Shirt first

Even before choosing a tie, you need to sort out your look by choosing a nice shirt. There is nothing wrong in choosing a favourite tie first and then a matching shirt but what is important here is to wear the shirt properly in order to look groomed. If your shirt is untucked, then no matter how straight your tie is, you will come across as scruffy. Make sure you fasten all buttons, including the pockets and the cuffs. Buttoned-down collar lapels do not make for a very formal look, so try to avoid them if you are going for a formal look with your tie. Don’t forget to iron your shirt! With or without a tie, a shirt that does not look crisp spoils the look.

Colours gamut

Now that you have sorted out how to wear your shirt properly, you are ready to add a tie to it. Pick a colour that complements the shirt. A contrasting colour is often the best but if you are wearing a pale blue shirt, then a vibrant deep blue tie also looks good. Some like to wear similar tones of colours for both the shirt and tie, but the tie ends up getting lost in the background. There is nothing wrong with this but it defeats the point of wearing a tie if you are going to camouflage it. A bright red tie on a black shirt looks fantastic.

Lost in a world of patterns

Perhaps more than any other types of garments, ties come in all sorts of patterns and even without patterns – just prints. From checked patterns to stripes, horizontal, diagonal and even sometimes vertical, the imagination of the designer is the limit. Often, there is no pattern at all, just prints of popular design, characters or symbols. How do you match such a tie with the rest of your outfit? Simple – make it the centre of the outfit. If your tie has a solid colour, that is, there is no pattern, you just have to think in terms of colour coordination. But add stripes to it in multiple colours and some men might shy away from that tie. However, it is not difficult to find an appropriate shirt if you want to wear these kind of ties.

Pattern rules

Plain ties go along well with patterned shirts and vice versa. This means if you want to wear a striped or checks shirt, pick a plain tie. A striped shirt will also suit to a similarly striped tie. Just ensure the patterns are similar as well as the colours. Never cross-match checked patterns and stripes, one from the tie and one from the shirt.

If you want to wear a striped tie, go for a solid colour shirt or a striped shirt. These are the only two ways to wear a patterned tie.

How about ties with designs? In this case, there is no pattern to match on the shirt, simply drawings, prints or abstract images. You will always have to choose a plain shirt for that and even better, a plain white shirt. This is because plain shirts act as a kind of plain background and allows the bold tie to indeed come out without any distractions.

So follow these simple rules. If you can’t be bothered to think about all this when dressing up early in the morning, keep it simple. Go with a shirt with a block colour; blue shirts are always a safe bet for men and you can find plenty here: http://www.mushirts.co.uk/plain-shirts/blue/. Then simply match it with a plain solid colour tie and you’re done. A yellow tie on a blue shirt will look perfect. You can’t go wrong with that.

Black tie and white tie formal shirts for men are made of white pique cotton. This kind of fabric has a rich woven texture that is easy to spot. The way to identify pique cotton is from the fine nature of its weave which makes it impossible for a visible pattern to be seen. If you feel this fabric, the most striking thing will be its sheer smoothness. White pique cotton shirts are only for black tie or shirt ties occasions and nothing else.

Then there is silk. Silk has always been considered a symbol of royalty. It is still considered a very luxurious fabric. A blue silk shirt for a man can be considered to be the equivalent of a shimmering black dress for a woman. For most men the choice between light or icy blue depends on their personality and looks. The trick with silk shirts is to avoid bright colours which will always tend to be overkill.

Sadly silk is the kind of fabric to be avoided by those who sweat too much. It darkens when wet meaning that sweaty underarms will quickly be highlighted and will therefore be very easy to notice.

Silk shirts go best with linen pants, which has been a winning combination for many years. There are those who strongly believe that this combination will remain fashionable many more decades to come.

Actually there are pros and cons for both sides. Cotton has a very attractive appearance and is an excellent conductor of heat which makes it ideal for hot weather or places where the humidity is high. Cotton is also very natural and very comfortable to wear at all times. It is also recognized as the standard by which all other shirt fabrics are judged.

The problem with cotton for men’s shirts is that it wrinkles at the least excuse and also easily gets bleach damage. This is why most men have a well-loved cotton shirt in their wardrobe that suffered some kind of damage and yet they cannot bring themselves to throw it out yet.

In sharp contrast the big advantage with blended shirt fabrics is that they are often resistant to wrinkles. They also have a very nice appearance and yet are cheaper than cotton shirts.

The down side of blended shirts is that they are more vulnerable to heat damage from an iron with all the man-made fiber in them. On a hot day they also tend to be extremely uncomfortable. It is not the kind of shirt you would comfortably perspire in.

In the final analysis cotton shirts and blended shirts both have their good points and negative ones as well. So, it is probably a better idea to have both in your wardrobe and to use them alternately considering their different strengths and weaknesses.