Winter 2010/11 Fashion for Men: The Dark Side
If you were to study the theory behind art and fashion, you’d learn that certain colors tend to go with certain seasons. Fall and winter, in particular, have a deep-seated, long-held affinity for strong colors like blacks and grays. This year, an emerging wave of black and gray styles seem to be proving that old lesson more than adequately. Closer inspection will reveal that the darker side of men’s style has much to give if you’d care to look.
Black Face Watches
The watch is often regarded as a very marginal accessory, an afterthought in most outfits. What most guys fail to realize, though, is that even something as small as a watch can have a big effect on the overall effect of your outfit.
Black face watches look like they’ll be all the rage this season, riding on the coat tails of the recessionista fashion trends from a couple of years back. They’re sophisticated yet subtle, with more than a hint of edginess to them. At the same time, they maintain a level of understatement that’s very appropriate for the economically trying times. A Movado is practically indistinguishable from a Rolex or a Timex from afar.
Choose your watch like you would a fine necktie; both are long-term style investments anyway. Go for something modern and slim to keep that understated but elegant feel. A silver case is less ostentatious than a gold one, and thus would be a better choice. Straps are best when they’re simple and made of black leather.
Black on Black
No color says ‘badass’ like good old black. Men looking for some bad boy style couldn’t ask for a better, stronger color to get the image across. In the past, this meant using a key item like a leather jacket or pea coat in black. This season, however, the door is open for you to try an even darker, more adventurous look.
Wearing black on black is not without its hazards. There’s a very good chance that you’ll look like a big black bar, for example, if you’re not used to building an outfit entirely out of black items. It’s a very strong color, after all, so it’d be easy to lose you among all the noir going on. You have to remember to maintain some sort of variety such that it’s still you that’s standing out instead of just your clothes.
Basic items like shirts and pants are best done in a “lighter black” – a gray, even – to keep them visible. Accessories like neckties and, meanwhile, should be worn in the deepest, darkest shade possible so that that stand out against your base items. If you’re layering (like you most likely will this fall), try to get some texture into your middle and outer layers to give the monochromatic palette some depth and interest.
Black Chinos
Khaki and stone chinos are extremely popular items for spring and summer; hardly a year goes by that they’re not used in a collection or ten. Once fall rolls around, though, they’re often mothballed because their colors are much too summery. This season, the classically preppy chino gets reinvented in badass city-slicker black.
If you’re not very confident about your black-on-black fashion matching skills just yet, you could also opt to pair your black chinos with neutral colors like tan, or with pastels. Even with such soft cotton pants, black is still a ‘hard’ color, so a ‘soft’ color that’s less aggressive on the eyes would be an aesthetically strategic complement.
Despite the darker coloring, these chinos are still as relaxed and laid back as their khaki cousins. Pair them with casual leather shoes or, better yet, sporty canvas kicks in some contrasting color like white. Black chinos might have shed the summery vibe, but they don’t lose out on any of that chill factor.
Black can be a tricky color to use in men’s fashion because it’s so often overwhelms the wearer. More than anywhere else, this season’s black-heavy looks are a challenge for your sense of personal style and aesthetic balance.
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