There are many methods for styling your suit, shirt and tie. The myriad of possible combinations can either make you the next David Beckham or look like a scene out of Bruno. However, if you are like many other men out there who wouldn’t have a clue how to pick out an attire for the day, Veracity tailor shop is going to provide you with a simple guide on style matching.
Veracity Tailor 3 by 3 Method
Colour Matching
The colour of your suit, shirt and tie can be matched with any one of the following 3 combinations
- Dark (suit) – Light (shirt) – Dark (tie)
- Light (suit) – Medium (shirt) – Light (tie)
- Dark (suit) – Medium (shirt) – Light (tie)
Those three are the basic colour combinations, and will almost guarantee an appealing results
Pattern Matching
- 3 solids – No pattern or extremely subtle patterns on your suit, shirt and tie. This is the safest approach you can go with, and can’t go wrong.
- 2 solids and 1 patterned – Here patterned means any form of non-uniform colour schemes, whether it’s stripes, prints or other patterns. The patterned item can be either the suit, shirt or tie. However, one of the colours of the patterned item has to be the same or similar to the colour of either one of the other solid items.
- 2 patterned and 1 solid – The two patterned items must have a distinct primary and secondary pattern, where the primary has a clear dominancy in terms of eye catching. This way, the two patterned items won’t fight for the attention of onlookers.
Other Notes for Pattern Matching
If you’re planning to wear a vertically striped suit or shirt, which often happens, it is best not to wear a vertically striped tie. You should wear either a diagonally striped tie or a non-directional tie such as polka dots or prints. This provides a break up in the pattern and makes you look more natural.
For patterned ties, the base colours, that is the background colour for print ties or the most abundant colour for stripes, should either be the same as the primary colour of your suit or the complementary (opposite) colour.
Of the colours of your patterned tie, there should be at least one that is the same or similar to the colour/s of your shirt.
If you’re wearing a heavily patterned shirt, you should be extremely careful when matching a tie. The tie shouldn’t be to fancy as it can fight for attention with the shirt, but it also shouldn’t be a plain solid colour as this will break the pattern of the shirt and become an eyesore.
Shape Matching
Ties come in 3 general width:
- The narrowest ties range from 5-7cm
- The most common ties range from 8-9cm
- Ties can go up to 12cm
The thickness of one’s tie is very important. The general rule is: The width of the tie should be the same as the width of your suit’s lapel, it should also be close to your shirt collar’s width.
Final Thoughts
The above is the basic guideline for matching methods. However, there are no real rules in styling yourself, and you should experiment with different combinations to find your own style. Veracity tailor shop has prepared a combination of assorted ties with which you can solve most of your styling problems. You might also want to take a look at our suit selection.
