Color and Wardrobe Planning

Using neutrals as a tool to maximize your wardrobe planning power.

In order to have the sleekest wardrobe possible, the trick is to limit the number of colors in your closet.

The key way to do this is to build your wardrobe around a base neutral.  The more neutral your core wardrobe is, the more wear you can get out of it. And the better background you will have for your showcase pieces. 

To examine our perceptions of neutral items, think about someone wearing the same pair of jeans several days out of the week. (If you must,  imagine it is actually a different pair each day but in an identical style.)  Do you think you’d notice? Would you care? Now think about someone wearing the same bright pink sweater several days out of the week. Do you think you’d notice? Would you care?

There is a funny thing that happens…the more neutral an item, the less we notice or seem to care when someone wears it.  Now, by neutral, I don’t mean an article of clothing that is shoddy or stained or ill-fitting. Garments like these are sometimes just as attention grabbing as fuchsia. I mean an article of clothing that is well maintained, clean and stylish.

Think about jeans again for a moment. Jeans are such a neutral item in our culture that we tend not to "see" them.  Most people will wear jeans several times in a week...maybe more...and sometimes <gasp!> the same pair more than once.  This makes jeans the perfect example of the wardrobe expanding power of neutrals.

Another benefit to limiting your wardrobe to a base neutral is that this color becomes part of your brand. The more that people are accustomed to seeing you in black, say, the less they will notice that you have the same black pieces that you wear again and again. They EXPECT you in black, whether they realize this consciously or not.

So, now that you are sold on the value of neutrals, how do you go about choosing your base neutral?

To help you out, here are three of the most common base neutrals:


Black: For many of you, the simple answer to choosing a base neutral will be deference to ever-chic black. The virtues of black are continually extolled. It is elegant, slimming, looks rich, and is commanding and professional. It is also mysterious, alluring and sexy. But it can be very heavy and dour, and can age a woman if she is not careful to wear makeup. Black also tends to fade noticeably, so you need to work at making sure your blacks really are black. Also,If you live in a climate where there is an extended hot-and-sunny summer, black can look out of place if you are not careful to choose appropriate styles to the season.

Brown: This is my base neutral. It is a warmer color than black and it carries a sense of openness and trustworthiness; for this reason, brown is the choice of many in the helping professions.  There are many shades of brown, from tan to taupe to chocolate, and they all look very sophisticated when paired together.   Brown also looks fantastic with turquoise, pink, cream, and red.  On the down side, brown can have the tendency to look cheap and pedestrian, so if your job requires that you look the part of the leader or executive, brown may not be your optimal choice. However, for those whom black is just too heavy, brown is a great base neutral.

Navy: Navy can be a really sharp neutral for those for whom black is just too heavy and brown too autumnal.  Blondes look exceptionally good in navy blue.  Many professionals choose navy as their color because it conveys warmth and trust.  The downside to navy is that it is one of the hardest colors to match, as it is not very forgiving in tone-on-tone mixes. It is also the color most associated with airline hostesses.  If you choose navy as your neutral, make sure that you buy coordinated outfits and know that you will need to put a little extra effort into matching shoes, hemlines and hose.

Two other possible base neutrals are gray and olive.  Gray is a sophisticated choice that looks great with many colors, and works very well for those with more muted coloring.  And olive is a more unusual choice that can look stunning with certain hair colors and complexions (think auburn), but is often associated with military uniforms.

Now that you've got a good idea which base neutral to choose, you get to move on to the excitement of choosing your accent colors!


Jennifer Skinner, Wardrobe Planning Expert


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