Discussion Thread for "Practical Thoughts on Coherent Combinations for Beginners" - Page 8

Originally Posted by F. Corbera 

1. Navigate all elements of each “fit” to one point in the path from country to city: get your act in line.
In the previous post, I introduced the idea of selecting elements that compose coat-and-tie ensembles based on where each element places between the continuums from country/casual/private to city/formal/public. I will refer to this as “country to city” from now on, but keep in mind that I do not necessarily mean this literally.
Some of you spend your professional or working life in an environment that expects suit and tie from every man. (I will ignore you for the moment, but will include you later.)
In contrast, many of you do not.
Many contemporary men have professional or working lives today in which a coat and tie look is an elective choice. In fact, quite a few of the members who post on Style Forum point out that their decision to wear coat and tie is part of an expression of individuality, aesthetics, or even eccentricity…the social penalties for which are often mild or nonexistent today because dressing like a slob has introduced a convenient low threshold of workplace tolerance for the ways that men dress (women, too, as it turns out...but that is another issue.)
Moreover, outside of the workplace, expectations of coat and tie are in full scale retreat. So, wearing it socially is even more a manifestation of choice rather than of convention.
It is in this combination of freedom on one hand with being new to coat and tie on the other that creates a the potential for the type of problem that you, as a beginner, will want to avoid.
Please look at this chart which is admittedly bereft of wit or humor:

The type of look that results from the first set of decisions is probably the most common look presented on Style Forum right now. The colors might be coordinated (well, sometimes.) The patterns and textures might collaborate (honestly? not often.) The presence or absence of contrast might be manipulated (we hope.) But, even after all those boxes are checked, the resulting “fits” are often cacophonous or jarring.
The second type of look, and the consequences that flow from it which we will discuss later in this thread, is the look that is barely represented anymore on SF as members who are grounded in an understanding of the relationships of country to city have redirected, curtailed, or stopped their activities here.
This is the point missed about, oh, the CBD (Conservative Business Dress) thread. The fact that CBD approximately aligns the sliders in one band does not mean that classic dress is confined to that set of combinations.
Why are so many guys all over the map within a single outfit? After all, cheap access to a wide variety of well-made clothes has probably never been so pervasive, nor the variety of choice so extensive. The world lays its goods at the feet of nearly every man. So, why is there such incoherence?
I conclude that there are two reasons.
First, many of the currently-active posters are over-reaching their environment. You have consciously made the decision to dress in tailored clothes, or wish to do so at a level of refinement, atypical among those with whom you interact personally. Your first step, then, is to smack the pick axe at some point in the city spectrum. But you have doubts. It seems “too formal,” the ice too cold. So, you begin the process of rusticating your city look: “Hello, crazy socks. Welcome to my breast pocket, multi-colored square. Take a seat around my neck, wooly tie.”
Second, you just have not learned what goes together. You did not learn it or observe it around you growing up. Your friends and work mates do not know either. And all the books, magazines and material online seem to offer advice only on those three basics: color coordination; pattern and texture coordination; and contrast combination.
The most practical way that beginners active on Style Forum who have developed some facility with the basics can achieve more harmonious ensembles/outfits/fits is (1) apply some fresh, objective thinking to your personal context in which you wear coat and tie and (2) if you are not at the very extreme end of the city spectrum, dial back your entire ensemble to the point that makes sense for your circumstances of life.
What I just wrote will be very unpopular. As a group (and I include myself), we are biased toward admiring the dresser who miraculously succeeds with the effortless "twist" on the conventional.
As a beginner, resist making this bias manifest in your own ensembles.
We look next at several Style Forum examples illustrating how this works and I will develop these points further.