By Kelly Price
When looking at men’s formal wear you need to follow some simple basic guidelines to get an instant classic look which projects a sense of style.
Getting the right look with men’s formal wear is not difficult, if you follow the image guidelines below.
Your suit
In men’s formal wear let’s start with choosing a formal suit.
1. Style
Changes, but you can't go wrong with a single-breasted, solid color suit in black, grey or navy blue and always remember a single-breasted suit will make you look slimmer and sleeker in appearance.
In men’s formal wear a stylish suit can conjure up a number of images, all of them positive.
A suit can make you look powerful, mature, conservative, or sexy. Remember, most women love men in suits!
2. Fabrics and Patterns
Wool is always a safe option when buying a suit. It looks good and wears well.
Worsted wools are lightweight for spring and summer. Gabardine wools are heavier for winter. Wool Crepes are lightweight with softer finishes. Flannel wools are heaviest. Patterns for interview suits are limited to solids, stripes (pinstripe, chalk stripe, beaded-stripe, multistripe), Glen plaids, and checks (hounds-tooth, windowpane, and herringbone).
Picking The Right Shirt
Generally men with narrow faces can choose collars that are wider, to help broaden their faces; conversely, men with wider faces should choose collars that are narrower, to help lengthen their faces.
Ties
Suits come in basic styles and colors, but ties let you show your individuality within a formal look.
If you want to make a bold statement wear a patterned tie with a patterned shirt, make sure that the color schemes are the same and that the patterns go in the same direction.
Finally, don’t forget the Length: It should hit the top of your belt buckle and the deal width of ties is between 3 and 4 inches.
Men’s Formal Wear Combining Tie’s Shirts & Suits
When choosing a jacket-shirt-and-tie trio, match its level of color contrast to your personal colouring.
Your colouring consists of your complexion and hair color.
If you're coloring is high-contrast i.e. dark hair and light skin, or vice versa--your jacket, tie, and shirt combo should be high contrast, too. But if your hair-hide contrast is softer and lighter i.e. you're blond or gray-haired with pale skin, or dark-skinned with dark hair--you should go for lower-contrast clothes.
Two different scales For Balance When you're combining two like patterns in the jacket-shirt-tie triangle, they should be of different gauges.
If your suit has pinstripes 3/4 inch apart, your tie should have significantly broader or thinner bands. If your suit is a striped one (with lines more than an inch apart), your shirt's stripes should be narrower and closer together.
If you wear two different designs within the lapel triangle--say, a checked shirt and a striped tie, or a striped suit and repeating-medallion tie--they should be different scales in size If your shirt has a narrow stripe, your tie needs a wider stripe i.e. pair large with small.
De Emphasize
Choose clothes that de-emphasize your extremes.
If you're short, look for strong vertical elements: pinstriped suits, two-button jackets. If you're very thin, choose a jacket with wider shoulders. If you have a heavier build then Wear darker colors and go monotone from top to bottom.
Watches
The first thing to look for in a man's watch is a large face, as these designs are generally accepted by everyone as looking stylish.
Get a nice belt
Don't forget your belt you want quality, a good quality belt doesn’t have to be expensive and is money well spent.
Your belt color should be coordinated with your footwear - black with black, brown with brown.
Shoes
Black is the traditional safe color for work but Brown or ox blood colors can also look stylish.
You can also use a variety of styles including loafers, wingtips, round-toe, or the trendier pointy-tipped shoe.
Shoes are no place to economize on quality. For men, shoes are the final detail and are one of the areas all women notice.
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Men’s formal wear can really make a great impression if worn in the right way.
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