Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Anchors Away!

Q: I need your help. My friends have been telling me that I should make an extra effort to dress up. I’m a t-shirt and jeans kinda guy… only because I don’t know how to pair and match my clothes. Jeans seem to be the safest thing to wear for someone like me. What do I need to know so I can start wearing other things?

-- Andrew, Caloocan

A: I have a lot of friends who are just like you; some of whom have 3 or 4 jeans of exactly the same color and style. The lack of knowledge in pairing or matching clothes is, more often than not, really a deep rooted fear of not knowing how to wear colors outside blue, white and black.

Let me then share with you the concept of “anchoring”. Simply, what this means is that you choose a particular piece of clothing or accessory that will serve as the anchor or base that dictates the color combination of your entire outfit.

Personally, I find that choosing your pants as the anchor is the easiest. Since you’re a slacks neophyte, I would suggest you choose gray pants. For me, gray is the most versatile when it comes to being paired with different colors. It pairs well with white, blue, lavender, green. Most guys think black is the fail safe option. But, what you don’t realize is that black does not really pair well with pastel or light color hues. That limits your options right there.

So remember, when your jeans are making you blue, dress gray.

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