The Renaissance of Brown

Welcome your new favorite neutral to the table (and your wardrobe)

We all are familiar with the evergreen neutrals, black and white. We have recently, more widely, welcomed gray to the family as well and some rich navy’s- but have you familiarized your closet with the earthy, brown? It looks like brown is back and it’s looking to stick around through the upcoming seasons.

Fall seems the most obvious season to warmly welcome the new neutral to our wardrobes. It’s a color that evokes a warmness and coziness that feels associated with the season, not to mention how complimentary it is to the changing environment around us. Brown feels perfect for fall- which is probably why my Pinterest boards are filled with inspo and outfits that hint, or often embody, the warm neutral. It feels silly to say that a very obvious, “demure”, neutral color is “back” - but in reality it has not been widely featured quite like it currently is, in some time now. I think that, for me at least, this might be why this color evokes a little nostalgia, a warm familiarity in seeing it on shelves and hanging on racks again feels “right” to me. For me and my wardrobe (and maybe yours too) it’s time to maybe take a break from buying everything in black this fall/winter and embrace it’s warm cousin, brown as a new neutral in our wardrobes this year.

In preparation of writing this newsletter, in which I hope to convince each of you how fabulous brown can be in your wardrobe, I did a little flipping through my Dictionary of Color Combinations book just to further solidify my belief in it’s versatility as a color.

I give you…my favorite brown color combinations to think about, reference, etc:

So long to the outdated myth about black and brown, please embrace these neutrals together all fall long! How great is that black, brown, and butter yellow combo? Makes me think of all of the options of re-creating that in my wardrobe.

Ah another combo that has been haunting me is the light blue, brown, and red (seen bottom left) - I’m thinking a blue oxford button down, red sweater or cardigan over top, and brown corduroys OR light light wash denim, brown sweater, red shoes (or bag). See! The options are endless you guys!

The above color combination is the real cherry on top, for moi, and has already been living rent free in my brain for a while. That yellow green with a rich brown (very Prada combo) makes me very excited! It also is a very natural color combination and could be why I’m so drawn to it (natural i.e. grass and dirt, bark and leaves, things that exist naturally together).

With all of this talk about the exciting new neutral, I naturally had to prepare a mood board in honor of the color. The images already all lived on my pinterest and saved files so it only makes sense to compile them and put them into one combined reference for the season ahead.

At the end of the day I can understand that “brown for fall” sounds as groundbreaking as “florals for spring”, but just take my word that brown, right now, is anything but redundant feeling. As seen above, it evokes a richness in outfits. It creates a more “I know what I’m doing” looking contrast to the pieces you wear. It feels fresh and when worn tonally it feels warm, and even a little nostalgic in my opinion.

In case you haven’t caught on by now, I will be (and already am) wearing brown in a whole new way this fall. Welcome it with open arms to your wardrobe ladies and gentlemen!

cheers xx,

Taylor