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If You Want To Make Your Selvedge Sing, Some Colours Pair Better with Raw Denim than Others
There’s no conversation about style that doesn’t become, at some point, a conversation about colour. Finding colours that pair well together is the foundation of good dressing, and we want to help guide you towards colours that work well with dark selvedge jeans and away from ones that don’t.
The topic is a big one, so to keep things bite-sized, we’ve limited our scope to a discussion of solid colours (other than white) that pair either well or poorly with relatively new dark indigo selvedge—faded jeans are another matter entirely.
Dark indigo jeans work with a wide range of colours, but some marriages are happier than others. Choosing your mate carefully will lead to happier unions.
Great outfits might look as though they’ve been thrown together haphazardly, but this is rarely the case. The most stylish outfits have usually been thought out, with consideration given for how the colours in the outfit harmonize for a pleasing or striking overall effect.
This doesn’t have to mean that we agonize over every decision we make when dressing—only that we should be aware when we are playing to indigo’s strengths or highlighting its few weaknesses.
To be clear, the advice below is not ironclad. These are not rules to follow dogmatically. They are merely suggestions that might help you better understand why some combinations create fireworks and others fall flat.
We don’t always follow our own advice, and neither should you. At the end of the day, dress in whatever way and whatever colours you like.
The No-Brainer: Dark Indigo x Blue
The best outfits are a well-chosen and well-played chord of colour. Blue pieces harmonize brilliantly with each other, but they should be distinct notes. We want some separation and contrast rather than an outfit that plays only a single note.
Allow your love of indigo to extend to the full range of dark and light blues. This will give you far more options when building outfits with dark indigo selvedge at the base.
We can create a pleasing tonal combination with a light blue piece worn above dark indigo jeans. Dusty blue chambrays are a perfect choice, but so too are fully faded denim shirts or light blue tees.
The one-two combination scores points every time, but it can be a knockout punch when turned into a three-piece. Add a third (and distinct) shade of blue and you’ll have a deeply satisfying and resonant chord of colour.
If your love of blue runs as deep as ours, indulge yourself. Remember, though, to drink deeply from the well of indigo. The resulting outfits will be a rhapsody in blue.
Drink Deeply from the Well of Indigo
If your wardrobe is dominated by dark indigo tones, consider mixing things up with some other shades of blue.
Foolproof: Dark Indigo x Grey
Equally foolproof is grey. If you’re starting with dark indigo selvedge, you can’t go wrong with grey pieces above the waist. In virtually any shade, grey and indigo are boon companions.
Our favourite is heather grey (a mixture of multiple shades of grey). While the combination of the white tee and jeans is tough to top, heather grey basics, sweatshirts, and sweaters harmonize perfectly with dark selvedge.
To my eye, the combination of grey and indigo is more visually interesting than white and indigo. The camera loves it too. Stark white cotton reflects the light back at the lens, while heather grey, with its mixture of dark and light, absorbs it, drawing the eye closer.
Like blue, we can combine shades of grey with ease, especially when the shades are distinct from each other. If, for example, we mix a light grey tee with a darker grey cardigan or zip-up sweatshirt, the combination is at once mellow and electric.
Spend a Day with Grey
For seriously cozy combos, you can’t do much better than grey and blue. From dark to light grey, you just can’t go wrong.
The Natural Complement: Dark Indigo x Orange
It’s time to introduce our friend, the colour wheel (one of Isaac Newton’s countless contributions). Most selvedge jeans fall somewhere inside the two darkest blue pieces of the pie.
If we’re looking to create a pleasing contrast, we look across the wheel to find our colour’s complementary shade. Directly across from dark blue are the lighter shades of orange.
Essentially, the two opposite colours attract and complete each other. The combination is like fire and ice, with the coolness of dark blue balanced and augmented by the warmth of orange. If you’re looking for a satisfying and eye-catching contrast, look no further.
There’s no need to go straight to the brightest traffic-cone orange you can find. Keep things in the workwear spirit with rust or burnt-orange basics or knitwear or with duck (a natural companion for dark selvedge if there ever was one).
Orange won’t work with every skin tone (it tends to prefer skin with warmer undertones), so, if you find orange clashing with your skin, that’s usually a sign that you should be working with more neutral colours.
Orange You Glad to See Me?
The natural complement for dark indigo selvedge, orange pieces add a vibrant touch to selvedge-based looks. Here are some of our favourites.
Stand and Salute: Dark Indigo x Khaki
Khaki, ranging from light and creamy shades through yellows and light browns, pairs brilliantly with dark blue selvedge. It gives us an opportunity to sample from the nearly bottomless pool of military-inspired pieces, and, no matter what shade of khaki you choose, you’ll always be adding eye-catching contrast to your outfits.
If the creamier khaki tones wash you out, don’t give up on the shade entirely. It might work better on you in the summer when you have a bit of a tan. If not, try something in a darker shade of khaki with stronger yellow or brown tones.
Remember as well that khaki trousers offer you an excellent opportunity to wear selvedge denim shirts and jackets without disappearing into an undifferentiated sea of blue. The pairing works exceptionally well no matter how it’s combined.
Some of Our Favourite Khaiki Pieces
There’s no better way to fuse the worlds of workwear and the military than with the combination of jeans and khaki pieces.
Other Colours to Combine with Dark Indigo
If you’re looking to introduce more colours to your wardrobe, there are a few more colours that should be either at or near the top of your list: brown, red, pink, and yellow.
As any boot lover will tell you, brown and blue are born for each other. Particularly when our boots are a rich shade of brown, a brown shirt or jacket can tie an outfit together brilliantly. We’re particularly fond of corduroy and roughout suede, but brown knitwear is just as good.
Red provides nearly as rich and vibrant a contrast with blue as orange does. Like orange, red can be problematic for some complexions, but it’s usually just a matter of finding the right red tone for you. If scorching-hot red (e.g., the one in buffalo plaid) doesn’t work for you, try a creamier shade.
Hot pink might be too adventurous for you, but don’t throw the pink baby out with the bathwater. Soft shades of pink complement the dark blues of selvedge perfectly. If you’ve had your fill of white button-ups, try adding a pink oxford into your rotation.
Finally, if you have dark skin, you’re in luck. Yellow, which tends to disagree with pale complexions, looks spectacular next to darker skin tones. If bright yellow disagrees with you, more muted yellows (closer to Grey Poupon than French’s) might be a better choice.
Brighten Things Up
A splash of colour can turn sombre selvedge looks into stylish ensembles in an instant. Experiment with some colours you’ve never tried before. You might surprise yourself.
Colours to Avoid with Dark Indigo Jeans
Before we go any further, we want to say again that the advice we offer here is based on our opinion. In fact, the word our is something of a stretch. Thomas and I agree on most things, but, when it comes to colour, we part ways in some areas.
Again, if you enjoy wearing these colours together, and if you feel they look good together, by all means, wear whatever makes you feel good. Style should be deeply personal, and, especially in the realm of rebel style, rules are meant to be flaunted.
Remember as well that we are strictly talking about bright and factory-fresh colours. Muted tones and faded selvedge are far more gregarious than vivid tones and fresh raw jeans.
Let’s take a look at a simplified version of the colour wheel—one with only the primary colours (red, blue, and yellow) and the secondary colours (orange, magenta, and green), which result when we mix the primary colours together.
When looking for eye-pleasing contrasts, we need to look across the wheel. If we look at adjacent sections of the pie, the colours are related, but the relation is too close. Familiarity breeds contempt, not harmony.
Adjacent combinations are fighting cousins. If you find the two examples below as garish as we do, you should be wary about combining dark indigo with either green or purple.
Fighting Cousins: Dark Indigo x Green
It’s a longstanding rule in transitional menswear that “Blue and green should never be seen without a colour between.” We can wear the fighting cousins in the same outfit, but not without something that keeps them at arm’s length.
There are plenty of style aficionados who cast this rule over their shoulder and into the sea—part of a broader tendency to discard rules of any kind in favour of more experimental approaches—but I’m not one of them. I can’t see blue and green together without shuddering.
I’ve got a heavyweight authority in my corner. German author Johann Goethe, whose Theory of Colours might be the best philosophical treatise on colour, called the combination of blue and green “repulsive”. His advice to avoid the “fool’s colours” was for painters, but it’s good advice for everybody.
The brighter the shades of green and blue, the more issues I’ve found when trying to combine them. Muted greens like olive, sage, and moss can work well with dark indigo jeans, but the marriage is really only a happy one when the denim has been fully faded, as below.
If you’ve found difficulty finding a perfect complement for your M-65, MA-1, green flannels, or knitwear, you’ll find immediate success if you move away from dark blue jeans and towards khakis, black denim, duck canvas, or corduroy.
Before you lob any hate mail in our direction, try pairing your favourite green pieces with something other than blue. Be honest with yourself. Isn’t that better?
With or Without Blue
Whether you buck our advice and pair it with blue pieces or choose a different (and better) colour to pair it with, green belongs in every wardrobe.
Doom and Gloom: Dark Indigo x Black
Black has long been regarded as a problematic companion for dark blue. They say that opposites attract, and black and dark blue are the opposite of opposites. Like the fighting cousins, they are too alike to get on well.
Placed beside each other, the result is kind of an indistinct haze of dark colour, with neither blue nor black able to shine in its own right. Neither colour is distinct, and both seem to steal the other’s light.
With a colour between them, black and blue can get along well enough, but it doesn’t seem to help the colours harmonize at all. Even with a friendly mediator like white, the two colours can’t quite seem to see eye to eye.
They say that black goes with everything, but nothing goes so well with black as black. Dramatic and moody, all-black looks are monochromatic dressing at its absolute best.
It’s good to keep this in mind if you’re in the market for a leather jacket. Black is iconic, but, if all of your selvedge is blue, brown leather will be a better choice. If your heart is set on black, grab a pair of black jeans while you’re at it.
The story begins to change when we’ve put a few miles on our pieces (either black or blue ones). Contrasts or all-over fades make black and blue pieces more compatible.
A black tee or leather jacket over a nicely faded pair of indigo selvedge works well (though black jeans, khakis, or fatigues would be an improvement).
Rather than trying to make blue and black pieces go with everything, keep some pieces aside for black-based looks and others for blue-based ones. This kind of siloed approach will help you get off on the right foot when building outfits.
Fade to Black
Don’t let our advice scare you off of black. It’s one of the most versatile colours out there, and everybody should have at least a few black pieces in their collection.
Got More Questions?
If you have other questions about how to wear and style selvedge denim, we have answers to some of the most frequently asked questions in the selvedge scene. You’ll find them in our Selvedge Style FAQ.
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The post The Best and Worst Colours to Wear With Dark Blue Jeans appeared first on Denimhunters.
DENIM and PATCHES sourced this post originally published on this site