Monochromatic
If in doubt; match your suit to your shirt! There’s no danger of there being a clash in colour if you stick to pairings of the same shade. The most common monochrome is of course black and white, but any combination of garments consisting of many shades of one colour is monochrome.
To achieve a monochromatic look consisting of more than one shade, try a red suit with a pink T- shirt or a navy suit with a light blue T, etcetera. Alternatively, try block colour on colour. Black with black, white with white and so on. The brightest and darkest of any colour wheel is black and white, so if you don’t have a shoe in a matching colour to the rest of your look you can finish any monochromatic pairing with either a black or white shoe.
Mix and Match
By the nature of mixing and matching garments, you add different colours and textures to a look. With more going on than with a matching suit, the simplicity of a T-shirt is a nice addition. That said, some mix and match garment combos naturally come across as being smart and as such call for something with a little more formality – enter the polo shirt.
T or polo, the same colour rules apply here as always: pair light neutrals with other soft neutral colour shirts, bright colour jackets and trousers with crisp white underneath or try going monochromatic.
Colourful
If your suit is on the loud side and doing all the talking, there’s less of a need to go all out with your shirt. Besides, if you’re in your boldest suit you’re probably not in the office – so its a perfect time to experiment with a T-shirt.
As always a white T goes with any colour, making it the obvious first choice. Pair with an equally crisp pair of white sneakers for a classic smart-casual summer look. Again while you’re in casual territory, another option is to wear a graphic T with your suit. In this case try to chose a print without too many conflicting colours that fight for attention with your suit.
Neutrals
Nothing projects a cool summer look like a light suit worn with a T. Suits of white, cream and tan all reek of a casual night, enjoying a cocktail and blissful tropical breeze.
Light and neutral suits like this will pair with most colours, though to avoid overpowering the subtlety of the suit, keep colours soft and neutral rather than vibrant and loud.
Alternatively keep to the theme and pair neutral with neutral; Whites shirts work under all neutrals – though beware of washing yourself out with too much wile if your skin type is very pale.
Blue and Grey
Blue and grey suits have arguably the most range of any man – or indeed woman’s – suiting wardrobe. When it comes to practicality blue and grey suits tick the boardroom box, wedding box and casual wearing box. To the seemingly endless list of looks of the classics; we add the T-shirt.
The rules here are the same as you would follow if you were wearing the suit to the office – only you’re swapping the formality of buttons and collars for stretch and simplicity. With blue suits your faithful white, blue and pink shirts are timeless and with grey suits opt for black, blues and of course white.
