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Green Pants

wclary

New in Town
Messages
22
Are forest green pants for men just a passing fad and what color shirts would you wear with a pair of forest green pants?
 

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
Anything but a passing fad but then I didn't realize they were at all popular. I have a pair of Filson heavy wool pants, suitable only for cold weather. For office wear (they're much too good to wear otherwise!), an ordinary pale blue shirt would be okay. In fact, I have four other pair of dark green/olive green Filson pants in lighter weight cottons that I also wear in the office, again with pale blue shirts. For other than dress occasions, both grey, yellow and tan/khaki look fine, although the grey and green combination unfortunately looks too much like a ranger uniform.

I'm probably the only one here who ever wears much green. But I regret the passing of tan and brown suits, not that I wear suits so much anymore. It's awful to be a slave to fashion but you tend to look a little bizarre if you wear something that is too dated or too edgy. Only the Duke of Windsor could get away with dressing like that.
 

MisterGrey

Practically Family
Messages
526
Location
Texas, USA
Dark green suits, particularly olive, used to be a staple of mens' fashion. Even today, it's rare, but not unheard of, to spot one or two olive suits or sport coats at higher-end retailers. I think personally the current dearth of green in mens' clothing is a backlash against the brief but fierce comeback it made in the mid-to-late 1990s, when baggy, sage-or-peasoup green suits were all the rage. As long as it fits nicely and is a darker shade, you can look apropritely vintage. One of the first suits I invested in after I graduated college was a Goodwill-bought deep-hunter green double breasted suit whose pants I sadly grew out of over the course of the next year. Still, it made for a very sharp looking Christmas card photo that winter.

As to brown-- it may not be within the realm of the "power suit," but no one's going to think you're crazy or out of place for wearing a brown suit, particularly outside of the "old guard" professions (I'm thinking along the lines of Fortune 500 here). I worked for years in the optics field and am now a journalist, and a brown suit has always been a staple of my wardrobe. I've consistently gotten complimented on them over the years.

To echo the above sentiment, a pale blue would look nice; so, too, would classic white. If you're going to wear a tie with it, something equally deep and rich in color would play nicely with it-- something with shades of dark green, red, or blue would be sharp. Earth tones may look a little bit too 70s, and something too dominantly yellow might wash it out.
 

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
Wearing a white shirt never even crossed my mind. In any event, looking vintage is never an object.

When I did wear a suit most of the time, I liked having a tan or khaki poplin suit. I suppose they're still available but except for my boss, who wears nothing but dark blue suits, I rarely see anyone in a suit. The men at the bank wear suits, too, I just remembered. I also liked glen plaid suits, also not very common now.

The thing about brown is that the shades are so variable and some are not so attractive, something that could be said about any color.
 

MisterGrey

Practically Family
Messages
526
Location
Texas, USA
The trick with brown is you have to find it in a shade dark or light enough to compliment your complexion. With most grays and navy blues, no matter how light or dark you go (unless your navy blue goes into azure), the density of the color isn't so much an object. Most men I've seen who look good in gray or blue look good in any shade of gray or blue. Not so with brown. As with many things, contrast is key. Paler men tend to look better in darker, richer browns like cocoa; darker complected men tend to look better in lighter shades or brown. Of course this is all IMO and YMMV.
 

GHT

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,279
Location
New Forest
Forest Green is a new one on me. I live in the New Forest, nature's greens go from light apple through to dark earthy green. My, made to measure, bottle green, woolen oxfords go well with a crisp white shirt, two tone Gibson, green & cream shoes and a dark brown leather jacket. A grey Stetson sets off the outfit a treat.
 

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
Although a color can be technically described, it isn't unusual for a specified color to be something slightly different in practice, slang and colloquialisms included. For instance, "rifle green" is a certain dark shade of green, yet at times in the past, when used for uniforms, it was virtually black, which is also true of navy blue.
 

Benproof

A-List Customer
Messages
350
Location
England
Are forest green pants for men just a passing fad and what color shirts would you wear with a pair of forest green pants?

Definitely not a passing fad - green is here to stay. Although I do get a bit tired of wearing green all the time....and it is almost all the time. Every major American niche label has green pants. Any more I will end up joining the army.

Try not to wear a black t-shirt with logo if you want to avoid green pants stereotype. It goes well with muted autumn coloured formal shirts; ochre; cream, olive, greys and whites.

Although are you probably thinking too one dimensionally like most of the Visvim label addicts - it's more than just about colour swatching. Any house painter can do that. Try and work the textures too. Nothing's worse than those awful flat cotton forest green pants with about twenty million cargo pants' pockets, none of which can security hold anything without the rise sagging somewhere near the knees. If you have some herringbone shirts, try blending the muted colours with your green pants; if not, then go for a muted contrast: pastel blue shirts for a dress down casual look. Try plaid checks if you're really dressing down.

Green is very versatile although not all forest greens wash well!
 

LuvMyMan

I’ll Lock Up.
Messages
4,558
Location
Michigan
Green is a versatile color., browns earthy colors, blues all can go rather well with green. If you like how you look in green pants then by all means wear them like there is no tomorrow!
 

Hal

Practically Family
Messages
590
Location
UK
Forest green corduroy trousers have been around for a long time. "Dress" (which I take to be wool) trousers (also suits, sports jackets and overcoats) have traditionally been only in muted greens, like olive and lovat. What has been described above as hunter green (or something very like it) is the traditional colour of the Loden cloth of Bavaria, Austria and alpine Italy. These greens are by no means passing fads.
However, one has to look very hard for such greens (and browns) in menswear shops.
So many suppliers think that men (at any rate in the UK) only wear grey suits or blue jeans!
 

tropicalbob

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,954
Location
miami, fl
One of my favorite places to visit has always been the Netherlands, and I've often noticed there that the guys have a wonderful sense of browns and greens. I've particularly noticed some nice combos of brown suede or leather and forest or olive green corduroy trousers.
And speaking of trousers, I bought a pair of them in a dark teal from Brookes Bros. a few years back and have never worn them for the simple reason that I can't find any color, besides white and black, that can be worn with them.
 

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