Metallics for Men - YEA or NAY?

Metallics: can we go there?   

Should we go there?



I've been sitting on this swatch for a few weeks now -- it's a gun metal gray linen that has been coated with silver.  It's not always as reflective as it appears up top; a lot depends on the light.



I was thinking this would make great linen pants and coordinate well with my daisy print jacket.  But it could also be a blazer, a shirt, or -- heavens! -- an entire suit.

I like metallic fabrics, especially in a rumply natural fiber like linen, which takes away some of the slickness of shiny clothes.  I don't want to look like this:



Or this:



Or this:

 

But I do like these two looks, which would translate very easily into menswear -- I mean, they're basically menswear already:





I've decided that metallics look best in classic metal shades -- silver, gold, bronze -- rather than Hot Wheels colors -- don't you think?  Not according to Burburry Prorsum for Spring 2013.





Anyway, I picked up another suit pattern on eBay for a song yesterday, Vogue 2616, in a 32-34-36, and I'm curious to see what the 34" jacket looks like muslined up.   It's from 2001 and no more generic than any contemporary men's suit pattern.  It could be tweaked.

 

For a blazer, I could also return to this, which I used last year for my blue linen blazer:



After the Marc Jacobs taffeta ensemble, I don't think a silver linen suit would be that out there, do you?  Still, I generally think of metallic fabrics the way I think of leopard skin, reptile prints, and Paul Lynde: a little goes a long way.

What do you think, readers? 

Metallics for men -- YEA or NAY?

(And do you think they work better for women or do the same rules apply?)

Jump in!