Men – Three Style Mistakes You’re Making

There are a million style blogs around writing on the do’s and don’ts for modern day gentleman, and I notice a lot of guys taking this to heart. However as an image consultant my job is to notice the small details that even style conscious gentleman keep making.

Of those mistakes, there are three that occur with scary frequency. These three styles are not often taught, so today I’d like to share you with the three secret style rules that can ruin your outfit:

Shoe Colour – Belt Colour

Now this rule I am sure you have all heard before, right? But the rule doesn’t end there. This is what a lot of people seem to have missed. Yes, you should always match the colour of your shoe to the colour of your belt. But you should also match the material of your shoe, to the material of your belt. For example, if you’re wearing brown suede shoes, you should wear a brown suede belt. If you’re wearing black leather shoes, you should wear a black leather belt.

Pocket Square – Tie Colour/Pattern

A lot of the bigger department stores are tending to beautiful tie sets with a matching pocket square. As a result, a lot of gentleman wanting to ‘up’ their style game are buying these combinations and rocking them all at once. This is a style fail. The rule is that you pocket square should never match your tie, in terms of exact colour and pattern but rather they should compliment each other.

So if you are going to wear a tie and pocket square, rather match the pocket square to the colour of your shirt, or have a pocket square that compliments your tie but doesn’t match it.

Also the type of material used on pocket squares determines the formality. Fine silks, are the height of formality, while textured cotton squares are most informal.

Tie Width – Lapel Width

This is the rule that no one teaches you, but it is something that can easily throw off the proportions of your suit. A lot of guys are favouring these stylish new thin knitted ties, and wearing it with suits with massive lapels. They don’t realise that when you wear a suit with wider lapels, and a thin tie, the suit will look too big for you, or just won’t look right proportionately. Trust your eye though, often it can pick up bad balance.

Match your Metals

This last tip is as simple as it sounds. Whatever metals you’re wearing at any given moment should be matched. For example, the metal on your watch, should match your cufflinks, which in turn match your belt buckle and any other metal you could be wearing.

So silver with silver, and gold and with gold.

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