Would you care to help me learn how to match ties?

[collegeguy88]

Here are the dress shirts I regularly wear: http://i.imgur.com/z0oaFDW.jpg

I have a small collection of ties, but am pretty bad at matching. In particular, I have no freaking clue what ties to wear with the bottom middle two dress shirts. Would anyone provide specific suggestions for those shirts?

I've read some pretty good general guides here and elsewhere, and remain open to those suggestions as well. Thank you very much.

 

[mcbrown]

What about your suits/jackets?

 

[collegeguy88]

Thank you for thinking of that. Nobody at my office wears jackets when not in external meetings. Would prefer not to wear ties without a jacket, but it is required. When wearing a suit, it is generally charcoal or navy.

 

[MSchott]

What color pants do you wear with them? I generally wear a pink shirt with gray slacks and the tie will incorporate both colors. I'm one who feels the tie should should incorporate some of the shirt color. For example today I am wearing red and white striped shirt, navy slacks and a blue tie that has a muted square pattern with red accents. No suit coat.

 

[charliebrown2]

anything from blue-ish to gray-ish for the pink shirt

the green shirt is hard. I'd wear that one tie-less

 

[collegeguy88]



What color pants do you wear with them? I generally wear a pink shirt with gray slacks and the tie will incorporate both colors. I'm one who feels the tie should should incorporate some of the shirt color. For example today I am wearing red and white striped shirt, navy slacks and a blue tie that has a muted square pattern with red accents. No suit coat.

 

Hm. I would say that my go-to pant colors are navy, grey/charcoal, and black. Thank you very much.

 

[archibaldleach]

Pink Shirt - I like all kinds of blue ties here, especially darker navy and midnight blue ties. A burgundy colored tie (NOT red) will also work nicely.

Green Shirt - Never worn a shirt like that before and struggling to think of a good tie combination.

Bottom Left Button Down Collar Shirt - I'd reserve this for casual wear. Button-down collars can work with ties (though ideally not with suits) but this button-down just screams casual to me.

In General - White shirts can work nicely with navy, light blue, grey, silver and black ties. White can also take burgundy but it looks better on blue IMO. Blue shirts can work well with a lot of colors. I'd avoid a black tie on a blue shirt and any blue tie that is too close in color to the shirt, but pink, shades of purple, a dark navy on a light blue shirt, yellow, rust, green, etc will be fine. I think a blue shirt is the hardest to screw up matching with your tie. For off-white / light yellow shirts, I'd go with darker blue and burgundy again.

If you're terrible at matching, buy a lot of blue shirts. There are many different shades of blue and patterns, but I'd stick to the lighter ones for shirtings. Consider your trousers / potential jacket as well to make sure you aren't too matchy. Oh, and buy grey trousers. They really are the most versatile. Navy is fine for suits, but I rarely wear navy trousers (some around here like them but I think they are the minority). Medium grey will look better than charcoal if you are just wearing the trousers with no jacket.

 

[collegeguy88]



Pink Shirt - I like all kinds of blue ties here, especially darker navy and midnight blue ties. A burgundy colored tie (NOT red) will also work nicely.

Green Shirt - Never worn a shirt like that before and struggling to think of a good tie combination.

Bottom Left Button Down Collar Shirt - I'd reserve this for casual wear. Button-down collars can work with ties (though ideally not with suits) but this button-down just screams casual to me.

In General - White shirts can work nicely with navy, light blue, grey, silver and black ties. White can also take burgundy but it looks better on blue IMO. Blue shirts can work well with a lot of colors. I'd avoid a black tie on a blue shirt and any blue tie that is too close in color to the shirt, but pink, shades of purple, a dark navy on a light blue shirt, yellow, rust, green, etc will be fine. I think a blue shirt is the hardest to screw up matching with your tie. For off-white / light yellow shirts, I'd go with darker blue and burgundy again.

If you're terrible at matching, buy a lot of blue shirts. There are many different shades of blue and patterns, but I'd stick to the lighter ones for shirtings. Consider your trousers / potential jacket as well to make sure you aren't too matchy. Oh, and buy grey trousers. They really are the most versatile. Navy is fine for suits, but I rarely wear navy trousers (some around here like them but I think they are the minority). Medium grey will look better than charcoal if you are just wearing the trousers with no jacket.

Thanks a lot. That is so helpful. Do you think a pattern or a solid burgundy tie would be better for the pink shirt? Examples of solid ties I'm considering: http://www.thetiebar.com/order_page....asp&pg=0&categoryIds=31,24&optionValueIds=14 and http://www.thetiebar.com/order_page...es.asp&pg=0&categoryIds=31,24&optionValueIds=

 

[archibaldleach]



Thanks a lot. That is so helpful. Do you think a pattern or a solid burgundy tie would be better for the pink shirt? Examples of solid ties I'm considering: http://www.thetiebar.com/order_page....asp&pg=0&categoryIds=31,24&optionValueIds=14 and http://www.thetiebar.com/order_page...es.asp&pg=0&categoryIds=31,24&optionValueIds=

I love both patterned and solid burgandy ties, but a solid is probably easiest for someone who is just getting used to trying to match various shirts and ties. A very subtle pattern such as pin dots or a thin stripe or two could potentially work. I'd get used to seeing different colors and how they work together before experimenting too much with patterns. Eventually, you'll develop more of a sense of this and can start experimenting with bolder patterns. I'd also go with a silk tie as opposed to wool ties (I believe one of the examples you showed was wool). Wool ties tend to be a more casual, and I'd say advanced look. Best to master the basics first.

 

[recondite]

The shirts you present are no great challenge to pair with ties, assuming your suits are all some shade of grey, some shade of blue medium or darker, or some shade of brown tan or lighter, such as cream.

You shirts will match with black, charcoal, grey, navy, expresso or bitter chocolate, brown, bottle green, green, burgundy, or red ties which are solid or largely solid such as grenadine weaves, knit, fine dot, medium dot, one or two pattern neat ties, where the dots are white, blue, grey, or brown and neat patterns feature one light neat or a light neat pattern combined with a dark one.

Only the small tattersail shirt in the bottom left of your photo would be a challenge for a fine dot tie, depending on the spacing or scale of the dots on the tie. Better you go with a wide medium white dot on a dark solid background so that you will always have a good match.

Your secret for success with matching any shirt to a particular tie, is contrast; in this case, very high contrast.

Since your shirts are all light in tone, a much darker tone; e.g., black, charcoal, navy, expresso or bitter chocolate, bottle green, or burgundy,tie that is solid or with a contrasting lighter dot or neat pattern is sure to match all of your shirts. For example. A wide medium white dot on a background of black, charcoal, navy, expresso or bitter chocolate, bottle green, or burgundy of would go excellently with any of your shirts.

Although all the solid ties listed above would go with your shirts such as black, charcoal, navy, expresso or bitter chocolate, bottle green, or burgundy,, the one indispensable tie for you would be black knit or grenadine, as it goes with everything except huge black awning stripes on a lighter background. For a dot tie, pick a widely spaced medium white dot on a background of black, charcoal, navy, expresso or bitter chocolate, bottle green, or burgundy. And the same for one pattern neat ties where the neat pattern is either high or low contrast, and for two pattern neat pattern ties where one pattern is much lighter than the background and the second is very close in tone to the dark background color; e.g., the second neat would be primarily navy or burgundy in color when on a dark brown or bottle green background.

When you're not sure how to pattern or color match to an existing shirt, just go super dark and solid with your tie for an easy match, even if that color is black.

 

[GBR]

There is no such thing as a guide just common sense and a 'feeling' for the task. Just look about yourself in the street and take a mental note of what you see.

 

[chogall]

Take a picture of what you wear daily; it doesn't take a Picasso to see what works.

 

[mvxwell]

since the standard attire at your office is tie but no jacket (much worse than jacket with no tie, imo), it doesn't seem like your colleagues are sartorially picky enough to even judge you and your tie. that being said, start wearing a jacket in the office anyway -- or a cardigan, even -- and you will stand out and maybe even change the dress culture at the office!

back to matching your tie -- those above have given great tips so i won't even bother.

 

[Varmant]

I would offer suggestions but for the time being, my current status does not allow my posts (or rather posts with attachments such as photos) to appear right away. When this improves I wil be happy to make some recommendations.

 

[sborg]

You can use plain navy tie, striped blue tie, and chocolate brown ties (for that green shirt)