Does gray count as a color?

Q. What does gray count as in terms of a color? I was wearing a shirt with thin gray stripes on white with khaki pants, and I was unsure which ties really worked with it.

A. That is a very good question. It shows you are aware of some of the important color subtleties connected with being well dressed. Some shirt and tie pairings look terrible. Others bring compliments. And since gray is one of the two most common colors in men's wardrobes, knowing how to work with it is important.

My first answer would be that gray, being in between white and black (or a mix thereof), does not necessarily need to be treated as a color, because neither black nor white is actually a color. But many grays include a hint and tint (see more below) of another color, and that can make a tremendous difference.

For instance, a shirt with gray and white stripes is perfect for all your gray suits. It works well with gray tweed jackets and charcoal gray dress pants. Because it contrasts nicely with most colors, it is the perfect foil for a necktie in any shade of red, from pink to bright red or burgundy, and also works with ties in light-to-medium shades of blue, green or purple. Your preferences in color can dictate your choices, as you have very few restrictions.

The easiest and safest tie with a striped shirt is a solid color (with no pattern). It is certainly possible to mix a striped shirt with a patterned tie, but it requires paying attention not only to what colors you put together but also to the type and size of the tie's pattern. To look as if you chose the patterned tie on purpose rather than pairing it thoughtlessly, stripes need patterns that are not too large, not too busy  and not too close together.

As examples, a large all-over paisley, most checks and all plaids are hard to do well with a stripe ... and should be avoided. On the other hand, small designs on a plain background (such as club ties with those little sailboat or tennis racquet designs) work very well. So do ties with widely-spaced stripes.

I know that men often tend to think of khaki pants as so neutral that they go with everything. But your teaming of a gray-and-white shirt with khakis is not my favorite combination. The reason is, as you mentioned, gray is in the black family, and khaki is actually a color in the brown family. I am not saying that shades of brown and black can never mix well, but doing so takes a certain degree of skill and sophistication. Why look for difficulty?

To help explain what I meant about grays' often having a hint of another color in them, consider a garment in slate gray. Slate gray is a dark shade of gray with a tint of blue. It is very popular for suits and dress trousers, but it is difficult to mix and match. When you mix it with a blue shirt, it looks gray, but when you mix it with a gray shirt, it looks blue. Instead of looking like a handsome contrast, the combination looks like a near-miss mistake. Some grays have a slight cast of purple or green, and these are even more of a problem. When buying something in the gray family -- especially an expensive suit -- be careful to select a pure gray with no undertones of another color.

For that one man in 12 who is colorblind or if your ability to differentiate between shades is less acute than it might be, ask the salesman. Since so many men are colorblind it makes little sense to be embarrassed or hide the fact from the salesman. He sees people who are colorblind every day. Ask him to show you a gray item with no green or purple in it. That can be helpful even if you are not colorblind.