Style is a cruel mistress, difficult to master; easy to get on the wrong side off … sometimes you must wonder why you bother?

Even the experts don’t always get it right.

Never fear – Gallus is here to teach another easy to implement lesson which can have a drastic impact on your every day styling.

The lesson today is simple – when it comes to pairing formal wear; the jacket and trousers must be identical or completely different – similar is a BIG NO. You need to remember that simple rule.

When you are buying formal wear – you must either buy it with the corresponding trousers or pair it with a suitable option in a noticeably different colour and texture.

(Here is a strong example of the “Corresponding” option)

(Here is a good example of the “Different” option)

The reasoning behind this rule is the two major factors mentioned above: Colour and Texture.

Choosing a pair of trousers which give the illusion of a matching suit fails to look as good every time because it will neither straight-up match or functions as separates clothing entities.

The best example I can find of this common mistake is Guy Ritchie’s outfit below from the GQ website:

As you will be able to see yourself – Guy’s outfit doesn’t really work due to the similarity of his linen jacket with his trousers. They are very similar colours … but clearly not identical. The textures of the two fabrics are vastly different too.

It’s a shame, as if it had been a better jacket/trouser combination the outfit would have been pretty strong. The colour combination between the jacket and the shirt looks good …and I like the white pocket square to match.

Guy Ritchie is normally very good with his style, but as I said above – even the experts get it wrong sometimes!