Men’s SS13 Fashion Trend: Safari
Men’s Guide To Business-Casual – The Summer Edition
Introduction To Dressing For Your Body Shape
Men's Short Hairstyles
Men's Mid-length Hairstyles
Men's Long Hairstyles
Men's Curly Hairstyles
Men's Black & Afro Hairstyles
Celebrity Hairstyles
Introduction
Towards the close of 2010 I had been rummaging down my wardrobe (which at the time took place on the bedroom floor). Before long I realised a rather wallet-detrimental trait of getting bored pretty easily. Although some of last seasons pieces kept me amused for the opening months of autumn/winter, I took charge and decided it was time to start thinking about investing rather than assuming I’ve invested.
With the assertion of the A/W seasons came new styles, new trends and new colours! Colour is something that I am heavily influenced by when it comes to new fashions. Although I still pay a lot of attention to unique designs and details such as fabrics, colour is the most influential feature that attracts me.
Now back to my then not-so organised wardrobe, I became disorientated that I hadn’t realised the faux pas of being around 60% summer orientated, 10% autumn, and 30% winter. Trying to build an A/W wardrobe around the preceding spring/summer pieces was a theory best left unattended.
The first thing that met my eye was the bright colours, your typical summer colours which fail to appeal in rainfall. Spring and summer gave us an amazing palette of colours and combinations that were often brighter than any sun that hid behind the blanket of clouds.
That got me thinking that it was time to look at what colour combinations are going to be at the forefront throughout the autumn/winter months we were residing in.
S/S & A/W variations
The key element you want to focus on is toning everything down. Your red becomes burgundy, your blue becomes navy, your yellow becomes camel or stone (you get the idea).
Both autumn and winter have been great seasons to experiment with colours, and we still have a few months left to pull more out of the bag! Some people suit some colours better than others, and by experimenting with dark tones; it creates less risk to stand out like a sore thumb.
I like to start with a colour combination of two, then when I feel more comfortable implement another colour, then another, etc. Just make sure each individual colour compliments the other. I finally found my mantra of colours. Below you will find 3 popular colour combinations for this Autumn, and produced a more detailed write up on my favourite since the onset of autumn, through Christmas, and up to where we are today – squeezing the last out of the season.
Navy & Camel
Navy and Camel. Simply because they’re two colours which have been extremely popular this season, and two colours which compliment each other perfectly! It’s a colour combination that is a great starting block to work with. Notice how with these three colour combinations I’m showcasing toned down colours which will look great, but wont have your friends asking “Why the drastic fashion change?”.
Dark Green & Brown
I love this combination. Two true A/W colours (earth tones which are always on trend) combined to really compliment each other. The colours also fit perfectly if you’re trying to establish the ever-strong military look.
No rules apply as you can see from the looks I’ve picked. A brown bag with green trousers? A brown and green jumper with brown boat shoes? Want to use different tones of each colour? Go for it, experiment with whatever looks best on you but remember to keep them toned down!
Black & Beige
Another simple but effective colour combination. Similar to my favourite pick – navy and camel – this colour combination uses darker tones. Perfect as a starting block due to the fact these two colours are very common and nearly ever man will have them in their ward/floordrobe!
Accessorising
If you’re sitting on the fence and not sure whether you’ll suit these colour combos, my advice would be to concentrate on accessorising. Accessorising is something women do MUCH better than us (like with all things – a fact we never share) and its time to play catch up.
Now what you need to take into consideration is the stand out colour (In the three examples above, camel, dark green and beige). What I mean by this is the less common colour out of the two. If I wore a colour combination of black and red, red would be the stand out colour; a colour in which I’d own and wear less of.
You see accessorising allows the following:
- A cheap and easy way to add colour
- The freedom to add individual and personal touches to the look
- The ability to separate yourself from others and any given stereotype
Accessories are for play and play with them you should. Implement this technique with the use of accessories against pieces you already own. For example you may already own a black T-shirt so wear it out shopping and be on the hunt for dark green accessories such as a scarf to try on.
A colourful ending…
There are so many variations to the basic two-colour combo and there really are no rules for how you choose to wear them.
Maybe add a camel coloured scarf to a navy jumper? Wear a pair of brown boots with some green chinos? Or simply a beige T-shirt under a black trench coat. The opportunities really are endless!
These colour combinations have been and will remain key until S/S 11 hits us right in the kisser. Don’t feel the need to fill your wardrobe with just these colours. Remember the rule I applied earlier? Once you feel comfortable add another colour, then another and repeat the process making sure each colour compliments each other, and most importantly compliments you! For example you could start with your brown and green combination but add another stand out earth colour such as beige OR how about using black and beige as your building block and then throwing in another bold winter colour such as burgundy/blood red?
Once you have the art of combining your colours, you can sit can and enjoy our traditional English winter evenings… I’ll have a tea with two sugars.
Paul
AllSaints Earlham Street Screening Room
Style Inspiration: Monaco Chic
Celluloid Style: The Great Gatsby (1974)
Style Inspiration: Berlin Grunge
Back To Top
With accessorising, how many of the woven bracelets do you think are too much?
With accessorising, how many of the woven bracelets are sufficient
@Dajaun.S – I wouldn’t over do it, drawing too much attention to your wrists. Use woven bracelets to compliment the outfit your wearing, and use both wrists would be my advice!
The difference between too much and sufficient is one weave away from the wrong on either side. Rather than judging it by the bracelets, judge it by your arm. If you have longer arms you can wear more and vice versa.
Break away from this cliche and opt for a single staple piece of wrist-wear to take you into SS11.
Those god awful ‘drop crotch’ or whatever you call them jeans are horrible!
Are chinos (beige) and dark brown military boots a no-go? I love my boots but because they’re brown it seems I can only wear them with blue jeans!
I would have never thought to wear black and beige, I see black and white as classic. How about a dark grey and beige?
@Perry: I’ve got a similar problem too! I have a pair of camel coloured military boots and I always have a problem with what to pair it with. In order to wear the boots, I need to wear skinny jeans and I only have 2 colours for my jeans: blue & black.
P.S. I once wore my boots with my skinny black jeans and everyone was staring at my boots. I was wearing all black with my camel boots sticking out. Don’t know what everyone thought about it but I rocked the look anyway..haha!
@James do you not like the extra room provided with Drop Crotch styles? Some of us fellas need it!
@Perry – You can mix around with any Neutral colour really such as Dark Brown, Beige, Navy, Grey (you get the idea) Beige Chinos and Brown Military Boots will be fine, but I would try and implement some Navy or Black above your waistline (e.g. A Navy Trench Coat)
@Americano – Dark Grey and Black is also classic. I would add some Beige to make a three way colour combination by accessorising with a Beige Scarf or Snood for example!
Just experiment with colours is the best advice I can give!
I’m very unsure on drop crotches as i dont see the point in them. allsaints seem to be obsessed in producing drop crotches and short crops. i just think it makes the average man look like a scruffy clown for the most part. whats worse is that they match them up with smart shirts and jackets…..how can a dapper look include ridiculously un-tailored trousers?
@Paul, thanks for getting back to me, I appreciate it. I’ll definitely try it out!
Really good article. Definitely do one of these for the next season!
Shame it wasn’t sooner in the darker months but still worthwhile!
What is the jacket that the model in the first picture is wearing?
That waistcoat kind of thing the model’s wearing in the middle of this article’s header image looks great. The texture makes it look a bit like animal skin. Wonder where it came from.
Anyhow, those tones of brown and dark green talk so naturally of autumn. They instantly remind me of leaf fall. I spent enough on autumn / winter clothing last year, but I’ll try out some of those colours and see if they work for me next time. The best I’ve done this year has been a burgundy cardigan mixed with otherwise neutral colours, though it does seem to work well for me.
hi where is that beige military jacket from at the top on the left, does anyone know ?
Ya, I’d like to know where all three of those looks on top are from!
Class article.
I second both Jons and MBs comments above
One thing that annoys me with these lookbooks is that they never really show what footwear goes with these looks, for example, whats best to wear with the camel pants and the navy top ?
the lookbook at the very top, i think it’s zara???
@fromtoronto – Yes the top look book is from Zara
Ah, I thought I had seen it before, so Zara makes sense. I think it was the general A/W one they release before / at the same time as the online store, because since then they’ve done it in months, starting from September.
Yer i agree with ZUBAIR and I don’t get the zara lookbooks because the clothes i’ve seen from here are never for sale or even on the lookbook ??
Navy and camel is my favorite colour combination. Currently wearing camel carrot tops and a think navy cardigan.
Great article. Where is the blue jacket at the top from?
In the main picture with the cream leather jacket… any idea where i can get that outfit from?? Also got a blue blazer jacker and light blue shirt underneath not sure what to wear on the bottom half?