(Book) Image Matters for Men - your colors

"The brute covers himself, the rich man and the fop adorn themselves, the elegant man dresses!"

-Honore de Balzac

internationalist
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Fri Aug 19, 2011 12:22 pm

http://www.colourmebeautifulshop.co.uk/ ... rs-for-men
This was a very interesting book for me. I found out that I have "muted" tones and such colors fit me well also Italian styled blazers and slim fit shirts.

What do you think guys of a women (actually two... authors) tell you what to wear? ;)
Costi
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Fri Aug 19, 2011 2:32 pm

internationalist wrote:What do you think guys of a women (actually two... authors) tell you what to wear? ;)
the linked site wrote:It will show you how to dress to impress [...]
Unimpressive...
internationalist wrote:I found out that I have "muted" tones and such colors fit me well also Italian styled blazers and slim fit shirts.
I'm afraid that's exactly the danger of such books... :?

Do some extensive reading on the LL and you'll get over this. I recommend the Features and Articles section for theory and the Best of Bespoke for applications...
Enjoy! It's free! :wink:
Jordan Marc
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Fri Aug 19, 2011 2:42 pm

Men who allow themselves to be dressed by women invariably end up looking like schmucks. Trust your tailor to help you make a good choice for appropriate colors and fabrics, not your live-in lover or wife.

Color theory was all the rage way back in the 1970s. It was predicated on complexion, eye color, the shape of your head and hair color, all of which was arbitrarily designated by the four seasons. You were a winter, a spring, a summer, or a fall. Women were fascinated by the goofy theory and the practitioners' ideas of what was right for you, and nobody else but you. They dragged their husbands and lovers along so they, too, could be coordinated properly in the strictest terms of the theory. If you want to understand color theory, head for the nearest art supply store and buy a color wheel. It won't tell you what colors to wear, but it will show you each color's complement (read: opposite). Once you get the hang of the wheel, you can mix and master combining colors with ease. Painters and designers use color wheels all the time. Eventually they toss them aside and create their own unique color sense, hence the term artist.

Women dress for other women. Men dress for themselves.

JMB
Costi
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Fri Aug 19, 2011 2:57 pm

Jordan Marc wrote:Painters and designers use color wheels all the time. Eventually they toss them aside and create their own unique color sense, hence the term artist.
Haha, that's a good one! :lol:
Jordan Marc wrote:Women dress for other women. Men dress for themselves.
That IS a very good one... Never thought about it in these terms (the first part), but... YES :!:
(perhaps we should add "married" women?)
Rowly
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Fri Aug 19, 2011 3:03 pm

Women dress for other women. Men dress for themselves.
I love the autumn when I really can get into my tweeds and brogues. A recent lady friend tried to get me to conform to the current fashion forward trends , insisting I would look younger and more attractive to women. I agreed with her that that would be the effect, however, I still love my tweeds and brogues. I dress for my own pleasure, not for effect or to please others. There is no other way.
Costi
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Fri Aug 19, 2011 4:33 pm

Plus do you really want to attract the kind of women who look for the "younger" and "more attractive" type of men? How happy would their company make you?... :roll:
Instead, how happy you can be in the company of a woman who finds you so young (at least in spirit, I don't know more...) and attractive in your tweeds and brogues! :D
And then you could tell your lady friend that there are great tweeds and brogues for ladies, too!

Image

Image

Image

PS: internationalist, what do you think about the colour palette in this picture? :)
internationalist
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Fri Aug 19, 2011 5:33 pm

Costi wrote:Do some extensive reading on the LL and you'll get over this. I recommend the Features and Articles section for theory and the Best of Bespoke for applications...
Enjoy! It's free! :wink:
Perhaps could you make a downloadable PDF e-book out of the articles? Which has a beginning and and end? It would be very helpful for newbies. Much appreciated!
Costi wrote:PS: internationalist, what do you think about the colour palette in this picture? :)
Black and white.
Gruto

Fri Aug 19, 2011 5:36 pm

Colors matter. How, I don't know. But, let us look at some pictures from the book:

Image

Image

Image

Image

Her idea is that there should be a bridge between suit-shirt-tie and eyes-hair-skin color. Warm colors/warm coulors. Cold colors/cold colors. I think she is much too rigid about it. Reality is more complex. However, I find her efforts interesting.
Costi
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Fri Aug 19, 2011 6:14 pm

internationalist wrote:
Costi wrote:Do some extensive reading on the LL and you'll get over this. I recommend the Features and Articles section for theory and the Best of Bespoke for applications...
Enjoy! It's free! :wink:
Perhaps could you make a downloadable PDF e-book out of the articles? Which has a beginning and and end? It would be very helpful for newbies. Much appreciated!
We don't do teaspoon feeding, kind Sir. We don't do style handbooks, either. The articles and features are richly commented and all information is valuable. It is the pleasure - and the duty - of any (new) reader to browse and take what he likes, what he thinks useful, what resonates with him. As you can see, all schools of thought are represented here and all is a matter of opinion, rather than fact... :) :?
internationalist wrote:[
Costi wrote:PS: internationalist, what do you think about the colour palette in this picture? :)
Black and white.
Excellent answer! Eye exam passed.
That's all for today... :|

PS: a member was kind enough to gather all articles by member etuttee in a PDF file and uploaded it a couple of times, but I think the links expired by now. I should have it (not on the computer I am currently using) and, if I find it, I'll gladly upload it for you. But you're missing much of the story if you let yourself "guided" instead of exploring...
T.K.
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Fri Aug 19, 2011 7:12 pm

Costi wrote:
internationalist wrote:
Costi wrote:Do some extensive reading on the LL and you'll get over this. I recommend the Features and Articles section for theory and the Best of Bespoke for applications...
Enjoy! It's free! :wink:
Perhaps could you make a downloadable PDF e-book out of the articles? Which has a beginning and and end? It would be very helpful for newbies. Much appreciated!
We don't do teaspoon feeding, kind Sir. We don't do style handbooks, either. The articles and features are richly commented and all information is valuable. It is the pleasure - and the duty - of any (new) reader to browse and take what he likes, what he thinks useful, what resonates with him. As you can see, all schools of thought are represented here and all is a matter of opinion, rather than fact... :) :?
I have been reading and reading for many and many of evenings here and haven't yet had the need to actually post a single question since every question or problem that I could manage to make clear to myself is dealt with adequately somewhere on the LL. But more importantly, what makes this place (or what makes a true text) good, is that it enables you to find questions instead of answers, i.e. makes you find out to what important question you have the answer in front of you. What is needed is not statements, but conversation or thought in progress.

On a less general note, I do believe that it is important -- and very difficult -- to figure out for yourself what colours work for you, or put more bluntly, which ones enhance and respect the personality you express through your face.
lgcintra
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Fri Aug 19, 2011 9:20 pm

In my humble view, this critic eye relating to the colours that best compliment someone comes with empiric experience and years of observation. And there is something in addition to it, your skin colour might change overtime or in-between seasons: if you live in the tropics and like to sun-bathe whenever possible your skin might change from a range of olive-greenish white or reddish-white (depending on your long-term exposure to light) to orange-bronze -- this would be in my case. This certainly affects the colour of the garments that would fit you best. Trying to substitute empiric and holistic knowledge for manuals does not do the trick, especially with clothes. They constitute an initial guidance, but not the whole way.

Like some say here, you cannot buy style, you have to develop it, if you have the means (and they are not related to money). In any case, I think style is built in a spiral, along with your life.
Rowly
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Fri Aug 19, 2011 9:38 pm

Instead, how happy you can be in the company of a woman who finds you so young (at least in spirit, I don't know more...) and attractive in your tweeds and brogues!
And then you could tell your lady friend that there are great tweeds and brogues for ladies,
That is exactly what I find. Even though one or two may want me to conform to trends, many more both young and old respond very favourably to my preferred style. I'm not sure if they like the look, or the fact that I'm prepared to be different, but either way I like to dress for myself and that puts a spring in my step. I do like ladies in tweeds, though :wink:
Costi
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Fri Aug 19, 2011 10:16 pm

It is most often not a matter of colours, but of combinations of colours. I learned this from Michael Alden, whose complexion and hair colour should make him look washed out in a light gray suit, yet a dark blue tie secures a contrast area right under his face and enlivens it. Therefore, we can wear any colours we like if we master the combinations and contrasts. Even in the "wrong" pictures above it is enough to substitute the tie or shirt, keeping the "wrong" coat, and the combination may work.
However, this theory of colours is one of the wrong paths of dressing with style, because it appears to give objectivity to a factor that is eminently subjective: perception and self-perception. It makes us look for recipes outside of us, proposing prefabricated patterns, instead of encouraging us develop our own sense of colour, contrast, combination. Anything can be worn to look good, it's not about clothes or their colour - we don't need to look good thanks to our clothes, we need to discover how to look good in anything, how to make anything work - adapting, personalizing, bringing dress to ourselves instead of going outside of us towards clothes and dress.
lgcintra
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Fri Aug 19, 2011 10:32 pm

That´s exactly my point, but I could not put it in words in this bright and clear fashion. Bravo, Costi! :D
Costi
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Fri Aug 19, 2011 10:51 pm

I'm happy to see you here again, lgcintra! :D
Thanks - and you do make a distinct and important point, that most men are in fact moving targets in terms of the colour theory, so how useful is a compass that keeps changing its "north"? How can we build a wardrobe around a set of colours which, we think, correspond to "our season"? A little tan and all bets are off! :wink:
Oh, and I do agree with your spiral notion - so very much! Look here what a beautiful toy I came across: http://www.thelondonlounge.net/forum/vi ... 526#p57526
More than a spiral, it is a narrowing spiral, as Michael aptly explains in a post above the linked one.
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