Spring is in bloom, and so are we. This year, however, we won’t be blooming like our local floral roundabout. In fact, we’ll be ditching that Hawaiian shirt we’ve loved since the first time we saw Johnny Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and reinventing ourselves as a blossoming – yet masculine, cool and suave – cherry tree.
If we learnt one thing at this year’s London Fashion Week Men’s Show, it was to make like the clouds in the sky and dress tonally, in all white. But, for those us who feel like our chemical makeup is more complex than the water-vapour that rises from the sea, and less, well, white, this trend may seem like a bit of a laundry competition. Here are some reasons why dressing tonally isn’t actually physically impossible, and our advice might even make the daily struggle to put clothes on a bit easier.
“White” is a metaphor
Rather than a washing powder advert, the all white menswear trend is actually more about dressing head to toe in the idea of white. Think faded yellow tee, cream cardigan with off-white chinos, tan suede loafers. Basically, relax about the whole “white” thing.
Some tones aren’t white – get over it
Before you donate every coloured item of clothing you have to charity, understand this – you can hit this season’s tonal dressing trend with other colours, as long as they are still head to toe. Think black blazers, classic dark Farah shirts (https://www.ejmenswear.com/men/farah), deep blue jeans, thick-rimmed black sunglasses and black leather shoes of any variety. This smooth continuity will have you slinking around like a dark horse, or a brooding storm.
Spend less money and time getting dressed, and look really good
Tonal dressing is about working with what you’ve got. It’s about opening your wardrobe and re-introducing yourself. Let’s be honest, it’s about wearing your clothes without having to think about colours that much. You don’t need to hit the shops in a panic, grab everything white and drop it in a puddle on the way home. Just take the palest, closest-matching colours in your wardrobe and wear them. Then leave the house in your cool new look, and soak up the admiring, envious glances of strangers.