September 15, 2021
You asked, and so I will try to help! One among us is having a serious internal conversation about this skirt – it seems to check all of the right boxes for her wardrobe, but she’s still hesitant. Are there really that many ways to wear a camel skirt?
Frankly, the answer is HECK yes…
This is the culprit:
Skirt – J.Crew
This skirt has a LOT going for it – a classic color, in a pull-on style which can be worn as dressy or as casual as you want, in silk, which can be worn every day of the year. (yes, you might want a warm slip and some heavy tights…) It’s lined, it has pockets, and IT’S MACHINE WASHABLE! What the heck else could we ask for – someone to come over and iron it for us?
Just off the top of my head I thought I would look for these colors; brown is indeed here twice… Remember, I’m in the middle of moving, so absolutely nothing in my life is organized right now!
Skirt – J.Crew
I followed a pretty simple formula for all of these outfits: sweater + skirt + scarf + earrings + some kind of shoes = outfit. In theory, if you wanted to buy this skirt just to have a touch of camel in your wardrobe, you wouldn’t have to buy ANYTHING else to wear with it, assuming that you own a scarf that goes with one of your sweaters, and that you already own shoes and earrings of some sort…
For example, almost all of us who live in black could pull this outfit together without adding anything but the skirt:
cashmere turtleneck – Lands’ End; earrings – Vintouch; scarf – Echo; skirt – J.Crew; boots – Naturalizer
But if you’re in the mood to buy a pair of camel boots too, I’m not the person to say no!
Brushed ombre scarf – Echo; earrings – Marie June Jewelry; heather natural sweater – J.Crew; skirt – J.Crew; boots – Lauren Ralph Lauren
Maybe you wear a lot of navy, and you live somewhere that’s more suited to ballet flats than boots…
Earrings – Lucky Eleven; scarf – Ralf Studios; cotton sweater – L.L.Bean; skirt – J.Crew; ballet flats – Born
Women who love olive green are always looking for ways to wear their green – this comes together beautifully:
Earrings – Bony Levy; scarf – Wallace Sewell; military green cotton sweater – Benetton; ballet flats – Cliffs by White Mountain; skirt – J.Crew
Maybe you feel like your grey wardrobe needs a touch of something to warm it up a bit – camel and grey are lovely together!
Earrings – Nine West; fracture pleated scarf – Echo; sweater – Benetton; skirt – J.Crew; boots – Dansko
Have you always worn your rust sweater and scarf with jeans? Here’s a chance to dress things up a notch!
Sweater – Paisie; earrings – Kendra Scott; skirt – J.Crew; scarf – Wallace Sewell; ballet flats – Hush Puppies
Struggling to match shades of brown? Quit trying!
Wool and cashmere cardigan – Benetton; earrings – Nordstrom; skirt – J.Crew; scarf – The Met Museum Store; boots – Franco Sarto
Is your wardrobe fully of denim-y shades? Camel looks beautiful with blue…
Sweater – L.L.Bean; earrings- Lonna & Lilly; skirt – J.Crew; scarf – Wallace Sewell; boots – AGL
Tired of always wearing teal with navy? Adding camel to your wardrobe gives you lots of options; navy and camel are classic together, and teal looks great with it too!
Sweater – Paisie; earrings – J.Crew; skirt – J.Crew; scarf – The Met Store; boots – L.L.Bean
Camel is a really good way to tone down a very bright sweater – and it gives us a chance to revisit one of our old favorite scarves!
Lion earrings – MvdT Collection; scarf – Aspinal of London; bright blue turtleneck – Benetton; skirt – J.Crew; boots – Johnston & Murphy
Everybody wears red with navy, or with black. Wearing it with camel is a whole new thing! (and you get to wear that new scarf from The Met Museum Store…)
Sweater – Banana Republic; garnet earrings – Ross-Simons; scarf – The Met Store; skirt – J.Crew; flat – Mia
And if you’re really absent-minded and you STILL want to wear brown with camel, go for it – finding accessories will be a lot of fun!
Earrings – Lizzie Fortunato; scarf – Brunna Co.; cabled Shetland wool cardigan – Benetton; skirt – J.Crew; boots – Sorel
So, do you think I’ve persuaded my internet friend to grab this skirt? If I wanted a new skirt right now, I would certainly be tempted…
love,
Janice
p.s. Four years ago, I was headed to Paris, and the very kind people at Talbots had given me some clothes to take with me! That doesn’t happen to me very often…
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Oh my, you do put together the best outfits. All of these combinations work so well. And, as I gushed the other day about grey being the ultimate neutral, it really IS beautiful with camel. And the red was a lovely surprise!
The lion earrings with the Aspinal of London scarf – excellent bit of sleuthing!
If this were me, I’d focus on another of my favorite TVF hacks – the French 5 – to make this camel skirt work hard in my wardrobe. Pulling together a mini capsule of 5 camel colored pieces from my current closet – including gold metallic – really shows whether this would become a workhorse for me!!
Good luck with your move!
That black and camel combo makes me almost want to move back north. I will have to settle for some trips to cooler climes soon.
WOW, I have one pair of camel pants in my closet, but the combos you’ve shown with this skirt opens up a myriad of additional ideas of ways to wear them. Or maybe I should add a skirt?
ps. Purple and camel also look great together!
With the short boots, bare legs? Suggestions for what colour tights to wear would be wonderful! I have the black turtle neck from Lands End and agree that black and camel are a classic and I have always worn red and camel together. As a ‘Winter’ I never liked camel/tan/khaki near my face so it’s always the ‘supporting player’. I would also go for fuchsia, clear orange, turquoise up top but would stick with the camel right down to the feet.
Camel is certainly not my color, nor is any warm tone, but you’ve really shown how versatile it is! My favorite of these ensembles is the camel and denim-y colors. Hope your move is going well and that you don’t hurt your back again!
I’m a Winter and never wear camel near my face, but I have kept a wool camel skirt and corduroy camel jeans in my fall wardrobe for years. I love it with black, navy, red, abd ivory. I do prefer camel fabrics to have some texture, and that’s why I would not buy this skirt – and why I have no summer camel clothes.The color just looks more luxurious in nubby fabrics.
I would wear this skirt and nearly all the colours with it. The last one is my favourite.
The link to the second brown sweater is munged, and when I edited it, went to the first brown sweater. Here’s a link to the cable cardigan: https://us.benetton.com/cable-knit-cardigan-in-pure-shetland-wool-brown-103MD500A_70G.html
When I first saw the skirt, I wasn’t too excited. I like the shape and who doesn’t like washable silk? Camel, however, doesn’t usually call to me.
Boy was I surprised. I would be happy wearing most of these outfits. Two brown sweaters! What riches! I love the light rust and the light teal. Both look great with the camel. And you found such great scarves today. They really tie the outfits together. The Met store cashmere blend scarf with the teal sweater. Wow! The Persian Garden scarf is gorgeous too.
I agree with anonymous above. Suggestions for tights would be welcome.
Maybe I need a camel skirt in my closet.
I don’t ever wear camel since I’m a winter and it looks terrible on me, but these outfits are so amazing, it makes me want to buy a camel skirt. Come to think of it, I don’t ever wear skirts either, and I still want this.
Totally agree! I don’t wear camel or skirts, but am tempted with several of these renditions. By the way, I saw on one of the morning shows that the trend for fall is short boots with bare legs. Might be a fun option for early fall or for those in warmer climates.
I’ve always worn camel with red, but this really opens up some great possibilities! Just worry about wearing a sort of bulky sweater over a gathered skirt. That adds lots of inches around the middle, at least on me. I’d love to find a camel pencil or a-line skirt with all the other great qualities this one has.
I was trying to put together my own 4×4 wardrobe the other day, in camel and navy – and this skirt was in it, as was the navy cable-knit sweater! How funny!
Janice, I realize hy you did bron tice (both of hich I love!!) because you meant to do coral! Coral goes so nicely in the hotter months ith camel!! Great post!! This is hy Camel is one of my favorite basics but I ear mostly rust,bron,red,ivory,teal and coral in the summer ith mine!!
Just bought some poly-linen blend fabric in CAMEL yesterday. Destined to become pants. Thanks for all of these color suggestions as well as a reminder that the Met has fabulous scarves ;-)
Good luck with that move and take care of yourself!
I have a thrifted Talbots lined silk knee-length pencil skirt in a warm camel and by far my favorite way to wear it (in the winter) is with my black pullover sweater or textured sweatshirt, black tights and riding boots, and a wonderful scarf…so a version of the first look. Black + camel is just such a rich, sumptuous combination.
The camel certainly works fine in all of these pairings, though for whatever reason, all the navy/blue/teal options and the grey are meh for me (even with the gorgeous lion scarf!). Perhaps those colors just seem to cool with the warm camel for my taste? The warm brown and rust colors are not well suited for me to wear in sweaters, so I will pass. I feel like I should like the olive but but I’m not crazy about it…it could be the scarf with the mustard is just too outside my wheelhouse; with a different scarf, I might go for it.
But the ivory and the dark red outfits are very inspiring! And though I wouldn’t wear the ivory sweater and pink/camel scarf together, I do wonder whether some shades of pink would be a nice pairing too.
I do agree with other commenters that camel is a tough color to pair with tights. Wearing black, navy, or brown boots, it’s easy to wear tights that match the boots, but with other colors it can be challenging. I have beige sweater-knit tights that seem like they should work theoretically, but I admit that I’m not sold on them on me. I don’t love how olive or burgundy tights work with the camel.
If you are considering a camel skirt for fall/winter in a colder climate, I would recommend being sure you are happy with your tights options before you invest in the skirt! If you are in a warmer climate, or are looking for a skirt for warmer seasons only, you have it easier because camel is pretty easy to wear with bare legs…though for a person with my pink-white skin, it’s truly not the greatest combination in the world. :D But with my skirt costing only $5.59, I can get a very low cost per wear even if I just stuck to variants of the camel + black combo!
So inspired! I love this look, particularly the teal, brown and the black combos. I’m itching for real fall weather here in Seattle and it shouldn’t be long. This look could take us all far.
Best of luck on your move, Janice.
Oh wow that’s a lovely skirt and I never wear camel, and rarely a skirt. I love it being away from the face. That first combo with the black and the scarf with touches of camel on black floral just about has me buying the skirt. Just gorgeous and that teal combo is another one making me look longingly at something I never wear!
Hope everything goes well with the move Janice!
Camel works with everything, if below the waist, as in a skirt. Even tho I am summer coloring. Haha. I ? the beiges! The problem is the Shape. Hourglass with hip shelf (small waist and hip bones that come out immediately below waist) all these gathered waist things do not work for me. But if I can find something contoured to be narrow though the hip and gradually flare out, that works.
Thanks for pointing that out – i think something that is often overlooked (especially if buying online!) is potential fit. Yes the camel skirt looks amazing as styled in Janice’s work, but the little differences like a flowy pleated camel midi skirt vs a knee length A-line skirt vs a structured pencil skirt vs a pair of pleated camel trousers… these can be the difference between the outfits looking amazing on US vs on someone else.
Now if only i could figure out what suits me… :)
I am stunned. When I saw the skirt, I thought “not camel again” as I avoid it because, it doesn’t suit me. Then reading that the skirt is machine washable silk, I was even more doubtful. Silk/satin is impossible to clean if it gets stained. Washing would have to be on a cold cycle with delicate fabric liquid. Even then, the material can pucker.
However, as Janice is a genius with these sort of posts, I read on. Stunning scarves and earrings with colours that I WOULD wear. Genius. I would also suggest coral or salmon pink, shades of plum/burgundy and possibly purple.
I’m not sure that I would invest in a camel skirt or trousers just for the sake of it but I might be tempted as I move into browns. However, it would have to be an autumnal fabric like cord or tweed.
I do have a pair of long tan boots which I was going to pass onto charity but my daughter suggested wearing them with navy and teal. And I have brown shoes.
As for tights – anything on the brown spectrum would work. Try 10 denier, if you want the ‘barely there look’. The temperature has to be above 21C/70F for me not to wear tights or socks.
You are a magician! Thank you and good luck with the move.
Hi Janice and Everyone! You reminded me to put to work that pencil camel/beige skirt i bought on sale back in May. Maybe it’s time to prune the closet?
I think my conundrum these days is having lighter-weight washable pants that I can wear to teach college students and then go and work with toddlers/preschoolers ( which involves paint, glue, crawling on rugs etc). Fortunately I guess I work with the older ‘kids’ first.