Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette! Today, we're going to be talking about
different shirt and tie combinations you can wear with a blue suit. Now, if you happen
to already be a suit wearer, you may already be aware of how popular a choice
blue is when it comes to men's suiting. As you're shopping, you might notice that
in suiting departments, there's always a lot of blue options. This is because it's
considered a staple within menswear. Now, there's a reason for the popularity
of this color; blue is neutral. There are many options to be able to
create different outfits at different points and times throughout the year.
Also, for more information on how to be able to best wear neutrals, check out
this wonderful video over here from Gentleman's Gazette! Now, you could always
opt to wear a blue suit, as I'm doing now, with a crisp white dress shirt or you
could opt to wear the suit jacket with a pair of contrasting trousers and no tie.
One area some gentlemen struggle with is selecting the right tie and shirt to
wear with their blue suit. Now, you might be thinking since the blue suit is
neutral, could simply wear any shirt or tie with this? The answer is no.
Unfortunately, not all shirt and tie combinations are created equal.
Throughout the color blue, in terms of suiting, there's a lot of different
shades being made available. Now, let's go over some great options for what you
could wear for shirt and tie combinations with your blue suit. The
navy suit option is a very classic choice, often used for people who are
going to work, to church, or for just day-to-day functions. This looks best
with a variety of shirt colors so we have the crisp white shirt, you could do
a pastel blue or even a pastel pink with this. The midnight navy shade of blue is
very deep, very rich, it's often mistaken for black. I find that this looks quite
best with a crisp white dress shirt, most of all. The midnight navy color is also
something that is traditionally seen in evening wear. Now, we go over this a
little bit more in our black tie guide on the Gentleman's Gazette. The medium
blue shade is a little bit more understated. This can certainly be
dressed up like many of the others that were mentioned
with a crisp white dress shirt. You could also do a deep navy dress shirt,
this will give it a little bit more of a casual look but also help elevate the
overall outfit. Also, with this suit color, you could always have to go back to the
traditional white dress shirt and then maybe incorporate a nice rich purple tie.
This is going to add a little bit of life to your overall outfit and draw
some attention so when you're speaking to someone, it just looks a little bit
more lively since that medium blue might be a little bit understated. Also, with
this suit color, you could always opt to keep the same white dress shirt and
maybe opt for a solid black tie, as well. Also, consider wearing some of these
different color options that we've given you for ties as a bow tie. With the
different suit colors you might be considering wearing now. I've worked with
some gentlemen in the past that sometimes would prefer to wear a full
navy suit and a light blue dress shirt and then incorporate a navy solid tie,
they consider this to look a little bit more clean and a little bit more refined.
Although the navy tie offers a nice contrast to the white or light blue
dress shirt you might be choosing to wear, this is actually not the best
choice. The reason is this will usually always clash with the navy of the suit.
To best counteract this, always choose a tie that offers some contrast to the
overall navy suit. You can try a light pink or even something in yellow or
green. Lighter or pastel colors would offer you the opportunity to both have
contrast with the suit but not clash with the overall outfit. Now, let's talk
about textures. The year-round wool material found in many suits serves as a
great foundation to use when mixing in different textures of shirts and ties.
In fall and winter, try wearing a wool based tie against your navy suit.
These are cooler ones to begin with and the tie itself being made of wool helps
suggest some warmth. You could certainly choose warm colors like burgundy or
mustard or even cooler tones like something in an emerald green. These will
all look quite smart in the spring and summer. Try wearing silk based ties or
even ties made from cotton or linen with your blue suits. Keeping the color
palette colorful yet pastel will be seasonally appropriate,
especially in the spring. Now, let's talk about some shirt color options. Now, if
you were to ask any man today what shirt he would pick to wear with a blue suit,
most likely he would say white or even a light or pastel blue. Now, he wouldn't be
wrong. These are very popular choices, however, these two colors have remained
the dominating force of what is purchased for many men who choose to
wear a blue suit. Other options you could choose to wear with your blue suit to
give a little more life to your closet, pink, even a light or pastel pink, ecru
which looks more like a cream or kind of a light pastel yellow, or even a light
gray. There are also many different shirt pattern options made available. This
helps give a little more visual interest to your outfit. Some of these choices
include a herringbone, a stripe, or even a Glenn plaid. There are also many different
pattern options made available in men's suiting. It's important to remember that
when choosing to wear different patterns that you change the scale. What does this
mean? This just means that when you are choosing to wear something with a
pattern that the next item in the outfit, say your shirt or your tie, is something
of a larger or smaller size scale. For example, you can even look at my outfit
today. I'm wearing a very small patterned suit, a solid shirt, and then a tie that
has some wider stripes inside of it. This helps give a little bit more visual
interest, it helps make sure that the person viewing me does not think that I
am wearing wallpaper, there's some dimension to my outfit. Small patterns
like this are great when you want to remain understated but it still allows
your outfit to have a little bit of visual interest. As a matter of fact, when
it comes to houndstooth, we've already got a really great video that helps
educate you on how you can best wear that pattern check it out here. Medium
sized patterns like a shark skin or a Glen plaid offer a nice way to remain
noticeable but still subtle. Large patterns like a large windowpane or
white chalk stripe can sometimes be seen as much more whimsical and very
eye-catching. Moving on down the outfit, we move on to footwear. Footwear options
are fantastic with blue suits. Because blue is neutral, as we've discussed
before, you always have the option of wearing a variety of shades of brown or
a classic black dress shoe. When wearing a navy or even in deep midnight navy, one
great option is the black cap toe dress shoe. Chocolate, chestnut, or medium brown
color shoes would look great with a classic navy or even a medium blue suit.
These color options will make your life much easier when shopping or planning
your next outfit when it involves a blue suit. What is your favorite shade of blue
suit that you might already own in your closet? Please let us know in the comments
section below and also let us know how the tips that we provided today may have
helped you plan your next outfit. Today, I'm wearing a blue bird's eye suit from
Indochino. It has a blue base with a little bit of a black weave throughout
it the white dress shirt and silver and blue tie I am wearing are both from Hugo
Boss. I also have on a pebble leather chocolate brown dress shoe from Aston
Gray. I'm pairing my blue suit with purple and medium blue striped socks.
They look great with my brown shoes and they really complement the blue suit. And
my solid Brown belt with gold buckle are from Anson. The colorful pocket square I
am wearing is from Fort Belvedere. The unique color combination offers a lot of
life to my otherwise very neutral outfit and you can find that in our shop here.