They say a man's love..

Now this is my crack.

Those that know me a bit better know that food, flavours and spices are a tremendous passion of mine. And these, from the inspirational Jay Kos' website, look as good as any. But that is not all.

Look at those colours!
When it comes to aesthetics, I often find nature a source of great inspiration. Just like these spices (nutmeg, sumak-or is that clove?-, laurel, pepper, etc.) go so well together, just try and imagine these colours into an outfit:

The nutmeg into a wonderful suit, perhaps cotton (I'm dreaming 4x6 double breasted here). A salt-white shirt. Paired with a warm orangy, tie with those dark brown-red sumac stripes. Let's say, in cashmere. The socks can be green like the laurel, or even better: chilly-red. Sumac for the shoes again. Or chocolate. The choice of pocket-square, I'll leave up to you.

Then again, the variations are endless.

Next time you're looking for inspiration, look at nature.
Or your food. Nom.

Wear Pink in Winter

Winter and its pale snow and sharp skies is an excellent time for whites, blacks and all shades of grey to fit in the urban environment. Pale blues also function excellent, matching the skies and the cool atmosphere.

Now, thawing has - albeit unconvincingly - kicked in here in West-Holland, and though there is plenty of snow still to be seen, the days are getting noticeably warmer. A welcome change indeed.
To bring a bit of that warmth to a day's outfit, I'd like to suggest a less common contender: pink. Another one of the "soft" colours, pink works excellent in winter's pale, high-contrast surroundings. But, coming from red (instead of the more common blue), pink offers a good bit of subtle warmth to an appearance, without sticking out like a sore thumb.

I'm not quite sure if I'd consider the colour under-used or over-used, but it definitely is an option under-appreciated. Executed in as pale a hue as possible, pink is a great alternative to blue or white, and has (formal) roots going back to post-war London. (When men were inclined to stick to wearing either their club- or military regiment- tie, and used pinks, blues and stripes to dress up their outfits instead.)

Pink looks splendid with blue and grey. It suits most skin- and hair-complexions, and in a pale wash, is far from effeminate.

To warm up your winters, consider pink.

Colours, Stars and Stripes

A few days back I wrote a bit on colour, and dressing without looking artificial. One of the ways to do so, is by matching secondary colours. And one way of matching secondary colours, once perhaps not a wardrobe staple but far more common than it is today, is the multi-coloured striped suit.

Seen here worn by Gossip Girl's Chuck Bass, the suit in charcoal with a fine alternating orange and blue-purple stripe almost looks solid from afar, but helps to pull together the peach shirt, red-purple and orange pocket square and purple paisley tie (which also has traces of orange, peach and possibly even blue). But most impressively, it helps the slightly dandified boutonnière to blend in with the outfit and look acceptable for the circumstances.

Naturally, most of us won't frequently be donning a tie, pocket-square and boutonnière with our suits at the same time, but Mr. Bass provides us with a good example of the synergistic effects a multi-coloured stripe can have. Best when executed in colours that blend together from afar, a pattern like this can look conservative and creative, with space for subtle display of personality. After all, it's all in the details.


So, next time you're looking for a suit with a twist, consider the multi-coloured stripe.

Of Socks and Saints

 

A subtle bit of colour can go miles in keeping a sober outfit from being boring. Like everyone who went to a British boys-school knows, socks can be a great place to splash in an almost hidden bit of rainbow juice.

Here, bright red cotton socks worn with grey flannel trousers and black pecari-leather shoes to an afternoon rendezvous in the city, for a long informal lunch and coffee.

The rest of the outfit consisted out of a slightly darker grey polo neck and a black corduroy cotton jacket, accessorised with a cotton dove grey pocket square and a light red viscose scarf. Admittedly, the socks are a bit brighter a red than I would normally choose, but I was in the mood for a bit more wham, and they matched the scarf so well.

And admittedly, it was the "Intocht van Sinterklaas" (the start of the Dutch winter Holiday season), and this was pretty close to Sinterklaas-red..

Dress like a compliment

Use of colour is one of the great pleasures of dressing. However, when selecting the day's outfit, one has to be careful not to look like the result of "creativity hour" in kindergarten, as dressing too loudly can look obtrusive and distract the attention from the wearer. To help the gentlemen of society avoid such fiascos, is one of the reasons style guides advise matching your belt and shoes exactly, and retailers sell pocket-square and tie combos made out of the exact same fabric. It is also the reason men limit themselves to dressing in two colours, with tie either copying suit or shirt, and when donning a square, having it similar to tie or shirt again.

There is only one problem with these scientifically equated solutions to dressing well: it has an air of stiff, boring and most of all, gives the impression that one tried too hard.

As with a compliment, one's attire should look personal, sincere and not too well thought through to be appreciated. An air of spontaneity always helps.
 
And like a compliment can sometimes be too much and rather awkward, and the same compliment be regarded as pleasant and forgotten moments later in a different setting, so should one's dress always be befitting of the circumstances.
Sure, some of us may be more flamboyant, and some prefer subtle minimalism, but there are limits either way. These are not called rules, but the boundaries of good taste.

So, dress like a compliment, and let your dress complement you.

Expect more posts detailing this subject in the future.