Orange - Grey Fox unpeels THE colour for Autumn

Men are now more willing to use colour in their wardrobes, whether in bright blocks or, more discretely, by showing small splashes in socks, ties or pocket squares. Orange, formerly the colour of choice of oil rig and railway workers and health and safety inspectors, is now available in a wide selection of hues for us all to enjoy and is seen in many of this autumn/winter menswear collections.

Sweater Musto - socks Marko John's. What do you think? (With apologies to that wonderful and talented stylist Sarah Gilfillan of Sartoria Lab who bears no responsibility for this post at all).

Sweater Musto - socks Marko John's
Image Grey Fox

Original Penguin - celebrate Spring with colour, checked shirts and men's T-shirts

At last, the weather here in the UK is showing signs of warming up and we can put away tweeds and woollies and reach for cheerfully-coloured men's shirts and T-shirts. We seem to have spent the last six months in dull winter wear, so can now celebrate with splashes of colour in our casual wear.

Adding colour with shirts is easy. Look for checked shirts and colourful men's T-shirts (avoiding wild Iron Maiden logos). Many subtle, but bright designs can be easily found. Tropical and Hawaiian patterns, in particular, are making a joyous return to men's fashions.

One supplier with a good range of checked shirts and T-shirts is Original Penguin. Like so many menswear companies, Original Penguin is aimed at the younger man, but this should never put off the older buyer and many classic gems, checked shirts and T-shirts suitable for all, can be found on the Original Penguin website (links below).

Colour and pattern selection needs to be done carefully when pairing with jeans, trousers, shorts, socks and shoes. Too wild a mix of colour and pattern will not work if you don't have a particularly acute artistic sense of style. Unless you are prepared to experiment, choose single-coloured trousers or shorts to go with brighter checks or patterned T-shirts. Highlight one colour from the shirt, picking it out in the colour of the trousers or jeans - follow a similar approach with shoes, socks and other accessories. See how the yellow in the logo in the image below picks out the gentle yellow of the jeans.

Men are increasingly willing to experiment with brighter colours. Try replacing classic blue denims or khaki chinos with bright reds, oranges, blues, greens or, yes, pink. As an older man, you have the advantage of confidence and a heightened sense of style - use this to mix colours and patterns and dress with panache. Whether the  40 plus male should wear T-shirts with logos is not a debate I want to start here, but why not try - as long as the designs are reasonably restrained.

For more Original Penguin checked shirts look here and for men's T-shirts here.

This post is a partnered post in accordance with my partnership policies here.

Colour for men (Part 2) - do you dress boldly or conservatively?

The instinct in middle age is for a man to dress conservatively. I'm increasingly fighting that tendency as my search for style continues. On the other hand, (I hope) age brings increased confidence and a subtler sense of style, honed by years of observation, enabling a man to be a little bolder.

So, consider suits, for example; do you have to wear grey or dark blue? Could you try something a little more daring, bold checks, purple, bright blue?

Richard James 

Huntsman

The Sartorialist

If your courage doesn't allow such excesses, necessitating neutral or dull colours, try highlighting such neutrality with splashes of colour. That was the approach of many designers showing their AW13 collections.  See my post on what we will be wearing in 2012 for inspiration - and also Colour for Men Part 1.

Young and older wearing variations on a theme.

At a recent party for my 21 year old twin nephew and niece I posed with members of the younger crowd wearing coloured chinos and jeans. In case you can't spot me, I'm second from the left.

The overall styles were similar with a few differences. The cut of the blazers worn by most of the younger men was short and they had one more shirt button undone than I did. They also wore very pointed brogues, what decades ago were called "winkle pickers"; not my style at all. Most wore their trousers long, rather than with turn-ups. Despite these small differences, the picture illustrates that fashion for all ages is generally centred on well-tried classics - here chinos or jeans, blazers and shirts. 

I was wearing a brown linen jacket (usually buttoned up) and tan Loake Chester brogues. I discussed the blue brown colour combination a few months ago - see here. These colours were brought together by an old  Liberty silk pocket square, pictured below.

Picking out colours to pull contrasting clothes together

I would normally be wary of mixing an earthy green jacket with bright blue chinos (why I don't know, they are colours we see all around us on a sunny day). I noticed that my Harris tweed jacket has a thin line of the same blue woven into it which helps the two contrasting garments work together. Try this approach with completely contrasting colours where a co-ordinated look helps avoid an unpleasant clash of tones.

And yes, I did say I was putting the tweed jacket away for the summer - in doing so I annoyed the weather gods to the extent that London has been wet and cold ever since.

Rolled chinos, contrasting socks

To show that I listen to my readers' kind suggestions, I've taken a photo of rolled up pink chinos with contrasting bright blue socks, as suggested following my post here.

I'm still not convinced it's me, but that's searching for style.

Colour combinations 3 - blue and black shades

I found this magpie's wing while walking the dog. Look how well Mother Nature has combined blue and black.

Photo Grey Fox

OK, we think of black and blue as bruising, but different shades of black (grey, charcoal) and blue go well together in any setting from formal business suit/shirt/tie/shoes combination through to blue jeans with black or charcoal knitted top.  Give it a try, particularly for a smart/casual look.

The Sartorialist

And for my female visitors -

The Sartorialist

Colour combinations 2 - inspiration from nature

In my last colour combinations post I mentioned blue and brown as a pairing new to me.  As a man of traditional inclination I've always stuck to conventional colours in my clothes, but now, in my search for taste in middle age, I am open to inspiration form any quarter, including nature.  How about green and purple?

These pictures of heather in full flower were take on a happy holiday in the Lake District last August - some ideas here for a tweedy tie, suit or shirt and jumper combination maybe?

Colour combinations - blue and brown

Being at the start of a journey towards middle-aged style I still come across colour combinations which are totally new to me.  I found these photographs recently of blue and brown partnerships which struck me as remarkably successful.

From The Sartorialist

Chocolate knitted tie

I love knitted ties and the search is on for the right shade of brown and a suitable cornflower blue shirt with which to wear it!