Color matching: Hats and Suits

[daggerlee]

Hi all,

I apologize if this question has been asked before. I was just wondering if you could give me some general advice on color matching suits and hats. I just bought a grey hat and don't know what type of suit to match it with. Any general comments would be welcome as well. Thanks!

 

[Matt Deckard]

Grey
blue
black

Go best with a grey hat. Sometimes the shade of grey in the hat can contradict the color of the jacket. too much blue in the grey or too much brown. Try to finde a suit that is in a similar leaning.

If you want to mix grey with brown, it is best if the grey has a brown tinge.

 

[Wild Root]

A gray fedora will go with gray, blue (which could be navy or indigo), dark green or forest green and can't forget black which will look sharp.

If it's a light gray hat, dark colors will look best. If it's a darker or mid toned gray then go with lighter colored suits.

All the best,

Root.

PS. For color combos, check out old catalogs those help me some times.

 

[daggerlee]

Thanks for the info!

 

[LetterJ]

I look at most of my wardrobe as on a warm--cool spectrum. Blues, blue-based greys, etc. are on the cool end along with black and neutral greys. Browns, tans, red, etc. are on the warm end. Greens can fall on either side (though I usually put them more on the warm). Greys can be tricky because they often contain bits of either blue or brown/green, which can tip them either way.

As a general rule, with anything on the cool end, I wear black shoes, black belt/suspenders, black or silver watch and black or grey hat. On the warm end, it's brown shoes, brown belt/suspenders, brown or gold watch and brown or tan hat.

Contrasting tie, pocket square or suspenders work, though they often need more intuition than these simple rules. I tend to like yellow with both ends of the spectrum myself and red also works well with both ends.

If you are more daring, things like brown shoes/hat with just the right blue suit can look really good, but the match needs to be just right. Many of the catalog pics that Wild Root posts will show some combinations that look really good and don't fit the general rule. However, if you're in doubt, you can hardly go wrong with the above guidelines.

Personally, I've always wanted to build a web application/site that would let you enter your wardrobe contents (ie, 2 blue shirts, a red tie, a navy suit, a dark brown sport coat) and get combinations that are likely to work together. Maybe some day.

 

[daggerlee]

Lots of useful info there! Thanks!

 

[LetterJ]

I thought I'd also point out that some of the resources for web design can also help in choosing clothing colors. I've occasionally used this site to get an idea for colors.

http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html