Colour for men (Part 1)

Gentlemen, let's add a bit of colour to our lives. I'll be exploring how we can do this over the next few weeks, as we look forward to Spring.

Here's some inspiration from recent Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter 2013 collections.

Hackett, Rake, Hardy Amies, Richard James, E. Tautz, Alexander McQueen.

Socks appeal for Spring - breaking all the rules

Sartorial experts would have us wearing socks that match our trousers (or pants if you're American; but that gets confusing for those on this side of the pond who don't see the need to match socks and underwear). The reason apparently is that it makes out legs look longer. I don't follow the logic of this advice as you will usually only see a man's socks when he is sitting down; a time when it's hard to judge leg length.

Anyway, rules are made to be broken. I was clearing all the odd socks out of my drawer when I thought I'd try a few colour combinations with my pink, blue and khaki chinos. The blue ones are a very old pair that have survived many years of patching and probably deserve a post of their own one day. Without doing this intentionally most of these combinations are based on complementary colours (at opposite ends of a colour wheel - see below), although others are more harmonious combinations (like blue and purple). If you have an idle moment you can experiment by playing around with your socks, trousers and a colour wheel!

 

Colour combinations 4 - woodland colours

Walking the dog in the park I took some pictures of the remarkable colours. The wood is very much as it was in Autumn, but the warm Spring sunshine is bringing it alive with birds and squirrels. The trees are covered in an almost luminous green lichen and the natural greys, creams, greens, yellows and browns in assorted textures may provide inspiration for the wardrobe of a man of style.

And here's how these colour influences might be used -