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