Shirt/Tie combination advice sought

Hello everyone, I was hoping someone with a better sense of style than myslef would lend me some advice. I've got two shirts that I'm trying to match up with the appropriate ties. The first is a Navy Blue and Light Blue striped shirt; I'm trying to decide the best tie out of these 4 options. I'll probably be wearing Chino's/Khaki's with it and it will be worn to work.

This is a really cool 60's style tie. It has this silver/black/light silver stripe that occurs only once, the rest of the tie is Navy Blue. I really dig this tie:

StripeNavySilverStripe by desmoface, on Flickr


The next is a classic NavyBlue/Red striped deal (love the fat stripes):

StripeNavyRed by desmoface, on Flickr


Next is a Navy Blue/Gray (Charcoal) striped tie:

StripeNavyGray by desmoface, on Flickr


My Wife says I should stick with the solid Navy tie which is a safe (but boring) bet:

StripeNavy by desmoface, on Flickr


Here's a pic of all of them:

StripeNavyAll by desmoface, on Flickr


The next shirt is light blue with white stitching as shown in the picture below - Note the white collar. I was really wanting to wear this nice purple tie with stripes of white, light blue, and charcoal. I'm guessing that the white and light blue stripes would tie (no pun intended) this option the into the shirt. I really wanted to wear this tie with this shirt:

LightBluePurple by desmoface, on Flickr


But, my Wife says I should wear this tie with this shirt and she's a lot more style savvy than I:

LightBlueBigStripe by desmoface, on Flickr

LightBlueAll by desmoface, on Flickr

I work at a large company and it's casual to business casual. I like to dress a little nicer, though, LOL. So, does anybody have any advice? Thanks in advance.
Steve

+1 with your wife on both combinations.

Thanks, Musikmann.

Steve

I only own white shirts. I've not yet had a problem matching ties... ; )

You wouldn't want my advice anyway. It wouldn't end well

That would be too easy for me (white shirt) LOL.

Steve

Alejandro Salemandro said:

I only own white shirts. I've not yet had a problem matching ties... ; )

You wouldn't want my advice anyway. It wouldn't end well

Click to expand...

BTW I have a large selection of striped and criss-cross patterned shirts. My girlfriend calls them sport shirts but I tend to wear them as dress shirts. For that reason I bought several colors of solid ties and I like that combination.

Wife on the first one. The second shirt looks more like a sport shirt rather than a dress shirt, and I'm not sure I'd wear a tie with it. But if you were to wear one, go with the wife again!

Both shirts seem a bit casual to be worn with a tie, but if you must, your wife is right on both choices.

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies.

steve

Yeah, both of those shirts are casualish. The first one is a button-down collar, which should 1) never be worn NOT buttoned down, and 2) be worn (mostly) without a tie. The second one looks like a straight-up casual shirt. Personally, I wouldn't wear either with a tie, but "solid" (really, faux grenadine or something?) navy tie with shirt #1 is the only one that doesn't look outright bad to me. The rest are a mish-mash of different colors and patterns. Try and pair solids and patterns, or at least keep the patterns subtle. Everything except that navy tie have VERY strong patterns, and none of them pair well.

The 60's tie is kinda neat, if a little wide. The "navy" one is worth keeping. Pick one of the "wide" striped ties and shelf the rest. And, in my opinion, trash that second shirt. I'm not a fan.

Hi logisticearth, thanks for the advice. I'm Learning.

steve

The general rule with mixing patterns is to get smaller as you get closer to your body. As with any fashion rule, this is more of a guideline than a rule but in these cases I think it fits. The other part is to wear it confidently. A lot of people just dont like patterns with patterns. It is hard to get that look right. It is much easier when you have a blazer or sweater minimizing the actual exposure of the patterns too.

For the first one, I would actually wear either of the stripes or the solid. A button down shirt is again, technically a sport shirt. I do believe the origins were int he sport of polo, but that has been bastardized over the years and some legit dress shirts have button downs. Trad Prep uses dressy button downs all the time. I would wear a tie with that but a very casual one. The first tie is super cool but unbalanced with the symmetrical bengal strips of the shirt. That one would be damn sharp with a crisp white shirt. Navy tie is the safe bet for sure. I would probably only the the red/blue under a sweater. It may be too much going on otherwise.

For the second, yeah, that really isnt a short to wear a tie with. With that said, I wear ties with non-tie worthy shirts often. The trick is to go very casual on the tie and to do it with confidence. Since that pattern is pretty large I would go with a solid tie. With your options, I would go with your wife.

Interesting reads. I don't wear ties that often, but I've never been a fan of harsh contrasts. For example, if I'm wearing a green shirt, I want a tie with some similar green in it. I also have never been a fan of pattern-on-pattern. It's not that it can't work, it's that I can never get it to work, so I don't even try anymore. Solid shirt with patterned tie, or vice versa for me. I don't even remember the last time I wore a pattered shirt with a tie.

For the 4 options for the striped shirt, I like them in reverse order that you posted the photos ... your wife's fave is mine too, then the blue/grey stripe, then the blue/red, and finally the "60s retro" one which IMHO doesn't work as well (I think it'd be better on a solid shirt, white or light blue or something).

The other shirt I find too casual to be well suited for a tie.

gwsmallwood said:

Interesting reads. I don't wear ties that often, but I've never been a fan of harsh contrasts. For example, if I'm wearing a green shirt, I want a tie with some similar green in it. I also have never been a fan of pattern-on-pattern. It's not that it can't work, it's that I can never get it to work, so I don't even try anymore. Solid shirt with patterned tie, or vice versa for me. I don't even remember the last time I wore a pattered shirt with a tie.

Click to expand...

you are not alone in any of that thinking. Definitely the "cant go wrong" approach. The last year or so I have really been working on pushing my colors though. Not bright and crazy, just to include more and more combos. I am a big fan of navy and could literally go 2 solid weeks wearing blue of some sort so I have to be careful not to fall into a rut there. You can google a color wheel the find the related colors and hues to find stuff that is maybe not the same color family (green and green) but related colors (red and brown). I have had plenty of combos that I totally failed with but have also found some good new ones.

But this is all only an issue if you wear ties often and dont want to be the "Cornflower Blue on Tuesday" guy.