Sir, I'm afraid my answer will be rather short. I find a white shirt is truly the best companion to trews. Should one wish to introduce a point of difference, may I recommend a solid-coloured blazer in a tone found within the trouser pattern, possibly in velvet? Should one wish to be more daring, a paisley or polka-dot pocket square, again, only in co-ordinated colours, would do very nicely indeed.

Yeah, leave the pattern mixing to the runways, dude. That's fashion at the PhD level and you sound like you've just started the 101 course. That doesn't mean you're stuck with white shirts though. You know all those plain blue shirts you have, along with every other guy in the world? Pull them out. Find one that looks good with whatever check you're sporting. More of a slick, black shirt kind of guy? That could work with something like a Black Watch or Wallace tartan (think 3M Scotch Tape packaging). To match the colours, take your trousers to any of the usual suspects, such as Thomas Pink (HK$1,530; Pacific Place, Admiralty, tel: 2155 9021); Ted Baker (HK$1,300 and up; Pacific Place, tel: 2918 9609); Paul Smith (about HK$1,800; Harvey Nichols, Pacific Place, tel: 3968 2668); or your tailor, obviously.