I have come into the possession of two pairs of beige/grey jeans that fit me and look good by themselves, but I am having problems finding, or even imagining, shirts to go along with them without looking dorky. If I wear a same colour shirt, I look like a big wall of pale, but if I wear a darker shirt, I seem to breech some expectation that my shirt should be lighter than my pants, and look dorky.
I am trying to do a better job of looking like a grown-up and not a grad student who just throws on whatever’s clea^H^H^H^Hleast dirty without regard to coordination, but I can’t think of anything that goes with these. Is throwing these out the only solution possible?
P.S. (male, 30s, in reasonable but not spectacular shape) are probably other fashion-relevant parameters.
Can’t go wrong with black or a similarly dark-colored shirt. (I disagree that shirts should be lighter than pants.)
Also there is not a man on the planet that doesn’t look good in a crisp white shirt…either pure white or white with pinstripes.
All of the above will look good with grey or beige jeans.
I don’t agree with you on a white shirt for any man. If he’s the wrong build, it will look like he’s the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Seen it a lot. A linen or woven shirt looks good on many men though, white or otherwise.
As for the OP’s question, think of beige as a basic, using it as white or black. You can pair it with anything. It really depends on what you want to wear and what you are wearing it with. If you want to look more grownup, try layering and not to do too many tee shirts. Finding things that are form-fitting but not too clingy. I like the look of a well-dressed individual. Doesn’t mean they have to spend tons, just have to look effortless in the way they put themselves together.
Lol Chiro, I just mean that white makes you appear wider and if you don’t want that to happen, stay away from it. If you are trim or built, do it. I use white or volume on top because I’m curvy but can sometimes be topheavy. I am throwing in my two cents.
My husband has a few pairs of beige jeans. He wears almost any button-down shirt with them. I think he particularly looks great in dark-ish blue and dark red – not together, mind you.
A lot of people think that they look great in black, when they actually look dead, or at least they look like they’re on life support. Black is very dramatic and usually fashionable, but it doesn’t work for everyone. Sometimes people can get away with wearing black pants or skirts, but not black around the face.
I’d suggest going with a clear bold color, like red or green or cobalt blue.
I have found a grey button down shirt in the back of my closet that I think goes OK. The slightly-different shade I think breaks up the “big wall of white” effect. I also have a fitted white linen shirt for which the colour works, but I think it needs me to work on my washboard abs to look right.
I still disagree with the pale pants + dark shirt look. Or at least I can’t find any example in my closet that doesn’t look strange to me in the mirror. My usual wardrobe staple is black jeans though, which are by definition at least as dark as anything else, so maybe it’s just what I’m used to.
I’m having trouble picturing it looking good together too. Instead I’d pair them with a white or pale blue shirt, or a darker (compared to white/pale blue) blue-green shirt. Checked or plaid with a white background like this or this would work well too since that’d definitely break up the “wall of white” you’re trying to avoid.
I can’t figure out what color you mean by beige/gray, but I do want to give some examples of light pants/dark shirt that work and are fairly common.
light gray pants/dark blue shirt,black shirt
khaki pants/ dark blue, green burgundy or brown shirt, black shirt.
This example shows shorts, but the colors would work just as well with pants.
Now, there still may be no combinations in your closet that work, because all of this is very shade dependent- not every brown will go with every beige, etc
One pair is beige, the other is grey. Both fall into the male colour category of “pale, but not quite white”, which is why I wasn’t concerned about the difference .
Hmmm. I am mixing beige with grey as we speak…
My complexion is white. Like, Scandinavian corpse who wears SPF50 and spends a lot of time indoors white. Which is part of the reason why avoiding the “wall of white” effect in my clothing is so important.
(Unless I spend more than 5min in the sun, then I am lobster red)
Bring the pants with you when you go shopping. It’s easy to forget the exact shade of something when you’re looking for something that goes well with it and given as you’ve already admitted that “beige” and “grey” are simply “not white” to you, I think you’d be better off letting the friendly staff at Banana Republic or elsewhere pick out shirts for you. It’s part of what they are paid to do and gives you a better chance of having some nice outfits instead of ending up with more clothes that live in the back of your closet.
