Dress Code For Solid Color Ties

Color statements are very powerful. When a gentleman is dressed in a business suit there are really only two choices for the use of color. Can you guess where? No, it is not correct to use the suit itself as your color statement. That style went out in the 1970's. If you want to see how atrocious that looks just watch any of the old "blacksploitation" films like "Shaft" or at least the moderately interesting ones that express the birth of African American feminism like the films starring "Foxy Brown."

Besides having super cheesy plot devices and low quality filmmaking techniques what you will see in these films is an explosion of colors in clothes which was a fashion disaster in the men's clothes. If you weren't alive then to remember this or if you are now too old and you forgot about it - polyester was in fashion in the 1970's. Polyester suits were made of a chemically produced fabric material that could be dyed almost any color so they did.

Orange, purple, bright pink, chartreuse green, nothing was off limits. Well, if you either missed that era or lived long enough to not remember it, it gives credence to the contemporary fashion rule - that the suit itself is NOT the place for a modern well dressed gentleman to make a brash color statement! Also forget about outlandish shoe color unless you want to look like a clown. The 1970's had platform shoes and every ridiculous expression in accessories that did not make any sense. It was a time of excess.

Those days are over, thank God, and probably won't return again. This is not to say that you cannot make a bold color statement nowadays. It just must be done with a bit more panache and a lot more style.

If the suit is subdued then, by being a nice dark brown, tan, or gray, and the shoes are classy and matched in the same color tone as the suit, where do we go from there? Where is there the freedom of expression in color. There are only two choices as we mentioned at the beginning.

They are the shirt and the tie. Aha! You say, "I knew that!" OK, Mr. Smartie Pants which is it then, the shirt or the tie? Let's look at an example from home design, then you will get the idea. Which is more pleasing to the eye? An ivory painted wall with a clear vase on an off-white colored pedestal (one shade darker than the wall color) with one bright red rose in the vase versus a bright red wall with a clear vase on a dark red pedestal with one white rose in front of it? Can you see in your mind's eye the domination of color? A little red is very tasteful, too much is like a bloodbath.

It is the same with the shirt (like the wall it serves as backdrop) and for the tie (which can sparkle with a vibrant color). Solid color ties are used most effectively in this way. They are dynamic. They are powerful without distraction because they are a single unfettered color and they look the very best in front of the backdrop of a subdued but complimentary solid colored shirt. Set up all the backdrop properly and any sold color tie will make a very dramatic, bold but also classy statement.