Q. This may be a dumb question but I am wondering if there is a different kind of clothing I need to wear when presenting. I am excited that I will be a speaker at a conference and will also have follow-up round tables. I imagine that I should have shined shoes and a jacket that closes and covers the end of my tie, but are there any other concerns?

A. This is a very smart question and something that few men consider. I’m often reminded of the movie “Broadcast News” where the field reporter on his first time in a studio learns to adjust his jacket to look its best from a sitting position on camera. I will say that I would hope you’re wearing polished shoes and correct-fitting jackets in all business settings, but there are certainly differences in how to appear on stage – and more importantly differences in what an audience sees from a distance vs. what your appearance displays from a few feet away. 

Colors change depending on how far away they are viewed. That is, you can make subtle choices that will affect how others see your clothes. A perfectly beautiful overall red pattern on a blue background may be precisely the tie you want to be seen in, when you glance at it on your tie rack. But the issue is that when seen from ten feet away, or from table 4 when you are on the speaker’s platform, it becomes a nondescript purplish color.

Keep in mind that clothing patterns change in relationship to the viewer’s distance. You might build your day’s appearance on the rich, subtle complexity of a suit’s blue or gray small tick weave pattern. Because of the suit’s not-too-dressy slight pattern, you would “dress down” the items you wear with it: perhaps a point-collar white or blue shirt and a fine navy silk tie. It seems perfect when you look in the mirror. But from across the room, you look like a study in blue-gray monotony. 

The remedy for this diminishing effect lies in your choice of tie. Assuming you are speaking to an audience of more than twenty people, wear a tie that has widely spaced, bold stripes. With a blue suit, your tie might have a navy background and wide yellow diagonal stripes, or a burgundy background dominated by medium blue stripes. From a distance, such tie patterns will still be visible. 

You probably have seen someone in a store examining a necktie so closely that it was only a few inches from his or her eyes, trying to determine the exact color in the smallest part of the pattern or in one of the secondary stripes. That is not the way to decide if the colors match. Not that close examination isn’t important; it’s just that it doesn’t work. 

The way to view an item you are trying to coordinate is to hold it at arm’s length or, better yet, step back a bit. That is how others perceive it. The rule is: The overall color effect of a pattern changes as you get farther from it. 

Try this experiment for yourself. Find a “goes-with-everything” tie in your closet – perhaps one that has a small neat pattern of red on a blue background. Up close, the tie is a subtle blue and red foulard, appropriate for any business situation. From a distance of a few feet, it still looks the same. Now stand in front of a mirror and move back a bit. The pattern disappears; the tie’s color becomes purple to your eye. Step back even further, and from across the room, the tie becomes brown. 

This little exercise illustrates two principles. One, when selecting a tie in a store or at home, hold it away from you. The second is: To check the color of a tie you plan to wear for a presentation to a group, stand back as far as you can from your mirror. Wear bold colors visible from a distance.

Even when you are dressing for everyday occasions, be aware of colors that mix well and those that don’t. A yellow tie with a small red overall pattern changes to a handsome orange tie that works beautifully with a tan poplin suit or a brown tweed sport coat. But be careful when choosing a blue tie with a slight cast of green (creating aqua) or a hint of purple (creating periwinkle). If you pair either of these with even the handsomest pure blue shirt, it will look as if you made a mistake. But those same not-quite-pure-blue ties could look terrific on a fine white shirt.  

This principle is not confined to clothes. Several years ago I was at a friend’s house on a day when a new carpet was being laid in an upstairs room. It was a rich blue with a yellow tweed pattern, custom woven to the designer’s specifications. The two colors were exact matches for the colors in the room. My friend and I spent an hour talking together, then went upstairs anxious to see how terrific it all looked. I will never forget our shock at seeing that blue and yellow room with its luxurious new green carpet!  

The designer, who should have known better, was clearly responsible. The carpet had to be replaced. Had the designer remembered to stand back a few feet to check the effect of her sample, she would have avoided a fiercely expensive mistake. 

Please send your men’s dress and grooming questions to MALE CALL: Lois.Fenton@prodigy.net