BLUE vs GRAY Suits Which Suit Is Better Charcoal vs Black vs Navy vs Blue
[0:00:00] Antonio: All right, gentlemen.
Today, we’re talking about the difference between blue and gray and black suits.
Are you ready?
Let’s get into it.
[Music] In today’s video, I’m going to cover eight suit fabric colors – black,
midnight blue, charcoal gray, navy, medium gray, true blue, light gray, light blue.
Now, with each of the suit colors, there are three things three factors you want to pay
attention to so that you can buy a suit that you’re going to get the most miles out of.
First up, the formality of the suit.
Next up, the opportunity to wear.
And finally, the interchangeability of the suit with the other items in your wardrobe.
Section number one.
Suit color and formality.
When it comes to formality, black is going to be the most formal of the colors.
It is reserved in my opinion for black tie and for white tie attire.
I do not recommend black suits for most men and let me explain.
When I say suit, I mean a jacket and the trousers that are made from the same fabric.
Now, black tie and white tie, those are very high level formal outfits that you put together
for certain events, but when it comes to black suits, I know some men love them, they are
relatively easy to find, but I feel they’re a little bit too formal even for a regular
business suit.
Again, they should be reserved in my opinion for black tie.
Next up, we’ve got midnight blue, one of my favorite colors if you’re looking for
an alternative to black when it comes to black tie.
Yes, with black tie and white tie, most of these fabrics are going to prescribe you wear
a black, but understand midnight blue is a safe and classic alternative.
Now, what’s interesting about midnight blue is this is truly a blue, but under light conditions
it’s going to look blacker than black.
And that’s why it’s very interesting, it’s definitely something though reserved
for formal wear.
So, I’m talking, again, black tie, white tie, not something you want to bring in the
regular business suits.
Next up, we’ve got charcoal gray.
What I consider to be one of the perfect suit colors for men just starting his business
wardrobe.
This is going to be a formal suit.
It’s not going to be formal enough though for black tie or for white tie, so don’t
even try it there.
Instead, look for to be -- the staple the base of your business suits.
Next up on my list of formality we got navy.
Another classic business suit that can be worn in pretty much any situation you’re
going to see charcoal gray.
Why I like navy, I think for a lot of men their complexion this color is going to be
work really well, but it is just as formal as charcoal gray and can be worn in any business
environment.
Next up on the formality list, we’ve got medium gray.
And for many people when I say the color gray, this is what comes to their mind.
It’s going to be lighter than the charcoal gray and the navy blue and therefore, it is
going to be a bit more casual.
But, I find that for most situations this is a great day-to-day wear type of business
suit.
Next up, we’ve got true blue.
And this is when in the actual suit fabric you can really see the blue and there’s
a few variations of this.
You’re going to actually be able to tell that is a blue suit.
Now, what’s interesting about true blue is because it’s more memorable because even
though it’s a darker color, it’s still going to be something that is going to slip
down in the level of casualness.
So, to me it does fall below the medium gray, but it’s going to be above the next two
suits I’m about to talk about.
Wrapping up the formality on suit colors, I’ve light gray and light blue.
Both of these very casual suit colors, they’re great for summer wear or for when a casual
suit is perfectly fine.
But, if the situation calls for a dark colored more formal suit, make sure not to wear this.
Section number two.
Suit color and opportunity to wear it on a day-to-day basis.
Now, I understand this section is very dependent on your personal needs.
Some of you have worn black tie never in your life and I get that.
So, I’m going to try to adjust this as best as I can and try to point out the suits I
think are going to work for you depending on your needs.
First up, let’s talk about black and midnight blue.
Both of these colors in my opinion should be reserved for formal wear.
But, if I’m comparing these two and we’re looking at formal wear, I’m going to say
go with black over the midnight blue.
Why not go with the midnight blue?
It stands out.
But happens if you have two formal events in a row and you only own this one outfit,
then in that case I think you may stand out too much and people may remember, “is that
what he wore last night” versus,” hey, he looks great again.”
So, again, if I had to choose between the two, I would go with black.
If I have two options, I would go with one of each.
Next up, gents, let’s talk about charcoal gray, let’s talk about navy, let’s talk
about medium gray.
Any of these suit colors right here can be worn to a business event.
If it’s formal – even if it’s a little bit less formal, you can dress these down.
Now, if you’re going to be outside the United States, I think navy is a little bit less
seen, so it may be something you want to stick with the medium gray with the charcoal gray.
I also feel that when particular colors you’re choosing them, you may want to depending on,
you know, your skin type your colors, find what works for you.
I know that if you’re an older man and all of a sudden your skin started to white, you
want to be careful with charcoal gray.
It can pull out a little bit of the life, maybe in that case go with a navy.
[0:05:04] Now, if you’re a younger man, navy can make you look younger, so in that
case, go with a charcoal gray or medium gray because it’s going to add a little bit of
age to you.
So, again, you’re finding which of these three you just simply love to put on and you
love the look.
All three of them though are going to work in pretty much any situation.
Now, let’s talk about true blue.
The problem with true blue is it’s memorable and the problem there is you can’t wear
multiple days in a row.
Now, do I recommend that you just buy one suit and you wear it five days a week?
No, you want to buy more if you’re consistently wearing suits, have a little bit through your
rotation.
But, if you’re just doing interviews and you’ve got three days of three interviews
in a row, you don’t normally wear a suit or you only own one, in that case, go with
navy, go with charcoal gray.
No one’s going to notice that you’re wearing it multiple days in a row when you change
out the shirt change out the necktie change out the pocket square, maybe have rotation
of shoes, but you can actually get away with one suit.
You can’t do that with the true blue.
Next, I’ve got light gray and light blue.
Both of these can make a great looking suit.
The problem here is the opportunity to wear them is going to be a lot less.
They’re much more memorable, the light blue especially.
So, if I had to choose between the two, I’d go with the light gray.
But, when it comes down to it, these are both summer or hot weather suits.
So, this is something if you’re in New York, you’re probably not going to be able to
wear this six months out of the year unless you get an early spring maybe a late fall.
But, even then it’s going to be something that you’ve got to be careful of the month
of the rain of the elements because it is something that stains can show up on these
suits.
Section number three.
Suit color and interchangeability with the other items in you wardrobe.
Now, when it comes to the interchangeability, a black and midnight blue in my opinion not
very good.
It’s something that black is too stark that the midnight blue is too stark and I don’t
think it really works with a wide variety of shirts, accessories, or shoes.
Next, we’ve got charcoal gray and when it comes to interchangeability, charcoal gray
is good, but it’s not great.
And the reason I don’t give it a higher ranking is simply the starkness of the contrast.
It is almost too formal has too stark of a contrast with a lot of different shirt colors
out there especially softer colors especially when they’re bringing patterns.
This also applies to shoes.
So, if you wanted to bring in like a little bit more casual shoes becomes very difficult
with charcoal gray fabrics, again, because they’re going to lean towards formality.
So, a reoccurring pattern you may see here is when something has a really strong strength,
it also has an Achilles’ heel.
Next up, navy and medium gray.
For both of these, interchangeability I’m going to rank is excellent and that’s why
in my opinion, navy is one of the most common fabrics out there for men suits because it’s
simply easy to match.
Both of them can work with a wide variety of shoe colors, both of them can work with
a wide variety of shoe styles even casual shoes if you wanted to dress it down.
True blue, when it comes to interchangeability is good, not great.
And the weakness of true blue is going to be the actual blue, not that it’s memorable,
but how it works and it can bring out the brightness in other colors.
So, if you’ve got a true blue suit and you mix it with a green necktie with a pink shirt,
I know I had people say, Antonio, are you dressing like the Joker?
No I wasn’t dressing.
I didn’t even think about it.
But, I get it, whenever you start to bring in those colors, it can become cartoonish.
Light gray suits, light blue suits, both excellent when it comes to interchangeability.
The power of a light-colored suit is it stands in the background, it doesn’t demand attention.
You’ve got a great looking shirt great looking tie great looking pocket square and you want
those to be the highlight of the outfit?
Well, then, wear them with a light-colored suit which isn’t going to pull and isn’t
going to overpower the rest of the items in the outfit.
All right, gentlemen, now it’s your turn.
I want to hear from you down in the comments.
What do you think of this video?
Did you learn anything new?
Do you have any questions?
Let me know down in the comments.
And if you found this useful, please share this video.
There are men out there that are wearing the wrong color suit.
And why do I put this information out there?
Because I want you to become the man you know yourself to be.
So, if you know a guy out there that needs help with this information, please pass them
this video.
[Music] Bryant: The best part of the event I think
was meeting all these influencers and all the people are giving talks were actually
experts in their fields.
After every talk, you get to connect with these people and really share ideas, bounce
ideas off of them, and you get really honest opinions and suggestions.
Timmy: It definitely pushes me to pursue my goals more because I was kind of a little
bit afraid to go into business or pursue my ideas because I don’t know what to do initially.
But now, that I meet all these people, I hear all these stories and all these lessons today,
I feel a lot more confident and I feel like I should have no excuse.
[Music] Antonio: So, I’m here in my studio filming
this early and I’ve got busses just going by.
So, I have shot this video multiple times because the school busses just keep going
by every morning at 8:00 near my office.
I am like on some route the busses all go through.
So, literally fifteen busses in the last fifteen minutes.
Very frustrating, but, hey, what can you do?
All right, guys.
Take care.
[0:10:15] End of Audio