I have written before that in my opinion pink combines best with gray suits (this despite the British predilection for wearing that color with navy).
Pink in turn combines well with lilac, particularly a subtle shade that is almost, but not quite, indistinguishable from gray. And when jacket, shirt, necktie and square each have white in the pattern, the elements blend together.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
An Unexpected Blend
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12 comments:
I'm rather a big fan of pink - can't get enough of the stuff. Being a Brit in North America, I've noticed a strange ambivalence toward the colour on men. When I wear it, I generally receive positive feedback, but when you talk to men in the abstract they still have some retrograde hangups about it. Masculinity is so easily challenged, no? Yet women seem universally to like it. My personal preference, since you raised it, is to wear pink shirts with grey, and I like to mix in different shades of pink (taking full advantage of it not clashing with itself). That said, it also looks rather well with my navy suit...
With you all the way Will....Pink looks great with grey.....your get up looks great in the pic
I have always liked a pink shirt with a gray suit. I had, for many years, a maroon tie with mid-blue diamonds on it that I would wear with a soft pink shirt and a darkish, but not charcoal, suit. I think it was probably my all-time favorite suit combination.
While I dont think that there is anything wrong with a pink and navy combination, I just dont think that the pink/gray can be beat. I also believe that for it to be successful it is incredibly important that the pink is just the right shade of light pink, nothing too bright.
I, too, have noticed the ambivalence of many men towards wearing pink, and what a shame that some would not avail themselves of this great color and the advantage it can give one. Done correctly, it can be as conservative as white, but at the same, time gently setting the wearer apart as a man of quiet distinction. Several of my acquaintances began wearing pink shirts with suits after they saw the combination I mentioned above.
Pink compliments the coloring of most men I have noticed. It should also be mentioned that pink is a great color for the middle-aged and older man as it has a subtle way of bringing light and youth back into his face.
I think that pink combines well with just about any other colour - if used with caution...
Why, do You think, men get positive reaction from women, when they are wearing pink?
Being a female myself, I might have the/one answer. Apart from being nice as a color, it is because it suggests that the man wearing it, is gentle, cares about details, is not afraid to show his softer side.
I am reminded today of the late Mike Romanoff, Beverly Hills restaurateur and boon companion to my late dad, Michael Wilding. Romanoff, regent of Rodeo Drive, always included pink in his wardrobe, sometimes down to pink-trimmed shorts or garters. He considered it his good luck color. (Mike's other pals, including the always splendidly turned out Frank Sinatra, thought Romanoff's palette a little fey, but that is another story.)
So comes the day Mike is ensconced in New York's Pierre Hotel with, of all people, the late Eva Gabor making a carnal goulash of the first order. They finish. They wash. They dress. And out they stroll toward Fifth Avenue and daylight.
Approaching 60th Street, the couple runs into Jose Ferrer, perhaps Hollywood's greatest swordsman. Joe had just finished his own evening with a Latin Quarter lovely and was pleased to see a couple of old friends so far from Chasens.
"Eva," Joe Ferrer inquired, "did you get a good look at Mike's underkit?"
Eva said she did.
"And Mike," Joe continued, "did you find Eva's gorgeous paprika to your liking?"
"Of course," Romanoff said.
"Then," Ferrer concluded, "I take pleasure in knowing that both of you were--and are--in the pink."
A response to Ági:
You may be right, but I could easily imagine the opposite to be true. Pink is a warm colour, and a man may want to convey his refinement of heat, passion, fire. For men who have relatively narrow choices when it comes to form, such a colour stands in for flamboyancy. It is wildness tempered. I think women appreciate both the symbolic allusion and the element of control. In addition, a man may wear pink not because he has no fear of betraying a softer side, but because he is so confident in his masculinity that he has no fear about transcending the boundaries of lesser men. Pink, in this context, is power. beingmanly.blogspot.com
Didn't Cary Grant have a predilection for pink socks?
Will, the look today is exquisite. I think I'll be including a pink stripe in my next order from Hemrajani...
I take it this is also an example of easing into not officially spring yet, but warmer, sunnier weather wear--for the time being in California anyway--of still darker suitings, but worsted not tweed, and a bright spot with the shirt.
After all these deserved plaudits Will I must enter one small caveat on the subject of pink.....you have a drop in pic from an earlier posting of yourself in what looks like the same DB suit with a pink bowtie which I don't think looks good. Why? Partly this is because I'm not too keen on bowties with DB suits as it seems overkill rather as a DB suit in glen plaid does (this is a prejudice I think you share with me)but a pink bowtie with a striped DB seems way too....well flash is the only word I can come up with.....am I being too puritanical?
Different suit, different season and different occasion Joe. In my opinion, flash is less objectionable for a sunny summer's day of shopping in Mayfair.
It looks like Will is preaching to the choir on the benefits of pink shirts, and I have long been a believer myself.
I find two things particularly noteworthy: the combination of the grayish lilac and gray, and the combination of pink and lilac.
On the first point, lavender and lilac are also great with gray, as shown here. Funny how I was never consciously aware of that, even though I've worn them together countless times, until this post brought it to my attention.
On the second point, combining pink and a shade from the purple family is difficult. This color combination can be too much, especially if both colors are in strong tones, but this is a subtle, tasteful combination that almost passes unnoticed. Magnificent--and thanks for the inspiration.
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