HOF: What Are You Wearing Right Now - Part III - Page 9

Good to see you posting, W! Outfit looks pretty good. Some more waist suppression wouldn't be amiss, if it can be done without making it too tight.

Me today - an example, perhaps, of too much waist suppression :

^ awesome tie O. Let me guess... dollar-fifty? I wish I could find nice items the way you do. Fred49, mktitsworth - thanks guys. I'm not going to get into which works better, because that's not what I'm about, but if it's any use, I would find your new tie is really difficult to wear with almost anything. Perhaps an evening look, maybe. I think the hardest thing I would find about it is that regularly spaced patterns are much simpler to co-ordinate as opposed to the alternating bands of flowers and stripes of your tie. The square is much easier to use, but I'd be tempted to reserve it for casual looks with tweeds/donegals and the like (or, again, night-time rather than day looks). Man, you have some great jackets.

First let me say thanks for the advice. Second, if I keep asking what I'm about to ask, people are going to stop responding to me. Third, why? I get that the pattern might be a bit hard to match, so I'd likely end up wearing it mostly with solid shirts like today. I'm really just not sure what it is about the tie or PS that makes them more evening-appropriate. Like I said, I'm really not trying to be defensive, it's just that sometimes I feel like I don't really get the rules. But I don't want to just mindlessly do whatever you all tell me to do; I'm trying to better understand the principles behind the advice you're giving, so I can try to apply said principles in my own way. I feel like I'm picking up quite a bit just seeing the different fits you all post every day, but sometimes I think we all need it just spelled out for us.

Well, OK, but bear in mind that I'm now retrofitting a logical explanation to fit my intuitive emotional vibe about that tie and square, so a lot of this is pure rationalisation: Regularly spaced patterns "feel" more formal than irregular patterns. The more irregular the pattern, the more informal they feel. My tie has some irregularity, but from a distance, it's essentially regular. From a distance, yours remains irregular. If nothing else, that automatically makes it feel more casual. However, the dark colour of the tie and its smoothness/sheen both actively fight that informality. As a general rule, darker ties "feel" a bit more formal to me than lighter ones (silvery-grey excepted due to traditional formal imagery with this colour). So you have a formally coloured tie, with an informal pattern. That makes it feel incongrous to me. That incongruity could probably be subsumed by an evening look, but I would find it difficult to wear even in that context. The square is a hot colour that could go nicely with textured mid-greys (hence my suggestion of a donegal) and also the diversity of colours to be found in some tweeds. The textural contrast between smooth silk and rough fabric would also be pleasing. The colour is strong enough to be a flashy accent with a dark evening look too. Hope that helps. Do remember that to some extent the above is all "made-up" in the sense that I only thought about it consciously just now to explain my intuitive sense of what didn't add up. Others may have a different "logic" to how they choose items to pair, so I would encourage more viewpoints to post.

thanks for the comments guys. Mike - check your PM. surprised this isn't getting a lot of love. this is odd jacket and jeans done VERY well. nicely played SG.

Awesome! I really appreciate it. I get what you're saying about trying to put an intuitive feeling into words, but until I get to the point where I can more consistently intuit these things on my own, I'm going to ask a lot of silly questions. Again, I appreciate the time you took to write this out for me. It makes a lot more sense to me now.

Still working on doing better. Life of a grad student, eh? I think this will be considered more presentable though. Taken this morning before I'd really made it to my office.

This is CBD, at least by my standards


Hmmm...jacket´s a bit to tight in the waist and the colour doesn´t flatter your facial tone (in no way intended to be racial). But who cares anyway, your wife is gorgeous.


Boardwalk Empire!


You need to donate that tie to me. NOW!



Baller suit!!


Def not, looks fine to me.

@Morgan: nice suit, looks fantastic!!

Can you hear la crie de la soie?:

Spoozy, a very nice jacket/shirt/tie combo.

I don't like collar pins but I would let that slide. A collar pin, along with a tie clip too (and a very chews and cheap looking one at that) is just too much especially with an understatedly classy tie.

a couple of shots from weekend

In the real world I get more comments when I wear a knit tie than with any other aspect of my outfit.

First of all, shame on you for taking anything I say even remotely seriously. I am many things, but a font of sartorial acumen is not one.

Second of all, I never claimed to love HF's fit today (though I do think it's decent). I think HF gave you a pretty good explanation. To me, your tie has too many competing factors and takes a while for the brain to assess. Great design is pleasing immediately. The square is a collection of weird/bright colors and not immediately complementary to the rest of the fit. I'm not certain what I would pair that with, honestly. Olddog is the guy to follow for tie/pattern/square modeling.

Very credible, acrid. Can't tell what color the suit is, though, because it looks so different in each pic. It might not be working all that well with those shoes, depending on the color. And I think the socks should be a lighter color in any case.

I think the colors here work very well together, and I'm not among those who find the tie/PS combo overly busy. I'm troubled by the fit of the suit, though, but I can't comment on it intelligently b/c the photos aren't very good. Tie's a little short, by the way.

And that makes you just like everybody else, HF.

Armani jacket
BR sweater
Kiton pant
MD belt
PS socks
Prada bluchers
Creed cologne
Tiffany watch