THE SECRET TO GREAT COLOR PAIRING FOR CLOTHING

As a menswear stylist, guys come to me and tell me they have issues pairing clothing together.

They think there’s some magic formula they’re not clued into or some inherent sense of aesthetics they don’t have. No one is born with a supernatural ability like this; fortunately, it can be learned.

Today, I want to show you one of the easiest ways to pair things together.

A universal way to bring your clothing items together without thinking about it.

We’re going to let nature do the work.

Little do you know that the great outdoors has already done all the color pairing for you; we’re just going to steal it.

If you look at some of the photographs below taken from different scenes in nature, you’ll notice a wide array of colors.

What you’ll also notice is that these colors all look harmonious together in each square. Nothing in these scenes looks "off" or "out of place." Everything in each square naturally flows together, each color working in unity with the others.

It’s only when we would start to mush the colors from all these squares together that you’d run into issues with these colors pairing.

However, this is what guys do with their outfits all the time - simply just mashing colors together and crossing their fingers.

Instead, you should simply take the concepts of nature and work them into your clothing.

God is a pretty good designer, which means you don’t have to be; the work is already done.

Let's walk through an example.

Start with a base color and consider what you’d see in nature surrounding it. For example, this is my current desktop background:

Let’s see if we can pull some of those colors together to create an outfit. Notice the medium and darker greens, different browns, and blues. Let’s choose one base color and then build the other ones surrounding it.

I own a pair of olive chinos, so let’s start there and use those as our base.

Then, I’ll pair the other colors in the scene around there, thinking about what I own in the colors I can see in that photo.

For some easy inspiration, I’ll search Google to help out with some outfits and look for those.

It took me literally less than ten seconds to find these looks. Shocking how it's all the colors from that photo, eh?

This is the "magic" of using nature. What looks like skill is simply drawing on what we know already works. If it's true that nature pairs together, then it's true that your clothing would too, if you're following the same system.

Now, there are colors that will look good on you and ones that will look bad on you, and it should be your goal only to wear and pair the stuff that makes you look good.

Color Analysis is one of the many things I do for clients when they work with me during the virtual style consultation program.

This helps determine the best colors for you based on your eye, skin, and hair color. It’s a cheat code to figure out what works for you and can save you hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars throughout time.

For the sake of this exercise, let’s not get too deep. Simply focus on finding color combinations you see in nature and using them in your clothing.

At the very least, you'll have an easier time pairing your clothing than 99% of guys.

So, the next time you’re stuck trying to pair something, take a walk outside, and you’ll realize that the work has already been done for you.

Hope that helps.

x Patrick

P.S. If you want help improving your own style and grooming and getting set up with a new wardrobe of stuff you love that looks incredible on you, I'd be happy to see if I can help. You can apply for a call with me one-on-one, where you can learn more. See you there.