| It's always great to mix trendy pieces with | | | | |
| more classic looks to give you the perfect | | | | Unlike many looks with roots in the past, |
| look that always looks up-to-date. Color is | | | | this one is a study in jarring contrasts. It |
| big for men this season (I love colored | | | | has both the edge and cheek of early 80's New |
| interesting shirts of all kinds), as are | | | | York, when Day-Glo color fueled the New Wave |
| relaxed chic looks (like relaxed suits), etc. | | | | scene, and the ease and entitlement of an |
| | | | early 70's Republican enclave in Palm |
| Accessories that are hot are really simple: | | | | Springs. |
| well kept shoes. It's one of the first things | | | | |
| people notice, so always make sure the shoes | | | | "The roots are in that country club thing," |
| are right and clean. Here's something I like | | | | said Joe Zee, the editor of the men's wear |
| to do. Instead of looking at celebs, I check | | | | magazine Vitals. "The edge is in its |
| out various magazines and advertising and | | | | conservative aspect." Striped shirts and |
| check out different looks I like (for You GQ, | | | | plaid jackets can play into a conservative |
| Cargo) and then get shopping! | | | | look, but solid colors, Mr. Zee suggested, |
| | | | are bolder. "Men are more used to pattern," |
| If you are wondering why some of today's most | | | | he said. "So a pink striped shirt is easier |
| sophisticated men's stores - Polo Ralph | | | | for a lot of guys than an all-pink shirt. |
| Lauren, Bergdorf Goodman Men, Barneys New | | | | That's a more specific fashion statement." |
| York - are stocked with enough hard-core | | | | |
| color to resemble the team uniform section of | | | | No sector has taken up the call to color more |
| a sporting goods shop, well, perhaps that's | | | | than the hip-hop world, in which dandies like |
| fitting. Color has become practically a | | | | Usher, Farnsworth Bentley and Andre 3000 of |
| contact sport. | | | | OutKast (hard at work on a fashion line |
| | | | called Benjamin) will wear, and combine, the |
| Mens wear Bright New Look In the last few | | | | splashiest of colors. "You have urban rappers |
| seasons, many men have developed a major | | | | from Nelly to Puffy saying, 'I can wear this |
| passion for sharply tailored suits and | | | | without being a sissy,' " Mr. Zee said. |
| brightly patterned dress shirts, snapping up | | | | |
| $200 Etros by the half-dozen. But this | | | | Chris Chambers, a dapper vice president for |
| spring, in the eternal game of one-upmanship | | | | publicity at BMG Music, feels the pull. |
| known as fashion, the look has been taken to | | | | "There's definitely a mixture of an urban |
| a new extreme. Solidly colored pants, | | | | thing with classic country club." he said. |
| sweaters and blazers - in tangerine, lemon, | | | | "I'll wear the pink Ralph Lauren blazer but |
| viridian, magenta, royal blue - have raised | | | | maybe not with the white slacks they show. |
| the stakes, and some men are, to retailers' | | | | I'll wear it with some Evisu jeans and a cool |
| surprise, taking the bet. | | | | sneaker." |
| | | | |
| Retailers report that traditional two-button | | | | Still, it takes guts. "I think a solid bold |
| cotton sport coats and pinwale corduroys | | | | color looks fresh, but you have to have a |
| struck by a lightning bolt of color have | | | | level of confidence for it," Mr. Chambers |
| become some of the hottest sellers of the | | | | said. What makes the look less brash and more |
| season. And in a rare meeting of minds, | | | | appealing, he said, is its history as the |
| old-school retailers like Paul Stuart are | | | | onetime uniform of 19th-hole golfers |
| sharing a design aesthetic with | | | | everywhere. |
| edge-of-fashion lines like Burberry Prorsum | | | | |
| and Duckier Brown. | | | | Ross Geisel, a Manhattan fund-raiser, has |
| | | | taken a shine to color because of its |
| "The first thing that blew out of Barneys was | | | | associations with a life of gentlemanly ease. |
| all the color," said Daniel Silver, a partner | | | | "I can get away with wearing it to work, and |
| in Duckier Brown. "When we were designing it | | | | then if you go out afterward, you don't look |
| we were thinking: 'It's so bright. Are guys | | | | like you came from the office," Mr. Geisel |
| really going to buy this?' But they have. | | | | said. |
| It's like someone knocked down the wall | | | | |
| between his and hers closets." | | | | Another reason he likes extreme color is that |
| | | | there are so few rules about wearing it. |
| The trend has obvious appeal to men who want | | | | That, he maintains, makes it easier, not |
| an easy new way to express a bold streak. But | | | | harder to dress. "It doesn't matter what you |
| it has an august precedent as well, in the | | | | do," he said. "I have a loud pink shirt on |
| late, great NBC peacock, Johnny Carson. In | | | | today with a corduroy chocolate brown blazer. |
| 1973, when country clubs swarmed with pants | | | | I can wear it spring, summer or fall, with |
| and blazers of every hue, Carson's own | | | | any shoe I want." |
| fashion line was the best-selling men's | | | | |
| tailored clothing line in the country, | | | | Even with his outlaw attitude, he said the |
| according to Homi Patel, the chief executive | | | | style reminds him of his father's |
| of Hartmarx, which owns the line. In 1973 | | | | country-club clothes. But the concept of |
| alone, 80,000 electric blue sport coats (with | | | | Johnny Carson as a symbol of style is lost on |
| five-inch lapels!) were sold. | | | | him. "All I remember is Carnac," he said. |