There’s something about walking the streets of Lincoln Park amongst the tree’s bright red and yellow leaves while wearing my favorite khaki trench coat, white scarf and brown booties that makes me realize how much I love fall. It’s one of my favorite seasons purely because of the color palette. Although I enjoyed embracing more colorful pieces of clothing over the summer, I could not be happier to be wearing neutrals again.
However, one challenge a neutral lover like myself faces is the fear that my outfit is too simple due to the lack of color. I’ll be wearing a gray sweater with a white shirt underneath and black booties, and suddenly realize that I need to do something to make my outfit a bit more interesting. No worries, neutral enthusiasts, I’m not suggesting adding color. Instead, make an effort to find neutrals that complement each other. Black, white and gray are basically polar opposites of each other, which is what makes them look so boring when paired together. The key is to find a base neutral and then build off of that by incorporating pieces that are various shades of the original neutral.
This Fashionista does a great job exemplifying this trick through her use of the color brown. Her brown wedges are the baseline for the neutral because they are the purest form of the color. From there, she chose a lighter shade of brown, tan, for her dress and a beige color for her cardigan. Despite all being the same base color, the various shades make the outfit flow and much more visually appealing than if she would have worn a white dress, gray cardigan and black wedges. In addition, the incorporation of the beige necklace is a perfect finishing touch since it matches the shade of the cardigan so nicely.
How To: First, find one item that has a strong baseline shade of the color you want to wear. From there, find pieces that are either lighter or darker than the initial shade. The chillier temperatures are perfect for this trick because you’re able to utilize your jackets, sweaters, scarves, hats, purses, etc. to incorporate different shades. In addition, this works wonderfully for colors as well. Consider trying it out with blues, reds and other seasonal color favorites.
