How to Pair Brown and Blue

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In my opinion, one of the most underrated combinations in menswear is brown and blue. Just think about it for a second, there are a lot of blue suits and navy suits out there, lots of brown shoes and different elements but often, people don’t wear them together.

So today, I talk about why it’s a good idea to pair brown with blue, I discuss certain basic accessories that you should have in your wardrobe, and also I provide a little bit of inspiration about how you can combine them without limiting yourself.

Why Do Brown & Blue Look Great Together?

Basically, blue and orange are in the opposite side of the color wheel meaning they’re a complementary contrast color, because of that, they naturally work well together and are pleasing to the eye. Brown is such a great color because it is a neutral shade and depending on if you get a dark chocolate brown, medium brown, light brown, or maybe a pastel brown, it really works for 99% of men out there. The same is true for blue, if you look at the shade of navy, medium blue, royal blue, or light blue, there’s one shade of blue that works for any kind of man out there.

On the other hand, if you have dark skin, going with high contrast items such as maybe a navy suit with a white shirt and tan brown shoes go really well together. If you have a medium skin tone, you can avoid the high contrast of black and white as well as the extreme pales of maybe light blue with light gray. Otherwise, you can have a dark blue suit with a light blue shirt and a brown grenadine tie. Another great aspect of brown is that it brings down the formality of blue and makes it more casual.

In this day and age, where even classic outfits are getting increasingly more casual, brown and blue are your best friends. Brown also increases the versatility of blue so just think about your navy dark business suit that you can wear with a white shirt and your black oxfords but you can also just take the jacket of the suit to pair it with some khakis, some brown suede boots, and a brown knit tie, and it has a very different feel and it’s suited for different occasions. So that way, with those colors, you get more wear out of your wardrobe and you don’t have to invest as much.

If you think about it, there are lots of shades of blue and brown. Because of that, it’s very easy to always create a certain element of contrast that works well with your skin tone and looks pleasing to the eye. So as long as you avoid the extremes such as a navy suit with a really dark chocolate brown color, you’re good and you’ll always find the appropriate contrast. For the same reason, no matter if you have a light, medium, or dark skin tone, you can find a combination of brown and blue that works for you.

Classic Brown & Blue Wardrobe Staples

Navy DB suit with pink shirt and black double Monks Polo SS 2013
Navy DB suit with a pink shirt and black double Monks Polo SS 2013 [Image Credit: GQ]

1. The Navy Suit

Whether it’s single-breasted or double-breasted, it is a great companion and should always be in every man’s wardrobe.

Brian Sacawa in a blue diagonal twill DB blazer with horn buttons and contrasting light colored trousers
Brian Sacawa in a blue diagonal twill DB blazer with horn buttons and contrasting light-colored trousers [Image Credit: Pinterest]

2. Navy Blazer

The navy blazer is a definite must-have in your closet because of its versatility.

3. Navy Grenadine Tie

It’s not made out of a hundred percent silk but it has a really pleasing texture that’s a little more matte and interesting than most shiny blue ties you can buy in the market today. It can be worn formally with navy suit or with tweed jackets.

A blue dress shirt with purple paisley tie from Fort Belvedere
A blue dress shirt, brown jacket and purple paisley tie from Fort Belvedere

4. Light Blue Dress Shirt

It can either be with button cuffs or with French cuffs. That being said, light blue comes probably comes in 150 different shades for shirts and so you can find exactly the right one for your needs.

Navy slim fit chinos offer a depth that light khakis dont
Navy slim fit chinos offer a depth that light khakis don’t [Image Credit: Pinterest]

5. Navy Chinos

Personally, I’m also a big fan of navy chinos.

6. Blue Pocket Square

Every man should have a blue pocket square because it complements well with a navy suit but you can also have other blue elements.

7. Blue Socks

Another good blue item to have in your wardrobe is a pair of shadow striped navy and dark blue socks. Why? Because you can really pair them with any kind of blue or navy pants, they will always look professional, will always look good, at the same time, it’s not your typical run-of-the-mill solid navy socks.

charcoal brown suit
charcoal brown suit [Image Credit: Backrach]

8. Brown Suit

In terms of the color brown, probably the most underrated item in a man’s wardrobe is a brown suit. Most men don’t think they have to invest in a brown suit, personally, I think every gentleman’s wardrobe should contain a brown suit because it can be dressed down or up. For example, if you go with a charcoal brown suit, it’s business appropriate yet it’s not as formal as maybe a dark gray suit when you go somewhere after work. If you get a light brown suit, it’s the perfect weekend suit or casual suit when you want to look dapper yet be distinctly different from your business wardrobe. Best of all, you can wear the slacks as well as the jacket individually with different combinations so you really get a lot of wear out of this brown suit.

Brown tweed jacket with a yellow-orange dress shirt and Houndstooth Silk Bourette Bow Tie Burgundy Cream - Fort Belvedere
Brown tweed jacket with a yellow-orange dress shirt and Fort Belvedere accessories
Houndstooth Silk Bourette Bow Tie Burgundy Cream - Fort Belvedere

Fort Belvedere

Houndstooth Silk Bourette Bow Tie Burgundy Cream

Edelweiss Boutonniere on a white background

Fort Belvedere

Edelweiss Boutonniere Buttonhole Flower

A photograph of a Wine Red, Yellow,Blue, Green, Orange Silk Wool Medallion Pocket Square

Fort Belvedere

Wine Red, Yellow,Blue, Green, Orange Silk Wool Medallion Pocket Square

9. Brown Tweed Jacket

Obviously, there are so many shades of brown but having at least one tweed jacket is perfect because it’s a wonderful fall-winter garment, it’s a classic staple!

10. Brown Grenadine Tie

One of my favorites is this solid brown grenadine tie. It’s really easy to combine, you can wear it with tweed or with a business suit or with a business casual outfit and it will always look timeless, appropriate, and never out of place.

suit slacks in mid-brown with split toe derbys
A pair of vintage Norwegian-toed derbies made by Mannina of Florence, as owned by Sven Raphael Schneider. [Socks: Shadow Stripe Ribbed Socks Charcoal and Orange Fil d’Ecosse Cotton – Fort Belvedere)

11. Brown Shoes & Boots

The Honestly, there are so many shades of brown and you can have dark browns, reddish browns, medium browns, or light pale browns, and if you want to see all the brown shoes that I have in my collection, check out this video here.

12. Brown Pocket Square

Last but not least, I think a brown pocket square can really help to tone down an otherwise formal business suit but it also works with summery linen jackets as well as tweed jackets. If you want to get the biggest bang for your buck, make sure you have different textures for example, on the one hand, you could get a silk pocket square with blue paisleys just like the one I’m wearing here right now, and then you could combine it with a more casual pocket square in linen that is very pale brown with a light blue X stitch.

Interesting Brown & Blue Combos

Mohair Blue Suit Folded Silk Pocket Square in Brown with Blue Paisley and Knit Tie in Solid Tobacco Brown Silk by Fort Belvedere
The blue and brown tones of the pocket square pick up the color of the brown knit tie.
Silk Pocket Square in Brown with Blue, Green, Red Large Paisley Pattern- Fort Belvedere

Fort Belvedere

Silk Pocket Square in Brown with Blue, Green, Red Large Paisley Pattern

Knit Tie in Solid Tobacco Brown Silk - Fort Belvedere

Fort Belvedere

Knit Tie in Solid Tobacco Brown Silk

  • A blue suit with a brown tie and a pocket square that picks up the tones of blue and brown. Of course, you can also wear brown shoes with it but the rest of it can really vary. You can add maybe a boutonniere in light blue or not at all. Maybe you could add a third color to the outfit, it all depends on your heart’s content but this combination will always work. Of course, instead of a suit, you can wear a pair of white winter flannels, maybe a pair of khakis, but stay away from navy chinos because they may be too close in color, there’s not enough contrast and would just look weird. That being said, you could also wear gray flannels or medium gray sharkskin pants, whatever works. Having that blue element in there allows you to do a lot of things. 50 years ago, some people will be nervous to wear a navy business suit with brown shoes. In this day and age, there’s nothing normal than that and if you go to Italy, you probably see very few well-dressed men wearing black shoes with a navy suit. They’ll probably always choose one shade of brown, could be lighter, it can be darker, but it’s just their favorite color.
Brown Jacket with Light Blue Shirt & Blue Red Striped Bow Tie
Brown Jacket with Light Blue Shirt & Blue Red Striped Bow Tie
  • A darker brown or a medium brown suit with a light blue shirt. It can be solid or it can have a subtle pattern and then add either a blue tie or a brown tie. It’s very calming and interestingly, you can put together entire outfits that consist of nothing but brown and blue yet they won’t scream “Look at me! I just combined two colors” as if you would combine maybe red and blue or white and blue.
Several jeans and jacket combinations worn by Sven Raphael Schneider
Several jeans and jacket combinations worn by Sven Raphael Schneider
  • Blue denim with brown shoes. I think you should never wear denim with black shoes because it’s simply too hard of a contrast between the formal black color and the traditional denim workwear.

Outfit Rundown

I have a medium brown suit, it’s herringbone and it’s kind of a 1940s silhouette, maybe 1930s. It’s a vintage suit that I found in London England. I really like it because it has that orange undertone and it’s lighter and paler in color than most brown suits that you would see. Otherwise, usually this kind of fabric would only be made into a jacket or slacks, not a suit. I’m pairing it with a striped shirt, it’s a wonderfully soft twill in light blue and dark blue. The tie I am wearing is a Cri de la Soie knit tie which has a nice structure and nice crunch to it. It is mottled with yarns in dark brown and light blue so from afar, it looks like a solid color but when you come up close, you can see they’re different.

Raphael in vintage herringbone suit in medium brown.
Raphael in vintage herringbone suit in medium brown.
Knit Tie in Mottled Silver Grey Silk

Fort Belvedere

Knit Tie in Mottled Silver Grey Silk

Light Blue Veronica Persica Boutonniere Buttonhole Flower

Fort Belvedere

Light Blue Veronica Persica Boutonniere Buttonhole Flower

Silk Pocket Square in Brown with Blue Paisley - Fort Belvedere

Fort Belvedere

Silk Pocket Square in Brown with Blue Paisley

Shadow Stripe Ribbed Socks Light Brown and Blue Fil d'Ecosse Cotton

Fort Belvedere

Shadow Stripe Ribbed Socks Light Brown and Blue Fil d'Ecosse Cotto

It’s all tied together by my dark brown light brown and an electric blue pocket square as well as my light pale blue boutonniere. On my feet, I’m wearing a pair of dark hand-polished reddish-brown whole-cut Oxfords that I tie together with shadow stripe socks in blue and brown. I am also wearing a dark brown belt with a silver buckle and because of that, I go with a silver ring with a lapis lazuli blue stone.

What are your favorite brown & blue combinations? Drop a comment below!

Reader Comments

  1. Great article! I dress in a very conservative manner, with most of my shirts being white, cream or blue,and my suits are either black or some shade of grey. I do posess some beautiful shirts that I have not worn for quite a long time. Some of them are silk shirts, made from fine mulberry and Mysore silks. However, I was hesitant to wear them because I didn’t want to dress wrong. In fact, thesedays I was wearing grey flannels paired with a black overcoat almost daily. After reading this article of yours, I will definitely try other combinations.

    1. Dear Arsch, I want to encourage new, to try new things. You don’t have to be revolutionary everyday but if you have other shirts, try them!

  2. Hey Sven-Raphael,
    first of all, thanks for the article – well done as ever (gotta love those fashion illustrations!). Anyway, I have a related question that’s been bugging me for a while. I own a dark brown corduroy jacket that IMO combines nicely with a tweed tattersall waistcoat (mustardish-yellow background – that also has a certain amount of subdued green fibers woven in – with dark red and brown checks). Together with an off-white shirt, a vintage red paisley wool tie and amber cufflinks that makes a lovely, festive, autumnal ensemble (again: in my opinion. If anyone has improvements, go ahead, I’m still a novice :) ). So far so good … problem is: I just don’t know what trousers to wear with that o0.
    For casual occasions, the jacket goes nicely with jeans and brown wingtips, alright, but I’ve tried several combos with the aforementioned one that I’ve read about in forums and none worked out: charcoal flannel, brown tweed, black corduroys, light grey pinstripe (ordered from bad to worse) … the worst was a suggestion in a local shop: curry colored jeans. I left that shop immediately.
    Personally, I looked for the right kind of light brown/sand colored corduroys, but can’t seem to find something satisfying.
    Do you have any recommendations?

    1. Marcus, I am picturing your ensemble right now and considering the textured jacket, patterned tie and vest, I would advice not to wear corduroy trousers unless it is a corduroy suit with matching pants.
      Considering, that you already have two patterns and colorful accent, I would choose either a camel – sand flannel or a chino in the same color. However, make sure there is enough of a contrast to the Tattersall vest. OF course, if you can send me a pictures, I can provide better advice. This is just based on what you wrote.

  3. Another one after my heart … In fact I was thinking along the similar lines for my next contribution. You know I relish experimenting … While navy suits provide a multitude of possibilities; making brown appear classy is the experts’ domain. Blue lends itself most generously to uplifting brown. Right shades of green and orange follow closely too.
    Well done and thank you

  4. And if I’m not intruding … Marcus may consider a light blue shirt which would complement medium grey worsted trousers rather handsomely the rest of your outfit

  5. Ahmed, of course you’re not intruding – your suggestion is most welcome! In the meantime, I had sent a picture of the ensemble to Raphael, who in turn suggested plain sand colored dress pants.
    I had thought of a light blue shirt, too, but dismissed the idea because I couldn’t match it… now I will try your combination and see if it works out.

    (ahm would “worsted” be “Kammgarngewebe” in German, and is it necessarily a twill? Just to know what to look for… )

  6. Thouroughly excellent article on how to mix and match complimentary colors, after reading it I now have the courage to take my medium brown birdseye pattern suit out of the closet and combine with so of my accessories.

    Thanks so much for a wonderful article look for to more insightful information!

  7. My clothing strategy with blues and browns is to either harmonize by bringing in the pastel equivalents of the primary colors, or not so subtly insert a color that will offer enough of a contrast to make it interesting. I try not to bring in disparate elements that will pull attention away from the overall look. But having something just a bit different will shift the emphasis and up the level of sophistication.

    Golds, coppers, rusts and grays are my go-to colors in the brown/blue domain.

    I try to always look effortless in dress, but not totally “matched.”

    1. I do have a number of vintage German MOP buttons in different sizes and colors. Please contact me via email (click contact on top of the page), so I can help you.

  8. I am a clinical and sports psychologist and frequent lecturer which commands me to dress stylishly. Besides, I always like to put my best foot forward wherever I go. I have intuitively embraced the combining of brown and blue together for it is such a comforting combination of colors that emit both cool and warm feelings at the same time. I always feel comfortable in this color combination and get frequent compliments when I pair brown and blue together.

  9. Call me a relic from the age of steam, but I was carefully groomed from my childhood (and the start of my bespoke adventure with clothes) that a blue suit and brown shoes represent a social gaffe. There are three generations below me now who tell me: “Turn off the valve and save the hot air. And while you’re at it, you sublimated fossil, stop wearing socks with your sandals.” I reply, “I will do so, if you promise never to leave the house without your head and toes covered.” Their riposte is, “I hope you remembered to have your cemetery plot installments paid up.” The battle continues. JASA

    1. Ha ha! Hilarious!

      JASA – don’t worry about pairing a blue suit and brown shoes. The real danger these days is pairing a blue suit and white trainers – some menswear sites actually suggest doing this in the name of “fashion”.

      The right blue suit with the right brown shoes looks fine. White trainers, no… :-)

  10. Nick Stellino really does brown & blue well. I’ve shamelessly copied many of his ” looks ” :)

  11. I just purchased 8 new sport coats in the recent past this year and a pair of off grey trousers and beige trousers so that I can step my game up and get that alpha male look.

  12. I must be a dinosaur, a Philistine, and a sartorial simpleton, but brown and blue to me, is a naughty naughty no no. Dress British and think Yiddish for me. I feel guilty posting an opposing opinion on this, my favorite style site, but a couple of Hail Brummels and two dollars in the dry cleaning box and I hope to be absolved of this heresy.

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