Last week, I shared extensively about working with neutrals in your wardrobe in this post. I covered a lot of information and this week I am putting some of these theories into practice by talking more about using neutrals, particularly ranges of neutral colors to create compelling looks. Instead of thinking of neutrals in a narrow way, think of neutrals in terms of the entire range of each shade. When working primarily with neutrals in your looks, adding different shades of different neutrals into one outfit creates a neutral based look that is more compelling.
Additionally, when you work exclusively neutrals, it is incredibly easy to mix-and-match pieces making getting dressed easier while also being able to maximize your wardrobe. It’s like the equivalent of dressing in the dark, but successfully, because it all just works and it doesn’t really matter what you grab.
This week, I am creating entirely neutral looks to show how easy it is to get more from your wardrobe. Not only am I showing looks exclusively using neutrals, but to prove how easy it can be to mix-and-match, I am styling each look with all the pants used in this post.
HOW TO USE NEUTRALS TO GET MORE FROM YOUR WARDROBE
In each neutral outfit below, you will see on the right of each outfit, how the neutral pants can easily be swapped with the pants used in the other looks.
Outfit #1
In this outfit, I styled pair of camel pants from M.M. Lafleur with a grey t-shirt from Vince and layered chestnut-colored wool and cashmere cardigan from Halogen. I finished the outfit with cocoa-colored block-heeled pumps from Marc Fisher, a brown croc-embossed handbag from Wandler, and a neutral printed scarf from Jeija.
On the right, you can see that all the pants I will be featuring can easily be swapped in for the camel pants. From top to bottom, the pants are navy, olive, grey, and black.
Outfit #2
In this outfit, I am styling navy pants from J. Crew with a camel sweater from Vero Moda with a pair of cognac boots from Steve Madden, a camel handbag from Madewell, and a chunky wood necklace from Kenneth Jay Lane.
And again, on the side is the swap-out of the navy pants with all the other pants styled in.
Outfit #3
In this look, I am using olive pants from Caslon with a camel-colored t-shirt from All In Favor that I layered under a navy sweater blazer from J. Crew. I finished the look with cognac Paul Green sneakers and a camel crossbody from Hobo.
Unlike the other outfits, not all pants can be swapped in. This is why, if you are looking to keep your wardrobe tight, often picking a lane and choosing either navy or black can be helpful. However, you can see by having a whole range of neutrals, if you do decide to keep both black and navy in your wardrobe, other neutral ranges work quite nicely with both.
Outfit #4
This grey based outfit consists of grey wide-leg jeans and an oatmeal cardigan from M.M. Lafleur that was layered over the same grey Vince t-shirt in the other look. I finished the outfit with a taupe handbag and tan wedge pumps from Pelle Moda. All the pants can be substituted with this look.
Outfit #5
In this last look, I am styling these black pants from Eileen Fisher which get warmed up with neutrals. I styled them with a chestnut turtleneck from Cos, tan sneaker loafers from AGL, and an olive handbag from Demellier. Don’t like this outfit with black pants? No worries. You can wear any of these pants with this look.
If you are looking at how easily all these neutrals interchange but worry it won’t work for you because of your personal coloring, be sure to go back to last week’s neutral post and read how there is a range of every neutral shade for everyone.
Still have questions? Let me know in the comments below.
Not directly related to this post but your comment about picking black or navy reminded me… If I have a printed shirt that has a small black component (flower stems or an outline of some shapes for example), can that still be paired with navy?
I am trying to move toward navy in my wardrobe rather than black but I find so many prints have a black component that it makes it difficult to stick to navy.
I love today’s post, so great to actually see each pair of pants with each outfit!
That amount of black sounds super small and probably hard to tell if you are wearing with navy. I can’t imagine it being much of a problem based on what you are telling me. By the way, that pairing of all the pants in the looks happened on a whim. I was working on the first outfit and realized all the pants would work. That is what inspired the idea and given that I have been talking about how versatile neutrals can be, it seemed smart to showcase it.
Thank you!
I LOVE this series of posts you’ve been doing lately. I am realizing that I am mostly a roadmap stylist. I like prints and pulling colours from the print to accessorize. I love the post you did on the characteristics of prints as it was like a lightbulb went off for why some prints I reach for all the time and others I don’t wear as often as I thought I would. So helpful!
Thanks so much Alicen! It’s great to get feedback. Isn’t it interesting when we get explanation on something we have been doing instinctively all along? Sounds to me like you should continue to trust your gut! Thanks, as always, for your loyal readership!