Tailoring Colors to Your Personal Taste

Custom tailors know how to work with you to achieve color combinations that work best. The challenge is largely to find types of colors that harmonize with the color of your face and hair and eyes. Custom dress shirts are one of the main focal points and are a great place to dip into the color palette. While many color strategies have been proposed, the following categories provide a simple path to successful business attire.

Rich is the color category for men with dark skin and hair. For jackets and suits, this means deep colors like black, dark navy, dark brown and charcoals. Custom dress shirt colors that work well are white, lilac, light blue and light pink.

Fair is the category of men whose ancestry can be traced to such areas as England and Northern Europe. They tend to have light hair and skin. While dark colors provide contrast, they tend to overpower this complexion. Good choices in suits and jackets are light grey, soft navy, camel and teal. Custom made shirts should be chosen from among the light, soft shades.

Vivid describes men who have high contrast between skin, hair and eyes. Men of Celtic origins often exhibit these characteristics. Colors that afford high contrast work well. Jackets and suit colors are black, bright navy, charcoal and deep brown. Custom dress shirt colors tend to be bright and range across a spectrum of lighter hues.

Mellow is a category defined by light hair and dark eyes. This combination gives a soft or muted appearance that is not high contrast. Jackets and suit colors should be subdued, with even-toned choices. Custom dress shirts can be crafted in light colors that play a subtle role in the overall composition.

Fiery or warm describes men with a lot of orange/yellow pigment in their skin. Scottish men typically fall into this category. Because of the brightness of their skin and hair, care must be taken to find compatible colors. Jackets and suits that look good are brown, olive, warm navy and burnished grey. Shirts should be light in color to soften the fiery natural pigments.

Silver is the category for men whose hair is turning grey or white. Men of this description are relatively easy to accommodate with traditional business colors. Good choices for jackets and suits are any of the grays and navys, as well as soft tones. Custom made shirts can be white or light, or cool shades of pink, green or blue.