How to Wear Formal Suspenders with Style?

Suspenders aren’t just for old men anymore. There are plenty of ways to use braces (another Word for suspenders) with style, and many people find them more comfortable than belts when it comes to keeping your pants above your knees. The trick to looking stylish in suspenders comes not from the suspenders themselves, but from the way you wear them – the duds, the accessories, and most importantly, the attitude.

How to Wear Formal Suspenders with Style

•When you’re putting together a formal look which includes suspenders, clip-ons won’t cut it. Formal suspenders are usually made of silk, and will have button holes (instead of clips) to attach to the pants.

•Formal pants made to be worn with suspenders will, obviously, have no belt loops. They’ll also have buttons inside the waistline for attaching the suspenders to the pants. If you’d like to wear suspenders with pants that aren’t made to be worn with them, buy yourself some "bachelor buttons." Bachelor buttons are simply accessories that allow you to adapt your pants to be worn with suspenders.

•A bowtie makes a great accompaniment to suspenders, and gives you a chance to add a small bit of acceptable flair to an outfit that is traditionally boring. As it goes with the suspenders, so it goes for the bowtie – unless you’re known as the office clown, get yourself a real bowtie and learn how to tie it. Perhaps others would notice a clip-on, or perhaps they wouldn’t, but it’s just not worth the risk.

•Make sure that the suspenders complement the rest of your outfit. While they shouldn’t match your tie or bowtie exactly, they should harmonize well with its color.

•Don’t adjust the suspenders so that they hold your pants up any higher than is comfortable, or than you usually wear them. The consequences of disregarding this rule are obvious.

•Finally, never wear a belt with suspenders. Ideally, the pants you wear with the suspenders won’t even have belt loops, but if they do, don’t use them. Formal occasions are no place to make edgy fashion statements.