Can one be too matchy matchy ?

Simply put, yes.  One can be too matchy matchy, but the secret to success is knowing the following:

1.  What matches what and;
2.  What items do I need to match.

Here's my rule of thumb for men.  And this is an always always !  Your shoes must match your belt.  Black shoes, black belt.  Brown shoes, brown belt.  And obviously (I hope this is obvious) if you're going with athletic shoes, either belt choice will more than likely work.  It is entirely possible you have a belt that's neither black nor brown (like my orange belt) and then you have base your shoe decision on the rest of the outfit. 

For women it's fairly simple as well.  Your shoes must match your purse!  Everything else will fall in place if you use that small bit of advice.  A nice touch would be a matching accessory of some kind...a watch, something for your hair or jewelry. 

In my mind there's only one place (outside your home) where these rules do not apply and that's the gym.  You're headed there to work out and sweat ... not to show everyone how you can match.  But that doesn't mean you can't look cute there :-)

Here my two cents on matching ties to shirts for the gentlemen.  Correct me if I'm wrong readers, but I'm quite sure that the same color shirt and matching tie days are long over.  I'm not even sure that was fashionable.  You match your tie to your shirt by matching the color of the shirt to the most dominant color in the tie.  Don't be afraid to match striped ties to striped shirts BUT the stripes MUST be different sizes and one of which should be diagonal.  Don't be afraid to match patterns either and remember to be bold in your tie choices!

While it is very important for women to make their handbags match, it would be ridiculous to make a man make his wallet match, however; if you do match your wallet to your outfit ... I applaud you (tho you may be TOO MATCHY MATCHY)

I personally match three items of my outfit when I go to work: my shoes, my belts and my messenger bag ... and on occasion a 4th, my watch.

I hope this short post helps.

I won't even begin to touch on the topic of colors.  Can you wear black and brown together?  Can you wear gray with khaki?  Do you wear blacks or browns with blues?  Maybe Maggie can shed some light on those :-)

Good night all.