Brown Suits and Other Summer Colours

While your navy and charcoal suits will always be your wardrobe staples, a seasoned professional knows that a well-dressed gentleman or lady will bring out the seasons in their wardrobe.

The question with a seasonal wardrobe, however, emerges with matching colours which are perhaps more complex than “charcoal goes with everything.” For those wanting to wear their summer wardrobe yet concerned with colour combinations, here are some basic pointers.

Brown Suit: Brown is the colour of expertise, wisdom and trust- “UPS: Trust Brown.” Brown is the colour of University Professors, savvy yet understated financial advisors and CFO’s and others in positions of operational seniority. It’s also a great colour for a younger executive to look older in.

One important rule with brown, is that a white shirt behind the canvas of a brown suit isn’t the most pleasing as it washes out the nature of the suit. Brown goes well with earthy colours: taupe, cream, mauve, lilac, olive, lavender and blue. keep your shirt lighter in tone than the suit, and you have hit a home run. For a striking no-tie look, try brown with a solid black shirt at night time.

A brown stripe suit also makes a bold statement. For a mix of safe and powerful, perhaps nothing sets the tone for the person in charge of the room in this bold statement. Maybe not the best choice when meeting with your boss, though it’s a sure home run when you ARE the boss.

Another interesting choice for summer is an earthly olive suit. This suit is harder to wear than brown because it’s an antiquated look and one preferred by a noticeably older clientele. A more updated version would be grey-taupe, which works beautifully in a subtle prince of wales pattern for an updated mix. Because of the educated look of brown, keeping your shirts to classic solids or miniature stripe will keep the look professional and timeless.

Here are your grades for wearing a Brown Suit in various combos:

Brown Suit + White Shirt = F

Brown Suit + Blue Shirt = B+

Brown Suit + Taupe Shirt = A+

Brown Suit + light Lilac/light Lavender = A+

Brown Suit + Black Shirt – Tie = A