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You might be a pro at matching your solid-colored ties with your solid-colored shirts, but with trends in recent years emphasizing a mix-and-match approach to fashion, how well do you fare at mixing stripes and patterns? And let’s not even get started on dealing with textures.

Fortunately, learning to combine interesting shirts and ties is not as taxing as it sounds. Just stick to a few simple rules and you’ll find that mixing it up has never been easier.

1- Repeat colors in each pattern

In this case, choose your shirt first, carefully noting the dominant colors. When you are ready to pick your tie, choose one with accents that use the same dominant colors from your shirt. This combination of a brown John Varvatos dress shirt and pink silk Ermenegildo Zegna tie is a perfect example of how to implement this rule. The shirt is dark brown with lighter, more subtle, nutmeg-colored stripes and, although the background of the tie is pink, the small, brown, paisley art-nouveau print echoes the color of the shirt.

2- Graduate checks outward

Skillfully combining a checked shirt with a differently checked tie is a quick way to get a quirky look. The rule to follow in this case is to always wear smaller checked prints on your body and larger checks around your neck. Again, make sure you pay attention to color and choose a shirt and tie in a similar color palette. Take, for example, this hip combination of a pumpkin-plaid, Hickey Freeman shirt with a navy-striped silk tie from Luciano Barbera: The shirt has smaller, thinner checks, while the tie has a larger and brighter pattern. As the checks become larger from the shirt to the tie, the effect is more Johnny Depp than Screech. Just remember to keep your trousers in the same overall color scheme.

Avoid messy pattern mishaps with these last two rules…

Source: www.askmen.com