Yes, I’m hopeless when it comes to dressing myself, and will no doubt soon be asked to turn in my straight-girl membership card. 
Now, since that’s out of the way: Can I wear a black sweater with brown slacks? If so, do I wear black shoes or brown shoes?
Well it depends on the shade of brown - if it’s a light, camel sort of color, go for it. If it’s a dark, chocolaty sort of brown, HELLS NO!!! It will look like you got dressed in the dark.
If the pants are lightish, and the shoes are the same color as the pants, wear the brown. If the pants are lightish, but the shoes are a darkish brown, wear the black.
I wouldn’t wear a black sweater with brown pants unless i was homeless. I’d wear the black sweater with with black, gray, red, green or purple pants (or skirt) but not with brown.
I’d wear the brown pants with a top that’s white, cream, beige, yellow, brown or green.
Do you have a pair of well-tailored black pants? Every woman should have a pair; they’re a wardrobe staple. Gray pants are another useful garment to have because a medium shade of gray goes with any color. The same goes for a nice pair of khakis.
In almost every case, black on brown should be avoided. As noted by Alice above there can be possible exceptions.
I’d suggest the black sweater and another color pants like the grey, red etc suggestions Sonia gave along with the black shoes or shoes that go with the pants you select.
Wow, I’m so glad that I asked! :eek:
The slacks are, indeed, dark brown. And I do have a pair of nice dress black pants, but I haven’t worn the brown ones yet (as you might have guessed from my question) and I’d like to – plus this is for tomorrow, and I just wore black-on-black yesterday.
Assuming that I can find something in my closet to wear with the brown pants (thanks for the suggestions, Sonia Montdore!), is it ok to wear brown shoes of a similar shade?
Yah - dark brown pant with a black sweater will look like you dressed with the lights off.
If the shoes are a similar shade to the pants, wear brown. If the shoes are lighter, (God, I can’t believe I’m about to type this) wear black.
FWIW, I think that red looks lovely with dark brown. Pale blue, green or turquoise also look nice.
We’re glad you asked too! Can’t have our own Misnomer out there commiting fashion faux paus. 
Shoes of a similar shade to the pants or top should work fine in most cases.
Last question (I think)! Sonia mentioned wearing a brown top with the brown pants, and I have a nice brown sweater that’s a smiliar shade to the pants, and in turn both are nearly the same color as the shoes: is monochrome a bad thing? Is it ok to wear the same shade of brown from head to toe? The sweater has some button detail at the neck, so I won’t be wearing a necklace, which means there will be nothing to break up the brown until my face (not that it’s that much brown – I’m only 5’3 grin).
Thanks again for your help, alice_in_wonderland and Antinor01. 
For the past 5 years I’ve worked at a company with no dress code at all – jeans and a t-shirt are always ok. I’m about to start a job where the code seems to be business casual, and I happen to be going to a “fancy” breakfast tomorrow, so suddenly I’m like “wait, how do I dress myself?!” (our personnel manager has repeatedly reminded those of us who are attending the breakfast that the dress is business; I think he’s worried that we’ll all show up in ripped jeans or something grin).
I’ve only just started to do some shopping for the new job, and that’s how I got the brown pants (I already had the brown shoes from a holiday party outfit; luckily, they’re not too fancy to be worn with the slacks). Until now I’ve never worn anything but black pants or jeans, so I’m figuring out how to coordinate with brown. I have somewhat limited colors in tops, especially business-appropriate tops, typically just black or brown – but my friend and I plan to remedy that with a trip to an outlet mall after the holidays.
I think monochromatic is fine. Perhaps you could add a scarf or something to break it up - I sometimes do monochromatic but I tend to make one item solid and one patterened (eg - brown pants, brown print sweater or something).
You could always consider a scarf of some kind if you have something that would look ok. All brown should be fine though, especially since at a breakfast meeting you’re likely to be sitting most of the time.
Heh, we have to quit meeting like this.
All-the-same-shade-of-brown might make you look like a UPS gal – do you have anything in cream or tan?
Fashion disaster checking in here. I really did not expect that answer. I mean, I knew you couldn’t just willy-nilly throw black and brown together but I often wear a black turtle neck with a pair of milk chocolatey pants (as opposed to a really dark chocolatey shade) I throw on a black belt, black leather shoes, black leather jacket and I waltz out the door thinking I’m hot. So, people are really laughing at me behind my back?
Now, I wouldn’t throw the same color scheme in reverse though. Black pants and everything else brown. That just seems yuck.
I miss the years I wore nothing but black in what my Mom called my “Johnny Cash Phase.” Things were so much simpler then.
Well, they’re probably not laughing at you, but it kind of sounds like a drab outfit (no offense).
No offense taken. I have come to terms that I am a lesson to others of how not to dress. I do dress quite drab lately. I actually started looking nice during the summer but I quit smoking so I have twenty extra pounds to try and hide.
Sorry, no scarves here – I’m not the scarf-wearing type.
Nothing that isn’t a t-shirt. It’s only been in the past year that I’ve started wearing lighter-colored tops (I’m fat with big boobs, and have it burned into my brain that I should only wear dark colors on top), and my fall/winter business wardrobe just isn’t there yet. For tomorrow, I’ll have to risk the UPS look.
Unless you’re wearing brown shorts, you won’t look like a UPS gal.
Good fashion advice Alice!
Ditto what everyone else said- I wouldn’t wear black & brown unless it was a tweed sweater with black in it.
I do like tan and black together but only if it’s the right shade of tan.
http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/catalog/prod.jhtml?itemId=prod34020031&parentId=cat12110756&masterId=cat10170731&index=9&cmCat=cat000000cat000001cat000111cat10170731cat12110756
I rarely wear black and if I do it’s just pants. I look horrible in black, so my dark neutrals are dark brown or navy blue.
I wound up wearing a gold-ish sweater instead of the one that’s the same shade of brown as the pants. It’s hard to describe the color (not really gold, not really brown, and there’s a hint of something else), and at first I wasn’t sure if it would match, but it’s my favorite “dressy” sweater and this morning it seemed like the best choice (I decided that the other one was too outdated, and put it – and its dark green sister – into the “donations” bag). At least, I didn’t see anyone point/laugh at the breakfast, and I think I look nice.
I do have one more question, while I’m here and all: generally speaking, should shoes match your pants or your top? Or is either ok, as long as they match one of them?
Thanks again for all of the advice – now I know what colors to look for when I shop for tops to go with these pants!
If the slacks and blouse match, yes, you can choose shoes and purse to match either one.
Sounds like you made a nice choice.