While tradition (and many others) says you probably shouldn't wear a tie without a suit, blazer, or sport coat, I'll admit that it's one of the rules I break sometimes. I've written before about mixing more casual shirts (and a tie) with more sporty jackets, and I'll probably do it again at some point in the future. There are days where I require at least a thin extra layer in the morning and after work, but barely leave the office during the day, and sometimes I find myself with this combination.
I fell into this look recently, during a week when work was a grind and the temperature was just a pinch below the heat oven it's been for months. It made even more sense given my bicycle commute.
It is summer, and a cherry red linen tie popped over a brightly-colored striped shirt. Showing a complete disregard for eyeballs everywhere was the lightly-colored glen plaid jacket over the top.
The jacket itself is a vintage (I'm guessing 60s or so from the tag) piece that I picked up years ago, and despite being lightweight, it's held up incredibly well (the talon metal zipper alone is massive and feels indestructible). It's not really a windbreaker and it's certainly not waterproof, but sometimes it's the perfect jacket for layering, tradition be damned.
I like the shirt. I like the jacket. I'm not so fond of them together, but only because the patterns are too close in scale.
ReplyDeletePlaids are hard to combine with each other, but, having given "Dressing the Man" a read, I have been inspired to try. The other day, I wore a tie that has a large-scale plaid with a shirt that has a small-scale Prince of Wales check the other day, and I thought (hope?) the combination worked.