Broke and Bespoke

Thinking through an Outfit: Maintaining Balance with a Splash of Color 

So I’ve been meaning to pair these ‘Copen Blue’ Dockers Alpha Khakis with this tie since the pants first arrived several weeks ago. 

I thought the subtle blue striping in the mostly grey and red tie would complement the pants nicely. Though I’m not one for uniforms, and almost always enjoy a little color in my outfit, I try to stay this side of excessive for the most part.

In order to make the blues in the pants and tie stand out more, I knew I wanted a jacket and shirt that wouldn’t speak more loudly than the pants or tie. I went with a simple tan jacket from Dormeuil, and a white with tan striped shirt from Zanella. But I also didn’t want to leave the bold red stripes in the tie to be left alone as the only spark of red in the outfit, so I went with a red gingham pocket square which I recently purchased via Ivy Inspired’s newly opened shop.

If you are, like me, one who enjoys color and veering a little off the beaten path of the neutral blue/grey combos (which do, by the way, always look good), be sure to think about maintaining a sense of color and pattern balance. By all means, break sartorial ‘rules,’ but try not to overwhelm with too much of one thing, and too little of another.

Getting dressed each day should be a fun and creative process, not one where you feel constrained by ‘rules’ created over the last several centuries by classes of people whose leisurely pursuits have become anachronistic, or over the last several months by marketing gurus whose interests lie only partially in the aesthetic. Imagine a world where the Surrealists, Dadaists, and Cubists had allowed the suffocating rules of realism to hinder their desire to create something new. I, for one, am glad that they did not, and that we do not…

*As an extra note, I just saw on the Dockers website that they’ve begun to release some great Alpha Khaki corduroys in Fall colorways. Definitely worth getting a pair or two into  your cold weather pant rotation.

*     *     *     *     *

Pants: Dockers Alpha Khakis in Copen Blue, courtesy of Dockers

Jacket: Dormeuil, thrifted $3

Shirt: Zanella, thrifted ~$4 (one of my earliest fine shirt findings back in Michigan)

Tie: Gianni Butti, thrifted $2

Pocket Square: The Ivy Inspired Shop, $8

Shoes: Nordstrom House Label, Nordstrom Rack $35