A blue dress shirt is a young professional's Swiss Army knife of style. And I mean traditional dress shirt blue--not french blue, not icy pale blue. If I'm ever in doubt about what to wear to the office, I start with a blue shirt and this pinpoint oxford is about as utilitarian as it gets. Pinpoint's texture keeps it from being overly formal or foppish, doesn't wrinkle like finer, lighter weight cotton weaves, but still breathes well. But safe isn't the same as stylish. So for style, I look to details and accessories.
One personal element I've added here is a spread collar--it makes the shirt slightly more formal, and being a bit unexpected on a traditional blue pinpoint oxford it adds a little originality. But nothing too bold for a young professional in a conservative office. The next question is the tie--and here's where blue pinpoint oxford really shows it's versatility.
Almost any traditional business tie, regardless of weave or material, will look fine. But a tie with just a touch of the same shade of blue adds some subtle polish to the ensemble and makes the accents in an otherwise conservative tie stand out just enough. This brown silk tie accents the blue shirt and the blue floral neats--and you can coordinate it with your belt and shoes too. But for something a little more fun and less conservative, try printed silk.
This green whimsical animal print is lively but still business appropriate, and notice it still incorporates the blue from the shirt to keep the look smart. The smooth texture of the print also contrasts nicely with the texture of the cloth. And while whimsical prints have become boardroom staples recently, I doubt I'm going to look like I'm dressing like the boss in a blue rather than white shirt To be a bit sleeker and trendy, I could wear a slimmer striped tie.
This striped Irish Poplin is trendy enough to seem current at the office, but still all business. Colorful slim trad stripes are in right now, but being three and a quarter inches wide instead of the two and a quarter inch numbers that Ryan Seacrest is wearing, it's not going to seem too cool for school or make me into the skinny tie guy. As most conservative American ties range between three and a half and four inches, it's still slimmer than what most guys would be wearing, but only subtly so. And the blue shirt, rather than white, will keep anyone from thinking I'm trying too hard to be Don Draper. If I'm going to wear a patterned sport coat, sometimes I do like a solid tie with a blue shirt--and while I don't want it to be too loud, it should contrast just enough.
I think this wine red grenadine looks nice against blue pinpoint. The texture of grenadine keeps the combination a little more interesting despite being solid on solid, and the darker hue of red keeps it from looking cartoonish. To be really understated, I could do a nice woven navy too. I do stay away from solid blue ties that are too close to the color of the shirt.
This combination seems like I'm being too cute or worse--it could seem like I'm still really into Regis circa 2000, or that I have no eye for color coordination. It makes both the color of the shirt and the color of the tie dull. Now this isn't going to draw comments or double takes, but I'm trying to be subtly stylish, not just avoid a faux pas. But that gets me back to my original point--it's hard to make a mistake with a blue dress shirt and for some that's good enough--the challenge is doing a bit more.
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