Style: bright colours maketh the man

In my last post, I spoke about Hackett’s great use of colour in its summer collections, and I wanted to expand on this a bit more in this entry. The picture above illustrates some examples of this year’s Riviera feel to the summer collection, mixed with the classic English touches, such as the rowing blazer and the pin-stripe suit jacket. In each case, the linking theme is bright pastel colours. Okay, so there’s a lot of pink, but as every modern man knows, there is no stigma to wearing pink in menswear today. The fact is that pink is the most versatile of pastel shades, going equally well with greys and blues of all shades. However, if pink’s really not your thing, go for hues of yellow, purple and green.

Pastel colours can brighten up an outfit into the perfect summer look, whether it is as bold a move as the trousers worn by Matthew Goode, star of the 2008 film remake of Brideshead Revisited, in the top lefthand image, or a more subtle statement, such as a tie or handkerchief in the breast pocket.  Don’t just limit your use of colours to your holiday-wear either – a pink tie (or for the more rakish, a yellow bow-tie) can give lighter look to a grey pinstripe suit and blue dress-shirt at work in just the same way. The key is always to complement the colours you are wearing, so don’t forget the usual rules of colour combination.

Try wearing brighter summer colours in these next few months and see how it revolutionises your wardrobe.

Benjamin Bixby: yesterday’s fashions for today

One of the freshest labels today, despite being inspired by college football fashions of the 1930s, has to be Benjamin Bixby, the clothing line designed by the effervescent André Benjamin. Launched in 2008, this label continues the great American prep-style tradition championed by the likes of Ralph Lauren and Brooks Brothers. It just goes to show that 70 years on, a letterman sweater or cricket jumper teamed with a duffle coat can still look timeless.

For those in the UK, Hackett seeks to do the same, injecting a classic vintage feel into modern menswear, often with admirable results. Hackett takes a more English approach, its jackets having the waisted look of classic English mens tailoring, and with raincoats and overcoats that echo the simple lines of the mid-1960s. Hackett’s summer collections always have one great thing in common: unashamed use of colour, which will be the subject of my next post.