How to Match Clothes & Colors for Guys: The Power of Neutral Colors

I'm going to give you the easiest way to create outfits, and that is through the use of neutrals.

Most men incorrectly assume their style problems will be solved through the use of addition. More clothing, more patterns, and most of all, more color. In reality, style problems are, more often than not, solved by subtraction.

Instead of using color, you should be subtracting color. You should be using colors that are not really colors at all... neutrals.

Let me explain a bit further. Take a look at the color wheel below. Think about what you don't see.

If you guessed correctly, you would have said Black, Gray, and White. For those of you who are really observant, you also would have noticed Brown isn't in the mix there, either.

The colors that we don't see on the color wheel are called Neutrals.

I have seen many, many influencers, bloggers, stylists, etc., confuse what neutrals actually are. In fact, it was hard searching for images for this because most photos include colors that are not truly neutral.

So, to be clear, Neutrals are the things that you do not see on the color wheel, which are the carrying shades of Black, White, Gray, and Brown.

So why are neutrals important?

Because they're non-combative.

They're not actually "colors" in the traditional way we would think about them (what is on the color wheel). This ensures they play nice with the colors that are on the color wheel.

Pairing any color up there on the color wheel with a neutral will result in an easy time pairing because the color is not competing with anything. You don't need to worry about if that colors "goes" with the other color or not. The neutral has no skin in the game. It's friends with everyone.

Maybe you're skeptical. I get that. Most guys don't believe that it's that easy.

It is.

For a fun little exercise, go to Google and type in "Men's Style" or something similar to fact-check this. If you don't feel like taking a field trip, I've done the work for you below.

This is the first page of results, starting with number one. Every single guy but one employs the use of neutrals in the outfit.

Look, and you'll see Black, White, Gray, or Brown. Sometimes a lot, sometimes a little, but it's there.

Again, neutrals act like negative space. They provide a canvas for you to paint with other colors on. Think about the background of the email you're reading right now. It's white so it doesn't clash with anything here on the page.

So, the moral of the story, use neutrals to pair colors.

Let's take it a step further, so you really get this handled.

We have two types of neutrals, Grayscale Neutrals and Brown Neutrals.

On the left, we have our Gray neutrals (Think black, white, light gray, dark gray, etc.)

On the right, we have our Brown Neutrals. (Think dark brown, tan, oat milk, etc.)

You should be aiming to pair neutrals colors together from the same circle.

This is sort of why people say you can't pair black and brown. While not technically correct, it makes life easier to pair within each circle.

You'll notice that things tend to look a bit more coordinated if you wear either Brown Neutrals or Gray Neutrals together. You'll see even on the pants on the gentleman on the left, while they appear almost gray, they're actually a light brown.

So, to sum it up, we know neutrals are not colors we find on the color wheel, so they pair effortlessly with ones that are, as they don't compete with one another.

And we also know that when we use neutrals, we should be using them from either one side or the other - browns with browns and grays with grays.

This is the science of pairing colors.

Looking for personalized help improving your style? Book a call with me here.

x Patrick