Tieless

Tieless day wear for a sunny Saturday. A completely buttoned polo shirt is a finished-at-the-neck look that's the warmer weather alternative to a turtleneck or mock tee.

The shoe and socks combination here is a bit foppish, but other than that it's just a California tuxedo (defined as chinos and a blazer). Remove the jacket, change the shoes and it's ready for the golf course.

Mixing Four Patterns

Checked suit, striped shirt and paisley madder pocket square make three patterns (I don't count the oxford weave of the necktie and you shouldn't either). Click on the photos to see them enlarged.


And argyle socks make four.

The key to pattern mixing is to keep the scale of the patterns different so they don't conflict with each other. This particular mix might be a bit much for an office but I was headed for an afternoon art exhibit where some complexity is not out of place.

Gray and Green

I might never have considered the combination of bottle green with gray flannel had I not read about it in one of Alan Flusser's early books. But I tried it, liked it, and I've been wearing it ever since. And it seems particularly apropos before Christmas.


It's a combination that benefits from socks that complement the necktie. And semi-brogue shoes. In my opinion, a flannel suit needs either brogueing or the texture of suede to balance the look.

Last Minute Stocking Stuffers

Here are two last minute gift ideas for a man in your life, including, of course, yourself.


First, a pair of Pantherella's maroon silk hose from Woods of Shropshire (£15.00 or about $30). Exactly what he needs to wear with his dinner jacket on New Year's Eve.


And then he'd better have sock suspenders from Albert Thurston (also £15.00 or about $30), so he won't have maroon silk puddled around his ankles after the first dance.

Happy holidays!

Don't Try This At Home

A certain segment of the Italian male population has taken to wearing deliberately mis-matched socks. I don't recommend the look, which is too studied.

But I do like this photo.

Maintenance: How to Wash Socks

When I began living on my own as a young man, I lacked an education in household things. Doing my own laundry meant that dirty clothes went into the washer, the water temperature was set to hot, and the cycle begun. Years later I learned I had prematurely ended the lives of many pair of socks that way.

Inadvertant sockicide didn't matter too much then, but today I try to get longer life from my socks so I can afford patterns like the pictured pair by Robert Talbott. That means laundry is done a lot differently now. Silk and cashmere socks are washed by hand in warm water. Cotton and wool socks are machine laundered in cold water on the delicate cycle.

After washing, my socks are hung on a drying rack installed below the laundry room fan. The fan moves enough air over the socks to make them think they are being line dryed out of doors, so they don't get stiff as a board. Which they do for some reason when they're line dried in still air.

When dry, fold each pair carefully and store them neatly in a drawer. At those prices, they deserve it.

Suits and Socks, Installment IX

More tweed. Glen check suit accompanied by dark burgundy brogues. In between, tomato red socks with blue polka dots. Worn with a light blue glen check shirt, pinned charcoal cashmere necktie and dark silk paisley square, the combination doesn't attract attention unless I'm seated for a shoe shine.

Suits and Socks, Installment VIII

It was cool the other day, and a reasonable temperature for tweed. That meant a charcoal and tan twill weave suit (darker than the flash makes it appear) worn with dark brown brogues and pumpkin-colored socks. Above the waist, a yellow banker's stripe club collar shirt worn pinned, a pumpkin colored silk necktie with black and yellow stripes and an orange silk pocket square with small green figures.

You Thought Gallo Was A Winemaker?

I happen to think that there's not much fun in plain socks. I like them striped or checked with my suits in a color that picks up something above the waist but doesn't match anything. Which sent me on a search for the pictured pair that's the featured item on the men's product page at Pantherella's web site and, naturally, I can't find a pair anywhere. Most of the Pantherella that is actually available for purchase lacks, shall we say, distinction.

It's not just Pantherella. For a variety of reasons, the geometrics and colorings of brands like Richard James and Dore Dore don't work for me and I've found only a few attractive offerings from makers like Bresciani and Marcoliani that don't cost $80 a pair for cashmere blends that may be good for three or four wearings. Which is what has finally led me to Gallo, an obscure brand that's currently my favorite maker of dress socks. Gallo has stripes, vertical or horizontal, and the quality is excellent. Of course, they're not easy to find either.
I have nonetheless managed to piece together a Gallo collection from several sources. I saw them last summer at Edward Green, which stocks a few colorways in London that are available by telephone (try their very dark navy with discreet red vertical stripes). LA's Welcome Hunters stocks several colorways (the ones in the photo above) that aren't sized but fit a medium foot. And The French Gentleman has others (look under Chaussettes) with the caveats that stock is low and the shipping is as much as a pair of the socks.

Now none of this matters if you're one of those men who is happy wearing navy blue socks every day. But if you see me with a smile on my face it might well be because I've got green socks with pink stripes hidden under my tan gabardine double breasted. Gallo makes socks.

Socks Around the House

On a Saturday evening, black suede Belgian Shoes, cream and black hoop striped socks and charcoal whipcord trousers. An ecru silk shirt and a dark green velvet smoking jacket are out of the picture.

Suits and Socks, Installment VII

Gray and tan houndstooth socks accompanied the "Underwear" ensemble posted yesterday. Acorn cap toe oxfords and a tan gabardine suit.

Suits and Socks, Installment VI

Striped socks, bluchers and a tan nailhead suit. Above the waist, a yellow necktie, orange barathea braces, a blue and white glen check shirt with a club collar worn pinned and a white linen pocket square.

Choosing the Day's Clothes

Hardy Amies, perhaps the first men's clothing designer and the man who had more influence on my dress than any other, wrote that a man should select his clothes with care so he can forget about them for the rest of the day.

Choosing the day's clothes starts with the suit rotation. Suits are not meant to be worn on consecutive days, and one way to ensure that is to rotate them in the closet. I hang recently worn clothing on the right of one closet bar, and take clothes that I'm going to wear from the left side. Moving them along the bar isn't much of a job - I have quite a few suits but there are no more than a dozen in my active city rotation at any particular time.

I start my selection by considering the formality of the day I expect to have. If it's got at least one serious event, I'll choose the first serious suit at the left hand side of the bar. Or, if it promises to be less formal, I'll pull a Friday suit that's less somber.

Next, I choose my shoes. I won't wear a pair that I've worn already that week, and I relate the formality of the shoe to the formality of the suit. That usually means oxfords with worsteds and bluchers or monks with flannels, linen and tweed.

The time-consuming part of the process is choosing a shirt, necktie and accessories. First comes the shirt. I usually choose light blue, yellow or light gray with a blue suit, or pink, cream or blue with a gray one. I don't have to worry too much about rotation as the laundry makes sure I can't wear any single shirt two weeks in a row.

The necktie comes next (I won't spend space on choosing a necktie since I covered that topic earlier this year). Then I choose a pocket square. That's usually white linen if I'm wearing a silk necktie. If I'm wearing a knit or a grenadine it's likely to be colored silk , in a secondary color that relates to my shirt or a color in my suit. Before going any further, I double-check the combination by putting the square in the jacket's breast pocket, holding the shirt and tie up to the jacket and making adjustments until I get a combination that I'm happy with. Sometimes that happens the first time, and once in a while it takes half a dozen tries.

With shirt, tie and square locked in, I go on to select socks that are compatible with my trousers but pick up the color of something I'm wearing above the waist. Finally, I'll choose braces and cufflinks that relate without matching in one way or another, and I'm done. Elapsed time, ten to twenty minutes to combine three (sometimes four) patterns, including socks, and at least that many colors.

Suits and Socks, Installment V

Another look that works in a cafe but wouldn't be appropriate in most law firms (the best combinations for law firms are too dark to photograph well). Chestnut monks, navy worsted and a peek of startling orange socks that complement a pair of orange barathea braces above the waist.

Suits and Socks Installment IV

Socks don't always have to complement a man's trousers. Consider these light blue cotton hose (picking up the color in a blue broadcloth shirt) worn with a tan glen check suit and fox suede Adelaide brogues.

Suits and Socks Installment III

Spectators and cotton argyles worn on a temperate Sunday with a mustard linen suit. It's definitely not business dress, but in my opinion there are few things that make a man feel quite so debonaire as a linen suit.

Suits and Socks, Installment II

City wear, including what were for a couple years my favorite brown oxfords. Above the waist, a light blue on white striped shirt, orange oval cuff links, a blue-gray twill necktie and a white linen pocket square.

Suits and Socks

Worn with trousers cut to cover the top of the shoe, socks can be a secret pleasure under a quiet facade. Wear them with braces, also concealed, in a similar unexpected color. Above the waist, a light blue broadcloth shirt, navy oxford weave necktie and a navy pocket square with white dots.

Summer Socks

Last week, Alex Kabbaz and Joelle Kelly of CustomShirt1.com launched a major upgrade to their shopping site with a new checkout system that includes a member rewards program. Each purchase earns reward points equal to 10% of the purchase and once a member's account reaches 1,000 points they can be exchanged for merchandise.

Rewards are all the more reason to be pleased that the selection of cotton socks for summer has expanded dramatically this year. Readers may recall that I've complained about the dearth of striped socks available to those of us who have to do much of our shopping on the Web. Kabbaz and Kelly have eased my pain with new offerings from Pantherella and Marcoliani.

I don't generally care for many of Pantherella's color combinations, but their Sea Island stripes (the center photo) and solids are just fine and the quality is excellent. The Marcoliani offerings (top and bottom photos), on the other hand, are made from a humbler cotton and nylon combination but whoever designs the line has a great eye for color. In fact, the Bordeaux and the pine green colorings in Marcoliani's Merino wool dress hose are as close to perfect as I've seen in a sock and it doesn't get better than that.

Just Say No to Black Socks

Maybe sock manufacturers would make more interesting dress socks if we all stopped buying plain black pairs. Not that I have anything against black socks, as long as they are silk for evening dress, preferably with gray or maroon clocks on the sides.

Dress socks work best when their color either relates to something above a man's waist, or is consistent with the color of his trousers. And since we don't wear black trousers during the day, there's little use for black socks. The racy dressers among us might be customers for colors like brown, rust, hunter, maroon and even lilac, but what most men need for work wear in the Fall are over the wool calf socks with gray, blue and tan grounds and cotton versions of the same for Spring (to keep things simple, I lump cashmere socks in with the wool).

With base colors and materials decided upon, we can talk about patterns. Socks ought to be patterned (a simple rib may be OK when they are brightly colored), so they add visual interest to the day's dress. Widely available patterns include clocks, birdseyes, herringbones, houndstooths, neats and simple plaids. Discreet horizontal stripes, a favorite of the Apparel Arts crowd in the 1930's are also nice, if you can find them (I can't). Argyles and polka dots begin to push the bounds of propriety for suits but add nice touches to less formal clothing.

Note that we are only considering over the calf socks. I strongly encourage men to limit their dress sock wardrobe to OTCs as, unless they are worn with sock suspenders, mid-calf hose have a disturbing tendency to slip down to the ankle, potentially leaving bare skin visible on the calf. And, as you know, that's a transgression on the short list of mortal sartorial sins. Stick with the OTCs and avoid problems.