Can You Wear A Pattern Tie With A Pattern Shirt?

When putting together an outfit, pairing a pattern tie with a pattern shirt may not be your first choice. The easiest option is often to wear a solid colored shirt with a solid colored tie. While there’s nothing wrong with that, experimenting with patterns is a fun way to rejuvenate shirts and ties you may have been neglecting.

The first step in deciding which tie to wear with which shirt is to understand the patterns themselves. You can always start by reading our thorough guide to tie patterns and exploring the extensive collection of neckwear on our website, which you can browse before or after reading this article.

ULTIMATE GUIDE TO TIE PATTERNS

Understanding Patterns and Their Impact

There are four primary shirt patterns we will go through here, the first being stripes. Most striped dress shirts feature vertical lines running up and down the garment. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, it was popular for the striped pattern to exclude the collar and the cuffs, which were solid white — a trend that’s coming back today.

Checkered shirts are fit for both a casual and business setting. These shirts have a Plaid pattern, often featuring multiple colors. Similarly, gingham dress shirts feature solid, overlapping lines to create a checkerboard pattern, but skew a little more formal.

Finally, polka dot shirts generally feature a darker background with lighter dots, at varying sizes.

A successful tie pairing with any of these patterns can really add visual interest to an outfit, like our Falling Florals Navy Tie with our Textured Double Stripe Navy Shirt.

Guidelines for Pairing Patterned Ties with Patterned Shirts

The key when pairing a pattern tie with a pattern shirt is all about scale. If you are looking to wear a striped shirt with a striped tie, you want the stripes to be offset at different widths. A blue Double Stripe or Pinstripe shirt would work better with a Lakeshore Trad Stripe than a Lakeshore Pinstripe.

On the other hand, if you are trying to mix one pattern with another, you generally want them to be comparable in size. A polka dot shirt with large dots might overpower a striped tie with thin lines.

As always, paying attention to which color patterns you’re pairing with which color shirts is just as important. Generally, a tie in darker shades works better on a shirt of a lighter shade, but it’s always fun to experiment and find what you like best!

Tie Patterns with Checkered Shirts

A checkered shirt is one of the most versatile items one can have in their closet, so matching a tie to it can be endlessly challenging and rewarding. If you’re looking to match colors, having your tie focus on the secondary color of the shirt is our best advice.

Because the checkered pattern is so complex, choosing ties with smaller patterns like our Paisley Prep ties will continue to add a bit of flair to your ensemble.

Further, a wide-striped tie like our Ad Stripe Classic Tie would also maintain that contrast in size with your average checkers shirt.

Tie Patterns with Striped Shirt

Aside from a solid colored shirt, a striped shirt is the closest you can get to a blank slate. Assuming the base of the shirt is white, finding pattern ties in darker shades can help create contrast between the shirt and tie and produce an interesting look.

A simple geometric pattern tie like our Hawthorne Geo Cafe Tie or our Wrightwood Geo Scatter ties are a perfect way to match scale and provide color contrast between a striped shirt and your necktie. Even another stripe like our Laclaire Double Stripe can work well with a pinstripe shirt, seeing that the stripe sizes are of different widths.

Tie Patterns with Gingham Shirt

Because gingham pattern shirts can be so visually complex, it’s best to pair them with a more spread out, simple tie pattern.

While a complex paisley or floral pattern may be too distracting, a polka dot or striped tie may be the perfect way to accentuate secondary colors and not overwhelm any onlookers.

One of our Dotted Report ties in any color, featuring a nice texture and dots at generous widths, would pair well with a tightly checkered gingham shirt. Similarly, most of the ties from our Alma Mater Heritage Collection — featuring collegiate-inspired stripes — are an ideal match for a gingham shirt.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

When pairing a pattern tie with a pattern shirt, one’s initial instinct may be to just look for colors that match, but that could actually strain the eye. A Floral Acres Light Blue Tie, for example, might be distracting against a pinstripe blue and white shirt.

The key is to try and accentuate secondary, or even tertiary colors in your tie combinations which will help accentuate the tiny details in both your shirt and tie.

Elevate Your Style with The Tie Bar

Along with The Tie Bar’s wide array of patterned ties, we offer a vast collection of dress shirts, including textured, chambray, oxford, and more. We’re currently offering a sale to buy 3 shirts for only $130. Pair any of those with our ties and use this guide to help build your next outfit.

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Being able to understand and combine patterns in an outfit is the first step in bringing your style to the next level to help you produce interesting, stand-out ensembles.

Stay tuned for more fashion tips and high-quality products from The Tie Bar.

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