Watch 76 years old✅ Shoes 43 years old✅ Tie 35 years old✅ Suit 30 years old✅ Shirt 10 years old✅ Any one who has taken the time to read any of my posts has heard me blather on about Classic TIMELESS menswear and how it is timeless because this style endures and thus provides some great value because one can wear it for many years on many occasions. Today I thought I might blather on about the use of adding interest to the basic grey timeless suit with the use of harmonizing colors and patterns. Firstly colors. While I am not a color wheel guy- I do use the “color wheel” of nature. The greatest artist of all time provides some pretty compelling combinations: a backdrop of Blue sky filled with clouds, and in the foreground grey barked trees with deep green leaves = grey suit, with blue and white shirt, with teal green tie. While some store clerks might recommend trying to match a color of thread or even the grey suit with some matching color in a tie to “blend” it together- Harold used to teach us to “harmonize color” the same way that harmonizing with a melody adds depth to a piece of music. This quote of his was drilled into us. Another thing Harold explained was that our inventory was what he called narrow and deep (fewer colors but a bigger variety of suitings and sport coats in each of those fewer number of colors.) This forced us to add accesory colors together more creatively. Most department stores and many wearhouse stores are wide and deep (with many colors and patterns of suits and sport coats) naturally with this huge inventory to unload on customers, the task is to pick some thread or base color and blend the tie and shirt together. I find this much less creative. In the old days I could delineate guys who shopped at one of our quality competitors versus a department store based upon their accessories. Secondly patterns. Again to add interest to the basic grey suit pattern, harmonizing patterns can add interest as well. Antonio has some brilliant videos about how to match the size and directions of patterns together. A beginner on upping their wardrobe should probably stick with Antonio’s great solid module or “capsule” plan at first. Mixing patterns can take several years for a guy to do on his own without help from a professional clothier. What is sad is when guys get stuck and still think that patterns can’t be mixed. I assure you they can. Today’s OOTD began with my windowpane shirt. I knew a grey suit would be a no brainer and even though the suit has a ghosted lighter grey window pane I knew it’s larger style, thinner line, and pale color wouldn’t conflict with the shirt pattern. Then as I mentioned earlier knowing that grey with green and blue were great combos-I went looking for a suitable green tie (my ties are arranged by color). The woven silk tie I chose had a larger ameba pattern so I knew it couldn’t conflict with the windowpane shirt. The tie “reads” green but is actually a black background with small teal houndstooth repeating pattern. How a pattern (and color) “reads” is important when harmonizing. At 5 feet away the tie appears (reads) as a solid green. At about 2 feet the pattern becomes visible. Working at mastering this concept of how colors and patterns read adds depth to a very basic suit.

Got out of the suit and have been doing interviews for scholarships for youth to go to Israel with us. Home and comfortable in my stegman house shoes. Filson short sleeve fly fishing shirt, Orvis duck cloth pants with man made suede trim. Night fellas

OK, so by introducing yourself you are guaranteed to get to level 2 - it's really that easy and I LOVE learning more about the cool people in this group. Feel free to share where you're from, why you're here, what you do for a living, and what you like about style. Are you a watch guy, suit guy, fragrance guy, or maybe just getting started? Have fun here!

Definitely one positive after having a surgery - breaking the top 10 in our community! Interesting and thoughtful posts and comments by our group, it's always a pleasure reading the posts and communicating with all of you..

Even though I'd rather wear a suit in nearly every situation sometimes it's not the best gear for the job. Thus yesterday's fit Ralph Loren shirt and shoes, a pair of Levis 505's, and some old clip on suspenders that I added carabiners to for these kind of days. I think the patch job on the shirt is camouflaged pretty well