Wondering what are your neutrals and how to use them in your wardrobe?

This article has all the answers!

Going neutral in your everyday looks is a great way to take your style to new heights.

Whether you’re dressing up for formal occasions or dressing down for more casual days, you can rely on neutrals to create outfits that have an impact without being overpowering.

With the way they exude versatility, sophistication, and timeless appeal, it’s no surprise that neutrals continue to permeate runways as well as thousands of closets worldwide.

Despite being generally muted, neutral aesthetics are far from being a snoozefest.

With some styling tricks, it’s possible to put together fashion-forward outfits in a wide range of shades—from stark black and white to soft beige and cream.

To guide you in dressing with this unique palette, here are some tips on how to flaunt your style in neutral shades.

Start with the Basics

If you’re new to neutrals, you may want to start with the pieces you frequently wear. You can start with tops, skirts, or trousers that have the neutral shades you prefer.

You may also want to invest in basic pieces such as women’s high-quality tights that are easy to pair with neutral-toned pieces, especially short dresses, and skirts.

A good idea would be to opt for tights that match your skin tone and would look cohesive with your outfit of choice, but you can also be bold and wear darker-colored pairs that accentuate your ensemble.

Overall, basic pieces are a great place to start if you want to start mixing and matching neutral-colored elements.

Pair Colors With Your Skin Tone

To ensure that your outfit complements your features, you need to wear the right shades for your skin tone.

Some neutral shades are close to skin colors, so you need to choose your neutrals carefully to avoid looking washed out.

If you have pale skin, you may need to avoid similarly light shades such as alabaster, ivory, or eggshell.

Instead, you can opt for richer tones such as slate gray, khaki, camel, or sand. 

If your skin tone falls under shades of brown, you may want to go for black, gray, or earthy colors such as beige, cream, and sand.

For darker skin tones, shades such as navy, dusty pink, white, black, and charcoal gray would work best.

Neutrals may not be known for adding pops of color, but they can look appealing when paired with the appropriate skin tones.

Group Similar Tones Together

Neutral outfits generally look great when they fall under the same family of colors.

With monochromes and column dressing currently on trend, you’ll look fresh and stylish even if you’re wearing a single tone or color from head to toe.

To achieve this effect, you can refer to the color wheel for analogous hues that make a great tonal outfit.

Simply put, analogous colors are those that sit beside each other on the color wheel.

These colors are similar in tone, hence the term “tonal outfit.”

Colors such as tan, sand, and beige, for example, have less delineation between them and thus wouldn’t clash when combined into a single outfit.

To elevate your ensemble, you can mix different textures together to add movement and layers.

You can keep your textures all light or all heavy, but you can also combine fabrics together—for example, silk with denim and leather.

This adds “oomph” to your ensemble, especially if you’re dressing for different seasons. 

Wear Complementary Colors

Another way to make neutrals work for your outfit is by wearing contrasting or complementary colors.

Although the core purpose of neutrals is to tone your outfit down, you can still add a bit of edge by wearing colors that are opposite each other in the color wheel.

For instance, you can pair white and ivory with shades of olive, black, and nude. Tones of brown and rust orange complement shades like navy blue and cobalt.

Unlike tonal outfits, contrasting outfits tend to pop as each shade is clearly defined. This can make your outfit look sharp, clean, and effortlessly cool.

Accentuate with Statement Pieces

Because neutral outfits are not immediately eye-catching, your ensemble could look a bit incomplete without extra details.

It might help to wear statement pieces, such as leopard-print shoes, gold hoop earrings, large sunglasses, or a bright-colored bag.

Neutrals already mellow you down, so it would be nice to add some spice to your outfit with one-of-a-kind accessories.

Final Word: Neutrals Are Anything but Boring!

For the most part, neutrals allow you to be minimal and polished in your outfit choices without looking too bland or repetitive.

Styling neutral outfits doesn’t even have to be difficult, as long as you know the pieces that work with your features and the muted shades complement your skin tone.

Ultimately, neutral outfits provide an interesting take on fashion with how they say a lot with a few well-appointed hues.

But most importantly, they provide room for you to experiment with the hues, textures, and designs that you believe would suit your features best.