3-piece Suit: Vest is a Different Shade of Navy

[felixmenswear858]

Hi all,

I'm dealing with a conundrum. In an attempt to convert my two-piece navy suit to a three-piece suit, I bought a navy vest off the rack while traveling in Europe. When I came back to match it with my navy suit at home, it was pretty close in color, but if you look at it closely, you notice that the vest is a slightly different shade of navy than the suit.

Is this a faux paus? If so, how bad of one? Would you notice? I actually think the sightly different shade makes it look less monochromatic, but I believe in sticking with sartorial traditions, so am very conflicted. I spend a lot of timing reading about menswear, so would hate it if people thought I was a clueless bum. I can't return the vest anymore.

Background: My closet contains 5 two-piece suits. I love wearing them whenever I can, but don't have that many occasions since no one wears them to work anymore (I work in private equity investing). I have recently rediscovered the three-piece suit and am obsessed with the look, and would like to convert my existing two-piece suits into three-piece ones. I would prefer to not have to buy another suit to get that look since I barely get to wear my current ones. However, other than going to a bespoke tailor (even that is not guaranteed and mine is located in Europe), it's hard to find an exact match color wise. I am quite detail-oriented (almost obsessive) when it comes to my clothes, so would prefer not to wear the mismatched look if the community thinks it's a rookie mistake - thought objectively, I think the slightly different shades of navy look fine.

Appreciate all your input!

 

[maxalex]

The only way to perfectly match a separate vest is to have one cut from the same cloth as the original suit—and even then, there is a chance that the original suit, depending on wear and dry cleaning, may have changed color somewhat.

But even if your suits are bespoke or MTM and you can identify the cloth, it could be hard or impossible to track down more fabric as mills constantly cycle through patterns and colors.

Your other option is to buy a vest of contrasting texture and weave such as brocade, although this risks veering into cosplay. A private equity investor may not want his office attire to suggest a riverboat gambler.

 

[breakaway01]

I wouldn’t do it. Slightly mismatched looks like you tried to match but failed.

I don’t personally do this but if I had to, I’d try a dove grey vest with your navy suit.

 

[stuffedsuperdud]

OP that's never going to work as it'll always look a bit off. The only way to do this is to get all 3 pieces at the same time. A contrasting vest, e.g. gray glen plaid for a navy suit or a pale one for a gray suit might work though it's kind of an unusual look in 2023. The Lane Pryce character on Mad Men did this a lot and it wasn't overly loud (I think he even had a navy vest with a gray suit once), but he's a fictional character from 1963 whose life kinda sucked, so there's that.

A private equity investor may not want his office attire to suggest a riverboat gambler.

Tomato tomahto.

 

[Sirguywhosmiles]

I wouldn’t do it. Slightly mismatched looks like you tried to match but failed.

I don’t personally do this but if I had to, I’d try a dove grey vest with your navy suit.

Or, slightly more casually, a sleeveless knitted v-neck or sleeveless cardigan.
May not be what you are looking for if you want a three-piece for a very formal look.

 

[Alan74]

The Lane Pryce character on Mad Men did this a lot and it wasn't overly loud (I think he even had a navy vest with a gray suit once), but he's a fictional character from 1963 whose life kinda sucked, so there's that.

This link has several photos of Lane in contrasting vests. Some I think are pretty blah, others I like quite a bit. It should give you an idea, at least.

Lane Pryce's Clothes In Mad Men

An overview of Lane Pryce's distinctly put together British style on AMC's Mad Men, including his ever present vest, tweeds, and pinstripes.

www.gentlemansgazette.com