also see the navy used in the jacket so thats why I felt that the best option would be a Navy pant but heck, this is "from the waist up"  Getch yer pants from another site :-)

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="460" caption="Note the Stitching and the Buttons"][/caption]

 The next idea was to take a tie with the green basis of the jacket and thats why I used this one pictures below.  Whats especially nice about the tie is that it offers the contrast against the shirt and jacket and has a Navy and Black Field.  The square was used because it's again, contrasty and yet it has many of the jackets colors, like the blue and the black that works with the Olive and some other complementing colors.  Although I took this picture last its my first choice in the ensemble options.



Which is this stuffed in.  Note the blue in the square that works with the blue on the jacket.



Some other options as far as square was concerned was this square which also works nicely again, complementing yet contrasting all the while:



From these parts:



At the end of the day, what this post should tell you is that you should look within for help on what goes with what.

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.