I have been wearing cognac boots and booties for years. I love this color in just about everything, particularly shoes. I love the warmth of the shade and the richness that it adds to an outfit. This fall, cognac boots, and booties are definitely popular. They are everywhere and it’s fun to see more people embracing this shoe color. Looking to add cognac boots and booties to your wardrobe but don’t know how to? Here are my tips.
How to Wear Cognac Boots and Booties
Outfit #1
Cognac booties look great in the store but they can be limiting if you don’t know what to do with them. While they work with pants, what about skirts and dresses? Do you match the tights to the booties (if you can actually find cognac tights), do you go with bare legs, do you wear contrast colored tights? These are all the questions that get asked of me.
A client of mine bought this camel dress from Max Mara Weekend and the deep green turtleneck sweater from Lauren Ralph Lauren to put underneath it. She also bought these booties from Banadlino. It’s a super cute work look for cold winter days. Not knowing what to wear on the legs, I suggested brown opaque tights, like this pair from Spanx, to wear with the booties. It doesn’t match perfectly but it does create a tonal look of brown shades. I finished the outfit with a green bag from Elleme, Kendra Scott bracelet and hoop earrings from Stella & Dot.
Outfit #2
Cognac boots and jeans make a lovely combination. The look is so much less stark than black or brown and gives the outfit a casual yet chic feel. Plus, cognac matches any color you pair with it making your outfit choices quite limitless. I styled these waterproof cognac booties from Blondo with skinny jeans from Madewell, a burgundy long sleeve t-shirt from J. Crew and grey cashmere cardigan from Halogen. I finished the look with a plaid scarf from Shiraleah, cognac tote from Botkier and earrings from Banana Republic.
Outfit #3
Even if your wardrobe is full of black you can still add cognac boots to your wardrobe. Black and cognac is a really beautiful color combination. A client bought these affordable and comfortable cognac boots from Sam Edelman and they are gorgeous. I styled them with this basic black dress from BOSS Hugo Boss, a cognac bag from Mansur Graviel, horn necklace from Halsbrook and coat from Reiss.
Add some cognac boots to your wardrobe
Inspired to add some cognac boots to your wardrobe? Check out some additional styles here.
I love cognac too, but I have to respectfully disagree that it goes with everything. I don’t like it with orange or coral since it’s such an orangey-brown. To me, it’s a case of close but not close enough. I’ve also seen people with starkly cool outfits and then add cognac boots with no other warmth anywhere in the outfit, which can be jarring. The particular outfit I’m thinking of was black jeans, gray top, cobalt purse, cognac boots. The whole time I looked at it I couldn’t decide if the cobalt purse was focal point or the cognac boots. They fought for attention all the more because orangey-brown is a near complement to cobalt. Now a mostly gray and black outfit or a mostly cobalt outfit with cognac would be fabulous. To successfully use cognac, I think you need to keep in mind it’s orangey-ness and make sure that works with everything else you’ve got going on.
Heather, no problem at all. In fact, I have to agree with you. After I wrote that I started to think about all the colors it might not work with. I love cognac with all neutrals but once you start getting into certain colors like cool ones or shades that are a little close to cognac it can get a little dicey. Thinking about the outfit you mentioned with the black, grey cobalt and cognac. I bet more of a teal bag would look much better than cobalt because it is a more yellow-y blue. You made a great point and I appreciate you mentioning it.
I adore cognac-colored boots and bags. I have warm coloring and they go with absolutely everything in my wardrobe. I don’t wear black – ever!! Thanks for the great selections. Dear Santa,…
Dear Santa is right!
Bridgette, I just bought some cognac boots similar to the ones in Outfit #2. My problem is how to wear them with skinny jeans since the tops are barely above my ankle. Should the jeans be rolled above the boots or should I try to tuck them into the boots?
It all depends on the jeans. Sometimes they look good rolled right to the top of the booties, others look good tucked in and some look good just scrunched up at the top of the booties.
Bridgette, This is a colour name that I have only ever heard used by yourself. I am in the UK and would possibly have called the shade mid- brown or tan. Is it a pantone name for this particular colour?
It’s a pretty common name here in the US. Other names for it would be luggage or vicuna, among other things. I’d have to look at a Pantone book to see what they would name the color.
Yep – always have know it as cognac or tabacco. One of my fav colors for decades 🙂
I wore mine today!! Can you lead me to articles that talk about what color palette to wear as your hair starts to turn grey/white? I’m 45 and I’m going natural, but I do have a 7 year old. 🙂