Your Guide to Patterns and Men's Dress Shirts

Patterns have an enormous impact on your overall look. The type and style of the pattern can make or break your look. Getting it right is vital. In a previous blog entry, we learned about the importance of color; how to select the right color and what impact the color can have on your overall look. Today, we do the precise same with patterns.

It can be difficult to choose the right shirt based on pattern. After all, patterned men’s dress shirts come in a wide variety of styles and color combinations. It can be a challenge, then, to correctly match the right shirt with the rest of your look. That being said, there are many great tips you can follow to help you make the right choice.

Choosing the Right Pattern

There are three main patterns you can choose from:

• Neat
• Stripe
• Check

A neat shirt is one in which there is a dominant color. The precise pattern of the shirt may only come into view at close range. As such, neat shirts are the most versatile type of patterned shirt. Some might argue that they’re not truly patterned at all. Still, this shirt type is ideal for more formal occasions; it allows you to pull off the impression of formality without carrying the risk of informality that comes with stripe or check shirts.

Stripe shirts are, as the name quite right suggests, shirts with a distinct stripe-based pattern. Many men do, however, get the look wrong. For example, it’s commonplace to see men wearing stripe shirts with a stripe-based tie plus a stripe-based suit. This is a mismatch that must, at all costs, be avoided. At best, it’s confusing. Try to avoid the monotonous standard stripe shirt – one color against another. Add a third accented color for variation. This additional accent is perfect for those with lighter complexions, too.

The third patterned men’s dress shirt is, of course, the check shirt. As with stripe shirts above, it’s important to get the match right. Try to match a check shirt with a uni-colored suit. You don’t want one to dominate over the other, nor have either conflicting with each other, too. Adding a stripe-based tie is also something you should consider.

Final thoughts

As a general rule – try to allow the suit to dominate the pattern shirt and not vice versa.

In terms of accessories, try to avoid using harsh color combinations. Keep the style simple and minimal. There’s no need to add a third or fourth conflicting color at this already late stage. While matching patterned shirts is that much more difficult than plain shirts, it can, if it works well, have an outstanding aesthetic impact.

Be sure to check back to our fashion blog in the near future as we supply even more great tips to help you refine and master the perfect look. Also, be sure to comb through our online catalog of patterned men’s dress shirts today for some great deals.