When it comes to grey shirts, you’ve got plenty of tie colors to choose from. However, the choice can sometimes be overwhelming.
Here are some great tie colors you can choose from when wearing a grey shirt:
- Black
- Grey
- Pink
- Red
- Blue
- Olive Green
- Purple
First, we’ll go through some essential tips for choosing the right tie color to go with your grey shirt. Then, we’ll look at some pictures of combinations you can try out for yourself.
Let’s get to it.
How To Match Ties With Grey Shirts – Essential Tips
These tips will help you select the tie color that’ll work best with your grey shirt, taking the setting you’re dressing for into account as well.
1. The Dress Code Should Be Considered
When wearing a grey shirt in dressier, more formal, or more professional settings, stick to neutral ties whenever possible. Black, navy blue, and charcoal grey ties work best here.
Alternatively, if you’re wearing a grey shirt and dressing down, consider a more vibrant colored tie color instead. These colors are better for business-casual and smart-casual settings.
You could consider a red, pink blue, olive green, or purple tie.
Sure, there are plenty of other options, but these ones are hard to go wrong with.
If you did want to choose a vibrant tie color while keeping things relatively subtle at the same time, consider a dark and muted shade of one of these colors.
For example, instead of a bright scarlet red tie, go for a burgundy or maroon tie instead.
2. The Tie Should (Usually) Be Darker Than The Shirt
Try to make sure that the tie color you choose is darker than that of the grey shirt.
This principle isn’t exactly a hard-and-fast rule, but will always serve you well.
So, if you’re wearing a light grey shirt – you’ve got plenty of options. There are so many shades of colors you could choose.
But if you’re wearing a charcoal grey shirt, for example, your options are a little more limited.
Black would obviously work, as would navy blue. You could go for ties in very dark shades of red (eg. maroon) and probably get away with it too.
But in general, your options are more limited than they would be if you were to wear a shirt in a lighter shade of grey.
3. Know The Color Wheel
The color wheel isn’t used as often as it should be. When it comes to color coordinating clothes, it can be more helpful than you might think at first.
Ultimately, it’s more useful when you’re combining two non-neutral colors.
When wearing a grey shirt you don’t need to worry about whether a tie color will coordinate.
You know it always will no matter what.
But what the color wheel can do is give you a sense of what sort of vibe you’ll achieve with different tie colors.
As you can see, the wheel can be split into “warm” colors and “cool” colors.
Warm colors include reds, oranges, and yellows.
Cool colors include blues, greens, and purples.
Wearing a grey shirt with a “warm” colored tie will often produce a more vibrant, bold, and in-your-face aesthetic.
A “cool” colored tie, on the other hand, will usually produce a more laid-back and relaxed aesthetic.
Grey Shirt And Tie Combinations
Now that you’ve learned the basic principles to see you through, here are some examples of grey shirt and tie combinations you can check out for yourself.
Grey Shirt With A Black Or Grey Tie
A grey shirt can easily be worn with a black or grey tie in formal, business-professional, or business-casual settings. The monochromatic combination is neutral enough to easily dress up or dress down depending on the event.
It’s so hard to go wrong with a similar grey shirt + black/grey tie combo.
Color coordinating is effortless – it’ll always work.
You can wear a black tie with both light grey and dark grey shirts.
When you’re wearing a dark grey shirt and you want to wear a grey tie, however, make sure that the shade of the grey tie is darker than that of the shirt.
What about the other items you could wear with it?
Well, a grey shirt worn with a black or grey tie would work well with a black or charcoal grey suit. Alternatively, you could even go for a navy blue blazer and chinos combination.
When your shirt and tie are this neutral, you can afford to experiment with your blazer and pants combination if you wanted to.
However, if you were looking to dress up, consider keeping this traditional and conservative by going for black, grey, and dark blue no matter what.
Grey Shirt With A Blue Tie
A grey shirt can be worn with a blue tie quite easily. Ties in lighter shades of blue such as cobalt or admiral blue work well with light grey shirts. Ties in darker shades of blue such as midnight blue or navy blue would work well with both light and dark grey shirts.
It won’t look quite as “professional” as wearing a grey shirt with a black or grey tie would, but it still looks dressy enough to wear in formal and business-professional settings.
The shade of the blue tie you choose is crucially important, however.
Whenever you can, try to make sure the tie is darker than the shirt.
Grey Shirt With A Pink Tie
A grey shirt can be worn with a pink tie in smart-casual settings. It may also be appropriate for the more “casual” of business-casual settings.
It’s one of the most casual options on this list. A pink tie will pop out against the backdrop of a grey shirt.
It’ll most likely become the centerpiece of your outfit and that’s OK, as long as the setting is casual enough to allow for such a bold piece.
If you did want to keep things relatively subtle, consider a dark and muted shade of pink.
The less bright, bold, and fluorescent the pink tie you choose, the better.
Overall, it’s best to reserve this combination where there isn’t a real risk of underdressing – smart-casual events are ideal.
If you want a more professional or formal aesthetic, go for a black, grey, or navy blue tie instead.
Grey Shirt With A Red Tie
Grey shirts can be worn with red ties in smart-casual settings. The combination works especially well for dressy evening social events.
The red tie is a bold and vibrant item that will stand out against a grey shirt, similar to how a pink tie would.
If the shade of your red tie is on the lighter end of the spectrum (eg. scarlet), consider going for a light grey shirt.
If you’ve got a dark red tie (eg. crimson, burgundy, or maroon), strongly consider going for a dark grey shirt (eg. charcoal).
The dark shirt and tie combination works especially well for those nighttime social events where a shirt and tie wouldn’t be considered underdressing.
Grey Shirt With An Olive Green Tie
A light grey shirt would work well with an olive green tie in smart-casual or even business-casual settings.
However, a dark grey shirt would look awkward paired with a light green tie such as this.
The trick is to wear a shirt that’s in a shade of grey that’s lighter than that of the olive green.
As a color, olive green is so muted that it’s often considered a neutral in men’s style. Owning an olive green tie is definitely recommended given how versatile it can be.
The “cool” color of green often looks great during the winter and fall months, although in practice you could easily wear it year-round.
Grey Shirt With A Purple Tie
Grey shirts can be worn with purple ties in smart-casual settings. Given how bold purple ties come across, the combination is a good option when you’re looking to stand out a little.
To keep things subtle, consider a muted shade of purple. In addition, try to make sure the shade of purple is darker than the grey shirt.
It’s generally easy to pull this off when you’ve gone for a light grey shirt as opposed to a dark one.
Overall, it’s a combination that’s best suited to smart-casual events, although you’d probably get away with it in business-casual settings too.
Conclusion
While grey shirts can seemingly combine with practically anything you can think of, there’s a good chance that a specific tie color (or two) would work best for the event you’re dressing for.
Take the dress code, as well as the shade of the grey shirt into account when you’re making your decision.
Enjoy.
Ready Sleek founder. Obsessed with casual style and the minimalist approach to building a highly functional wardrobe. Also a fan of classic, vintage hairstyles.
