General rule of thumb

I met up with a friend tonight for a cocktail at a bar and got dressed for a casual night out. I opted for a pair of mohair trousers with a red gingham button down and black v-neck. My friend wore a fantastic burnt orange and white prince of wales sports coat and turtle neck ala Brooks Brothers. Casual, yet still keeping it a step up above the rest of the crowd for a Wednesday night. I couldn't help but think of something I learned when I was younger, that the material of clothing depends on how close it is to your body. A general rule of thumb, if you'll pardon the expression, is to have the material get "finer" or less coarse the closer to your body. If you are going to wear that great oxford cloth shirt you love, and you want to you put something on over it, it needs to be of a heavier weave or material that that oxford. If you have a great mohair suit, you need a pure cotton or silk shirt shirt underneath. You can't have a rough textured shirt under a fine linen suit. A flannel shirt under a silk blend suit has never looked good. It's a question of  clothes fading into your skin. You want the natural progression of your outer most clothes to be seamless to your skin. Although this may seem obvious to you and me once it's been laid out in print, you'd be amazed how many people still don't realize this or abide by this. But if it wasn't for other people dressing badly, then we wouldn't look so good in comparison.