August 9, 2023
Ah, let’s see what kinds of lovely ensembles we can pull together with this as our base:
I’m not going to interject a lot of remarks for this post, because (a) I don’t wear navy anymore, and I’m more interested to hear what those of you who DO wear navy have to say, and (b) I’m dashing off to have someone poke a needle in my wrist, after which I shall NOT type for the rest of the day! I’d say I deserve a break after that, eh?
Editorial update: NO SHOT!!! And no more visits unless the pain dictates… Woo hoo!!!
First, an all-navy ensemble, accented with labradorite earrings and a lovely small scarf:
Tee shirt – J.Crew; labradorite earrings- A Blonde and Her Bag; neckerchief – Bien Abyé; chino pants – J.Crew; cardigan – J.Crew; boots – Blondo
You don’t wear scarves? A nice olive necklace will do the trick…
Tee shirt – J.Crew; earrings – Style & Co.; chino pants – J.Crew; cardigan – L.L.Bean; necklace – Bocar; loafers – Massimo Matteo
If you want a less “all dark” outfit:
Tee shirt – J.Crew; earrings – Mounir London; shawl – The Met Store; chino pants – J.Crew; sweater/blazer – J.Crew; loafers – Toms
Brown!!!! Beautiful boots are enough of a reason to wear brown…
Tee shirt – J.Crew; earrings – A New Day; neckerchief – Banana Republic; chino pants – J.Crew; cardigan – J.Crew; boots – Pikolinos
The subtlety of navy and charcoal grey…
Tee shirt – J.Crew; earrings – Kendra Scott; cardigan – L.L.Bean; chino pants – J.Crew; scarf – Wamsoft; loafers – Aerosoles
The richness of camel…
Tee shirt – J.Crew; earrings – Adroit; dragon brooch – The Met Store; chino pants – J.Crew; sweater jacket – J.Crew; loafers – Geox
The classic beauty of burgundy…
Tee shirt – J.Crew; garnet earrings – Samuel B.; cardigan – L.L.Bean; chino pants – J.Crew; scarf – Elizabetta; loafers – G.H. Bass Originals
The beautiful texture of an ivory cardigan…
Tee shirt – J.Crew; earrings – Ottoman Hands; cardigan – Banana Republic; chino pants – J.Crew; scarf (they call it Blue/Grey Collage Floral???) – Treasure & Bond; loafers – LifeStride
I can easily picture a heroine with a collection of navy tops and bottoms, and a LOVELY group of cardigans or jackets, with all of the coordinating accessories.
What an easy way to get dressed!
love,
Janice
p.s. It’s not really on schedule, but it’s SO timely; seven years I dreamed up FOURTEEN ways to wear a navy dress…
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Hope the medical trip goes OK Janice and you heal up quickly.
I do wear navy, it looks wonderful with browns, camels, tapes, ivory and white. But not with olive. I cannot wear navy and olive together. Navy and light green yes, olive and light blue yes, but I need to mix up the colour depth for blue and green to work together.
I also wear navy (or brown, or olive) and the neutral dove grey, which again suits me more than navy and charcoal.
I wear a lot of navy, and usually keep outer layer the same, then add the neutral accents by way of shoes, bags, scarves or other accessories; but not all of them at once. I especially like the burgundy/ navy combination.
Now we’re cooking with gas! Love the scarf & earrings in the first all-navy outfit. And the charcoal, light grey & ivory accents. Even the olive, unexpectedly, looks nice with the navy, although I wouldn’t wear it myself. I’ve been reflecting on olive recently, after all the different discussions about it. A theoretical reflection only, because I look SO ill in olive. It suits other family members, and I like the look of it in many of their outfits. But I am often not clear whether I am looking at olive or some other type of green. And am even more confused by comments about cool olives and warm olives, even though I can very easily see whether other greens are cool or warm. I have had a look at some of Imogen Lamport’s articles & colourwheels, but with variations in laptop monitors, I don’t know whether I’m seeing what she sees. It’s probably lucky that I’m not trying to incorporate olive into my wardrobe! Thank you Janice, & I hope your wrist is better soon.
I think warm vs. cool olive is much easier to see reliably with item in hand than on screen…which is probably true of all color-related things! I think the cool olives (those with grey in them) blend into sage green, and some people really make a distinction between those colors while others (myself included) do not as much. I think when I say “cool olive” I mean something like “cool olive/sage.” So it might be a terminology issue as much as a screen issue, just to confuse things further! :)
Nice one, Janice. And may the poker poke on the right place at first try, and just get well soon!
Yay, navy is my core color. I love coupling it with burgundy and have begun buying more dark forest green but this colour scheme is so dark. Any ideas for a light cold-toned colour to pair those with? Something that go well with silver and/or rose gold jewelry – is that just ivory and dove grey?
Hmmm, so I really like navy and burgundy. To lighten it up, I will sometimes wear a rose top under a burgundy jacket and maybe add a scarf that has all the colors. Dark green, which I also really like, is more difficult. But in my mind I’m picturing white. Think about navy and green plaid and white often accents it. Just a thought.
I wear navy a lot, and I pair it with lots of bright colors and a few darker ones. What about jade or emerald green? I personally love it with turquoise or aqua colors too.
I am another navy aficionado who also likes it with burgundy and dark green. If you want to add a lighter color to your navy + burgundy and navy + dark green outfits, I think monochromatic in your accent color is the easiest way. For cool burgundy/wine, I think that color lightens up nicely to a mid-shade rose, mauve/lavender, and blush pink. For cool dark green…various depths of jade and a cool light mint. You could add these lighter value sister shades with the darker accent color for a nice navy + shades of X color scheme. And yes, light neutrals (soft white, cool grey, light denim/chambray) could be mixed in freely with them.
Huh, interesting. I just typed “cool green monochromatic color scheme” into Google and did an image search and a lot of light-to-dark palettes showed up, ranging from warmer to cooler shades of green. Same with burgundy. I often use the hack of coloring a cell in Excel with my base color, then using the light/dark slider in the “more colors” pop up to see what the color range looks like. (I also play with moving the color point upward to get the purer saturated hue and downward to get the muted greyed-out tone.) But Google is another useful tool for playing with this.
This said, I am hard pressed to think of any cool light color that wouldn’t work with navy! Blues, cool aqua/teal/mint blue-greens, cool yellows, cool reds/pinks, lavender/lilacs… Other than the pinks and some mauve/lavenders, I’m not sure how many of those would work well with the navy + burgundy/wine combination…though I am half-convinced that with the right scarf, anything is possible ;) But I think with dark green, which is pretty much a colored neutral/semi-neutral, you could probably find some lighter blues, yellows, pinks, and lavenders that would look good with navy + dark green.
Teal/turquoise/aqua family or possibly a lavender.
Once you got that needle poke, Janice, I hope you relaxed with a full-on icy glass of iced tea or your favorite summer beverage.
Navy is an utterly fabulous neutral. As Vicki said in an earlier comment, you’re never really sure what you’re looking at when it comes to color, so buying it online becomes tricky. I have an aversion to a navy so dark you have to drag it into the brightest light to discern whether it is navy or black.
I think it is beautiful with that maroon/wine/cranberry… even though that’s not a color I wear. I especially love a brighter navy paired with ivory or cream (again, who knows what the retailers are describing,) with dove grey, camel or a warm, light tan. I’m one of THOSE women who’ve had a color reading (House of Colour spring) and the bright navy in the HOC palette is absolutely gorgeous, worth the diligent hunt to find it.
The brown boots and those ivory loafers…major temptations! I wouldn’t turn down the navy boots either.
And when we get to navy with accent colors, I love it with aqua, apple green, Kelly green, corn yellow, flamingo pink, salmon, coral, geranium red (leaning yellow, not blue) peachy pink, banana and terracotta. So many possibilities!
Navy-wearer here. Sometimes I feel like I’m dressing collegiate-adjacent when I pair navy with certain colours. (Burgundy, forest green, dove grey…) Does that sound crazy? I quell the thought and forge on but sometimes I feel like I’m dressing in someone’s school colours. 😂
I hear you! I am also a navy lover and I especially love it with a mustard/gold yellow and brown leather accents. Of course my kids school colors and blue and gold so I often am dressed in school colors to support them!! :) Janice I love all these combo’s. What I have realized after feeling very dark last fall/winter is that I need to lighten my deep burgundy’s and teals up a little to more like cranberry and lighter rose and such so that I don’t feel too dark in the winter. In the spring and summer I wear navy/denim with brighter pinks, turquoise and butter yellow which brightens things up for me but the brighter shades don’t feel quite right in the fall/winter. I do like a column of color but would very rarely wear navy pants, tee and cardigan. Too much navy for me… I like a lot of contrast in my outfits.
Love the Navy….but true as another person stated very uniform looking….reminds me of the tunic and white blouses we had to wear in elementary school….but with fun accessories we can make it more personal like you have done.
Thanks again for all you do Janice.
I’m off to Europe for 21 days to see my Dad….and I’ve been trying to pack less…getting better at it thanks to the Vivienne files.❤️ and hopefully coordinated.
I want to take a pic of each outfit each day…to see if I use everything I packed.
Regina
I love navy! I have usually gone for burgundy, navy, white and grey. But I’ve added a couple of rusty/coppery browns and mustardy yellows for some variety and I really like it. I also love orange, white and navy together even if it does lean a little ‘collegiate’!
Navy is my preferred dark neutral. Olive is one of my favorite mid-neutrals – the key for me is to look for a dusty mid-tone to keep things from going too dark. I love the cognac brown here, but again would work to keep it more of a saddle color. Love all the accessories!! Those boots!
YAY Navy! Janice – hope your appointment goes well. Navy is my core neutral. Typically I wear print tops so my jacket or sweater picks up whatever color is in the print. Right now I am favoring navy/green, navy/brown, navy/rust(orange). If I’m wearing a pullover sweater with navy pants I’ll usually have a scarf that ties them together. I’m really liking navy and orange this year. I do wear navy with olive, but again, its the navy pants with a print shirt that picks up the olive and then an olive cardigan. I do also wear all navy – but not as much since I prefer print tops. I also will mix it with other shades of blue – but that’s usually in the print, and then a navy jacket or cardigan. And I love Labradorite!
Thank you for all the navy, including the look back. I’m working out a navy-based fall plan too, for the first time, so it’s all helpful.
Great post, good luck at the dictor!
This post is timely. Navy is a core neutral though I rarely wear a navy core as it is too dark next to my face. Yesterday I was wearing a lilac tee with navy trousers, a plum waterproof (raining again) and a navy/lilac bead necklace. I lost count of the number of shop assistants who complimented me. I think the plum and navy made the lilac stand out. It lifted my spirits as I looked like a half drowned rat!
Of these choices, I would wear navy with the peacock colours, silver and plum/burgundy. Looking at the look backs, my accent choices with navy would be lilac, periwinkle blue, orchid pink, soft pink, salmon pink, fuschia and blue-greens.
Hope your treatment is successful. Have a treat for being brave. Hugs.
This is nearly exactly how I wear navy too, Beth T.
Count me in on that group. I wear navy bottoms all the time, but like the colors Beth mentioned near my face.
Navy is my year round neutral, with grey in the winter and olive in summer. I love seeing these combinations! I don’t think I would wear navy and olive together, but I will definitely start adding camel and brown accents. I often wear burgundy with navy in the winter, and grey works well too. Thanks for this!
I have been changing black for navy and love it with burgundy and periwinkle blue but at 79 soon to be 80 too much navy does look very ‘old lady’ I think. I prefer beige to grey but every old lady around here teams those 2 colours together and I hesitate to join them. Today I am wearing bright pink M&S trousers with a cream spotted Hobbs tee that carries the same pink and a navy jacket. I do have navy trousers and a navy tee but am reluctant to wear them together unless I wear a burgundy, blue, white or pink second layer.
Your outfit sounds very chic. I love pink and navy almost as much as lilac and navy.
Good luck with the poke! Like the commenters before me, navy is my favorite. I pair it with all those colors! I particularly like burgundy especially as it gets cooler. Oh, and camel. The one I can’t do, and you actually didn’t have it here, is gold. As a Buckeye, I can’t bring myself to do blue and gold during football season!! 🤣
This is great. I love navy and I recently acquired the pieces to wear it as a full column (late to the game). I wear it with burgundy, grey and white and it looks great with each of them. I love all the combinations you have here.
I am sending you positive thoughts for your appointment!
I recently had my colors done and am trying to phase out the black and bring in the navy. It’s my new neutral, so I appreciate all the pairings you showed here. It’s given me some great ideas! Thanks ☺️
I hope your hand feels better quickly. Enjoy your rest afterwards.
Navy is one of my main dark neutrals, and I love to wear it with white, especially in the summer. I also love it with all the bright, cool colors. Aqua, fuschia, magenta, emerald. I’m packing for a 7-day trip right now and it will be navy, white, and fuschia. I’ve been meaning to try a nice, true, bright yellow, but I haven’t quite gotten up the courage yet. I do wear it with maroon or cool olive accents in colder wearther sometimes, and I like to add brown leather accessories. Those brown boots and also the navy ones are going on my fall shopping list (or a bargain price equivalent anyway).
Yay, Team Navy! With this oppressive ‘heat-dome’ summer in Texas, I’m SO looking forward to sweaters and boots :). Like AK, Chris, and Katherine, light navy is my year-round dark neutral (incl my everyday handbag). All navy is too dark on me, so it’s BFF’s in my wardrobe are ivory and camel (neutrals) with warm accents in pinks, geranium red, coral, light blue, and warm violet. Light grey and light olive show up for a cup of coffee every now and then. Navy, tan/camel, and olive shoes play alongside. (Three of the shoes above are on my autumn shopping list, esp the Blondo waterproof booties…)
Yay! Navy is my core neutral, I have always preferred it to black. I am going to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque this October, and I am doing the “whatever’s clean 13” (my first attempt!) wardrobe. I have a silk scarf in narrow stripes of rust and teal and although I don’t plan to wear it everyday, all of my combos will work with it. My only disappointment is that this will be a very casual trip, so I am leaving dresses at home. I have a rust felt fedora, and I am trying to convince myself I won’t look like a crazy old lady walking around Santa Fe wearing a hat.
I hope your Dr. trip went well and your wrist mends quickly.
You will definitely not look like a crazy old lady in a hat. I always take one there. It is one town where you can pile on chunky jewelry wear your cowboy boots with a hat and be in a cute dress and look perfect! I think it’s rather a fun place because of this. Take a fun dress.
Janice, prayers for a quick recovery. You find the most amazing accessories!
The ABQ Balloon Fiesta is one of those things everyone should see at least once in a lifetime! It’s fabulous. My word of advice, if you’re planning to go out to the launch site for the pre-dawn mass ascension on the weekend (which you absolutely should do), is to dress very, very, warmly. We went 4 years ago, and though I’ve been before and knew to wear layers and a down jacket, I can’t remember when I’ve been so cold!
P.S. you may already know this, but don’t try to drive & park at the launch site. Take the shuttle that leaves from the mall parking lot, you can buy tickets in advance. Have a wonderful time! Wish I was going!
My core winter neutral is navy. I don’t own anything in black anymore since many years. I feel it suits better with my blonde hair and my skin type. I love to combine navy with burgundy, dusty pink, dark mustard, off-white, white blouses, beige, grey, brown/cognac shoes/accessories.
I’m all in on black myself, but think much of this would work well with black as well. But, whatever happened to wool sweaters, especially from LL Bean!? Cotton just isn’t warm. Unless it’s cashmere, it’s cotton these days—cheaper to produce, then charge wool prices.
If it’s an option for you, I LOVE the vintage-inspired wool sweaters from Emmy Design in Sweden (https://www.emmydesign.se/en/). 100% wool in both summer and winter weights.
But Emmy has a dedicated fan base, so you have to order quickly when each new season comes out. Especially if you need the larger sizes (like me)!
Since I live in Atlanta and the temperature is hovering in the 90s with no break in sight these outfits would have to . I love to dream about sweaters or jackets but would enjoy seeing outfits for real life in the Deep South.
The only combination that gave me pause was the warm mid-brown. I love navy with a lighter cognac, and I think it looks great with dark browns, but this particular shade of brown with this navy just doesn’t do it for me. This brown has a richness to it that makes the navy look flat next to it. I think it would look better with black…or perhaps a brighter navy that can stand up better to the vibrant brown. But otherwise, YES to these combinations.
I am really digging the outfit formula here: navy column + matching cardigan & footwear + print scarf (or brooch) that combines the colors. (I also like the olive one with the many shades of coordinating greens necklace as an alternative; if the necklace also had navy, like the necklace Beth T. was wearing with navy + lilac, it would be a bridge piece in itself.) I think the shoe that matches the cardigan instead of the column is a great choice that edges these outfits out a bit from the center of the conservative/classic/”old lady” category that some commenters are wanting to avoid.
I hear what commenters are saying when they have associations with navy color combinations – school uniforms, sports teams, certain eras, certain demographic/age groups, and in my case, corporate/professional vibes. Luckily I think it’s also pretty easy (for myself) to wear these color combinations and not be a living instantiation of those associations by choosing specific items that defy the associations and/or putting pieces together in a way that differentiates them. For example, with these particular outfits (which are great as they are, don’t get me wrong!), substituting a pair of sneakers for the loafers/ankle boots would definitely change the vibe and add a modern relaxed touch. Substituting a moto jacket for a cardigan would give it a bit of edge. Adding a print mix would make it more Sally in St Paul style. Et cetera ad infinitum.
I wear navy as the dark end of my denim neutral. I don’t like navy pants but wear navy on top with jeans as my column. It took me years of reading your blog to decide that I would rather have an outside column of dark blue than an inside column like this post shows. It’s useful to me because I don’t buy colored sweaters anymore, but only in my neutrals. I have had a harder time coordinating a basic set of garments in a denim color besides just jeans; warm grey was much easier to find the pieces for. I think my issue is being bigger on top than on bottom; I have wide shoulders and narrow hips, so I need the lighter, more variegated denim on bottom and balance out with a darker navy on top. Since most people want to slim the bottom half, I sometimes feel garments are made opposite of what I’m looking for.
My favorite pairings here were the silver and burgundy, which I wear in summer and winter, respectively.
Another note on the brown colors: I find I like leather and browns with silver and lighter grey rather than navy, personally. With denim and navy I like white or colored canvas bags and shoes.
Hallo – no pokes today! May you have a very long rest from needing medical intervention.
I enjoyed this very much as I have just recently decided to use navy for my basic color. I am wondering why you don’t wear navy any longer? What neutral or neutrals have you selected to use instead? Are you using black?
Thank you for all of your wonderful suggestions for outfits.
Warmly,
Bonnie
I wore navy, grey and burgundy when I finished graduate school. Suits. With little white shirts, and little foulard print bow ties, nude hose and low-heeled pumps. I HATED IT.
Now I wear black, or black and white prints most of the time. Today I’m wearing an Eileen Fisher tunic in a Morse Code print of white on black, with black & white woven linen pants. I feel MUCH more like myself!
hugs,
Janice
omg Janice – I remember those days. Recently ran across a headshot of me in exact same gray suit, white blouse, little bow tie from when I worked in financial industry. WOW
It was SUCH an easy way to dress – so much like the way men used to dress. But I always felt like I was wearing someone else’s clothes!
hugs,
Janice
So much navy love!! This post and all the comments really makes me smile. I like the first outfit best, with the column of navy. I can carefully comb through my closet, and end up happiest with total navy accented with silver. I dont buy burgundy anymore because true purple works better with my coloring. I accent my outfits with aqua blue, other blues and purple or teal.
All that said, I really dislike navy leather shoes! I dont want my feet to look blue? I really don’t know why. My shoes are cool dark gray and silver. I do have navy sneakers. I have a navy crossbody bag in a woven cloth.
Janice, so glad your wrists are better. Please baby them both.
I hear you on the navy shoes! Have you tried navy suede? I find I like the color and texture of suede better in navy than a plain leather.
Love this post, so many great combinations. As a young 68 year old, i now need to wear a lot of bright colours near my face, but might try 2 neutrals now with a bright scarf. I am usually a column dresser with a bright outer layer.
Navy, charcoal gray, and soft white are my main neutrals especially since I’m limiting black (mainly bottoms), which is too heavy for my coloring. Navy works with all the colors I use without overpowering them. And I love a cool olive with it.
Great post, Janice. Navy is my summer core neutral. In general It goes with all my many accent colours. And it also plays well with my grey neutrals at the spring end and my dark brown at the autumn end of summer.
It’s been so interesting to read the comments and preferences of all the navy wearers today! Great learning for me to hear what colours people pair with their navy, as well as how they use it in terms of the inner/outer/solid column. I forgot to say what my navy preferences are, in my earlier post. Navy & charcoal grey neutrals in winter, navy & ivory & silver-grey in summer. I do live in a four-season climate, so the transitional seasons are a mix of the winter & summer neutrals that’s hopefully appropriate on the day. Accent colours are lavendar and seafoam variations. And a bright true red French Five :) Or I’m perfectly happy to wear navy head to ankle, but not head to foot, as I’m also not fond of navy shoes in general (but did like the sound of the suede suggestion). Thanks also to those today who validated and advised on the issue of monitor differences in “seeing” colours on a screen.
BTW, I couldn’t reply direct to Cherry, but her pink & navy outfit sounded so nice!
I find navy much easier to work with than black, probably because I don’t like a high-contrast look. Navy is a little softer, and it blends well with my preferred mid-tone, slightly hazy colors.
My core colors are navy in warm weather and cool brown in cold weather; they look good together. I don’t really wear other neutrals. The rest of my clothes are teals, roses, and purples, which work with both navy and brown.
I ordered all my company shirts in navy, so I wear a navy column (capris or wide-leg pants) during warm weather. Outside of work, I only need a small wardrobe; in warm weather mine is strictly navy (70%) and teal (30%).
I wish I had the courage to wear coloured shoes with my outfits. As a small person (5ft 2), I read that to look taller you draw the eye up so colour should be above the waist and shoes should match or blend with the bottom garment – dress/skirt hem or trousers. I’d only wear coloured shoes with a coloured bottom garment but they would blend rather than contrast.
Beth T, regarding being short, I am right there with you at the same height! What I like to do is use a ‘stage’ trick when not wearing slacks or jeans. I generally wear a nude skin tone shoe. In the dance world, that makes the foot become part of a visual illusion to extend the leg line. Then the eye gets drawn upwards and you don’t have choppy blocks of colour.
I’m curious – why don’t you wear navy anymore?
Reminds me of my VERY unhappy early work days… I think it’s beautiful, but I’m sticking with black and “pastel black”!
hugs,
Janice
How did you get into my closet? This is my autumn/spring signature style! Okay, I vary the pants between black and navy, in the fall chocolate brown, in the spring add khaki; but still the emphasis is the same. Looking at collecting another scarf or two after seeing this. (Short sleeve t-shirt when it’s warm, long sleeve when it’s cold)
Mmm and maybe updating with a new pair of shoes.
I love navy — it’s my second favorite neutral (hard on the heels of black). My favorite combination is navy + chambray blue. It works great with the burgundy and ivory capsules you show above. Also with your Common Wardrobe.
PS: I am a new follower of your site — came in thru the 333 door. Love this whole way of thinking about clothes. When I add up all the money I’ve wasted over the years…
I so wish that I had done a better job of shopping, for years and years and years! I could retire… But at least we’re catching on now!
Welcome to the gang!
hugs,
Janice