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.