A wardrobe essential: how to wear polka dot ties

Sometime in the mid-80s – back when Bruce Willis still had hair – polka dot ties were huge. Then, with a bang, they were gone. (Again, just like Bruce Willis’ hair.) Maybe it had something to do with the release of this: Don’t click play. Seriously, don’t do it – it’ll be stuck in your head for days. (Don’t say we didn’t warn you.) But now, we’ve had enough time to shake that monstrous song from our collective consciousness and polka dot ties are back. But are you a little rusty on how to wear them? Let us jog your memory.

The key to nailing a polka dot tie is pairing it with the right shirt. <

The versatile polka dot tie goes with almost every suit pattern but doesn’t go with every shirt type. In order to look your very best, it’s important to match it up with the right shirt. (Top tip: the spacing of your polka dots should contrast the spacing on your shirt/suit.)

The Safe Option: Solid shirts

You’ve gone through a hundred of these over the years – and for good reason: they’re versatile as hell. Just make sure that you’ve paired the colours correctly – which means no greens and purples together, unless you’re dressing up as Heath Ledger’s joker a week late – and you’re pretty much good to go.

The Riskier Option: Striped shirts

Striped shirts and polka dot ties can be a killer combo – but it’s slightly trickier to pull off. Not only do you have to make sure the colours match, but you’ve got to make sure that the stripes aren’t too far apart or too thick – both will clash with your polka dots and make you look you’ve stumbled through a dressing up box. Not a good look. But if you get a thin striped shirt – one where the stripes are narrow and close together – and pair it with a polka dot tie? Baller move. It looks slick, smart and suave.

The Ultimate Option: Checked shirt

A man who deliberately chooses would-be clashes and makes them work is a man we respect – and matching checks with dots is a pretty sure-fire way to earn that respect. Get it wrong and it’s going to look awful. Really, really awful. But nail it? Game changer. Just make sure that you wear a wide-spaced polka dot and a narrower-spaced check, and you’ll be in the clear. (Oh, and make sure that colours don’t clash of course.)