Colour basics for clothes
Most good outfits are neutrals plus at most one or two colours. Knowing which colours are neutral, how much of each to wear and how contrast works is enough for almost everything.
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Neutrals do most of the work
Black, white, grey, navy, beige, camel and brown pair with almost anything. Build most outfits from them and add colour on purpose.
Navy, olive and denim blue behave like neutrals in clothing even though they're colours.
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How much of each: 60/30/10
One colour for most of the outfit, a second for a single piece, and a third as a small accent. The rule keeps a bold pairing from looking loud.
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Contrast in depth
Light next to dark looks crisp and deliberate; two pieces of the same depth blur together.
If a pairing feels flat, change the lightness of one piece before changing its colour.
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The colour wheel, simply
Neighbours on the wheel (navy and teal) blend calmly. Opposites (blue and orange) are high contrast and work best when one is muted.
Two bright colours with no relationship compete; put a neutral between them.
Questions
Quick answers
How many colours should an outfit have?
Usually neutrals plus one or two colours. Three accents at once is hard to pull off.
What colours go with everything?
Navy, grey, white, black, beige and camel; denim blue and olive nearly as well.
Keep going
More basics
Verdicts and outfits come from published colour and dress-code rules, not paid placement; garment images are AI-generated illustrations of generic pieces. How we decide