How to Wear a Purple Tie

Purple is the next colour after burgundy. Where burgundy is a red pulled toward the neutrals, purple is a step further along the same line: warmer than blue, cooler than red, and just as easy to wear once it is in the rotation. The mistake is reaching for a bright violet. The colour that works is deep, closer to aubergine, where the richness reads as depth rather than display.

Purple, Kept Dark

A dark purple behaves. It sits against a suit the way a good burgundy does, carrying a point of colour without taking the outfit over, and the brighter the purple the harder it works against you, until it tips into costume. The Aklasu purple grenadine tie is a deep aubergine, woven in Como from Italian silk on the grenadine loom, wool-interlined and tipped so the knot holds its shape through the day. The texture of the weave mutes the colour further, which is exactly what a purple meant to be worn often should do.

Which Suits to Wear It With

The purple tie suit combination that does the most work is the simplest: a purple tie with a navy suit. The two are close enough on the wheel to agree and far enough apart to register, and a white shirt between them keeps the pairing clean. A purple tie and a navy suit reads as considered rather than accidental, which is why it is the combination to learn first. Grey is the next step, where the purple becomes the warm element against cool flannel or worsted. Charcoal does the same, a touch more formal. For shoes, follow the suit: black with navy and charcoal, brown with grey. Aubergine sits well against black leather in particular.

Which Shirt to Pair

What colour shirt to wear with a purple tie comes down to keeping the contrast low. White is the safest ground and never wrong. Light blue works because cool against cool reads correct, and it softens the outfit. A fine blue stripe does the same job with a little more interest. Pink is the one to handle with care: warm against warm can muddy, so keep the shade pale and the tie dark if you reach for it.

Purple Tie Combinations That Hold

Six pairings that work without further thought. In each, the tie is a deep aubergine and the suit does the grounding.

• Navy suit, white shirt, white linen pocket square. The combination to learn first, and the one to reach for when the room matters.
• Navy suit, light blue shirt. Cool against cool. Softer than the white shirt version, and better for an ordinary Tuesday than a wedding.
• Navy double-breasted, fine blue stripe, white pocket square. The stripe adds movement the plain shirt does not, and the aubergine holds its own against it. Brown shoes keep it from turning severe.
• Charcoal suit, white shirt, black shoes. The most formal of the six. Purple against charcoal reads sober rather than decorative.
• Mid-grey worsted, white shirt, brown shoes. Here the purple is the warm element, which is the whole reason to reach past navy.
• Pale pink shirt, aubergine tie, navy suit. The one that needs care. Keep the shirt pale, the tie dark, and nothing else in the outfit warm.

Occasions

Purple carries across the week without fuss. It is correct in a boardroom, considered in the evening, and distinctive at a wedding, where it marks a guest as having thought about it rather than dressed in a costume. It looks deliberate in any of those rooms, which is the whole point of choosing it over another navy.

The Square

A purple tie takes a pocket square best when the square relates to it rather than matching it. White linen or white silk is the steady answer, framing the colour without repeating it. Against a navy suit, the Navy Blue Edge White Linen Pocket Square picks up the suit rather than the tie, which is the relation done correctly. We make the full case in The Pocket Square, Paired.

Purple is the colour a man reaches for once the neutrals and the burgundy are accounted for, the next deliberate step in a wardrobe built on restraint. It rewards the same discipline burgundy does, which we cover in How to Wear a Burgundy Tie. For the same question asked of a navy suit across every colour, see Ties for a Navy Blue Suit. The rest of the weave sits in the grenadine ties collection. Worn dark and worn simply, it never once looks like a risk.