Contrasting Colors and Patterns: Fun on the Edges of Men’s Fashion Shirts

Fashion shirts with contrasting colors

One of my favorite new style trends in men’s fashion shirts is the addition of eye-catching splashes of contrasting colors to otherwise simple classic shirt styles.  These contrasting colors and patterns can take a lot of forms and can be seen in many places around the design of the shirt; often they are found on the inside of the cuff or the collar, or between the front buttons and only exposed when the wearer chooses to spice up his look by undoing a few buttons.  By giving the choice to the wearer about how much flavor to add to his look, by undoing buttons or rolling up the cuffs, these shirts provide versatility which broadens their appeal to a larger segment of fashionable men.  Additionally, this versatility really increases the wear-ability of the shirt once it is in your closet.  For instance, you might opt to button the shirt up almost all the way when you are at work for a more conservative look, but the shirt will seamlessly transfer to a great option for after dinner drinks, just by unbuttoning a couple of buttons it keeps you from looking like you came from the office.

Fashion-shirts.com carries shirts from the well-established but cutting edge Parisian fashion house Franck Michel.  One of my favorite examples of this style right now are the Pablo Blue, which features a small light blue gingham print, with a beautiful pattern of blue and white flowers as the contrasting detail.  The Pablo Blue is available in sizes from XS to 2XL and retails for $129.  For an option that I would classify more as nightwear, go with the Italian Black Palermo.  This black satin dress shirt features a lavender plaid pattern on the interior that really stands out against the smooth black satin.

Because so many of these shirts come in a solid color, or with a classic pattern, I think they look great at work buttoned up and tucked into dress pants.  However, as I previously alluded, I also think they look equally at home with the top few buttons undone, untucked and paired with either the same dress pants that you might have worn to work, or with a pair of dark jeans.  Either way, these shirts are sure to catch the eye of any fashion conscious friends that you may have.  They give off a vibe of casual elegance and sophisticated fashion that doesn’t scream, “Look at me!” but still makes it clear that you are a man who cares about fashion and his own appearance.

How to Wear it: Men’s Plaid Fashion Dress Shirts

One recent trend I’ve noticed in men’s fashion shirts is that some of the more adventurous designers are rolling out collections that include a lot of plaid patterns.  Plaid is a pattern that we are all familiar with of course, but we might not expect to see it on a high end fashion shirt, but rather a flannel work shirt or something similarly casual.  However, men’s luxury designers are increasingly working plaid into their collections and we should consider how to best work it into our wardrobes.

Plaid fashion dress shirt for men

First of all, let’s delineate how the plaid shirts on offer from men’s fashion designers differ from those that your dad wore to go camping.  The chief way they are different is the material on offer.  Casual plaid shirts are often done on heavyweight flannel or other thicker fabrics.  Thicker fabrics are never going to look as sharp as the crisp look of a thin elegant cotton dress shirt.  Additionally, these casual plaid shirts are designed to fit a range of body types, and thus have a lot of room in the lower torso.  The offerings from today’s men’s designers are usually slim fit, and personally I think the slimmer the fit the better.  These shirts will fit and wear completely different than dear old Dad’s camping shirts.

So how and where should we wear these new patterns?  For me, one great thing about these patterns is their versatility.  I personally like to wear them with dark jeans on a night out.  The plaid gives off a more casual vibe than a solid color satin fashion shirt, but at the same time with the slim fit and crisp collar you know that you will be look like you’ve put time and thought into your sartorial choice, which of course you have.  These shirts look great with the sleeves rolled up when you’ve been putting in a hard-working shift on the dance floor.  Be sure to keep your sleeves, and your look in general, looking sharp though, by actually folding the sleeves back in folds that match the width of the cuff.  This will keep them from unrolling, and at the same time will keep the upper arm of the shirt from becoming a bunched up mess.  You are going to want to keep that upper-arm portion smooth to show off those hours you’ve put in at the gym.

For a little more conservative or dressed up look, I like to layer a blazer or a solid color sweater over the top of my plaid dress shirt.  This is one of those cases where showing less of the pattern actually makes it pop even more and really will have people asking you wear you got your shirt.

I really like this new trend in men’s fashion shirts.  Plaid is a versatile pattern that can be conservative or eye-catching depending on how you choose to use it.  For me, anything like this where I can buy one shirt, but express my fashion many different ways is definitely a good thing.