At this recent Pitti Uomo I surprised to see so many shirts in bold solid colors. As you can see in these two examples, it can be done very well when toned down with a navy suit.
The choice of color is extremely important. Because of the shirt's boldness, if you make the wrong choice, everyone will notice. To be honest, I can't really imagine a loud purple shirt looking good on anyone.
Along those same lines, I think it would also be a mistake to try and match a boldly colored shirt with an equally bold patterned suit. We'll see how this emerging trend plays out, but let's watch this with a very cautious eye.
