beach_terror wrote:Okay let's talk about watches for a minute. I almost pulled the trigger a few months ago but the price jumped on the watch I wanted and it still hasn't come down. Since then, I've decided to jump up for a higher quality watch. How do the style gurus view a black leather watch with a black face? Too much, should I go for a lighter face? Wearing black shoes/black belt for my interviews, hence the black band.
v.
Black band with black face is probably fine, although it's not the most conservative way to do it (I don't really understand the harsh comment above; if it were neon green, sure, but black isn't particularly noticeable). The only situation that would be borderline is if you were wearing it with a light blue or medium olive suit. If you were doing that, however, I'd suspect that you'd be wearing brown leather and that entire watch wouldn't be much of an option anyway.
I'd be much more concerned about matching metal colors with those two watches. If your belt buckle (and eyeglasses, if you have them) are silver but your watch is gold/bronze, that would be more of a problem than a black face.
Headybrah wrote:Where to go for help with matching ties to shirts?
I seem to be unable to match ties with shirts. Are there any rules? I know you don't want something with a lot of noise as a tie on a patterned shirt - but what about colors?
What do stripped ties go with?
Following are some general rules. There are particular ties that would exceptions to each of the rules I'll list, but they would be judgment calls and, thus, not appropriate for a list such as this:
Solid dark suit with solid white shirt --> any tie will work, but you may want to avoid solid, untextured ties in the same color as your suit.
Solid suit with solid pale blue/gray shirt --> any tie will work, with one caveat - if your shirt and suit are of the same family of colors (navy suit with pale blue shirt), your tie probably shouldn't have a base of the opposite color family (gray base color tie, in this example). In other words, match your suit color first, then your shirt.
Solid suit with solid pale pastel shirt --> you have to match the tie to both the shirt and the suit (for obvious reasons, if your shirt matches your suit, go with a tie that is based in the same color as your suit). If you're not good at matching colors, don't wear pastel shirts.
Solid suit with solid bright pastel/other color shirts --> you don't generally wear deep-colored (black, burgundy, jewel-tones, bright anything, etc.) shirts in the law business unless the event you're going to has nothing to do with law. If you are going to an event that has nothing to do with law, get a paisley or stripe where the base color matches your suit (navy suit --> dark blue tie) and the paisley design or stripe picks up on your shirt color (bright pink shirt --> pink paisleys).
Solid suit with vertical stripe shirt --> any tie that isn't a vertical stripe itself will work so long as the stripes on your tie are of a different width (preferably wider) than the stripes (both positive and negative color) on your shirt. That said, to be safe, you should prefer a solid, a repeating geometric/dot pattern, or a paisley.
Solid suit with checked/windowpane/plaid pattern shirt --> you shouldn't be wearing checked/boxed/plaid pattern shirts with your suit. If you must, go with a dull burgundy or dull navy solid tie, but you should probably not be going to court.
Pinstriped/windowpane suit with solid white or pale blue/gray shirt --> the stripes on your tie should not go in the same direction as those on your suit, and the stripes should be of a different width, as above. With a windowpane suit, you'll probably want to avoid plaid ties of all varieties. Pinstriped suits are always appropriate with dots, repeating geometric, and paisley designs. In a business setting, keep your tie relatively tame with a louder suit like a pinstripe, and only pick up on the pinstripe colors if you're going to a non-business event (pale orange pinstripes with an orange paisley only if you're going to an inn of court meeting, not if you're going to court).
Pinstriped/windowpane suit with solid pale pastel shirt --> now you have to match the suit stripes, your suit color, and your shirt color to your tie, and comply with the immediately preceding rule; if you're not great at matching stuff, you might want to avoid this category
Color: Darker ties will look more business formal (navy, charcoal, burgundy); lighter or more vibrant ties in traditional colors will look less formal, but still very appropriate for the office (blue, gray, red, add in some subdued purples, greens, yellows, and oranges).
Fabric: silk
Paisley/Floral: single simple paisleys and floral elements lined up geometrically (as a substitute for dots) are acceptable for the office. Full-bore paisleys and floral elements generally are not. Actual depictions of flowers (not talking about tiny dots that look like daisies, but what looks like a painting of a clump of irises) are unacceptable no matter what you're doing, unless you've taken a time machine back to the 80's.
Pattern: simple stripes, boxes, dots, diamonds, etc. Stick to the classics. Large scale swirly shit and bold abstract designs went out with the 90s. Bold plaids/crossing lines are the current thing and won't last, but the more conservative of them are fine for now. When I say repeating geometric, I mean small boxes, dots, and stuff like that; not repeating half-inch high contrasting color diamonds or something.
If you just wanted to post some pics ties and hear what they'd go with (or even just a photo of what you got, assuming your collection isn't too big and it's a decent resolution pic), I'd be happy to go through them.
-Pufer
