‘Fashion has always been a repetition of ideas, but what makes it new is the way you put it together’ – Carolina Herrera

We concur. Through the years our experience has shown us that all it takes is a little bit of styling motivated by contrasting to create so many different ensembles —just with one dress shirt. And trust us; it’s not a difficult task once you have understood the key to such a dramatic success!

Contrast!

This plays out in two levels

Level 1 – Which Contrast are you? The Skin. The Eyes. The Hair.

I am sure by now most of us know this, why certain clothing combinations look way more better than others… it’s because certain combinations bring out the best in us, whether accentuating the body or highlighting our facial features. In contrasting a key element to always remember is the face. In order to do this, it’s important to assess which one of the three contrast categories do you fall in.

• High Contrast: Where hair colour is a complete contrast to the skin tone. For example, jet black hair to a very fair face.
• Low Contrast: These are more muted or subtle appearances. For example, light hair and light skin. Even men with thinning hairlines, bald men and with red hair fall in this category.
• Medium Contrast: Usually the ones that don’t feature in either of the contrast fall into this category, and while the range isn’t wide, the number is a lot. Brown/olive skin men with dark hair or light skin men with grey/white hair.

Once you have figured the category you fall in, you move to the next level

Level 2 – Contrasting your clothes with your Contrast Category.

• Clothing for High Contrast Men: In this case do what your skin does for your hair. A dark dress shirt –maroon with a light grey suit. Or a navy blue suit with a white custom shirt. Go for bold ties, its highly complimenting. This draws one’s attention immediately to you/your face. All-in-all it’s a perfect combination that makes your features stand out.
• Clothing for Low Contrast Men: Light for a light or Dark for a Dark should be the simple Mantra. Stay monochromatic and stick to analogous colours. Important to always remember where is it you want someone to focus on. Your face. So if you fall into the category of light contrast. Opt for muted colours like earthy tones, light greys, whites or even pastels. An ensemble such as grey suit with a white dress shirt and a grey tie. Or a dark blue shirt with a dark suit and tie.
• Clothing for Medium Contrast Men: Now in this you could swing both ways…either end of the spectrum and you’ll carry the look smoothly. All you need to do is try both styles of dressing and see which complements you the best and roll with it.

At Vitruvien, we are not just about custom made dress shirts for men, we take that extra mile to give you a complete experience.