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Color for Men Case Study: Some Issues in Applying the System to Bluemagic

bluemagic

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First issue: I'm suppose to be a winter. According to page 64, winters should avoid tan trenchcoats. Do I look bad here? Or would I look better in a gray trenchcoat? Am I really not a true winter?
11-28-2008-3.jpg
I feel that brown does make me look a little more sallow, but perhaps not unacceptably so:
11-29-2008-4.jpg
I am supposed to wear black shoes for business, but I simply like brown shoes much better. I think part of the problem is that I am a "natural" (p.183) in terms of clothing "personality", which lends itself to tan over gray, and brown over black, which clashes with my skin color, perhaps. Do I look much better in "true winter" clothes?
12-04-2008-1.jpg
12-02-2008-1.jpg
 

JayJay

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Originally Posted by bluemagic
First issue:

I'm suppose to be a winter. According to page 64, winters should avoid tan trenchcoats.

Do I look bad here? Or would I look better in a gray trenchcoat? Am I really not a true winter?

11-28-2008-3.jpg



The trench looks fine to me. However, there are different shades of tan. From personal experience, British tan, which has a goldish color, tends to make me look washed out, so I avoid it. Tans with more of a grayish tent look much better on me.
 

bluemagic

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You're also a winter, JayJay? Thanks for the comments.
 

JayJay

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Originally Posted by bluemagic
You're also a winter, JayJay? Thanks for the comments.
That's what I've been told, but I'm not really sure. I just know that goldish tans and olive colors make me looked washed out.
 

tlmusic

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Traditionally, women and men treat color differently. Matching colors to complexion is more a feminine approach than a traditional masculine one. Males tend to match their clothes to their surroundings. Black shoes mesh with the soot of the city, and gray suits harmonize with the granite and marble of the metropolis. Naval uniforms are blue, to match the sea. Dinner clothes (tuxedos, etc.) are black like the night. The tweed jacket is made of the colors of the English countryside, and was originally designed to be camouflage. Brown shoes (like brougues) were intended for tromping around in the dirt and grass of the countryside. Even the colors and patterns on neckties often reflect nature, like club ties with brown dogs on them, or ties with flowers. There are many books claiming to match people's complexion and hair to optimum clothing colors. Probably the most famous books are by Carole Jackson, but the most detailed one I have seen is Color Me Confident by Veronique Henderson and Pat Henshaw. It is a book for women, and it claims there are many more color groups than the original four seasons approach. It does make for a fascinating read. After spending some time studying the subject of color, I have come to the conclusion that most of the color guidelines in the books do not apply to men's clothes. To the OP, I personally wouldn't worry too much about color analysis. I will say that the brown tweed jacket makes you look like you're going to the country or the University. The "Winter" color outfits make you look like you would be more at home in an urban environment.
 

tlmusic

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Originally Posted by bluemagic
First issue: I'm suppose to be a winter. According to page 64, winters should avoid tan trenchcoats.
The books also stress that it is the clothes that you wear right next to your face that make the most difference. So, if you are worried about the brown trench coat, you can wear a "wintery" blue shirt. Remember, though, that trench coats are traditionally brown because they were designed to work well in trenches.
Originally Posted by bluemagic
I am supposed to wear black shoes for business, but I simply like brown shoes much better. I think part of the problem is that I am a "natural" (p.183) in terms of clothing "personality", which lends itself to tan over gray, and brown over black, which clashes with my skin color, perhaps.
If you like brown shoes, by all means wear them. You may want to consider the message that your color choice of shoes will convey. Black shoes say "business", "city" and "formal". Brown shoes say "friendly", "casual", "country". These are, of course, generalizations.
 

bluemagic

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Originally Posted by justsayno
bluemagic, try pink.

The icy pink for business wear, and the true pinks for casual (according to Jackson)?
 

tlmusic

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Originally Posted by bluemagic
The icy pink for business wear, and the true pinks for casual (according to Jackson)?
At the risk of sounding too much like FNB, I would say that the pinks to check out for business would be the ones that the English tie and shirt manufacturers use. Check out the pinks of Harvie and Hudson and Turnbull and Asser. At least you will have shades of pink that would be accepted in England as businesswear. Pink is not so popular in the US or Canada, so it's a "handle with care" color. FWIW I wear pink shirts or ties for business sometimes.
 

bluemagic

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Originally Posted by tlmusic
The books also stress that it is the clothes that you wear right next to your face that make the most difference. So, if you are worried about the brown trench coat, you can wear a "wintery" blue shirt.

Yep, I've been slowly intuiting that. Not sure why Carol Jackson doesn't mention the "next to face" thing; perhaps it's too complicated for beginners, not sartorialists like us?
bigstar[1].gif


If you like brown shoes, by all means wear them. You may want to consider the message that your color choice of shoes will convey. Black shoes say "business", "city" and "formal". Brown shoes say "friendly", "casual", "country". These are, of course, generalizations.
I like the brown shoe connotations more.
smile.gif
 

mmkn

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Originally Posted by bluemagic
11-28-2008-3.jpg


It's not the tan that you can't wear, it's the tan with too much yellow/gold in it. The above trenchcoat color does bring out the green/olive/yellow hues of your Asian complexion, and so makes you look more towards "sickly," in my eyes. Plus, you're in a dormitory's laundry room with fluorescent lights all over the place, not an accurate assessment.

There are tans that have a blackish-blue shading to it, some call it stone, that works.

How much is too much yelllow/gold? Only you can respond to that. It's like food, some like 3 stars spicy and some like 5 stars.

One can't deny that some colors overpower or make sickly one's complexion, but one can centainly claim to not understand (believe) it . . . and belief and expectation determine the outcome.

- M
 

SkinnyGoomba

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i think alot of it has to do with lighting in these pictures.

Though i will say you look better in the winter colors.
 

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