September 29, 2021
Autumn’s arrival is still sort of iffy, here in Chicago, but I am seeing more women wearing lovely fall clothes on the cooler days! What a nice break…
One thing that really jumped out at me a few days ago was seeing lots of women wearing a column of black – often a black dress – with something over it that was ivory, beige or camel.
I think a lot of us who live in black (or navy, or grey) tend to think that we can only wear cool hues with our neutral. But that’s not at ALL true – what about a woman with dark brown hair with no hint of red or warmth, but clear amber eyes. (I’m looking in the mirror for this…)
And what’s a woman to do when you’re thrifting and you see a gorgeous camel blazer or sweater, but you’ve always been told that you “couldn’t” wear it?
Or camel and black spectator flats or pumps? Dare you turn your back on them, if you find them in your size, at a steal of a price?
Let’s consider…
Black rib-knit dress – H&M; earrings – SIIZU; wool shirt jacket – Banana Republic; scarf – Sevda London; crossbody bag – Longchamp; boots – Trotters
A shirt jacket isn’t right next to your skin, and depending on how you tie your scarf, it won’t be either!
Cashmere beret – Portolano; cashmere cardigan – Lands’ End; cotton turtleneck – L.L.Bean; scarf – Echo; corduroy pants – L.L.Bean; boots – Teva
You may already have a scarf that includes some warm shades – a classic cardigan that goes with your scarf might give you some new options for cool weather.
Tank top – Lands’ End; necklace set – Madewell; skirt – Loveappella; cotton cardigan – L.L.Bean; bag – Gianni Chiarini; sandals – Kenneth Cole Reaction
Just to remember – this would work well in warmer weather too! Some fabrics just aren’t available in pure, snowy white…
Bone fleece-lined vest – L.L.Bean; baroque pearl earrings – Smilla Brav; tee shirt – L.L.Bean; Japanese butterfly scarf – The Met Store; pearl studded boots – Karl Lagerfeld Paris; jeans – H&M
I really like the way this vest brightens up the entire outfit. And if you’re going to wear pearl-trimmed boots, why NOT wear a pearl-colored vest?
Earrings – Kendra Scott; teddy sweatshirt dress – COS; ivory cloud ruana – Nordstrom; opaque tights – LOFT; ballet flats – SAS
Even the coziest black dress can be a LOT of black when worn with black tights and shoes. You could – literally – wear any color ruana or scarf with this dress…
Cardigan – Lauren Ralph Lauren; earrings – Kendra Scott; scarf – PJ Studio Accessories; no-iron broadcloth shirt – Lands’ End; wool skirt – J.Crew; flats – Kate Spade
Imagine wearing this last outfit to an office; sit behind your desk nice and quiet until you walk out to a meeting and flash your jazzy flat shoes….
I’m looking more and more at color combinations that we were always told NOT to wear… I think we have more options than we were ever lead to believe!
love,
Janice
p.s. Four years ago, Pantone gave us a dozen “new” colors for spring. They’re still good for inspiring a fresh accent in your wardrobe!
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Can’t believe I get to comment first! Absolutely lovely and inspiring!
Black is too stark for me up top but I would wear both trouser options, just with a very dark grey instead.
I think my colouring falls into the one Janice was referring to – mouse brown hair (quite cool in tone) but warmer nut brown shades for my eyes. Can’t do proper yellows or oranges and orange-shade reds and browns but can do olive green/khaki browns and the wine-spectrum reds and purples.
My neutrals have settled into being mixed temperatures and shades of browns and greys and the mix-and-match posts like this one let me know that there’s nothing weird about it!
No there is nothing weird about it! I too have cool skin, warm eyes, warm hair and my neutrals are brown, grey and denim. I find that I have to mix warms and cools in my outfit to feel right. All cool is to cold, all warm is to hot. I think it adds so much interest to an outfit to mix warm and cool colors. I’m a quilter and quilters mix warm, cool, shades, tones, lights, darks, prints, solids and texture to create interest and contrast. So should the same be for our outfits. I have been going back through Janice’s common wardrobes to see the beauty of mixing colors, textures and accessories with a base of neutrals and it fits today’s post perfectly.
How interesting about the quilting. I’m currently wearing ocean blue trousers, a warm pink cable jumper over a cream floral blouse in those colours.
Oh! So you must be this heroine:
https://www.theviviennefiles.com/2019/01/winter-travel-rhythmisches-by-paul-klee.html/
LOVE!!! I don’t wear black much any more but I love the combos! I also used your link to order the Gold Thong Flip Flops…After all…I live in South Florida!
Thanks!
I really like the color combinations. Beautiful scarves.
Beautiful and elegant! Reminds me of a sweater dress I wore in my 20s—-everywhere! Black dress- with sling back pumps and dressier jewelry for dinners, banquets etc. I’d belt it with red sometimes, or put with tights, boots, scarf for more casual. I had a marvelous raw silk blazer in off-white (which I still own!!!) that I wore with it. Black is a bit harsh for me now, but I strongly encourage grabbing a black sweater dress if it flatters your coloring. They’re available everywhere and the versatility is unlimited.
(My search is on for one in navy or grey—same great range of outfit possibilities. Part of the challenge is finding one that doesn’t risk showing my aging fanny.)
Love all the combos! I have packed my black wardrobe away in favor of navy, but I may just open those bins. Black and cognac has always been my favorite combination. Thanks for all your hard work for us. I look forward to your post every day!
This is exactly what I am wearing today! I am a winter in coloring and all of my basics are black but I fell in love with the butterscotch cardigan from JJill so I am wearing it over a black tee, black pants, and black shoes. A nice touch of fall.
That butterscotch sweater is lovely but I just couldn’t get past the tone for me. Grey/white hair!! Lovely post as always Janice.
I have become very happy wearing a column of color thanks to you, Janice. Love these combos! Fighting the lure of those boots with the pearls since I am moving away from black… but you make them look so very wearable!!
I love this post! I’m a winter who had dark brown hair with caramel highlights, curtesy of my hairdresser and dark brown eyes. I have a camel cardigan and plaid scarf and an ivory vest. They weren’t really my colors but they looked great with black and my hair. Now I have silver hair and I’m wondering how these colors will look with my hair. The scarf has some gray along with the camel and black so it may work. It’s the solid camel cardigan I worry about. I guess I’ll just have to play with the combinations. I’d like to hear from any readers experiencing the same dilemma.
Un post très intéressant (comme toujours ;) !).
Marron, noir, ivoire : les couleurs de Balenciaga…
Il disait que ces couleurs étaient suffisantes pour être chic.
Janice, I have alays loved the combo of inter hite and camel ith black. I’m trying to not ear black near my face anymore as I’m a True Spring. I’ve knon this since I as a teen but I could get aay ith it then. I on a black leather jacket but ear my colors under it as a blouse or hen cold also a scarf!! I do keep my black skirts!! I try very hard to buy only navy no because it definitely looks better on me!! I’m in my mid-fifties!! P.S. I bought myself a navy leather jacket end of the year last year. I’m looking forard to earing it this year!!
You are unique. There is no double of you.
Two years ago, I yearned for the soft suede biker jackets of my youth. I bought two – one light grey and the other burgundy. Pity the pandemic came along as I didn’t get the opportunities to wear them! Btw I’m 58! So you are not alone, Natalie ?
I have always loved the black column with “beige” especially for travel. However I still tend to substitute taupe, oatmeal, stone, walnut or pepper for the traditional beige and camel shades. Those colors seem to be on the cool side which still works best for me.
I LOVE the black. That’s my color… and it looks great on me with camel or rust for the fall. I also add jewel colors – cobalt blue, green, and Red for winter. I don’t know what seasonal color I relate to, but Black with warm and jewel colors work for me. I have too many black dresses and sweaters for all seasons of the year, but they just work for me.
I love all my black despite the fact I am probably a summer rather than a winter. Love it with all shades of white and all shades of blue short of navy. But the blues all have to be clear blues not greyed blues with the exception of jeans. I don’t like any shade of grey on me very much and much prefer beige and blue reds. I think it’s fine to wear what you love rather than following a formula as we are all different and personalities come into it also.
Black looks great with any shade of ivory/oatmeal/beige/tan/camel/cognac, just select your companion piece in the version that suits you best (or has whappage…or that the thrift gods have put in your path…hence my camel-gold silk pencil skirt for <$6 that I love with black). My favorite is the last outfit because (1) leopard loafers and (2) the scarf has some color in it. (An all neutral outfit looks very chic but it tends to wash me out.) But the oatmeal-taupe color in the first outfit would be my choice of "beige" topper because it seems a nice not-too-warm/not-too-cool version.
I think it must be the case that there is a strong generational component in being taught that certain color combinations shouldn't be worn. For example, I had never heard of "blue and green should never be seen" until hearing about it from women older than me. And I think of black with some kind of camel/beige as a classic combination. Of course, I missed the memo about not mixing cool and warm colors! (Today I posted about wearing rust with navy and rust with grey, haha.) But there are probably lots of rules of thumb around combining colors that aren't strictly true but have had heuristic value because getting the right version of color X and the right version of color Y to wear together is challenging and hence it's easiest/safest to just not wear them together.
I would love to see a further exploration of less-obvious color combinations.
I have pure white hair, light gray eyes and light beige skin so I don’t wear black. The ivory is a color I could wear, but the contrast with black would be overpowering on me. I love the second outfit, it is definitely my style, I just need to come up with a different color combination. I also love the idea of spectator pumps!
The amazing butterfly scarf seems to take its inspiration from the amazing Robin Moth which has a six inch wing span. Beautiful creatures to inspire a Starting with Nature Post, perhaps?
I love this post, and just ordered a couple of the items you’ve provided, such as the ivory vest. Always steered away from ivory and other warm colors, but now that my hair is salt and pepper those colors are more forgiving. The black base with warm accents are just lovely. Thank you, Janice!