Black, white, gray, khaki, denim. Oh, how we rely on these colors to anchor our outfits! They are the neutrals we all fall back upon when we grab a wildly-printed floral blouse or heavily-embellished skirt ... then draw a blank upon trying to complete the ensemble. I mean, white goes with everything, right? Black will work with any color, won't it? Just throw on a pair of jeans, it'll be fine.
Yeah. Sure. I guess. But as challenging and overwhelming as color experimentation can seem, opting for alternate neutrals livens up your look instantly.
Now, I love me some black. And I'm rather fond of white, gray, khaki, and denim as well. In fact, I wanted to illustrate this post with some past outfit photos, and the two above were the only ones I could find that didn't feature black, white, khaki, or denim ... and the one on the left even includes my gray boots! But I have been pushing myself to rely less and less on the expected-neutrals and find my colorful experiments to far more inspiring and aesthetically compelling.
Here are some of my favorite alternate neutrals, and the colors I've tried in combination with them:
NAVY is by far my favorite alt-neutral. Two years ago, I was convinced that navy could ONLY be worn with white and red, creating nautical looks that were decidedly anti-Sal. But I've since found it to be the perfect mate for an array of pinks, olive and sage greens, florescents, and rich purples.
RED runs a close second to navy. Now, I realize that many complexions can't take a lot of red, but nearly anyone can pull of a red skirt, pant, or pair of shoes. Red is a loud, active color and brings its loud activity to any outfit, punching it up and making it instantly livelier. Try red with its close relatives orange and fuschia, and more distant cousins purple and blue-green ... and play around with tonal reds. Bricks and maroons, washed reds and burgundies can work with subtler colors than the bright pinks and purples shown here.
OLIVE GREEN is a staple for some, but overlooked by many. This color is so versatile, I am yet to find any shade that truly clashes. It also looks striking when paired with both black and white.If you're a rules person, take a peek at the Academichic's in-depth exploration of color theory and figure out why certain combinations work so well. If you want the Cliff Notes, see what Trinny and Susannah have to say about color pairings. But also engage in some outright color play, when you have the time. I've been challenging myself to create outfits that are completely free of standard neutrals, and I do so through sheer experimentation. Very, VERY seldom do I hit upon a pairing that makes me sqwunch up my face in distaste. And the more I explore pairing color with color, the more I want to keep up the grand experiment.
Could you go a week without wearing black? White? Gray? Would you want to? Got any colors that you consider alternate neutrals that the rest of the world sees as non-neutrals? How do you feel about pairing color with color?
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38 comments:
Chocolate brown! I love brown as a neutral. It plays well with brights and pastels and flatters my complexion more than black or navy.
--Bobbini
great- love it. I fall in a rut too much and fall back on the whites, blacks and definitely greys-this was a refreshing reminder!
I think other people would consider this a neutral too, but I like chocolate brown. I think it works with so many things! I'm not afraid of color on color though, but can't say I experiment too much with it since I tend to not buy those pieces. I tend to stick with the "neutral" bottoms and bring more pattern/color in with the types.
Now that I have found the joys of navy and am starting to discover gray as a neutral I think I could manage a week without black. I never thought I could manage it. This is BIG for me.
Great post! I love olive green and and navy as neutrals--Im going to have to give red a try. I'll use red as a neutral in my handbag--but Im going to have to give it a try in attire!
While chocolate brown and dove grey are my favorite "real neutrals," lately coral pink has been serving that place as well! It works with just about everything, in small doses.
eeee!!!!!!! i love color theory! i compulsively collect paint samples for trying out varying combinations. these are great ideas. the only staple in my wardrobe are my levi's. i do love gray, and bobbini's suggestion of chocolate brown! navy just reminds me of high school uniforms--haven't been able to stomach it for ten years, sad!
hihi, I often go for a week without black, although i am wearing it today! I tend to just mix all colours, all the time, but I guess electric blue, grass green and purple often feature as base colours.
Thanks for reminding us that there are other neutrals out there! Back in the winter, I started to fall into a rut of wearing something black everyday. I've been working on avoiding this in the summer, mainly limiting black to accessories (with the exceptions of my favorite LBD, some black capris and the occasional black cardi).
I could easily go a week without wearing black—as long as I don't go to the gym. Most workout wear is black. BORing!
As for being a regular person in the street, I avoid black like the plague in summer. I have a lot of color, and Navy is my favorite neutral. There are few colors that don't work with it.
What a great post, Sal!
Dark purple is definitely my staple colour ... a fairly deep dark pure purple can go warm with orange / brown / etc, or cold with blue / black etc. My wardrobe tends to revolve around purple and teal.
these color block options are super helpful! i typically don't experiment much with multiple colors, but now i'm curious!
Jingle Bella: WOW, lady! An entire wardrobe that revolves around purple and teal? I love it! Have you photos? Couldn't find any on either blog ...
Hi there-I like to pair different colours in a print, as opposed to block colours. Its amazing how many colours do actually go together too- I like a clash effect, especially fuschia pink and orange.
I'm definitely a purple girly :)
This post reminds me of when I laughed at my Mum for suggesting blue trousers when we were out shopping a few years ago. I thought it'd be a nightmare to find tops that would go. Then I realised that jeans are blue and many of us wear jeans several times a week. That realisation broadened my horizons - colour doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, stepping away from staples like jeans & black trousers is sometimes all you need to take your wardrobe to the next level.
Love love love this post, Sal! And I love how you paired the fuschia with red in the second pic. I just bought a Banana Rep fuschia silk dress and your post is perfect timing!
I've abandoned black as a foundation neutral two years ago and have switched to greys (usually with winter wardrobe pieces, though a silvery grey looks fab in the summer) & olive green (mostly with summer pieces) and am newly rediscovering the versatility of navy without the nautical vibe, so we're on the same wavelength!
Love how you paired brights with brights instead of another neutral, though. Such a fresh approach and though not everyone can do it, those who can mix colors boldly deliver a knockout punch! You go girl!
Oh, and keep posting about color combinations. It's a subject I've always been intrigued with (esp with interior decorating) and am recently just beginning to understand, instead of intuiting.
Courtney, I love that you mention coral pink -- I just bought a coral-red skirt (love the color!) and am interested in how you're combining colors with it. I like it with grey and navy (separately, of course!) but turquoise really gives it some summer "pop"!
Oooh I am such a victim of my tendency to wear EVERYTHING with black. I don't know if I could go a week without it? Maybe I could try during my upcoming beach vacay? If I don't count bathing suits maybe? I get nervous just thinking about it! I do love navy, but I def do the nautical thing with it more often than not. I'll consider this challenge!
Navy is 100% a neutral. The best neutral. Of course, I am in agreement with La Belette Rouge, grey is a fabulous neutral which I rely on in the winter a lot.
Currently, in this heat, I am finding that golds/bronzes/metallics are also great base colours. I know that sounds weird and I certainly wouldn't go out in gold trousers but they are sooo useful as bags, shoes, accessories, makeup, jewellery...
I used to have a huge amount of black in my wardrobe, springing from the misguided idea that it was the only neutral I could wear. Although there is some truth in that (navy, khaki and olive green make me look dead!), I have recently started to acquire more grey pieces to use as a neutral, and swap the black out in favor of the lighter tint.
Oddly enough, I have spent many years being afraid of color, despite having taken a number of fine arts classes that revolved around the ideas of color theory! You'd think I would be a whiz at mixing colors in my own wardrobe. hehe! I'm still learning though, and recently have started to view my wardrobe with a critical eye for neutrals (besides the usual--and somewhat boring--black and white) that will work with a variety of my wardrobe. A good, midtone blue works wonders for me, coral pink, and as does deep purple. I really love royal purple, and am starting to scheme how I can use that as a neutral, rather than black. Especially since it looks awesome with my light-colored pieces; not so harsh as black!
Anyway, I agree with Francesca--keep posting the color combos!
I love turquoise and bright green. I wear those colors everyday somehow somewhere... black, on the other hand, is totally not my thing. I wear it very rarely. It just feels kind of dead to me.
Lately I've been thinking of burgundy as a sort of neutral, and finding that it looks great with all sorts of other shades -- I think pink and green are my favorites to pair it with. For me, black and white tend to show up mainly as accents.
I'm with Audi - burgundy (red wine colour) is a fave neutral. As is silver. Navy is probably my most frequented alt. I have NUMEROUS pieces in navy. It's so flattering on pale skin.
I don't know if I could abstain from neutrals for a week or even a day! I love olive green though. I have a couple of light summer jackets in olive green and my summer Coach tote is brown and green. You're right; it's surprising how many things olive green can go with.
I almost never wear 'classic' neutrals - I own almost no black or white, no grey or navy, and a moderate amount of chocolate brown (winter) and cream/beige (summer). The real neutral in my wardrobe is purple, though; it goes with pink, teal, burgundy, brown, cream, red, green, orange - or sometimes I'll just wear nothing but different shades of purple and lilac!
love me some black and white! but blues are so a good color for me! not too good with the brights!
I love this, Sal! The graphic designer in me is jumping for joy (now if those swatches were pantone colors, well..). I love the way you incorporate bright pink. I'm actually wearing a neon pink tank with ... black today. Not nearly has courageous ;)
ps- sorry to creep you out with the Olsen twin drawing- hehe.
Hmmm. I wear black only on my bottom half and almost never wear white (contrary to popular belief, the white t-shirt and white shirt do not work for every woman!). But I love navy and gray as neutrals and adore pink/red and red/purple combos!
Living in the south, I've gone without black since spring and pretty much limit use of black until winter; the color seems too "heavy" in the heat. I still rely on stone/taupe & all shades of grey (silver, grey, slate) for my neutrals (usually on the bottom), and add color combinations on top. I agree w/many posters that purple is a great neutral. My fave combos:
turquoise w/coral, lime green, citron, yellow
purple w/silver, all shades of blue, teal, greens, yellow
reddish-coral w/navy, sky blue, blush pink, orange
Mostly now, when I wear neutrals, it's tone on tone shades of neutrals using texture to add interest. I get lots of color-combining ideas from the JCrew catalog & website. They can sometimes be really crazy, but they spark the inspiration I need to experiment with my wardrobe. Your combos are also inspiring, Sal!
I love that olive green and purple. Purple would be the anchor color. One still needs an anchor color or they look like candy ;D
Good call on the navy and olive as neutrals... I've been making an effort to buy more reds (and pinks), my closets are seriously lacking in those colors and I'm not sure why! I'm a fan of colors, loud colors for sure! I blame it on "purple grandma", my mom's mom ONLY wears purple, teal, and gold. Seriously, for like 30 years now. It's insanity!
I prefer my dark brown than black...
also dark charcoal or navy are much better than jet black for me!
~XO*
Sal: No, I don't have any photos at the moment ... although maybe I'll start taking some!
This wonderful hairpiece: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2493/3683846711_cc0db12d20.jpg?v=0 is basically my wardrobe in a nutshell (which is why I bought it - I didn't have anything to wear it to but thought "This is me in feathered form!") - I have lots of purple, and a moderate amount of teal and strong pink (and then bits of grey/white/black/denim/chocolate brown/orange).
For everything I buy now the first question I ask myself is "Will it go with the colours in that hairpiece?" and if it doesn't go with at least 2 of them then I almost always leave it be. That leaves me quite a lot of flexibility but means that everything goes with almost everything else.
Oooh, that shoulds like a good challenge topic.
I like navy and grey and chestnut brown a lot. I probably wear black and white (and denim) the most because they are easiest to find and to match - the disadvantage with navy and brown is that it's hard to have more than one of the same color in the same outfit because it needs to either be a really close color match or else look different enough to be intentional.
I totally want to see Jingle Bella's wardrobe - I'm really curious!
Navy is always classed a neutral - even though technically it's not. Maybe because it hasn't been in fashion for a few years?
Other common neutrals include everything from all shades of brown, tan and olive through to camels, taupes and greys as well as whites.
A neutral is actually a 'non colour' - so not something that appears on the colour wheel (think the rainbow) - red is not a neutral as it's in the spectrum. Neutrals are made up of mixes of colours rather than primary, secondary or tertiary colours, tints, tones and shades.
great post!
I love to mix it up and do not shy away from bright colors...those colors are so flattering on you!
Love this post!
I stayed away from navy for a long time because I associated it with my mom's unfortunate 90's sailor dresses.
Then about two years ago my ultra-preppy husband talked me into a navy pencil skirt and now I wear it more than any other piece in my closet. And since then I buy pretty much everything in navy that I can find.
I prefer hot pink to red but I think I'm going to have to find something in olive green now!
Unfortunately, to go an entire week without wearing black or grey (or brown for that matter) would require that I buy a whole new wardrobe, unless I'm pairing one of my very few bright t-shirts with a pair of jeans, and then you've got denim in the mix!
I do have some fun things I do with color, though. Red is one of my favorites, because it brings out all the right colors in me. Navy I don't do often, but I do have a navy v-neck that I often use to ground this skirt I have that can only be described as alien-green in color.
Brown is my favorite neutral, and I wear it perhaps way too often. Like red, it tends to bring out all the right tones of my skin and hair and eyes.
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