Chocolate brown is everywhere this spring and summer, it’s trending on the runways and filtered into stores in great basics, accessories and even evening wear. This week, I want to teach you what colours go with brown clothes. I’ll also show you some easy colour combinations and which brown is best for your colour season.

What Brown Suits Your Colour Season?

If you’ve had a colour analysis, you’ll know what your best colours are and you may know the name of your season. There are great browns for every skin tone and complexion and since it’s such a popular colour this season, I want to break down which brown will suit you best. If you don’t know what your colour season is, you could use these colours below to narrow down what colour palette you fall into.

Cool Browns VS Warm Browns

The biggest difference you’ll see between warm and cool browns is that warm browns look more orange whereas cool browns have a purple and even red appearance. If you are a spring or autumn, you have a warm undertone and your browns look more orange and caramel. If you are a summer or winter, your browns look like a purple or deep reddish brown which will compliment your cool undertone.

Brown Colour Combinations - Using Neutral Colours With Brown

It’s useful to know that brown is a neutral colour, meaning it goes with most colours. We’ll start by making some brown colour combination using other neutral colours. Neutrals apart from brown are white, cream, grey, denim, black and navy. Any of these colours can be worn with brown.

What Colours Don’t Go With Brown?

If you’ve tried mixing brown with another colour and it hasn’t worked, it could be because of two reasons:

• You’ve mixed a warm brown with a cool colour OR a cool brown with a warm colour. Browns look best when paired with colours that share the same undertone.

• You’ve mixed a bright colour with a muted brown OR a bright brown with a muted colour. Think of how strange a soft dusty brown would look with hot pink. If the brown was richer, say a cognac brown, it would work. You need to make sure the intensity of the brown matches the intensity of the colour.

Brown Colour Combinations - Green

Earthy colours will compliment brown, whether you opt for light or dark browns, or light or dark greens. You can really wear a wide variety of greens with browns and you will see below that I’ve added green and brown to the other neutral combinations to show you ways you can incorporate more than two colours in your outfit. Remember, if your green is warm and muted, pair it with a warm and muted brown, if it’s a cool green like an emerald, pair it with a cool brown of the same intensity.

Brown Colour Combinations - Red

I think red is such a chic colour to pair with brown, it’s not the most common way I see brown being worn but red just adds a richness to the brown and it’s a fun and surprising way to use colour. I’ve used a true red, meaning it’s not warm or cool, it’s somewhere in the middle. This red will work well with intense browns and if you want to wear it with a more muted brown, add black, white or denim to the mix.

Brown Colour Combinations - Sky Blue

This is another trending colour for Spring Summer 2024. If you want to find out what other colours are trending and which seasons will look best in them, you can see my recent post about that, there’s also a youtube video to accompany it. Sky blue looks so good with brown because they’re contrasting colours. Brown is effectively dark orange, orange and blue contrast which is why you see so many people pairing tan and navy together. Try sky blue with brown and the neutral combinations I’ve set out below and consider brown as a great workwear colour. You could wear a brown blazer with a sky blue shirt and the colour combination will be appropriate for the office and a little more interesting.

Brown Colour Combinations - Pink

Both soft pinks and blush pinks are great options for pairing with brown. You could even try a hot pink as long as the brown you pair it with is intense.

Brown Colour Combinations - Lavender

You’ll see a lot of lavender and lilac this season, so if you’re a summer or winter, try pairing lavender with a cool brown and you’ll see what a beautiful combination it is. Add those neutrals in and you have plenty to work with for different outfits.

Brown Colour Combinations - Bright Purple

This is an unexpected colour to pair with brown but I see it in prints all the time! Bright purple with brown can be striking and rich when done right. Ensure you’ve got an intense brown (rich & vibrant) to pair with it. To lift it even further, if you’re a warmer season (Spring or Autumn) try a very orange brown like camel, caramel or cognac, the colours will play off each other nicely.

Brown Colour Combinations - Teal

Teal is a huge component of the autumn colour season palette and many autumns wear it with brown, creams and oranges already so if you’re an autumn this colour pairing comes as no surprise to you. If you’re not an autumn, try the neutral pairings for this colour and adjust your browns to your undertone (cool browns will look better on you if you have a cool undertone, warm is better for warm undertones).

Brown Colour Combinations - Mint Green

I saw a women in the city wearing a silk mint green shirt with a brown suit and I stopped and stared! It’s a gorgeous combination and can make brown look more vibrant and summery.

Brown Colour Combinations - Maroon

Maroon is a warmer red, but you could easily switch this with burgundy and a cool brown. This colour pairing is a calming combination for brown and great for layering.

Brown Colour Combinations - Tangerine

This bright light orange is a super fun combination for warmer months. If you’re a light spring or summer, try this! Use the combinations below, especially those with denim or navy added, the contrast will make the orange pop.

Brown Colour Combinations - Yellow

Since yellow is also big this season I thought I’d add it in, because there really isn’t a lot you can’t wear brown with! Try this yellow for spring and summer to liven up your brown outfits and consider using brown in your accessories like belts and bags to play nicely with your yellow pieces.

Brown Colour Combinations - Eggplant

This deep purple is great for pairing with brown in autumn and winter and for making brown work of an evening. Eggplant is a great colour for dark colour seasons so deep autumn and deep winters, so try wearing this with other dark browns and if you want to make it stand out, add some lighter browns, like beige or caramel and white or denim.

If you want to see more colour combinations for brown, I’ve made an entire pinterest board for it. If you liked this kind of content and find information on colour matching helpful, please leave a comment under my youtube video and let me know what colours you want me to do next. It’s always helpful to know what you want to learn and I’m happy to making a video series on it!

Ready to find out what your colour season is? You can book that online, submit your photos and join me on zoom to get your colour analysis results!