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How To Add Colour To Your Wardrobe Without It Looking Like A Mistake

Your wardrobe is full of navy and grey and you know it. Maybe some black in there too. You tell yourself it all goes together, which it does, but if you're honest about it you've been wearing basically the same colour palette for years and it's starting to feel a bit drab.

STUCK - Why Do So Many Men End Up Wearing The Same Three Colours?

Man looking through his wardrobe and noticing that everything is very neutral in terms of colour and style.

Neutral Colours Always Work And That's The Problem

Navy, grey and black go with everything and that's exactly why many guys never move past them. When you're standing in a shop and you're not sure, you just grab what you know will work when you get home. 

Do that enough times and your wardrobe ends up looking the same year after year.
The outfits still work but nothing feels interesting anymore. Everything looks fine and nothing looks great. And that's usually when men make a move in completely the wrong direction.

BRIGHT - Why Does Buying Bold Colours Almost Never Work Out?

The Frustrated Purchase

You got bored of the same colours so you bought something completely different. A bold red hoodie. Mustard yellow jacket. Maybe a bright pink shirt (that looks more like a blouse) because someone told you confident men wear pink.

You felt good about it in the shop, got home, tried it on with everything you own and realised it goes with almost nothing. That's what happens when you jump straight from one extreme to the other.

Why It Still Looks Wrong Even When It Shouldn't

A bold colour surrounded by very dark neutrals doesn't look exciting. Instead of lifting the outfit it just sits there looking out of place.
The other version of this is buying several bright pieces at once thinking "It's fine, they'll all work together."

Sometimes they do. Most of the time they clash in ways that are hard to explain but impossible to miss.

COLOURS - What Are The Colours That Get Ignored

Colours That Are Worth Adding To Your Wardrobe

A lot of guys go straight from navy and grey to bright red or yellow and completely skip over an entire range of colours that are actually the easiest to wear. 

Things like burgundy, olive, rust, stone, camel, forest green and dusty blue. They are different enough to notice but not so loud that everyone stops and stares.

Why They Work With What You Already Own

Burgundy, olive, rust and camel all have enough brown or dark undertone in them that they naturally sit next to black, navy and grey without clashing. 

That's the difference between these and something like bright red, yellow, or pink which have no connection to dark neutrals at all and end up looking like they wandered in from a different outfit entirely.

Why These Middle Colours Are Easier To Wear

When you know your wardrobe is already set up to colour and style coordinate., It's easier to plan your outfits. You don't need to drag everything out and chuck it on the bed while holding up piece after piece to check if it will look right.

So a burgundy shirt works with your grey trousers because there's enough darkness in the burgundy to tie them together. Olive works with navy for the same reason. Stone and camel work with almost everything because they are basically a warmer version of grey. The connection is already there.

Start With The Least Risky Pieces

The simplest way to do it is to swap one item. Not your whole wardrobe, just one thing.
Man taking a close look at brighter colour knits in his wardrobe

Clothes

Knitwear and jumpers are the easiest place to start because they're low risk. Nobody is really scrutinising your jumper the way they might a jacket or a pair of trousers. A forest green jumper over a white tee with dark jeans looks genuinely good. So does a camel crew neck over a grey tee with black trousers. Neither requires much thought and both look far more interesting than another navy one.

Shoes and accessories

This is where you can actually have some fun with it. A deep violet or cobalt blue scarf against a charcoal coat looks sharp and costs you nothing in terms of effort. A burnt orange or terracotta belt with a navy outfit adds warmth without being obvious about it. Mustard yellow used as an accent - a cap, a canvas bag, even a phone case visible in a breast pocket - lifts an otherwise flat outfit immediately. A teal or slate blue watch strap against a black or grey outfit is a small detail that people notice without knowing why. These are low commitment ways to test a colour before committing to a full piece in it.

Colours To Avoid While You're Getting Started

Don't buy anything you wouldn't feel comfortable walking out of the house in on the first wear. If you try it on in the shop and feel slightly uncertain about it, that feeling won't go away when you get home. It'll just make the piece harder to reach for.
Stick to one new colour at a time until you know how it sits with what you already own. Once you've got that right, adding the next one will be a lot easier.
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