Flat lay of The Contrast Code on a bone background: folded white dress shirt, folded black trousers, black leather Chelsea boots and a coiled black leather belt

The Contrast Code

99-117 lb / 29 / EU 40 / US 7
$299.00 CAD
$299.00 CAD
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Flat lay of The Contrast Code on a bone background: folded white dress shirt, folded black trousers, black leather Chelsea boots and a coiled black leather belt
  • Flat lay of The Contrast Code on a bone background: folded white dress shirt, folded black trousers, black leather Chelsea boots and a coiled black leather belt
  • The Contrast Code flat lay with hairline annotations reading MAXIMUM CONTRAST IS MAXIMUM FORMALITY and THE HARD WAIST LINE IS THE POINT
  • Macro close-up of white cotton shirt fabric meeting the grained black leather of the Chelsea boot, detail held in both extremes
  • Man in a white shirt and black trousers crossing an event hall at night under chandelier light, head turned away from camera
  • Close crop of a hand fastening the cuff button of a white shirt above black trousers and a black leather belt
  • Black leather Chelsea boots on a polished dark stone floor reflecting chandelier light, black trouser hem breaking over the boot
The Contrast Code

The Contrast Code

$299.00 CAD
$299.00 CAD
Shirt Size (by weight)
Trouser Waist
Boot Size
Not sure of your size? Open the fit guide
If it does not fit, we fix it

We send the correct size, or refund a portion so a tailor can adjust it. You keep the original piece and ship nothing back. Delivery is 10 to 20 business days, shipping included.

The most formal thing you can wear without a tie.

White shirt. Black trousers. Black leather Chelsea.

Maximum contrast, and here it is the point rather than the problem. The hard white-to-black break at your waist is exactly what the Power Code avoids, because that break reads as ceremony. It says effort. It says you understood the occasion and dressed for it instead of near it.

This is the combination that needs no explanation in any room in the world, which is precisely why it is worth owning before anything more interesting.

Wear it where there is a dress code, spoken or not. The wedding you are a guest at. The funeral. The evening that matters to someone else.

In the box

  • Long-sleeve shirt, white. Classic point collar, matching buttons, no branding.
  • Straight-leg trousers, black. Stretch weave, tapered.
  • Chelsea boot, black leather.
  • Leather belt, black.

Sizing

Each piece is chosen separately, because your shirt size and your waist are not the same conversation. Shirt sizing is by body weight. Trousers are by waist in inches. Boots are shown in EU and US.

Size & fit Three pieces, three grades — open before you choose

Three garments, sized three different ways, because your shirt size and your waist are not the same conversation. Two minutes here is the difference between a kit that fits and a kit that goes back.

Step 1

The shirt goes by your weight.

This maker cuts the shirt to body weight rather than to a chest measurement. That is unusual, and it works in your favour: you know your weight without getting up. If you sit on the line between two sizes, take the larger one. A dress shirt that pulls at the placket is the one mistake nobody forgives.

Size Weight  
M 99–117 lb 45–53 kg
L 117–128 lb 53–58 kg
XL 128–143 lb 58–65 kg
XXL 143–159 lb 65–72 kg
3XL 159–176 lb 72–80 kg
4XL 176–194 lb 80–88 kg
5XL 194–212 lb 88–96 kg
6XL 212–231 lb 96–105 kg
7XL 231–254 lb 105–115 kg
8XL 254–276 lb 115–125 kg

Step 2

The trousers go by the waist you already own.

The size number is the waist in inches. Do not measure your body — measure a garment. Take the trousers that fit you best, lay them flat, measure the waistband from edge to edge and double it. That number is your size.

Size Waist  
29 29" 74 cm
30 30" 76 cm
31 31" 79 cm
32 32" 81 cm
33 33" 84 cm
34 34" 86 cm
35 35" 89 cm
36 36" 91 cm
38 38" 97 cm
40 40" 102 cm
42 42" 107 cm

The cut is straight-leg with a slight taper and a stretch weave. It is a tailored line, not a relaxed one.

Step 3

The Chelsea boot goes by the length of your foot.

Stand with your heel against a wall, mark the floor at the tip of your longest toe, and measure from wall to mark. Use the centimetre column. The US and UK columns are the standard conversion and are there for orientation only — every maker drifts a little, and the length in centimetres is the one figure that does not.

EU US UK Foot length  
40 7 6.5 25.3 cm 10.0"
41 8 7.5 26.0 cm 10.2"
42 8.5 8 26.7 cm 10.5"
43 9.5 9 27.3 cm 10.8"
44 10 9.5 28.0 cm 11.0"
45 11 10.5 28.7 cm 11.3"
46 12 11.5 29.3 cm 11.5"

Measure late in the day, standing, wearing the socks you would wear with these. Feet spread over the course of a day and the difference is a full half size.

Between two sizes anywhere in the kit, size up. A shirt can be taken in by any tailor for the price of a coffee. A shirt that is too small cannot be let out at all.

Shipping

Shipped direct. Allow 10 to 20 days. We would rather tell you now than after you have paid.
Tres lencos de seda, tres pulseiras de couro trancado e dois cintos enfileirados

Complete the Code

See the accessories

The other Codes