How to Match Blazers and Shirts

When it comes to matching blazers (or sports jackets) with shirts, guys get a little confused. The bad news is there’s no straight answer to this. The good news is that there are dozens (even hundreds) of combinations you can try.

Blazers have casual written all over them.

That’s why the choice of shirt is very wide. Very wide indeed. So let’s start with the blazer, because I assume you’ll buy less blazers than suits (obviously).

The “big idea” is to get one or two blazers and 5 to 10 shirts. All shirts should match either one or both blazers.

When choosing a blazer, you can go for a patterned one or for a non-patterned one.

If you’re new to men’s style, go for either one in a simple color, or a pinstripe. This will do two things:

1. Keep you on the safe side when matching blazers and shirts
2. Give you more freedom of choice when matching patterned shirts (otherwise you would have to match two patterns – not an easy thing to do)

The solid blazer

OK, so you’re off to buy a solid color blazer. You can go for a “safe” color or for a crazy color – your choice. Safe colors include: black, navy blue, dark blue, dark brown and different nuances of gray.

If this is your first blazer, I recommend you go for one of these colors. These “safe” colors are the most versatile when it comes to shirt color… in that you can wear almost any color.

If you’re wearing a black, navy or gray blazer, a light blue or a white shirt are the obvious choices.

The Golden Rule of Blazers: always try to make a contrast between the blazer and the shirt. Always. Yes, there are exceptions but unless you’re trying a more advanced outfit, you shouldn’t worry about them. For now, stick with a good contrast.

So if you’re wearing a black blazer, you’ve got two guidelines:

a. black goes with anything
b. you need to create a contrast

With that said, you can wear a wide variety of light colors. You can stick with a simple white shirt but that would be pretty boring (unless you add a white pocket square). You can go for pale colors such as pale blue, pale yellow etc.

Another thing you can do is go for patterned shirts with your black/blue/gray blazer. I usually wear my black blazer with a checked shirt (white shirt blue checks) or a striped shirt (light blue and blue alternating stripes).

Sometimes, when I want to go crazy, I wear a solid pink shirt with it. The combination is fantastic and this is something that I recommend you try. It’s time you learn to dress to stand out and wear bolder colors.

What about a brown blazer? A white shirt is the best thing you can pair it with (white shirts are very versatile, by the way).

Now let’s talk a little about blazers in bold colors. If the blazer is in a bold color, the secret is to wear a shirt in a “safe” color. You don’t want to mix a red blazer with a bright blue shirt – trust me.

So what color choices do you have?Here’s a few and I recommend that you stick with them. If the bold color is not in the list – don’t buy the blazer:

- white
- red
- light blue

Wear a white or a red blazer with a black shirt. Wear light blue blazers with either a black or a white shirt.

Patterned blazers

Wearing a patterned blazer can be difficult but the final result will most likely impress everyone. Take a look at the photo below.

By far the easiest pattern you can wear is the pinstripe. Pinstripes are very thin vertical stripes on a blazer or a suit jacket:

Matching a pinstripe blazer with a shirt is just like matching a solid color blazer. The pinstripes are almost invisible BUT…

the really cool thing you could do is to repeat the color of the pinstripes. Color repetition is great in any outfit.

Some really cool patterns…

Let’s take for instance this checked blazer. It’s made of tweed so you wear it on colder autumn and spring days. In the picture below, the guy paired it with a madras shirt (not a bad result though I’m not a fan of the madras shirt).

Here’s another checked blazer with a simple white shirt:

photo: curiousgraffiti.tumblr.com

If you’re a newbie, simply wearing a patterned blazer with a uni shirt is enough. But if you want to go for a two patterns (pattern over a pattern), I’d definitely encourage you to do it.

George Blazers and sports jackets blazers combinations, how to wear a shirt, sports jackets