Peacock Wear for Men

The Show: “thirtysomething,” ABC, Tuesdays at 10 p.m.

The look: As hip as they are, pity the women characters. They’re completely overshadowed, sartorially speaking, by the men with whom they share screen time. All the women seem to own are T-shirts and tank tops. Tank tops and T-shirts. So here we applaud the triumvirate of Elliot-Michael-Gary. But especially Elliot, pictured above. (You know, the bearded fellow with marital problems, played by Timothy Busfield.) He may wear the ugliest ties on television, but he’s all peacock.

Details that count: Let us call it Elliotware. Elliot has a weakness for neckties bearing hand-painted palm trees and other bizarre, grotesque configurations. His sport shirts are even worse. Typically busier than a TV test pattern, the one imprinted with pink roses over brown checks should be preserved in the Smithsonian. His sport jackets are flecked. The sum total could give you a headache.

The costumer: Patrick Norris, who won an Emmy award for his work on the series last year.

The program: Michael’s the straight arrow, the suit, as they say. This season, he seems snappier, more upscale. So what if he wears Armani suits and looks more like an executive at ABC than the Philadelphia advertising executive he plays on the show? Gary meanwhile, remains the quintessential preppy slob, partial to khakis, olive drabs, letterman jackets and bicycle riding caps. But Elliot is the coolest. As Norris puts it, Elliot “is my peacock.” Busfield and Norris have an agreement. “I won’t teach him how to act and he won’t teach me how to costume.” Of the ignominious rose-check shirt, Norris feigns no regret. “It had to be one of the riskiest things I’ve done on him. Pretty insane.”

The payoff: Oh yes, there definitely is one. Norris and partner Charles Winston hope to manufacture a line of menswear under the label Charlespatrick based on what they currently design for Elliot. (The other characters wear off-the-rack clothes from a variety of Los Angeles shops, including American Rag, Ice and Fred Segal.) As we said before, just call it Elliotware.