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After the Navy Blazer: My theory on the next most useful color

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Spex

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I've read some threads where the question of which sport coat color is the most versatile, after acquiring the oft-mentioned navy blazer. There never seems to be any agreement.

The way I think of it is this - the three most useful suit colors, and hence jacket and trouser colors, may be navy, grey and brown. All gentlemen should own items in these colors.

A navy blazer goes well with grey trousers of most shades, and I feel also with many shades of brown.

The grey herringbone tweed jacket is often stated as the next jacket to purchase, but I don't know that it's ideal with brown trousers (IMHO). Odd navy trouser are also sometimes considered, by some, as less then useful (I don't necessarily agree and own a few pairs, but stay with me here).

So what goes with both grey and brown, if those are the trousers you might wear? I thought back to my art school education and remembered RGB - red, green, blue, as one of the color theories. Perhaps there would be something here? Would red and green perhaps work as versatile colors?

Considering a dark, forest green...I can imagine this working with both brown of all shades, as well as grey of most shades. The trick would be to find a sport coat that doesn't make you look like you just won the Augusta Masters or are a Batman arch-villain. I quite like this Boglioli (I don't like the price, however!)

Red in it's purest form is much too flashy, inspiring feelings of passion or hatred! However, burgundy goes well with grey, blue and I think many shades of brown. This particular model is of a color I think would work well (I can't speak for the quality of the item, otherwise):
https://www.hughandcrye.com/products/mccomb-cranberry

The problem with both of these is that green and red are not very traditional shades for items such as jackets and trousers, although they are fantastic for ties and socks. They are not that common and may cause you to stand out as "dandified"

What do you all think? What is the next sportcoat to get after the navy blazer? Any thoughts on my particular theory on colour?
 
#2 ·
Brown can actually be far trickier than you might believe. Most American Caucasian men have dark hair (possibly a result of the heavy German influence in the early Colonies) and that indicates that one should avoid brown except for the very darkest shades. My choice for the third color of trousers is olive rather than any sort of brown and it works beautifully with grey herringbone. So your question isn't what your next color sport coat should be but what trio of trousers you should stock up on. Thrift out the brown, get some olive and purchase a grey herringbone. And for your third coat, a forest green or olive herringbone tweed is a perfect fit.
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
Oldsarge said:
So your question isn't what your next color sport coat should be but what trio of trousers you should stock up on. Thrift out the brown, get some olive and purchase a grey herringbone.
Click to expand...
Very interesting... I think you are onto something Sarge. I do have a pair of olive green trousers that do pair up well with everything...including brown!

I suppose it may be the ubiquity of brown that made me consider it as the third choice. I do enjoy it as a color option for trousers as well as odd jackets and can look sharp, however I also feel that it has fallen out of favor somewhat.

Here is an interesting, yet somewhat disheartening, fact regarding brown found on Wikipedia:

"In Europe and the United States, it is the color most often associated with plainness, humility, the rustic, and poverty. It is also, according to public opinion surveys, the least favorite color of the public."
 
#5 ·
Based on what is in my closet, here goes.

For Jackets / Blazers

1)Navy
2) Gray Herringbone
3) Brown Tweed (guess this depends on where you live - as Tweed in say Texas doesn't make a ton of sense.
4) Medium Gray Plaid / Check

As for slacks:
1) Gray Flannel
2)Charcoal Gray
3) Navy
4) Olive
5) Tan
6)Chocolate
 
#6 ·
Spex said:
The problem with both of these is that green and red are not very traditional shades for items such as jackets and trousers, ..... They are not that common and may cause you to stand out as "dandified"
Click to expand...
Ay, there's the rub. Of course, certain color combinations are aesthetically pleasing. Everyone painting their home can find color palates chosen by professionals but here tradition places some limits. When is last time anyone walked into a purple dining room? Women's fashion, when it comes to color, is not limited by tradition, or if it is the limitations are minimal. By and large they can use any and every color as they please.

)n the other hand, Classic Anglo-American men's clothing is not about fashion, it is about style, the product of tradition. Yes, style changes over time but the changes are gradual, the world is not, as it is for women, turned upside down every season. Just as the basic business suit has been with us for a long time, the same is true of color combinations. When it comes to classic Anglo-American men's wear new color combinations come about gradually. It took decades for brown shoes to gain acceptance for wear with business suits and even now there are places they still are unwelcome.

Burgundy and forest green cords are acceptable with certain sportcoats, Green and red pants are acceptable as GTH casual summer pants but not outside this limited application. Should it be this way? The answer does not matter, what is, is. Wearing green or red at the wrong time will, if your lucky, have people think of you as a dandy. More likely they will think of you as eccentric.

While not applicable to pants and jackets your efforts have not been in vain. For the most part, ties and pocket squares are not subject to color combination limits. Paul Stuart is known for its shirt, tie, pocket square color combinations. https://www.paulstuart.com/ To be able to come up with original and aesthetically pleasing combinations, while using traditional tailored clothing as a backdrop is the mark of a master dresser.

Yes, a grey herringbone jacket, yes.
 
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Discussion starter · #7 ·
mrkleen, that's a solid line up. One thing I do realize is that there does not need to be such an item that goes with absolutely everything. Instead, owning a variety of items that each goes with a few things will make for a useful and versatile wardrobe.

I do own a brown herringbone patterned jacket that I quite like. Concerning brown and grey, though, I feel that they both go well with ties of every color of the rainbow, but I do not think that they often go well with each other (except for deep chocolate brown with very light grey, which I think looks smashing). Perhaps this has something to do with their vagueness of hue, as grey is colorless while brown is a combination of colors. I'm not sure...

Does anyone else have an opinion on the pairing of grey and brown? The conversation does sometimes come up in the context of brown shoes with a grey suit.
 
#8 ·
Gray and brown look fine together. Not all shades, of course, but, I mean, rocks and dirt, right?

Note that I have a similar riposte for those who argue against blue and green together.

That said, if I were to replace everything in my wardrobe tomorrow, I'd buy a dark brown coat, maybe in a donegal tweed, before I'd buy a gray herringbone -- with navy as #1, and a gray herringbone as #3.
 
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#9 ·
Don't know how well you can see them off the fabric cards, but here are the two sport coats I recently ordered, along with slacks in shades of blue and taupe....the first two are coats and then one of the slacks.

Image


Image


Image


Hope this helps!
 
#10 ·
The jackets are quite nice. The taupe pants are good but if you can, cancel the blue, and get a light or mid grey eg. Cambridge grey. Light and mid tone greys are the most versatile pants extant. Actually, classic Anglo-American men's clothing had very little use for blue pants.
 
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#11 ·
Spex said:
mrkleen, that's a solid line up. One thing I do realize is that there does not need to be such an item that goes with absolutely everything. Instead, owning a variety of items that each goes with a few things will make for a useful and versatile wardrobe.

I do own a brown herringbone patterned jacket that I quite like. Concerning brown and grey, though, I feel that they both go well with ties of every color of the rainbow, but I do not think that they often go well with each other (except for deep chocolate brown with very light grey, which I think looks smashing). Perhaps this has something to do with their vagueness of hue, as grey is colorless while brown is a combination of colors. I'm not sure...

Does anyone else have an opinion on the pairing of grey and brown? The conversation does sometimes come up in the context of brown shoes with a grey suit.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I feel that anything from medium brown on up to chocolate, matches any shade of medium to darker gray perfectly. Tan and light gray, not so much - but one of my favorite pairing is Navy Blazer, Charcoal Trousers, Chocolate brown shoes and belt, navy pencil stripe shirt with Brown and blue medallion tie.
 
#12 · (Edited)
arkirshner said:
Ay, there's the rub. Of course, certain color combinations are aesthetically pleasing. Everyone painting their home can find color palates chosen by professionals but here tradition places some limits. When is last time anyone walked into a purple dining room? Women's fashion, when it comes to color, is not limited by tradition, or if it is the limitations are minimal. By and large they can use any and every color as they please.

)n the other hand, Classic Anglo-American men's clothing is not about fashion, it is about style, the product of tradition. Yes, style changes over time but the changes are gradual, the world is not, as it is for women, turned upside down every season. Just as the basic business suit has been with us for a long time, the same is true of color combinations. When it comes to classic Anglo-American men's wear new color combinations come about gradually. It took decades for brown shoes to gain acceptance for wear with business suits and even now there are places they still are unwelcome.

Burgundy and forest green cords are acceptable with certain sportcoats, Green and red pants are acceptable as GTH casual summer pants but not outside this limited application. Should it be this way? The answer does not matter, what is, is. Wearing green or red at the wrong time will, if your lucky, have people think of you as a dandy. More likely they will think of you as eccentric.

While not applicable to pants and jackets your efforts have not been in vain. For the most part, ties and pocket squares are not subject to color combination limits. Paul Stuart is known for its shirt, tie, pocket square color combinations. https://www.paulstuart.com/ To be able to come up with original and aesthetically pleasing combinations, while using traditional tailored clothing as a backdrop is the mark of a master dresser.

Yes, a grey herringbone jacket, yes.
Click to expand...
As far as the green blazer goes, I can recall one evening not long before I retired I was exiting the elevator in the office building while wearing my green blazer when a man accosted me with, "Do you work here?" It soon became apparent he had thought I was a security guard of some sort! Being thought of as a dandy would have been vastly preferable...or even an eccentric for that matter.

Although I cannot articulate a coherent aesthetic rationale for my feeling, I nonetheless have a very strong visceral aversion to gray odd jackets. I have some 20 sport coats and blazers, and not one of them is gray, nor will any future acquisitions be that color.
 
#13 ·
With the exception of very dark chocolate, brown is best worn by men with fair complexions and light colored hair. The DOW showed this to great effect. For one such as myself with olive skin, iron grey hair (such of it as still exists) and blue eyes browns do less well. Do I own them anyway? Yup. But I own them in sportcoats and when I'm wearing them I make sure that something in the grey/blue/burgundy/olive is next to my face and neck. It's what's next to our skin that's most important but the next layer out is not to be dismissed.
 
#16 ·
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#18 ·
arkirshner said:
The jackets are quite nice. The taupe pants are good but if you can, cancel the blue, and get a light or mid grey eg. Cambridge grey. Light and mid tone greys are the most versatile pants extant. Actually, classic Anglo-American men's clothing had very little use for blue pants.
Click to expand...
This was one of the pairs of pants. I had a hard time telling from the fabric card, but I ordered them hoping that they'd be slightly less than the deep charcoal I already have. Is this what you were recommending?

Image
 
#19 · (Edited)
Spex said:
I've read some threads where the question of which sport coat color is the most versatile, after acquiring the oft-mentioned navy blazer. There never seems to be any agreement.

The way I think of it is this - the three most useful suit colors, and hence jacket and trouser colors, may be navy, grey and brown. All gentlemen should own items in these colors.

A navy blazer goes well with grey trousers of most shades, and I feel also with many shades of brown.

The grey herringbone tweed jacket is often stated as the next jacket to purchase, but I don't know that it's ideal with brown trousers (IMHO). Odd navy trouser are also sometimes considered, by some, as less then useful (I don't necessarily agree and own a few pairs, but stay with me here).

So what goes with both grey and brown, if those are the trousers you might wear? I thought back to my art school education and remembered RGB - red, green, blue, as one of the color theories. Perhaps there would be something here? Would red and green perhaps work as versatile colors?

Considering a dark, forest green...I can imagine this working with both brown of all shades, as well as grey of most shades. The trick would be to find a sport coat that doesn't make you look like you just won the Augusta Masters or are a Batman arch-villain. I quite like this Boglioli (I don't like the price, however!)

Red in it's purest form is much too flashy, inspiring feelings of passion or hatred! However, burgundy goes well with grey, blue and I think many shades of brown. This particular model is of a color I think would work well (I can't speak for the quality of the item, otherwise):
https://www.hughandcrye.com/products/mccomb-cranberry

The problem with both of these is that green and red are not very traditional shades for items such as jackets and trousers, although they are fantastic for ties and socks. They are not that common and may cause you to stand out as "dandified"

What do you all think? What is the next sportcoat to get after the navy blazer? Any thoughts on my particular theory on colour?
Click to expand...
After Navy, I go with patterned sport coats, except for cashmere or camel hair. Brown was mentioned as begin difficult, but if you have a brown plaid, the colors will work with more, and I think patterned sport coats look better than solids.
 
#20 ·
JLibourel said:
Although I cannot articulate a coherent aesthetic rationale for my feeling, I nonetheless have a very strong visceral aversion to gray odd jackets. I have some 20 sport coats and blazers, and not one of them is gray, nor will any future acquisitions be that color.
Click to expand...
I know how you feel. I have one (tweed in herringbone, and older than me!) and I rarely feel my best while wearing it. I much prefer browns over gray trousers.

But the color and fabric doesn't show wrinkles or stains much, making it good for shoveling snow, long winter roadtrips or outdoors shooting events, so I've kept it.
 
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Spex
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