How to accessorize your suits with your neckwear

Wear your neckties in style

Necktie

The most common and classic route to take with neckwear. The tie can be traced back to the time of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) when Croatian mercenaries from the Military Frontier in French service, wearing their traditional small, knotted neckerchiefs, aroused the interest of the Parisians. The new article of clothing started a fashion craze in Europe where both men and women wore pieces of fabric around their necks. Today, it is a sign of a chic and mature gentleman. Always buy silk ties, anything else will look cheap. When choosing a tie, make sure that you have a particular suit and shirt in mind to match. If you are wearing a black (or navy) suit with a white dress shirt and attending functions that are more conservative, then a solid black tie is always the number one choice. Fun dinners and parties leave more room for coloured and patterned ties. Consider dots, stripes, or other bold patterns. Bright stripes in mixes of red, blue, and green, are in at the moment. But keep in mind, when venturing out to patterns and vibrant colours, always ensure that it is not pulling away from both the suit and shirt, it should in fact enhance them both.

Whatever you do, make sure to tie your ties correctly. A badly-tied ties are asdistracting and unrefined as socks bunched around your ankles or pants that are too short. A crooked tie can absolutely ruin an otherwise perfect outfit. It’s right below your face, so everyone will notice it, for better or for worse.

Finally, skinny ties have been on the scene for some time, and they will be sticking around for quite a bit longer. They may be challenging to wear, but they have a distinctive look that makes them a favourite. A tiny bit geek, a tiny bit chic, skinny ties have an attitude that’s all their own. Wear your skinny ties with an equally modern suit. Your look won’t be the same if you’ve got a big, boxy suit from past seasons. If you buy skinny ties make sure you have a suit with a newer updated shape to show off your skinny tie to its fullest.

Wear your bowties in style

Bowtie

For a long time, those who wore bowties were depicted as milquetoasts or mamma’s boys.  This situation has slowly changed and bowties have begun to re-emerge as symbols of intellectual rakishness and individual dressers.  Sure, they are not overly common for day wear, but when worn in public they do carry a certain intellectual air.  Sill, apart from being paired with a dinner jacket, many men are still afraid to tie one on.

For more formal occasions,buy a solid and rich looking bowtie.  Black, navy blue, and if you want to be more adventurous, a dark purple or burgundy bowtie will do the trick.  Silk or velvet are the only choices!  Now, for daytime wear, the rule is that it must be patterned.  Always shop for dots, stripes or paisley.  Colours should be sober and darker in tone; forest green rather than apple green and claret rather than blood red.  The reason for this is to turn the bowtie into something which is not screaming for attention, but rather standing silently still.  The idea of this simple revolution is to remove the comical bowtie from the limelight of the Big Top and to forge a new association with the stylish gentlemen of the day.

Bowties look youthful when worn properly and they can brighten up almost any outfit.  Wear a bowtie with a sharp, slim-fit suit for an on-trend cut with an eccentric dash.  Or wear a bowtie with a casual collar and a cable crew neck for a ‘relaxed academic’ look.  Bowties can also prep-up plain spring outfits of short sleeved shirts, tailored shorts and blazers.  The key is to avoid overdoing a look with a bowtie; keep pocket squares to a visual minimum and try not to colour match too much.

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