Men's Plaids

Something happens in my brain when I see a collection of men's plaid shirts all lined up together.

Something kind of awful, actually.

 I start smelling wood smoke, and seeing life through a hipster filter.

I get an urge to grab an ax and go chop wood, just kidding. I actually get an urge to watch Brad chop wood.

Anyway...

I start viewing plaids without discrimination, accepting them as they are, not caring that as soon as I take one shirt away from the pack *record scratch* holy old-man-shirt, batman.

I know, for a fact...that I am not the only one who has encountered the weird brain-fog that comes with looking at plaids. So here are some ideas for avoiding the pitfalls of hideous plaids that say "I'm wearing geriatric shoes and Depends" take 'em or leave 'em.

1. Woven vs. Western

Woven plaids incorporate more colors and the squares tend to be larger, as a rule woven plaid is my favorite, that said... Western tends to stick with one or two colors in smaller squares but there are still redeeming qualities if worn right. It just has an easier time jumping the line into mature-plaid territory.

Tiny monochromatic squares look very dated...just keep it in mind.

2. Colors 

Colorful plaid is great...it's the best kind in my opinion, but a lot of times people think "colorful plaid" has to equal this...

Not so... something like this can definitely work, but I firmly believe that you need to be a confident plaid wearer to pull it off... 

This is the alternative:

It's bright but it doesn't exactly punch you in the face.

3. Outfits, or Pairing Plaid... 
I'm pretty sure there's a huge rule-book that says something about not wearing a purple dress with blue buttons, it probably has a chapter on ankle boots and somewhere in there it mentions not pairing plaid with plaid. It's a good rule to stick to... you can, however, pair plaid with solids in complimentary colors. I don't know many men who own red pants, Brad sticks to his blue jeans, but to women trying to work with plaid - don't be afraid of going out on a limb with your pants! This is opposed to going out on a limb without your pants...I mean, you be the judge...

Sorry.

Ok, really though - alternative colors for the bottom half of your outfit can go a long way toward bringing an outfit that might not work together. Be creative and have fun with it.

One last thing, to the guys - keep an eye on your belt line. One sure-fire way to get the mature-plaid look going is to have a plaid shirt smoothed neatly into dark wash jeans with a leather belt cinched up right under the belly button. The only reason I mention it is because I've seen it a lot...

This, even without a belt...

is better than this...

 


xoxo,

Rae