What to wear to a Christmas party

It usually starts straight from the desk, so begin with what you wore to work and add one thing. Swap the everyday tie for something with more colour — a wine paisley, a deep green stripe, a gold herringbone — and put a pocket square in the jacket.

If the office has gone tieless, the party is a good night to bring the tie back; nobody minds a man who has made an effort. But it is still work. Your manager will be there, and so will the photographs.

An evening party at a hotel or restaurant is the same idea, one notch up: a dark suit, a white or pale blue shirt and a silk tie in a Christmas colour. Anything that lights up or plays a tune can stay at home.

The season has its own palette, and it happens to suit navy and grey suits: wine, a deep green, and gold. They say Christmas without looking like fancy dress. Red is the obvious choice and the hardest to wear well; wine, its darker cousin, is kinder to most faces.

• Wine — the easiest of the three. It suits navy, grey and charcoal, and almost every complexion.
• Green — bottle or racing green. Best with navy, brown and tweed, and sharp against a white shirt.
• Gold — on a navy or charcoal suit. A herringbone weave keeps it from shouting.

Use one festive colour at a time, or two at most. A wine tie with a green pocket square is plenty; add a gold tie bar and you are the tree.

The company dinner, the charity ball, the club’s Christmas dinner. If the card says black tie, wear a dinner suit, a white dress shirt and a black bow tie; the details are in black tie explained.

Christmas is the one time of year a host may relax the code. If the invitation says festive or creative black tie, the dinner suit stays and the bow tie can change: a wine satin silk bow tie is as festive as black tie needs to be.

If you own a dinner suit, December is when it earns its keep. A pre-tied bow is easier after a long day; a self-tie bow, worn undone at the end of the night, is better.

On a cold night, a white or black silk evening scarf goes under the overcoat and stays on for the walk home.

Family, a long lunch, an armchair afterwards. Dress for comfort, but dress: a shirt with a collar, a jacket or a good jumper, smart trousers. If you are the host, dress a notch above your guests.

A knitted tie or a wool-rich tie suits the day — soft, warm-looking and easy to loosen after the pudding. A silk cravat in an open collar is the country alternative.

If Christmas means the country — a walk on Boxing Day, drinks at the pub — a tweed jacket with a wool tie, and braces under a jumper, is exactly right.

The pocket square is where a man can be festive without saying so. At work, choose one a shade brighter than usual and fold it flat; in the evening, let it puff. It needn’t match the tie — let it share one colour with it, as matching a pocket square to a tie explains.

Silk catches the light in the evening; cotton is quieter for the office and Christmas Day. A box of five polka-dot cotton pocket squares gives you a different colour for every party of the season.

A festive tie is a matter of taste — yours. If you like them, wear one with conviction, a plain shirt and a plain pocket square, and keep it for the office party and Christmas Day rather than the client dinner.

If you don’t, a wine or green silk tie says Christmas well enough. For something lighter-hearted that will see you past January, look through our novelty ties.