How to Match Ties & Pocket Squares: A Complete Guide

Is it time to take your attire from ordinary to outstanding? If you’re curious to know how well-chosen accessories can enhance and elevate your wardrobe, start with a pocket square.

A well-chosen pocket square is an excellent way to add interest and balance your outfit with harmonious contrast and proportions. Various colors, patterns, and fabrics work together to create an elevated appearance.

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This guide will help you confidently match a tie and pocket square for any occasion. We cover color coordination, pattern pairing, and fabric choice so you can develop a signature style that’s distinctly your own.

Whether you want to refine your professional appearance or are aiming to create a striking impression for a special event, follow this guide to learn how to match a tie and pocket square for the perfect ensemble.

The Basics of Matching Ties and Pocket Squares

We’ll get to the more intricate details of how to match colors, patterns, and fabrics in a bit. But for now, it’s important to know the one key rule of matching ties and pocket squares: Complement, rather than exactly matching your tie and pocket square.

The goal is to create harmony between your pocket square and necktie. Allowing colors to complement one another is a sure way to create harmony.

The Golden Rule: Complement, Don’t Match

Do not match your pocket square to your tie.

If you try to exactly match your tie and pocket square, the result can look overly coordinated, stiff, and dated. You can use the same color, but in a different shade. Or, you can go with a different color that complements your tie.

Some examples of complementary color and pattern combinations include

• Clybourn Repp Stripe Scarlet Tie and Classic Dot Navy Pocket Square
• Cactus Crowns Hunter Green Tie and Solid Twill Tangerine Pocket Square
• Diversey Herringbone Teal Tie and Southport Dot Chocolate Pocket Square

If complementary color mixing is a little confusing at first, you can always default to choosing a pocket square in the same color family as your tie. But the pocket square must be in a darker or lighter tone than the tie. Notice how the darker Eden Floral Olive Pocket Square complements this light green Herringbone Vow Sage Tie.

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Color Coordination Techniques

Understanding basic color theory will give you a real boost when researching how to match pocket square to tie. Not everyone has an eagle eye for color and that’s okay.

If you’re not a color expert, take just a few minutes to learn some basics on the science of color. Once you have a handle on color theory, you’ll be able to apply it to so many things in your life — from painting your home or accessorizing your office — to selecting the best tie and pocket square match.

• Primary colors — red, yellow, and blue — cannot be created or mixed from other colors. All other colors are derived from primary colors.
• Secondary colors — orange, purple, and green — are created from primary colors. For example, red plus yellow equals orange.
• Tertiary colors — red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, and red-violet — are derived from mixing primary colors with secondary colors.

Understanding primary, secondary, and tertiary colors will help you grasp how colors react and interact. This interplay of color is called “color harmony.” Color harmony is achieved through monochromatic, analogous, and/or complementary color pairings. Let’s delve a little deeper to see how color harmony can help you choose pocket squares that complement your ties.

Monochromatic Color Pairings

Achieve a refined and sophisticated look with monochromatic color pairings. For instance, a linen hunter green tie with a mini checks light sage green pocket square creates a harmonious monochromatic pairing.

Make sure you choose shades of the same color that are significantly different from one another. Avoid a combination such as a navy blue tie and a navy blue pocket square. A matchy-matchy pairing is boring and dull.

Analogous Color Pairings

Colors next to one another on the color wheel are termed analogous. Yellow-green, green, and blue-green are an example of analogous colors. Blue-green, blue, and blue-violet are another example. Analogous colors don’t match, they harmonize.

Picture a solid Astute Solid Green Teal Tie with a blue-green or blue-violet paisley pocket square. Imagine the handsome harmony of a green tie with a yellow-green or blue-green striped pocket square. The beauty of basing your tie and pocket square selection on analogous colors is that you’ll achieve pleasing color contrasts — a variation of colors that harmonize.

Complementary Color Pairings

The boldest color combination is the complementary color pairing. These are colors opposite from one another on the color wheel. Think of a red tie and a green pocket square or an orange tie and a blue pocket square.

Complementary color pairings create a strong impression and a strong reaction! Depending on how they’re paired, they’re usually too bold for business and professional wear. However, complementary color pairings can liven up an outfit for social occasions such as holiday events and cocktail parties, or casual and relaxed settings.

Mastering Pattern Mixing

Now the fun part — how to mix tie and pocket square patterns! Move a step up from pairing solid colors and elevate your ensemble by mixing patterns for a stylish look.

When mixing patterns, the key is to vary the pattern scale. The pattern of your tie must be a different size pattern than your pocket square pattern.

If your tie has a large scale pattern, whether it’s stripes, florals, geometrics, dots, or paisleys, choose a pocket square pattern that has a small scale such as micro stripes, tiny dots, or a small geo weave. And vice versa for a small scale pattern tie — it should be paired with a larger scale patterned pocket square.

Check out these examples:

• A large scale floral tie with a mini dot pocket square.
• A geometric tie with an abstract striped pocket square.
• A small scale striped tie with a large scale floral pocket square.

Just remember — the patterns must not be the same size (scale). Now apply pattern mixing to your color pairing and you’ll truly make a fine fashion statement!

Pattern Scale and Proportion

When patterns are of the same scale, instead of complementing, the patterns will compete and result in a chaotic, confused look. Remember, you’re aiming to create harmony.

Some successful pattern combinations include a large scale floral patterned tie with a small geometric pocket square. On the other hand, here is an example of a poor match to the floral tie because the scale between the tie and pocket square is too similar.

Balancing Patterns with Solids

A solid tie with a patterned pocket square (and vice-versa) is probably one of the easiest ways to achieve a successful match. This solid deep rich eggplant purple tie would be beautiful with the purple paisley pocket square.

Occasion-Specific Pairings

Always consider the setting as you plan your outfit. Formal events call for subtle, refined color and pattern pairings. The goal of business wear is to achieve a polished, professional look. Casual events provide a great opportunity for you to express your personality and creativity through bolder tie and pocket square pairings.

Formal Events and Black Tie

Aim for subtle elegance when dressing for formal events. You’ll wear a black bow tie with a tuxedo jacket for black tie events. A silk necktie in a muted tone is a refined choice for other formal occasions.

Add artful subtlety to your formal attire with a well-chosen silk pocket square. A white silk woven paisley pocket square is a classic pairing with a silk necktie.

Business and Professional Settings

Conservative color and pattern mixes work well for business and professional settings. Achieve a polished, pulled-together look with a monochromatic or analogous tie and pocket square pairing.

Solid, geometric, striped, dot, and paisley ties are always good choices for the office.

Subtly incorporate personality into your attire by choosing a pocket square in an analogous color and pattern that complements your business tie.

Casual and Creative Occasions

Bold designer ties and pocket squares can be tempting to wear for the office — they’re so dramatic and gorgeous. But going bold is a safer choice for casual occasions.

If you want to express your personality and create a dramatic statement at a creative or casual event, pair your tie and pocket square in bold colors and varied patterns. An impressive designer tie like this Elizabeth Olwen Semi-Stripe Orange Tie with the Lotta Jansdotter Striped Cinnamon Pocket Square would be a showstopper. The simplicity of the 100% linen Dearborn Oatmeal Jacket would be especially handsome accented with a bold tie and pocket square.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Watch out for these common pitfalls when pairing ties and pocket squares:

• Don’t match colors. Instead, choose various shades of the same color.
• Don’t match the pattern scale. Instead, vary the scale of the patterns.
• Don’t wear bold colors and patterns for professional occasions. Instead, go with monochromatic or analogous color pairings.

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Remember to adhere to the Golden Rule of tie and pocket square pairing — don’t match — and you’ll confidently achieve a winning look. Apply basic color theory and pattern mixing to experiment, have fun, and develop your distinct signature style.

You’ll get some true inspiration by checking out The Tie Bar’s outstanding tie and pocket square colors and patterns. Continue to try out various pairings. After all, practice makes perfect when it comes to accessorizing!

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