Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette! In today's video, we'll discuss how to
wear and pair the color purple in your outfits and why it's a color that you
should reach for more often in your wardrobe. We've already done a number of
other videos on how to wear and pair different colors in your outfits; for
example, you can find our video on how to wear pink here. But there are some
colors in the world of menswear other than the standard neutrals of blue,
brown, and gray that many men think are more difficult to incorporate into their
outfits. Some of these colors would be green, orange, and the color we're
focusing on today, purple. In centuries past,
the color purple was fairly difficult to produce for different kinds of garments
and for that reason, the color was usually reserved for Kings and Emperors
and other people of similar status. However, we don't have those same kinds
of issues today so anyone is free to wear the color purple and because of
that, we think you should do it more often. With that said then, let's briefly
cover the history of the color purple in menswear. As I just mentioned, it was worn
only by aristocracy for a certain period of time, principally because the color
purple was so hard to produce. For much of history, good purple dyes could only
be extracted from one particular type of sea snail and because of this, it took up
to a quarter-million snails just to produce one ounce of usable purple dye.
This process was first developed by the ancient Phoenicians and would go on to
be used by various societies in the Near East and the Mediterranean including the
Roman Empire. In fact, in Rome, no one but the Emperor was allowed to wear the
color purple and violators of this rule would face death. Only in the mid 19th
century did industrial processes become more common that could make purple
garments widely available to the masses. Since then, purple still hasn't been a
widely worn color in many parts of the world but this is more due to a general
lack of popularity than any actual exclusivity and
of course, as with any color, there are multiple shades to consider. Some
purples may have more red tones in them while others will contain more cool blue
tones. Purple, of course, is a secondary color on the color wheel meaning that
it's made up from two primary colors, red and blue. If you'd like more information
on how the color wheel works and how to use it to your advantage
in menswear, you can find our video on that subject here. Reddish purples like
maroon and burgundy can be a bit easier to incorporate into many outfits,
especially during the autumnal months when those warm colors harmonize with
the seasonal palette. Cooler purples can be a bit more of a challenge as they
stick out more but as you'll see, we've got some tips for wearing any shade of
purple in today's video. So with history and optics out of the way, let's now
focus on a few general principles for how to best wear purple in your outfits.
Many of the guidelines for wearing purple more broadly pertain to any
bright or contrasting hue in clothing which is to say if you're going to wear
a piece that incorporates some bright color,
you should tamp down the overall effect in your outfit by pairing it with other
more muted garments for a harmonious look. For example, if you happen to be
wearing a necktie that has green and purple stripes and would therefore be
considered a bit bold, wearing it with something muted like a dark gray suit
could be a good idea or if you're wearing purple striped socks you might
want to tamp them down with a neutral like beige pants or dark brown shoes. In
general, until you've really learned the ropes of combining brighter and bolder
colors together in the same outfit, it's probably best that you confine purple or
similar colors to just one or two accessories in your outfit and then have
more neutral tones such as the staples of gray, navy, and brown to harmonize
things and smooth out the overall look of the ensemble. Also, because blue is a
sister color of sorts to purple given that blue
is one of the colors that makes it up, you can pair brighter blues with purple
for a stunning effect. Still, it will take some more care. In terms of seasonality,
purple is actually a fairly versatile color. As we said, it's made up of a warm
primary color, red and a cool primary color, blue. So you can wear the warmer
shades, the purples that contain more red in the fall and winter months.
Meanwhile, the cooler shades that contain more blue in the purple are best for
spring and summer. Still, if you know how to combine your accessories and other
garments tastefully, you can wear any different shade of purple more or less
year-round. Also, be mindful of how the shade of purple that you're wearing can
harmonize or not, as the case may be, with your skin tone. For example, purple will
often not have too much of an effect when worn by people with fair skin but
if you do have some blotchiness to your complexion, wearing purples with red
tones closer to your face could accentuate some of that blotchiness.
Stronger or bolder purples are probably easier worn by people with a darker
complexion, as is true for any brighter shade, since there's less of an overall
contrast. If you'd like to learn more about how you can determine which colors
go best with your skin tone, you can find our video on that subject here. With all
that said then, let's actually get into the nitty gritty of wearing purple in
your outfits and what the easiest ways are to do it. We'll start with what we
think the most easy way to wear purple in your outfits is, which is by
incorporating it into your accessories. The first accessory we'll discuss is a
purple pocket square. If you'd like to ease yourself into wearing purple in
your outfits, a pocket square is a small accessory and therefore, fits that bill
well. With that said though, there's even a way that you could do this as a
gradual process starting by wearing a pocket square that only incorporates
some purple, let's say into it's pattern. From there, you could
graduate on to wearing a pocket square that's almost entirely purple or at
least, uses purple as its principal color with other colors also incorporated. From
there, the next step up would likely be not only trying purple pocket squares
but also purple neckties or bow ties. The same principle applies here in that you
could start with a tie that only incorporates purple in smaller amounts
and then work your way up to using purple as the main color. Just two style
notes here; the first, don't wear an overly shiny satin silk tie as these
will always come across looking cheap. Second, if you're going to wear both
a purple tie and pocket square, they shouldn't be of the same matching
fabric. This will just look like they came in a set and that you didn't
incorporate much creativity in putting together your outfit. There are also
other accessories you could wear that incorporate purple as a color, such as a
boutonniere or indeed, shoelaces. Wearing a purple boutonniere is particularly
nice because it reminds us that purple is indeed a naturally occurring color.
And while most men probably don't consider changing the shoelaces in their
shoes very often, this is also a particularly smart way to incorporate
different colors into your outfit. In the case of purple shoelaces, not only could
they jazz up something like a pair of black Oxfords but if you wore them with
a more spring or summer style, like a pair of white buckskin shoes, they would
definitely look bright and colorful. One final accessory to discuss here today is
socks. Purple is a good color to incorporate into your socks because
they're not going to be readily seen all the time, only perhaps when you're seated
or if somebody happens to look down at your ankles while you're walking. As
you may have guessed already, the reason we mentioned so many different types of
purple accessories is because we offer several varieties in the Fort Belvedere
shop. We've got purple neckties and bow ties of various shades, purple
boutonnieres, purple shoelaces, and purple socks, all available so you should
definitely take a look. If you've got purple accessories mastered in your
wardrobe already, the next step up to making purple even more readily visible
is to wear it as one of your layers. For example, as a shirt or as a sweater but
as we discussed before, wearing a shirt in a bright neon shade of purple is just
going to make you look like a twenty-something who's ready for the
club. Instead, you might as well wear a purple in a brighter pastel hue and in
fact, you could make it even more subtle by just incorporating the purple into a
shirt's pattern. For example, something like a puppy tooth or houndstooth
pattern or the shirt I'm wearing here today with a very subtle check. In fact,
as one exception to our earlier point about purple not being commonly worn in
very many spots around the globe is the fact that pastel purple shirts are
fairly often worn in the United Kingdom as a staple of business wear. In fact,
we've seen more and more comments online recently saying that wearing purple in
the UK isn't seen as very creative anymore
and is almost somewhat expected. Still, here in the United States and in other
parts of the globe, you can incorporate purple and not be seen as someone who
isn't innovating and as with any type of pattern, the larger the pattern gets in
scale, the more casual the garment will be. So for example, if you've still got a
pastel purple color but the pattern of your shirt is in a broader gingham, the
shirt will be a bit more casual. And while the purple colors in your shirts
should probably remain a bit more subdued, the way to wear brighter or
bolder purples is often through knitwear like sweaters. Especially under
a more subdued garment like a sport coat or other type of jacket, a brighter and
bolder purple can give a pop of color that isn't overwhelming such as the
sweater I'm wearing here today under the more muted jacket. Now, we can get into
the more adventurous territory of incorporating purple into your outfits
starting with purple trousers. As you might well imagine, wearing bright purple
pants in a shade like grape will be seen as more extreme. However, if you do
want to wear a pair of trousers that incorporate purple, we'd suggest wearing
a purple that has more red in it. If you wear trousers in a shade like maroon,
they can still pair easily with a slightly wider array of garments and
will also be seen as less in-your-face or indeed, approaching the realm of
something like go to hell pants which you can find our article about here. Even
more daring than purple trousers would be a purple sport coat. You'll
probably be the center of attention if you try to wear a jacket that is fully
purple in color which would go against style icon, Beau Brummel's maxim that
dressing well shouldn't draw attention to any particular garment but rather to
the general aura that a man projects by wearing things tastefully. So unless
you're directly trying to be the center of attention, we would recommend that you
incorporate purple into your jackets only in an over check or a similarly
subtle pattern rather than going for a jacket that is entirely purple in makeup.
The absolute riskiest avenue then would be wearing a full purple suit. As you
might guess, you would probably run the risk of looking like the Joker if you
were to do this and frankly, if you do try to wear a fully purple suit, you
won't really be within the realm of classic men's style anymore but rather
contemporary fashion. You should still, of course, try to get the cut and the
overall silhouette right but you won't be achieving a classic effect if you do
go for a fully purple suit. Look online for example images and you will see that
some men can pull it off though as we've said before, it would benefit to get the
cut exactly right and also, to be a man with a darker complexion as these colors
will more easily harmonize together. It's risky to do but if you really want to
take the plunge, the option is out there. So while purple was once a color only
associated with royalty, and then with dandies and showmen, or in the case of
the musician, Prince, all of the above, it's no
longer a color that can only be worn by a select few. So long as you know how to
incorporate it tastefully and harmoniously by knowing what other
colors are going to be in your outfit and how these things will harmonize with
your skin tone and other factors, you can pull off purple. Start small by
incorporating some accessories and then move into larger and more prominent
garments as you feel more comfortable. Then as your comfort increases and
purple starts to take up a larger real estate within your wardrobe, you won't
have to worry about suppressing any violent tendencies when you put together
your outfits. In today's video, I'm wearing just about as many purple
garments as I could get my hands on. I probably wouldn't normally wear this
many purple garments in my outfit at one time but I am illustrating the principle
that if you follow the guidelines we've outlined today, it is possible to wear
multiple purple garments at once and still look harmonious and put together.
The most prominent purple element in my outfit today is probably my sweater,
which is in a warmer berry shade when combined with my jacket, which is more
muted the effect is still overall harmonious. Underneath the sweater is my
shirt, which is also purple but in a fine Glen check pattern. Since the shirt isn't
solid purple in color but rather just incorporates the color into its pattern,
the overall effect, again, is subtle. My vintage tie also incorporates a warmer
purple to harmonize with the sweater and features a repeating geometric pattern
that also has blue orange and a greenish yellow color. I wear this tie often as I
do appreciate repeating micropatterns and I find that this warmer purple goes
with multiple outfits. My cuff links feature Paisley in shades of purple on a
fabric that is inset into silver-colored metal and as you might have guessed, all
of my other purple elements in my outfit today are from Fort Belvedere. We'll
start with my pocket square which is a purple madder silk that
also features a repeating green diamond motif and red paisleys in its border. My
boutonniere is a cornflower, which while commonly referred to as blue, does
feature some purple in its color and therefore harmonizes with the other
elements in my outfit, and my socks are dark green in color but feature purple
in their shadow stripes. You can find these socks, the boutonniere, and the
pocket square in the Fort Belvedere shop here. As for the other elements in my
outfit, I've taken cues from our lessons today and made sure that they're more
neutral in color. My sport coat features a herringbone weave but its overall
charcoal in color, though it does incorporate tones of brown. Similarly, my
trousers are taupe in color, meaning that they are essentially also gray-brown, and
my shoes, which are cap toe Oxfords are dark brown suede and therefore,
harmonized with both my trousers and with pops of color in my jacket.
We didn't happen to have any purple shoelaces on hand in the studio here
today that I could put in my shoes, but rest assured that we do offer purple
shoelaces, as well as boot laces in the Fort Belvedere shop, and you can find
them here.