Look Like Him

Ever since I Pinned this, it's received a ton of repins.  So I tracked it down to a blogger named Justin Livingston out of New York. Luckily for us, in his blog Scout Sixteen, he kind of breaks down what he's wearing. Sort of.

But since there are a few questions left unanswered, I'm going to go ahead and give my take on it. Plus, I think Justin deserves some more credit since he's being anonymously Pinned all over the place.

What I really like about today's feature is the great use of one of my favorite colors.  Tell me how many guys you've seen today wearing green pants.  And then tell me how many you've seen wearing them well.  Are you at "zero" like me?

Most of the time your average American is going to be wearing blue jeans.  That's all well and good, but mixing it up with green in this scenario let's you get away with that Blue sweater and not be dominated by variations of the same color...which is super easy to slip into.

No need to speculate over stores, because Justin flat out tells us where he got this particular shade of green that doesn't shout, "HEY! LOOK AT ME! I'M WEARING GREEN PANTS!!"

It's Armani Exchange and they're currently about $50, and although he doesn't specify which color he chose, they can be had in Moss as shown above (with limited sizing) or the close-to-that shade of "Army".

You're not going to get a whole lot cheaper unless you can find something at your local Military Surplus store.  But if you want a variation, you can try these Lived In Straight Khakis in Moss from GAP, which have the added advantage of a rear without a label (these are the ones I chose). Or you can go with these J. Crew Urban Slim Fit Chinos in Fresh Sage (personally I think this color looks better in person than online).

Gap Lived In Straight Khakis, J. Crew Urban Slim Fit Chinos

Colors, Colors Everywhere.  Which Frickin' One Do I Pick?

Now, before we move on to that sweater, I need to drop some science on you. And that's because matching the Blue sweater with the Green pants is a bit of an art.

Science and art, is that even possible?



Look at Justin's outfit again. Green pants, blue sweater, blue belt, blue shoes, blue bag...if it wasn't for the green this would almost be monochromatic.

But instead of going for contrast, Justin's outfit is almost entirely done in what is called an Analogous Color Scheme. Basically...because basically is all my brain can handle...that means the primary color and all the accent colors are within one step of each other on a particular swatch of the color wheel.

Click Photo to Enlarge Color Wheel Modified from pototschnik.com

What does that mean for you?  Well, let's say you already own some green pants that are more towards the "yellow/green" on the wheel above.  You'll only be able to stretch as far as "blue green" for a shirt.  The further you get away from the next color over, the less likely the matching is supposed to work.  So that really nice deep Navy sweater you own?  Well you're going to need pants bordering more on blue green than flat out "green" to pull that off.

Here's another color wheel showing you more detailed shades.  If you want something along the color of his pants (labeled A), the shirt should fall within those Analogous blues (labeled B).

Modified from MsFrankel.com

If you have a different color "A" (pants), just shift it around and count over to "B" to see how far you can go with a shirt...see what I mean with this GIF I created below?

Enough!  Enough With All The Learnin'!

Okay, so now that you know how to determine how to pick out a shade of blue on your own to match your green pants...

If you want to mimic Justin's top, he doesn't say exactly where he got it...but it's pretty hard to argue with this Navy Crew Neck from J. Crew for about $65.

J. Crew Navy Crew Neck

But again, now that you know what you're looking for, either wear your pants to the store and pick out an appropriate shade of sweater (or "Henley", as he says he's wearing)...or wear your sweater to the store and pick out an appropriate shade of pants.

The Shoes

Justin is wearing Converse Sneakers. Find these everywhere. Or buy them online.

Clockwise from Upper Left - Canvas Poseidon, Classic in White, Custom Spinach, Classic in Navy

Try the Chuck Taylor Washed Canvas in Poseidon (upper left) for $65. Or the Chuck Taylor Classic Color in Navy (lower left) for $50.

If you don't mind attention, you could alternatively choose Classic Color White, which will draw the eye down from the outfit a little more towards the shoes. Or go all out and design your own for $75, like I did with the Spinach number in the lower right. Complete with personal ID on the heel stripe.

(maybe that Spinach shoe was going too far...yeah, you're probably best going to your local shoe store and just buying some)

The Bag

Filson Field Bag in Medium. Who wouldn't love to have one of these? Not only have reviewers taken it everywhere from African Safari to Antarctica, it looks dang sexy and will even work if you're only going down the street. But...it's $248.

If you need an alternative, how about this Oil Finish Medium Bag in Navy also by Filson? Currently listed at $99.90, it has the same dimensions as the one above, also is water repellent, and also has a reinforced base for heavy loads.  So ask yourself, is the slightly sexier one worth an extra $148 to you?

Orrrrr...you wanna get away from that Analogous Color scheme and save some real money?  Check out this Merona Messenger Bag from Target coming in under a cool $20.  How's that for tempting?

Love, love, love that belt.  I think it really ties everything together.  The worst part is Justin doesn't say where he got it.  That makes it tough because colors in real life are so rarely how they look online (even his pants show up a much deeper green in another post).

So trying to find a match to something that may not even truly exist can be challenging to say the least.  However, I'll give you a few options in the blue hue that also have nice texture to them.

On the budget side, you can try this Belt Outlet Tan Tabs Stretch belt in Navy.  Talk about cheap, this thing is only $6.50.

Another option, depending on your shade of green, is the Perry Ellis in Navy, or (less likely perhaps) Blue for $19.99.

Perry Ellis Navy and Blue

Finally, this Tyler & Tyler Blue Two-Tone Woven Cotton Belt has some really nice bold color to it
(I'm assuming from other pictures it's a little less on the purple side than depicted here), and comes in at $49.

A Nautica belt at Macy's for $29...or a Merona Belt from Target for $16.99 are a couple other options, but I don't like how the strap ends have so much leather on them.  The focal point is blue and that's what I want to see.  Still, I'll leave those links up because it doesn't hurt to see what's out there, and some people may want to have some more brown showing in this mix. Possibly to match it to your bag, or maybe to match it to a watch, like the Daniel Wellington he says he's wearing.

Target Merona Belt

Once again in this situation, I would urge you to pick your belt out in person. There are so many variations of green, and so many of blue (almost all the belts above are called "Navy", and just look at the color differences) it's better for me to tell you how to pick the right color than do it for you.

I will say when you find the right shade, things are going to pop.  The blue will be bluer, the green will be greener, and your day will be brighter.  Oh what a wonderful world it will be!  Have fun.

Okay, how about you? Have a really great blue belt you got somewhere you can let me know about? Or a great messenger bag alternative? Help everyone out by posting in the comments below.