Dressing for the office can be taxing. Consider these easy reminders in the morning, keep it simple, and get your day started right. Night owls - you might even find it helpful to prep your outfit the evening before.
Three basic things to think about when prepping for your day are color, texture, and pattern. A successful pairing integrates these three elements seamlessly into the land of the "well-balanced." Think of "balance" as the secret ingredient here. If your shirt color is subtle, integrate a heavier texture or pattern for your jacket and tie choices. If your shirt color is very bold and has a heavy pattern, tone down your look with a more subtly textured tie choice. Be mindful of pattern with pattern, stripes with stripes, and the like. Michael Hill, Creative Director of
Drake's London explains this idea wonderfully in
an interview with
A Continuous Lean, "A man can wear a strong design in an unostentatious way, particularly if the coloring is well-balanced." Below, we explore the styling of three of our Short Run Shirts and offer suggestions to tone down the look, or to take it a bit further into "aspirational" territory.
Whites, Blues and Checks // The Kegan Check
Sticking with basic whites and blues goes a long way. It's literally a blank canvas. Some of the sharpest outfitting out there starts with
a great white shirt at its core. Our Kegan Check is a pink and blue pinstripe check shirt on a cotton plain weave. The subtle print adds a layer of complexity to this basic check. We paired the Kegan with a navy knit tie and a solid navy wool jacket to add texture. This combination is as simple and as timeless as they come.
Wear it with:
The Navy Warwick Sport Coat,
Navy Riley Stripe Tie
Add pattern:
Navy McLean Dot Tie,
Waverly Pocket Square
The Button-Down // The Kemper Striped Oxford
By nature, button-down collars have a casual association. While this is up for debate based on personal opinion, we support dressing up a button-down. Our Kemper Striped Oxford is shown here with a textured jacket -
The Dover Pinpoint- and a patterned tie. The tonal blue stripe of the Kemper compliments the blue hues in both the jacket and tie that it is paired with. When in doubt, monochrome is never a bad route.
Wear it with:
The Dover Pinpoint,
The Grey Hemming Tie
Add color:
The Cream Augusta Sport Coat,
The Green Hunt Twill Tie
Bold Color // The Tucker Pinpoint
While the color of this shirt is striking, it functions the same as a basic white or blue when it comes to pairing ties and jackets. Tone down the color of this shirt with a neutral, textured grey tie. The jacket choice here adds a punch to the look. But if you're not feeling as ambitious, pair it with a solid jacket and a patterned tie for a classic look.
Wear it with:
The Beige Hudson Knit Tie,
The Green Cumberland Sport Coat
Tone it down:
The Navy Wellington Sport Coat,
The Grey Butler Basketweave Tie
Some of us are well-dressed by form of intuitive expression; for others of us, buttoning-up for the office can be one of the toughest challenges in the morning. While these tips are tried and true for keeping yourself sharp in the workplace, here are several additional resources that provide nice visual cues for how to experiment with your wardrobe:
The Sartorialist,
A Continuous Lean,
Inventory Magazine,
GQ's Style Guy,
Esquire's Style Blog.
As always, we're happy to provide style advice and provide product suggestions. Please feel free to contact our team via customer-service@ledbury.com with all inquiries.
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Go the extra mile to be the office hero. Enter our "Outfit Your Office" Giveaway for a chance to win 100 Ledbury shirts for your office mates, a fitting with our stylists, and a bourbon tasting with Ledbury Co-Founders, Paul and Paul. Our top 5 social referrers will also be rewarded with a Ledbury shirt. Enter now, then start sharing! Contest ends April 27, 2014.
