Cheap Summer Style for Gentlemen
There’s a big difference between summer fashion and summer fashion for the gentleman. While the former might be happy with tank tops and flip-flops, the latter has much, much higher style standards. For the fashionable summer gentleman, it’s not enough to be in-season; being elegant and put-together is just as important. If you relate to the sentiment, here are the pieces you’ll need for the season.
Neckties So Bright
Bright and bold colors are one of the surest signs that summer is truly in the air and on the store shelves. The elegant, style-savvy man knows that such eye-catching style details must be used sparingly, which is why the necktie is the item that gets the vivid treatment.
Since summer is, after all, the season for this kind of color scheme, neckties like these are very easy to find and even easier to afford. They need not be the premium silk neckties that you get for those important business meetings. Cotton neckties have an even greater summer influence while bearing a considerably lighter price tag. Because the fabric is easy to handle, you’re also likelier to find such garish colors with cotton neckties.
You can get your feet wet with just two or three intense (and very different) color ties at first, and then try pairing them with more sober colors like charcoal gray or olive green. The more underplayed the color of your shirt, the more the color of the tie will stand out.
Pocket Squares So Printed
Like colors, prints also go into a renaissance every summer now that the whole of men’s fashion is in a much lighter and more casual mood. A graphic tee, however, is hardly appropriate attire for the office. You could still channel the season for graphic prints by incorporating it into your pocket square for an added dash of character to your outfit.
Now that there’s so much interest in the elegant man’s mode of fashion, there’s a whole lot of attention being paid to pocket squares. Although the classic choice will always remain on the side of solids, printed pocket squares are also becoming more and more available. They’re cheap ways to give a touch of youth and irreverence to an outfit that will be seen as too uptight, formal and stuffy for summer by most other people.
The trick to making this work is to leave the fabric ruffled and rumpled in your breast pocket instead of the usual pristine folds. The arrangement and the volume calls the eye to the pattern that will pop out against the sobriety of your suit and necktie.
Belts So Casual
It’s common practice in men’s and women’s fashion to really dress down during the summer, for reasons both practical and sartorial. And while this means wearing less pieces for most men, the elegant man knows that summer style is about wearing more of the right stuff.
Leather isn’t the most practical material to wear in the summer for many reasons, which is why people so often turn to woven belts of cotton, nylon or canvas. Aside from the texture channeling a very East Coast Summer vibe, the style of the accessory dresses down your outfit significantly, but doesn’t leave you looking sloppy. That, in a nutshell, is the crucial balance every man should be aiming for when it comes to summer style.
Other Great Articles from TheTieKing’s Blog:
Mens Spring Fashion Accessories for 2012
Best Fashion Colors for Men in Spring 2011
Your TieKing Team – Your Site for Fine Designer Ties