When creating a solid going out look, it's important to choose items that are distinct from your everyday office wear. That doesn't mean you can't wear a work suit out on the town, but rather if you do, you must distinguish it using your accessories. This was my intention when styling a client for a big charity event last week. He has some beautiful new suits and sport coats on order from Michael Andrews Bespoke, and those wouldn't be ready in time for the event. So I worked with what he already had, deciding that for him, it would be all about the ties and pocket squares. Lucky for me, the Saks and Barney's men's departments (mainly) were ripe for the picking of such fancy and festive pieces. And picked I did. See above for the final selection.Pretty much all of these ties and pocket squares work with one another, with the exception of the middle tie and bottom left square. This combo looks like you tried to create your own matching tie and pocket square set -- something you neeever want to wear -- but didn't quite make it happen. As far as matching goes, most of these ties and squares are the perfect "mismatch" for one another. This in fact is what you should be looking for when choosing playful combos that work for going out. If you're the sort of fellow who likes things more coordinated, then you should use the colors in your pocket square to pull out a minor color from your tie. The tie on the far right combined with the pocket square on the middle left is a good example of this.In the end, we went with the lavender tie on the left and the navy and silver striped pocket square on the top left. I like the mix of the smooth surface of the tie with the more textured square. And the stripes work with the stripes because they are of different widths and go in different directions (read more on mixing stripes here). This was an especially cool choice because depending on how you insert the pocket square, the stripes can run either vertical or horizontal, resulting in two very different looks. The horizontal is a bit straight-laced, while the vertical is more unexpected. Versatility warms my little heart. Ties l-r: Canali $140 from Saks, Armani $145 from Saks, Brioni $195 from Saks.Pocket squares left column top-bottom: Armani $95 from Barneys, Charvet $75 from Saks, Simonnot-Godard $60 from Bergdorf; right column top-bottom: Brioni $80 from Saks, Simonnot-Godard $60 from Barneys, Bloomingdales $28 from Bloomingdales.
Rath & Co. Tastehunter