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Practical Thoughts on Coherent Combinations for Beginners
All credit for production of this document belongs to former Styleforum contributor F. Corbera. The original document has vanished into the mist of time and is preserved only in the Wayback Machine archive - it is reproduced here for the purposes of preservation and better presentation. Note: Images are attributed wherever possible to original owner or uploader, as many of the images used in the original document belong to persons who have since abandoned their accounts or are otherwise uncontactable. If you own one of the images below or are pictured within them and wish to be removed, please comment and I will do so as quickly as possible. I did not intend to upset or offend anyone in the reformatting of this article, merely to preserve its fantastic advice and well-chosen imagery for the future reference of others. As a final note, please excuse my ignorance as to the source of certain unknown photographs. While they may have at a time been posted by very well-known and respected members of the Styleforum community, the original threads and in many cases images they posted
have been lost, being preserved only in ‘Best of Styleforum
Pre-
2010’ threads and often posted without attribution.
Index
A. Practical Thoughts on Coherent Combinations for Beginners: Introduction B. What is a Beginner? C. Discordancy or Harmony? D. Are You a Dandy?
E.1. Principle 1: Navigate all elements of each “fit” to one point in
the path from country to city E.1.a. Get Your Act in Line E.1.b. Forces Undermining Coherent City/Formal/Public Combinations for Beginners E.1.c. Examples of Coherent City/Formal/Public Combinations for Beginners E.1.d. Thinking about the Casual Suit E.1.e. A City Look Self-assessment E.1.f. What is the Casual Suit? E.1.g. The Two Types of Casual Suits E.1.h. The Odd Jacket E.1.i. The Odd Jacket from City to Country, from Formal to Informal E.1.j. The City/Formal Odd Jacket E.1.k. The Country/Casual Odd Jacket
Here we go.
A. Practical Thoughts on Coherent Combinations for Beginners: Introduction
In this thread, we will examine largely undiscussed approaches to organizing the process of selecting elements that compose coat-and-tie ensembles that have a coherent look. By "coherent," I mean an ensemble, an outfit, a "fit," in which the component elements relate to each other most successfully, as if they all belong together. The much-discussed approaches to organizing this selection process are:
Color Coordination
Pattern and Texture Coordination
Contrast Combination To some extent, these are favored for discussion since they seem somewhat objective or even pseudo-scientific, giving apparent freedom from the weight of culture and tradition. Here is the apex symbol of these discussions, the color wheel:
(
Original Source uncertain, Image retrieved September 9, 2014 from http
These three aspects of putting together a look are important, but I will not discuss them here except incidentally. Why? There is useful material on those subjects already. Instead, in this thread, I will talk about practical approaches that are little discussed.
We will start out with two, and then go from there as the thread continues:
Navigate all elements of each “fit” to one point in the path from country to
city.
Keep elements of each “fit” within (a) the same aesthetic and (b) within the
same level of quality. I will use examples from photographs posted voluntarily by members on SF. If any of the original posters would prefer that I not, simply send me a PM and I will substitute another image.
I do not plan on answering any questions, offering clarifications, or engaging in discussion in this thread. Neither will I "critique fits."
You can send me a private message, if you wish, but I am hopeful that the thread itself will be clear enough. Let's set a few things up generally for this thread before we examine these first two practical approaches.