EVERYONE should have a suit in their wardrobe, even if they rarely dress formal, because in theory, there will be at least one (or more) point in a person’s life where he (or she!) will need to don a suit.
The general fallback or default for suits is the usual black suit jacket and black trousers. Throw in a white shirt, and that’s the most common combination seen worldwide for most occasions, from job interviews to weddings, parties and so on.
This article will attempt to show a different perspective when it comes to choosing suits, or more specifically, broadening the scope when it comes to the colour of suits and the flexibility that comes with it.
In an increasingly metrosexual, or fashion-conscious world, its important to have some grasp on suits and the colors that extend beyond the “generic” black suit, white shirt combo.
However, moving beyond into the realm of adding colours, or even mixing and matching different combinations will take a fair amount of confidence to pull off as well.
The right tone
Black is the go-to for obvious reasons; everyone, no matter their skin tone, looks good in black.
So, rightfully, the average person often underestimates what suits can do when they aren’t black, because in their mind – when picking out a suit – is zoned in largely on whether it fits their body and whether they like it.
Do note that a mistake in choosing the colour can go wrong, and this depends on your natural skin tone.
Experts often advice to choose suit colours that juxtapose your skin tone, because in most cases, it works very well.
For instance, light suits will look best on people with darker skin tones, while dark-coloured suits work well with lighter-toned individuals. This is due to the juxtaposition accentuating your own visible features.
This strictly works when it comes to choosing to wear suits of the same colour, as in both the jacket and trousers match.
When mixing up the colours of the jacket, trousers and shirt, this doesn’t necessarily apply.
A more diverse range
Having a single suit of the same colour is rather limiting, and frankly, boring for most people who frequently wear suits or want to.
LYFE proposes getting several different pieces of clothing, which wearers are easily able to mix and match for unique combination of suits for various occasions.
For shirts, get those that are cream-coloured, powder blue and regular white.
For suits, you can opt for the standard black suit, a brown suit, a grey suit, a navy suit and a tan suit. You can get one of these, or two, or all. Work within your budget and preference on which colour suits you best.
With these in hand, you can wear any of the matching suits with any of the shirts. That’s 15 combinations.
If you mix and match them however, you’re looking at a lot of combinations.
Some of these include:
> Brown jacket, powder blue shirt, grey pants
> Brown jacket, cream shirt, grey pants
> Grey jacket, white shirt, black pants
> Tan jacket, white shirt, black pants
If you get every suggested suit and shirt, that’s around 75 combinations.
This is something American TV host Steve Harvey calls “flipping suits”, and it’s a method that can yield suit wearers a huge variety of clothing that can last years.
