White Shirt
White is easy. It goes with any color or any pattern tie. The safest route to go when dressing in the morning is to wear a white shirt with your tie. It will match no matter what. (Although, it’s often best to avoid matching solid white tie and shirt.

Solid-Color Shirts
Looking to up the excitement level a notch? A colorful shirt can really add a depth to your wardrobe that a white shirt just can’t provide.

When matching a tie to a solid-color shirt, think contrast. If you’re wearing a pink shirt, match it with a tie that includes pink as an accent color. If you want to play it safe, the pinks of tie and shirt should match, but you can also use similar shades of the same color with great results.

Striped Shirts and Checked Shirts
Patterned shirts will obviously go well with solid ties. But if done correctly, patterned shirts can go nicely with patterned ties as well.

If a solid color tie is your accessory of choice, try matching the tie color to the color of the lines on the patterned shirt. This highlights the shirt’s pattern without being overly matching.

If you’re a bit more adventurous, try a patterned tie with a striped or checked shirt. Just be sure that the pattern on the tie is always larger than the pattern on the shirt – which should always be smaller and more subtle. If possible, choose a tie with primary and accent colors that reverse the primary and accent colors of the patterned shirt. An example of this would be a light blue shirt with small yellow strips matched with a yellow tie with blue dots.