A man may spend a lifetime learning how to complement his coloring with shirts and neckties, only to see that learning become useless in a matter of months when his hair turns gray. But gray hair is fairly easy to work with. It responds well to a palette of pastels as well as grey, beige, red and white. Indeed, men who always looked washed out in white shirts may find that a bit of white to the face is quite complementary once they've grayed.
There is little to like in this monochromatic cast photo from AMC's Mad Men television series, but it does illustrate a white shirt working with white hair on the man in the double breasted. If only he had swapped neckties with the guy on the far left before he drowned in that marine blue suit. Oh well, I shouldn't get started.
There is little to like in this monochromatic cast photo from AMC's Mad Men television series, but it does illustrate a white shirt working with white hair on the man in the double breasted. If only he had swapped neckties with the guy on the far left before he drowned in that marine blue suit. Oh well, I shouldn't get started.
5 comments:
The guy in the center - perhaps to the left a bit in the striped tie and gray suit would look better if he was not wearing a belt. I am beginning to see how distracting a belt can be with a suit. I had this relevation about pockets on dress shirts some time ago and now have them made without pockets. It is now time to buy my suits with no belt loops.
Having my hair gray by the time I reached 35 was one of the smarter things I did. But now, many years later it is waving: that is, waving Goodbye!
Being fairly saturnine of countenance, combined with my once Indian black hair, largely limited color choices among suits and jackets to blues and grays. Casual clothes were similarly limited, except for the oddity of bright red being agreeable.
These choices expanded greatly with the arrival of silver hair. The best part is that the gray can always serve as a tonal counterpoint to any darker colors I select, and if used correctly, help to balance the overall effect.
Pastels of almost any tone became flattering. And many different shades of greens were now pleasing; though they’re still easiest if there’s a bit of blue to them. This has pleased me, as I had always loved greens. The brown family is about the only color palette that remains at all problematic, though even that has improved.
Fear not the gray! If you go back through Will’s marvelous illustrations from Apparel Arts and elsewhere you will notice that many, if not most of the splendid gentlemen depicted share it with you. My goodness, clothes for grownups!
Will, I commend your positive attitude on life. Who else would see grey hair as an opportunity for revamping a personal color scheme?
Gray is one thing, and my father looks just fine with his gray, but I have a different problem - the hair I've got is dark brown and my beard fades to red and blond (rather nicely, my friends call it 'calico') but I have to admit at the ripe old age of 25 I'm quickly becoming bald. Is there any particular means to artfully include this as a positive aspect of my appearance? Thankfully I've got a loving longtime girlfriend whose think Patrick Stewart is sexy (I'd agree) but I've never seen him in a suit..
Having turned gray quite a while ago, I certainly appreciate the color suggestions. Pastels, gray and beige will particularly work out in the warmer months.
One of the bonuses of going gray for formerly dark-haired men is that they no longer suffer from five o'clock shadow (which usually hit me at 3 p.m.). And the best way to continue to look good in a suit is to maintain a trim physique. Verbum sapientiae......
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