New York, NY – August 7, 2019 – The Library: Portrait of Booger McFarland (l), Joe Tessitore, Lisa Salters and John Parry. (photo by: Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images)
Over the course of the regular football season, ESPN Monday Night Football Play by Play Analyst Joe Tessitore, Analyst Booger McFarland and Rules and Officiating Analyst John Parry wore a total of 16 color and pattern combinations, in custom suits curated and made for them by Mark Rykken of Britches Bespoke. Now that the season is “in the books”, let’s look back at how this process came together.
Preparation for a season of style began in May of 2019 with a host of conversations between Britches Bespoke, ESPN and the production team behind Monday Night Football. As they say, it takes a village, and this endeavor was no exception. Prominent on the ESPN side was Jay Rothman, the producer of Monday Night Football, Cynthia Carr Gardner, stylist “to the stars” and MNF stylist, and Bill Hofheimer, Sr. Director of Communication for ESPN as well as the on-air talent. Almost immediately, Mark Rykken and Cynthia began to work together to develop the palette – the colors, patterns and styles that would best flatter the talent, be seasonally reflective and look good not only on TV but in relationship to each other.
Soon after, Mark met with Joe, Booger and John to take measurements and understand their personal sense of style. The first suit for each – jacket, trousers, shirts and accessories was fabricated and the men returned to Britches in early July for their first fitting, which we captured on film and shared on our social media. The first of the suits was sent back into production which a second set of suits was being constructed. The next few months saw more fittings and adjustments and finally, by the beginning of the season in September, the suits and the “book” – a week-by-week guide to each man’s outfit – were complete.
Each week, we shared the thought process behind each outfit compilation and the closeup view of how the colors and patterns worked together. Throughout the season, we imparted some important lessons:
- A few well constructed, well fitting suits can be used to create an infinite number of unique outfits simply by switching out different colors and patterns of shirts, ties and pocket squares.
- If someone has a fair complexion with light hair, they will look washed out wearing white. Individuals with this type of coloring will always look much better wearing blue shirts instead of white.
- The 2 and 1 Rule is putting together 2 patterns with one solid. An example would be wearing a patterned suit, a solid shirt, and a patterned tie
- The 1 in 2 Rule is putting one patterned component with two solid components, such as a solid suit, a patterned shirt, and a solid tie.
- Scale is the number one consideration when utilizing different patterns in the same outfit.
- The scale of the patterns that a man wears, as well as the width of one’s jacket lapel, shirt collar size, and the width of one’s tie should always be in scale with his physical size and stature.
- Pinstripe suits project authority from the wearer – that this is a serious person who knows his business and what he’s talking about.
- Choosing the right colors and their tonality should help compliment one’s individual skin, eye, and hair color. The amount of contrast created by an individual’s skin tone, eye color and hair color are key to determining what colors work best for that person.
- We communicate with our face, therefore we want people to focus on our face and not be distracted by our clothes. The way to accomplish this is to wear clothes that produce the same, or a similar amount of contrast between our hair color and skin complexion.
- A widespread collar works to offset a narrow face.
- As a general rule the pocket square should have more of a relationship with the shirt than with the dominant color of the tie.
- It is also perfectly fine to have your pocket square highlight a specific color in the tie’s pattern.
- The most important rule on pattern mixing is understanding scale, meaning never put patterns together that are of the same scale. An example would be if one is wearing a solid shirt and a stripe suit where the stripes are ½” apart, you would want to mate it with a tie with a pattern that is either smaller or larger than ½ “. The second rule is that it’s easier to pair patterns together that are of different designs.
- You can further enhance the effectiveness of any outfit by selecting items with colors that will compliment your skin, hair, or eye color.
- Since the modern suit era which began in the 1920s with the emergence of the Ivy League Sack Suit, the most popular suiting ensemble color palette has been the combination of navy and grey.
These lessons from the football season and many more can help you to look your absolute best when determining what to wear. In addition, many of these principles are best achieved by having a suit (or more) custom created as opposed to buying off the rack and having it tailored. Working with a professional clothier can help you to identify what will work for you and you will never feel as good as you will wearing a suit created especially for you.