How to wear a floral shirt and still look effortlessly cool

Pattern and floral shirts have made a resurgence in recent seasons, yet it remains to be one of those items of clothing that I see styled incredibly badly on most occasions. Men just don't seem to be able to get it right but it doesn't always come down to how to style a floral shirt, it's also extremely important to buy the right floral shirt for your skin-tone, body shape and even hair colour. Here are my tips on how to style a floral shirt and still look effortlessly cool.

Okay so as mentioned, you need to shop the right style and colours for you. Think about what you are going to wear the shirt with? Picture the outfit as a whole, so you can narrow your floral shirt search to only a few colours. There's less chance of making a mistake that way! If possible, why not wear the outfit that you want to put the shirt with on whilst shopping - then you'll see first hand what it will look like before committing to the purchase. 

I wanted a floral shirt to go with a pair of black jeans, so I started thinking about colours that go well with black. I put together my outfit, black boots, a black faced watch and an off-white t-shirt to layer underneath the floral shirt, so I could wear it undone if desired. So what colours work? I noted, burgundy, white, black, deep greens and touches of yellow in the maybe pile. 

Alternatively if I wanted to find a floral shirt to wear with a pair of blue jeans, I immediately think of colours such as blue, navy, orange, pink, white and maybe a touch of green, but the green would have to be subtle and not over powering. Something like the below would work for blue jeans.

When wearing jeans with a floral shirt, I always opt for plain styles, no rips. I feel that the attention should be on the shirt and not overly-complicated by having too many power pieces drawing ones attention.

If in doubt, keep it simple. Try buying a shirt with only 2 colours in the print. This way you'll be able to wear it with a larger variety of clothes in your wardrobe. Then when you're more confident, move on to floral shirts with maybe a few more colour tones in them...remember baby steps!

This is only my opinion but floral shirts look AWFUL worn with a suit in formal attire and even worse with a tie. Just don't go there. When buying formal shirts, keep it classic, classy and simple by focusing on great fabrics and impeccable tailoring. Leave the floral and print shirts for casual or going out.

Finally try not to wear your floral shirt too tight, they have their roots in Hawaii so keep in fun and roomy but not too roomy that it looks like you are wearing a tent.

SHOP MY LOOK

Photography by Kylie Eyra