As we pass the half-way point in the first round of voting in the Menswear Madness bracket, the decisions don’t exactly get any easier. In this part of the first round of voting we’ll be looking at the Color-blocking & Prints quadrant. While the two ideas and themes may seem drastically different, as prints are generally going to be busy, often intricate graphic images or patterns that catch the eye, and color-blocking tends to involve solid colors in what might seem boring when compared to a print. Both, however, serve as ways to create interest and draw attention in different, but compelling ways.

Let the choosing continue!

Color-blocking & Prints

#1 Jordy Delem’s Snack Jacket vs #8 The Cable-knit Hoodie

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• Sounders FC Digital
• Sounders FC Digital

The primary argument for me between these two images is that Jordy Delem’s all-over print jacket in the first one is one of my favorite single pieces any player wore all season, while the sweatshirt he’s wearing in the other is one of my least favorites. The jacket is cool and loud and fun, and the hoodie is too big - but not in a cool, oversized way - and it looks like something that would have been at Banana Republic a decade ago. Beyond that, Nouhou and Joevin Jones’s outfits in the second picture are much stronger, more complete looks than Joevin’s snake polo and jeans in the other.

#2 The Roldans vs #7 Joevin Jones’s Canadian Tuxedo

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• Sounders FC Digital
• Sounders FC Digital

Both Alex and Cristian Roldan pretty consistently crush the pre-game style , and this is no different. The two have very different styles and approaches, but their coordinated use black and tan/camel and their matching chains makes for a really strong tandem here. The fact that they’re with their parents only makes this picture even better, hence the #2 seed. The #7 seed, with Jones, Nouhou and Delem, just isn’t as strong of a group look, and the individual looks don’t reach the same heights. Jones’s denim-on-denim has strong ‘80s vibes with the stone wash, and Nouhou is delightfully loud with the print on his shirt, but it’s also something that I might have bought for school pictures in 7th grade if it had flames on it. Delem’s look is solid, and one he clearly likes so much he’s gotten the shirt in two colors. None of it’s bad, but it’s just not that strong.

#3 The Stark Knight vs #6 Cristian Sees His Best Friend

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• Sounders FC Digital
• Sounders FC Digital

There’s just something about Raúl Ruidíaz’s style that makes incredibly skinny clothing work in a way that they don’t for other people, even other professional athletes. The skinny sleeves and jeans just make sense with how he styles everything together. The stark contrast of the black and white color-blocked shirt here suits his style, and while the whole look is black-and-white, the fact that his jeans are a worn and faded black rather than a true black makes the whole thing work at a higher level. The look from Roldan here is a good one, I dig the jacket - which seems to have become a fixture in his jacket rotation - and I always appreciate when he breaks out a print shirt like this floral number. The little peak of his watch is a nice touch, but ultimately its the cohesion of the whole look that separates these two for me.

#4 A Flex From Román vs #5 Brad Smith’s Very Good Jacket

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• Sounders FC Digital
• Sounders FC Digital

The whole first picture is just incredible, it’s like a scene from an Ocean’s movie. Torres is Brad Pitt, Lodeiro is George Clooney. The looks are all very different, but they’re each really good on their own, and Torres’s black-and-white floral look is the absolute cream of the crop. The shirt itself is great - loose, flowing, the print is a really great, large scale - but the entire look is an absolute flex. Brad Smith in the second picture is rocking a really good look, and I’m on the record as being a fan of this trucker jacket he’s got on, but it just doesn’t reach the same level as the first group.

That’s it for this quadrant, but tomorrow we’ll be looking at the looks from the Patterns & Kim Kee-hee portion of the bracket. You can see the first two posts from this series here and here.