Full credit to reader Jacob for sending in a request for this post. His Mom is currently battling breast cancer. For more information, here’s a solid list of organizations who are collaborating on National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Pink is an odd one. Some guys full on embrace it. Others were traumatized by that color as a child because when their older sister outgrew her first bike, the parents figured Joseph could just take that as a hand me down even though it was bright pink, had a lame banana seat, and even had stupid streamers sticking out of the handlebars.
Didn’t take long to rip those streamers off. Not that it made the bike itself any less… pink.
But it’s no big thing to wear pink as an adult, and with October being Breast Cancer Awareness month, now’s the best time to work those pink items into your daily getup. Even the NFL is once again in on the act. Pastels in general aren’t always the easiest color to wear, so it’s worth taking a look at a dozen or so items that get it right.
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Orient Bambino in Rose Gold – $196 w/ SUMMER2012 ($280)
Certainly not Barbie’s Dream House pink, but instead a gold with a deeper reddish-hue that’s replaced a lot of the yellow. Rose Gold gets its color from the copper in the alloy. The more copper, the more red or pink the gold gets. This is one of Orient’s newest models, and it’s a dress-watch stunner. Simple, automatic, domed crystal, and 40.5 mm w/out the crown.
Pink & Navy Ties from TheTieBar: Wool Dots, Slim Wool Dots, Silk Knit, – Each $15
Pink and Blue might be separated in the hospital nursery, but when it come’s to men’s style they’re a perfect pair (and more evidence to come). 70% wool & 30% silk is the makeup for the first two ties, with 3.5″ being the standard width and your choice of 2.5″ or a perfect 3″ available if you click through to the “slim” option. The silk knit also comes in a couple of different sizes at 2″ or 2.75″ width.
Neiman Marcus Non Iron Trim Fit Pink Stripe Shirt – $39.20 ($88)
Pink is one of the easiest ways to slightly brighten up a fall or winter suit. Charcoal suit, solid blue (or maybe even pale grey if you want to mess around a bit) tie with some texture, and this. Will look plenty colorful with a navy suit and light grey tie. Fatter bengal-like stripes have some force behind em’, but it’s not like you’re wearing a solid screaming-pink neon shirt. Collar looks substantial, so it should do just fine with a sport coat and jeans. Extra 30% off sale ends today, 10/8.
Indochino’s Pink Jacket Lining – $$$ depends on what you’re buying.
As loud as some of Indochino’s marketing can get, they deserve praise for keeping their pink lining real subtle and muted. It seemed like a bold choice when Ben first said he went with a pink lining for his essential navy, but the pics of the lining once it showed up make it look awfully good. Not for everyone of course, but far from over the top.
Socks: Club Monaco – $15.50 | L. Uomo- $12.50 | ugly vix – $25.00
Sadly, it doesn’t appear that Merona at Target is cranking out any pink rugby-striped socks right now. Stick with either big bold stripes, or dots that don’t get any bigger than a dime.
Get Squared “Tickled Pink” pocket square – $6.50
If using it in small doses is key, then a pocket square is the perfect way to administer a shot of pink into your wardrobe. “Get Squared” pockets squares are simple, inexpensive, and made in the USA. “Tickled Pink” is a new arrival and is already just about sold out. Ships free as well.
J. Crew Factory Small Pink Tattersall Dress Shirt – $34.50
A quick note about pink dress shirts. Steer clear of saturated solids. It’s just way too much pink all at once. Shades of Night at the Roxbury. Your shirt should not have been garment dyed in Klingon blood. But something with a very small pattern in red or pink will look like it’s starting to get towards solid light-pink from a distance. But it still won’t look over-saturated.
Pink Silk Knot Cufflinks – $4.99
Buy a bunch of colors in bulk or scan around ebay and you can find silk knots for much, much less… but if all you want is a pair of pink, at least these ship for free. Don’t worry too much about trying to coordinate with the rest of your outfit. Even if you’re wearing a navy suite, white shirt, and grey tie… wear the pink cufflinks. They’ll stand out, and when someone asks, tell em’ why it’s the month to wear pink. You could always turn these into the knot lapel flower that Sabir at MensStylePro favors.
Brooks Brothers Cotton Ruby Stripe Scarf – $29.00 ($58)
Don’t want to fully commit to pink? Wear something that you’ll take off once you step indoors. Just 6″ wide but 70″ long, this bold, blocky stripe scarf from Brooks Brothers seems like it’s made for doing the blazer/gloves but no coat thing. Investment is pretty low too at just thirty bucks (before shipping kicks in of course.)
Suspenders/Braces: Trafalgar “Aldridge” Stripes or “Concord” Dots – $85.00
This of course means you have to be a suspender man. Far from cheap. Made in the USA.
Pink Shoelaces – $5.49
Guys have been switching out their normal laces for brighter alternatives for the last few years. Finding some waxed pink dress-laces on the web is pretty difficult. These are round dress laces, but not waxed. But they’re pink dress laces, so try not to think too hard about it.
“A Study in Pink
” – Sherlock
Season 1, Episode 1.
All right so it’s not necessarily “style”, but it’s absolutely worth a mention. This was how the BBC rebooted Sherlock Holmes. Now two seasons in, and it’s incredible. Highly recommend these 90 minute short-movie-like episodes to anyone who likes smart dialogue, good chemistry, and mystery. Free to stream if you’ve got Amazon Prime.
What else? Got something pink in your arsenal that’s worth recommending? Leave it all in the comments…
I have a bunch of the H&M Easy Iron Dress shirts, and probably 3 of them in solid, light pink. I wear them with my Navy Suit, my dark gray Express pin stripe suit, and my black suit.
It goes great with a ton of my ties, I get compliments almost every time.
When are we getting a post on brown things for prostate cancer awareness? Or creamy white for testicular cancer awareness?
Worth noting Sherlock also streams on Netflix as well. And without giving anything away in regards to the final episode of Season 2. HOW?!?!
Between J. Crew, Neiman Marcus & Charles Tyrwhitt, I’ve got at least 5 shirts that range from pastel to stripes to checked. It’s a very versatile color to pull off with Navy & Grey (esp. if you’re a shade or 2 tanner). Some of my friends don’t like the color but hey if you can pull it off, nothing else matters.
On a related note, i hope Jacob’s mum is doing good in her fight against Cancer.
I have a pink/black tattersal shirt from Last Call that’s one of my favorites. I know it sounds scary, but its actually pretty nice. I think it was even mentioned here about 6 months ago, but I saw it in store. Outside of that, though, the only pink things I have are only appropriate for spring.
Before the mid-1900s, some considered pink to be masculine and blue to be feminine. The shift only really happened after World War II.
Right with you. There is some major, major ‘splainin’ to do.
I really like that scarf, although I must respectfully disagree on staying away from solid pink dress shirts. I have a pale pink dress shirt from Express (from about 5 years ago and still in good condition) that I wear with my BR navy suit and a medium gray pinstripe suit and it looks great. As long as it’s a subtle pink, I think solid is okay.
I love the combo of navy blue and pink. One of my favorite ties is this woven silk navy with pink stripe from The Tie Bar:
http://www.thetiebar.com/order_page.asp?pn=22256&orderPageReturn=%2FcategoryPages%2FAll_Ties%2Easp&pg=0&categoryIds=31,16,60&optionValueIds=
How do the JCrew Factor button downs fit?
I know right… waiting for the next season is painful.
Joe, thanks so much for putting this together. It’s been a rough year, but she’s done with chemo at this point, and we’re waiting to see if she’s going into radiation at this point. It means a lot that you put this together, as now, I can be supportive with more than just a pink ribbon (though that will be ever-present as well).
Thanks again, and I truly do love the blog and all the hard work.
Tomservo, I believe the answer is in the episode… My wife spotted a particularly thorny loose end, and we thought about it for a minute, and it gives a logical explanation. So… watch it again. You’ll find it.
Whoops. In total agreement. That should have read “saturated” solids. Apologies about that. Yeah, I’m all for the light/subtle stuff (even though I don’t own any myself.) Updated above…
My pleasure Jacob! And thanks for the idea for the post. All the best to you and your Mom. Hope she’s 100% again real soon.
agreed! BBC sherlock is amazing!
Joe, what is the pink bow pinned to in the cover photo?
Not really pinned, but just sorta laying on this: http://dappered.com/2011/10/in-person-the-semi-affordable-flannel-suit/
I’m not a fan of Pink but even more so I’m not a fan of “real men wear pink” or anything prefixed or suffixed with “real men wear/do/don’t/etc” or “like a real man”. So thank you for not approaching it like that, much of the stuff here I’d actually be quite happy to wear, while I’ll never wear a pink shirt most of it seems more incidental than trying to make a statement.
I’m pretty sure I have the same shirt 🙂
Good choices, but the scarf is just a little too much on the gay side for me.
Since this is a mens style site, maybe we should focus on supporting Mens cancer research and awareness. There is already a disproportionate amount of funding going to breast cancer research. The 5 year survival rate for breast cancer is 91.4%.
Men mostly die from colon and rectum cancer, which have 5 year survival rates of 64.9% and 64.3%. Society doesn’t care so we need to start focusing on and looking after ourselves.
P.S. My aunt is battling breast cancer right now so I’m not just trying to be a dick.
P.P.S. All stats taken from Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website.
I’m a fan of the H&M Easy Iron’s as well.
I LOVE Sherlock!! Great Show!!