Guest Blogger | Paul McGregor: Coping with Block Colours

Anywhere you look, you’ll see block colouring being achieved. It’s a hard trend to pull off, but this season the guys seem to be giving it their best shot! The problem being that mixing colours can end in disaster, especially bright, vibrant colours suitable for summer. If you get it wrong, you could end up looking like a packet of skittles or a rainbow, and believe me that isn’t a good look. So what’s the best way of working with block colours?

You need to know what colours work well together. Red and blue is obviously the most common colour combination, matching a vibrant red with a bright blue works well. Yellow and green is another colour combination, which works well, along with purple and green. What I like to do is start off with two colours, then when you feel more confident with working with block colours opt for three. Neutralizing the block colours is another handy tip. A neutralizer is something, which cancels out the vibrant tone of the colour, such as layering a blazer over a vibrant red shirt, or a grey cardigan over a purple t-shirt. This really draws less attention to the block colouring and is perfect for maybe the less confident when it comes to achieving this look. Accessories can also be used to achieve more colour. Such as adding a red skinny tie to a blue shirt, attaining the colour combination of red and blue. They can also be used to neutralize the look, maybe opting for a black trilby hat to draw less attention to the block colouring and more attention to your choice of headwear.

Here’s an example I recently put together. Using the popular colour combination of red and blue, I layered a really dark navy (almost black) blazer over the top. This look is something, which is casual but also looks quite elegant.

Enjoy this trend, and really have fun with it. Let loose but take head of this advice, the rainbow look isn’t a good one!

By Paul McGregor. Owner of Brighterman.com - specializing in men’s accessories and mens fashion advice since 2009.