Best Tips, Men's Fashion and Style – Pinstripes
Dress Pants, Shirts, Suits, Blazers, and Casual Pants All Benefit!
Mar 17, 2009
While pinstripes have historically been associated with rather conservative sensibilities, particularly in banking, finance, and business wardrobes – that notion has fallen to the wayside in a large way in the past decade as the pin and chalk stripes have risen to a place of prominence in high fashion as well as in the consumer market.
For Business or Pleasure, Young and Old
A pinstripe is typically a very narrow stripe, in a variety of colours that is typically spaced anywhere from an eight of an inch to a half-inch apart. A chalk stripe, by means of comparison, is normally found to be a much wider, more irregular looking stripe, spaced much more widely apart due to it's greater width and slight assymetry.
Pin and chalk stripes are now universally acceptable both in formal and informal settings on a variety of textiles. Once only available as a pattern on suits, the pin striping is now commonly found on dress shirts, casual sport shirts, shorts, casual pants, and even t-shirts!
A few stylish examples to suggest for bolder young men might be a pair of slick black dress pants with a fine guage pin stripe worn with a tapered shirt, or even a light grey pair of jean-cut casual cotton pants with a distressed chalk stripe worn with an ivory sweater, vest, or sport shirt.
For more mature gents, the pin stripe patterning could be found in a while dress shirt with royal blue striping, or a black evening suit with wide set, stunning white chalk stripes to add an aire of sartorial, classic detailing.
So What Are the Rules?
Given the fact that almost all garments available to men are offered in popular stripe patterns, including the suit, blazer, dress shirt, and necktie – it can be somewhat difficult to understand just how many stripes can be worn at once without overdoing it.
The simplest answer is that there really are no rules, merely a few prime suggestions. In some ensembles, a pinstriped suit, shirt, and boldly striped tie look excellent together – though this approach is more hazardous to those men who do not have a keen eye for detail. The most important things to consider when attempting to wear multiple striped items is to ensure that the accent colours compliment each other (ie. A jet black suit with a distinct, robin's egg blue chalk stripe being worn with a sky blue shirt with fine, white pin stripes) and that the stripes do not appear to be of the same size and spacing.
Normally, the rule applied is one of “two out of three ain't bad."
A pinstriped suit, shirt, along with a patterned tie of complimentary hue is normally very easy to co-ordinate. Although, certainly, all three items may be striped – this approach is much more difficult to pull off correctly and should be considered only by those who have a great eye for detail or experience in building attractive and visually appealing ensembles.
Pin and chalk stripes can add a great deal of flavour and zest to an otherwise unremarkable look. Gentlemen who want to explore a more fashion forward and stylistically conscious image would be well served to add a few choice selections with these patterns into their wardrobe and regular rotation!
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