The arrival of spring and summer warrants not only a change in the type of suit fabrics that we are wearing, but in paying attention to the colors, patterns and fabrics of our accessories! After all, with warmer weather comes a more relaxed vibe, the need for articles of clothing that keep us cool, and a penchant for spring and summertime flair that is completely unique and different to the other half of the year. As we strut our seersucker, cotton and linen suits, and switch out our black shoes for tans and brown wingtip brogues, we start to realize that switching out navy’s, darker blue’s and deep purples used in the fall and winter is an adjustment that will most likely serve us well. Out with the darker colors, in with the lighter. Out with the heavier fabrics, and in with the lighter fabrics. As the seasons go, so does what we wear! Color Typically associated with with the spring and summer seasons are pastel colors. While Navy, Burgundy, Mustard Yellow and Olive Green typically work well during the fall & winter seasons, given their association with a somber tone and being in line with mother nature, lighter colors tend to work best during the warmer months. Firstly, they reflect away less light, keeping us naturally cooler. In the same vein that its not common for one to wear a black shirt in the warmer months, one should opt for lighter accessories. As always, the use of a color wheel will help in determining how to match ties to your suits and shirts. Light Blue Shirt The Dark Knot's Salisbury Pink Silk Tie When pairing accessories with a light blue shirt, opt for a pink or coral tie. Both are derivatives of red, which forms part of a triadic color sequence with blue on the color wheel. Hence, you are balancing out a cooler color (blue) with warmer colors (pink, coral), albeit in a more relaxed fashion! Alternatively, one can opt for a purple tie, which forms part of a similar color scheme and is adjacent on the color wheel. Here, it is less about creating contrast between warmer and cooler colors, but more about creating a sense of familiarity. A purple tie against a blue shirt is always considered striking and elegant, without creating the visual contrast that a red or pink tie would create. To View The Dark Knot’s extensive range of pink ties, please click here. To view The Dark Knot’s extensive range of coral ties, please click here. To view The Dark Knot’s range of purple ties, please click here. With regards to your pocket squares and lapel flowers, if you are wearing a pink or coral tie, you can choose a blue pocket square and vice versa. However, often, if the ensemble itself already has significant color built in with the suit, shirt and tie, one may choose a more neutral colored pocket square such as Grey. Lapel Flowers often offer an opportunity to add more color. Whether you choose to add another shade (darker) or tint (lighter) variant of what is already in your ensemble, or a more neutral color to finish off your suit with a subtle look, is at your discretion. Light Pink Shirt A blue tie will always accentuate a pink shirt, especially during the summer season! Courtesy of lookastic.com When pairing a light pink shirt with your dapper seersucker or linen suit, a royal blue, lighter blue or baby blue tie will work best. Also part of a triadic color scheme, a blue tie will help harmonize your ensemble and bring out fantastic balance between a warmer color (pink) and a cooler color (blue). Once again, this colorful contrast can be achieved in a more colorful, playful fashion. To view The Dark Knot’s strong array of blue ties, please click here. With regards to Pocket Squares & Lapel Flowers, if a pink shirt is complemented by a blue tie, choosing a square that has elements of pink or blue in it would work wonders, as would a slightly darker pink or darker blue pocket square (i.e burgundy or navy blue). When a suiting ensemble already reflects a range of colors, what is often popular and understandably so is to opt for a neutral colored lapel flower like a light grey or white, so as to add a finishing touch without intensifying the color scheme that is already present. Fabrics While silk ties are a staple in every discerning gentleman’s wardrobe, the introduction of linen and cotton ties can serve to elevate your dapper game to the next level. The reason silk ties are extremely popular is that they happen to have the following characteristics: Silk is one of the most durable fabrics out there. Despite its soft appearance, silk has high tensile strength, allowing it to withstand pulling pressure. Silk Fabrics retain their shape and are fairly resistant to wrinkling Silk happens to drape well. Its suppleness, together with its elasticity and tensile strength, allows it to take shape. Silk is considered to be neither too light nor too dark, allowing it to be the perfect year round tie. Linen and Cotton ties are considered a great alternative during the Spring & Summer Months given the textural variation they provide with a standard woolen suit. Moreover, paired with a seersucker, linen or cotton suit, they help to accentuate the relaxed vibe that you are shooting for! A Linen Tie helps to accentuate a suit during warmer months! Courtesy of www.pinterest.com Their lighter weight also makes them ideal accessories during the warmer season. While ties will not help to keep you cool in the way a lighter suit or shirt will, the lightness of these fabrics does lend to an overall relaxed feel, even when dressed dapper! Now who wouldn’t want that. The caveat to their abundant positive characteristics is that they tend to wrinkle easily, given that they are lighter in nature. Summer ties may often have thin lining, which makes these ties more prone to losing their shape over time, as interlining helps to provide memory to the tie. At The Dark Knot, we have created a healthy balance between linen and silk, creating linen inspired silk ties that provide the same look and airy feel, while still retaining their strength and shape over time, given our double layer of interlining. Please feel free to view our linen inspired paisley ties here. With regard to pocket squares fabric, similar to its accessories counterpart the necktie, silk is the most prevalent choice. However, while silk pocket squares may provide sheen and panache to your suit in the fall & winter seasons, adding in textural variation with cotton or linen pocket squares can really make you stand out! Cotton Pocket Squares allow you to match the shirt fabric of a typical suit ensemble, thereby bringing extra attention to your outfit! At the same time, stiffer edges of a cotton square allow one to try various pocket square folds, such as a single, two, three or four point fold, that are much harder to do with your conventional silk pocket squares. Linen Pocket Squares fall somewhere in between cotton and silk pocket squares. The rigidity of their edges resembles that of a cotton square, but their softness allows them to be worn with either a puff fold (how silk squares are worn) or pointed folds (how cotton squares are typically worn). Moreover, they will provide fantastic textural variation to your outfits! Feel free to view The Dark Knot’s range of gorgeous linen pocket squares here. Each of our linen pocket squares come with contrasting hand rolled edges, giving your outfit even further pop and an addition of elegance and panache. The Dark Knot's Lake George Blue Floral Linen Pocket Square provides the perfect dash of textural variation and sophistication to this ensemble! Patterns When an aspiring dapper gentleman typically wears key accessories such as ties and pocket squares, one thinks of solids, stripes, checkered and even polka dot patterns. However, paisleys, floral patterns and more unique themes such as novelty printed silk ties are often not considered as a first option. However, come summer time with a more relaxed vibe, these patterns can be a welcome addition to any ensemble. Moreover, the larger spaced patterns of paisleys and floral, for example, can really serve to accentuate an outfit as they make matching pattern proportion that much more simple. When a larger spaced pattern is paired with a smaller spaced pattern, a strong element of visual contrast is created. With respect to lapel flowers, while one may not think of patterns associated with lapel flowers, switching up your style game by opting for two or three tonal lapel flowers can really add an element of kick to your outfit. To view The Dark Knot’s ties that will help you stand out this spring & summer season, please click here. For a view of our large paisley and floral patterned pocket squares, please click here. Please feel free to view our Two Tonal and Three Tonal Lapel Flowers! The Dark Knot's Three Tonal Burgundy / Yellow / White Lapel Flower provides an extra kick to this already dapper summer ensemble! And that's a wrap for this one! I hope you have had as much fun reading this as I did writing it!