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Dark trousers: what odd jacket?

Discussion in 'Classic Menswear' started by Balfour, Apr 7, 2013.

  1. Balfour

    Balfour Senior member

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    The conventional forvm wisdom is to avoid dark trousers with odd jackets.

    With a dark odd jacket (e.g. a navy blazer), the combination is condemned as lacking sufficient contrast.

    With a lighter odd jacket, the combination is condemned on the basis that 'darker jacket / lighter trousers' works better.

    But what low-contrast or light jacket / dark trouser combinations do people think work well?

    My contribution: the low contrast blazer and greys can work very well as a formal and classical combination (despite criticisms to the contrary), but easy to foul up if the fine tuning is off:

    Beppe:

    http://www.styleforum.net/t/309586/whnay-s-good-taste-thread/4950_50#post_6082629
    [​IMG]
    Cantabrigian:

    http://www.styleforum.net/t/309586/whnay-s-good-taste-thread/5050_50#post_6084163

    [​IMG]


    Beyond low contrast blazers, despite Foo's explanation later in the thread, I think that Rubinacci looks pretty good here:

    http://www.styleforum.net/t/309586/whnay-s-good-taste-thread/5000_50#post_6082679

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2013
    Balfour, Apr 7, 2013
    Balfour, Apr 7, 2013
    #1


  3. mensimageconsultant

    mensimageconsultant Senior member

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    Body type greatly influences whether dark trousers and light-colored jacket works. It actually doesn't work well on Mr. Rubinacci, if only because the uniformly light colors above the waist make him look top-heavy (which could be remedied with a darker tie to move the eye toward the center). There isn't enough contrast in the Cantabrigian example (which might look like artificial suit creation to someone with some color blindness or in very low lighting). The formality observation is a good one.
     
    mensimageconsultant, Apr 9, 2013
    mensimageconsultant, Apr 9, 2013
    #2


  5. RDiaz

    RDiaz Senior member

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    Rubinacci is often seen in a light colored jacket and darker trousers. I don't think it looks bad on him at all [​IMG]

    How else would you wear a cream linen jacket?
     
    RDiaz, Apr 9, 2013
    RDiaz, Apr 9, 2013
    #3


  7. DocHolliday

    DocHolliday Senior member Dubiously Honored

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    SF's "darker coat" thing is very much that -- an SF thing. A relatively recent one, at that.
     
    DocHolliday, Apr 9, 2013
    DocHolliday, Apr 9, 2013
    #4 1


  9. bertie

    bertie Senior member

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    It seems to me that the primary goal is to avoid looking like a mismatched suit. This can be done in many ways: colour contrast between top and bottom, textural contrast, etc. Having to wear solely light grey flannel or tan cavalry twill pants with odd jackets would seem limiting (though would be safely within conventional bounds). Further, if I recall correctly, most books of odd jacketing fabric I have seen show as many lighter colours as darker. I agree that low colour contrast will increase the level of formality while a very high colour contrast will have the opposite effect.
     
    bertie, Apr 9, 2013
    bertie, Apr 9, 2013
    #5


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