Male Attire: A Tip for Chinese (and other Similarly Light-skinned Men with Black Hair) on How to Look Sharp

This post is especially directed at people of Chinese origin, and for two reasons:

(i) they now constitute a significant % of this blog’s readership.

(ii) As I learned recently from the BBC, Chinese men preponderantly dye their hair black regardless of age. According to that news report, the dyeing of hair in China is close to being mandatory, with the government picking up the cost of hair color etc. for Party officials.

Recall my previous posts on attire, especially those of November 27, 2011, and November 28, 2012), in which I’ve written about the “principle of matching contrasts,” according to which men and women look their best when the contrast of their clothes matches the level of contrast of their face. Thus, in the case of Chinese men, who invariably have a high contrast face thanks to their very light complexion and lots of black hair, the wearing of high contrast clothes will sharply enhance their appearance and heighten the glow from their face. [Example of high contrast attire: a dark jacket, white shirt, and a bright tie that is strikingly different in color to both the jacket and shirt.]

A low to medium contrast attire, on the other hand, will diminish their visage and subdues the glow from their face. Yet, from recent news footage on PBS and elsewhere, I find even highly educated and well dressed Chinese, Korean, and other fair skinned East/ SE Asian men donning clothes whose contrast is drab, cheerless, and unimaginative.

My point is best illustrated by the two video clips. In the first one, you see a North Korean news announcer who has a very high contrast face, as do most Chinese men. But his attire? A bit too subdued because of the tie being of hues similar to those of his jacket. A bright tie, contrasting strongly with both the jacket and shirt, would have been far more flattering.

Same story for the second clip. With barely a couple of exceptions (and on of those exceptions is, yes, China’s newly elected leader!) all of the men are wearing clothes that are dull, timid, and insipid.  In short, the attire of these other dignitaries does not do justice to their high contrast faces.

Within a few weeks, I hope to post a video clip showing a Chinese man with an attire that is exemplary, i.e., that has an appropriately high-contrast.

© Copyright 2013  V. J. Singal