I was watching “25th Hour” (a great movie btw) and in one scene Barry Pepper playing a wall street yuppie-type has this exchange with in an intern:
Pepper: You know you’re wearing a striped shirt with a striped tie, you know that right?
Intern: Yeah, I do it for the ladies…
Pepper: Well do the ladies ever tell you you look like an optical fucking illusion?
I personally didn’t think the intern looked funny or anything like that but maybe that’s because I’m generally not keen on these sorts of subtle fashion faux pas. I mean in this picture the Game is wearing a striped shirt and a striped tie (and suspenders + belt) and he looks pretty damn sharp to me.
So can any fashionistas help me out?
I’m no sartorial expert, but a website I found once (and have lost since) explained that the key was ‘balancing’ the patterns. You would want to avoid patterns that were similar in size, instead using (say) a tie with wide stripes against a shirt with thin stripes. I’m sure someone’ll better explain (or correct) soon.
Ow! I mean, I’m not exactly a fashionista or anything by any stretch, but ow! That made my brain hurt.
Stripes one way. Stripes the other way. Curlicue patterns on the suspenders. My eyes are begging him to just let them rest, just for a minute, oh please please…
Waaayyyy too busy. It’s like the guy has an aversion to solid colors.
Wearing a belt and braces at the same time suggests you have an pathological fear of your pants falling down. One or the other.
Patterns should be dramatically different - fine stripes vs bold stripes, and not parallel to one another. I vaguely remember that scene and Barry Pepper was either totally on the money or way off, but I forget which.
That picture is really unattractive, too. The stripes are almost exactly the same size and he does indeed look like a fucking optical illusion.
If you don’t consider yourself a stylish person an excellent rule is to never wear more than 1 pattern on your tie, shirt, and suit. But don’t wear a patterned suit with a solid tie and shirt - that’s not nice. If you get bored with solid color suits, make sure your shirt is solid and that your tie isn’t the same type of pattern as your suit. So, while you could wear a bold repp stripe tie with a pin stripe suit, if you’re worried about it just wear a non-striped tie.
Personally I think a pin stripe suit with a vertical striped shirt is one of the worst looks that nobody ever complains about. It’s my own little pet peeve. You`d be better off in pleated pants and a black belt with brown shoes than a pin stripe suit and striped shirt. Blech. Way to make your entire body look like an optical illusion.
I think it’s an Uncanny Valley thing – they should be dramatically different OR exactly the same, but to have them be close-but-no-cigar jangles the eye.
I remember in the movie Jungle Fever, the costumer dressed Wesley Snipes in a shirt-and-tie combo that was made from the same (silk, I think) fabric, and it looked really sharp. IIRC, the fabric was pinstriped, and the stripes ran vertically on the shirt and diagonally on the tie.
Heh I guess I’m the only one that likes his outfit. I usually don’t take my fashion cues from gangster rappers, but I figured a photographer would’ve dressed him for the shoot. Maybe he’s committing several fashion heresies but I stand by my opinion that he looks sharp. The outfit probably wouldn’t work on most people (me included), but I think it fits him.
Hmm… Maybe it’s not such a bad thing that I’ve let my mom and SOs dress me for most of my life after all…
Well anyway, so I guess the best answer is avoid it unless you really know what you’re doing.
HA! That’s the pic I was just searching for on google images (unsuccessfully). It was red and white/cream striped and it was a little crazy but looked good. For the regular guy, though, keep one subdued and the other more graphic
Sometimes. You see a lot of that type of shirt and tie pairing in GQ or Esquire and that would be hard for most people to pull off, but it could be done if you were rail thin, had a fashion forward hairstyle, and had a job doing something that didn’t require going to work for a conservative profession like a lawyer or an accountant.
