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Infographic | Colour match: suits & shoes

The Dress Up

Infographic | Colour match: suits & shoes

You can be wearing a suave jet black suit, it could be a custom tailored piece, but if you wear that suit with a pair of patent white loafers - neither suit nor shoes see justice! Find out exactly what works and what doesn't.

Now that particular example may feel like an obvious mistake to make, but there are certain colours and shades of shoes that fit better with different coloured suits (here's a guide to suit colours and patterns). This becomes all the more important when you are shopping for both a suit and shoes. If you're more of a visual learner and less of a reader, there's a handy guide to skip to at the bottom of the page!

 

The colour of one inherently affects the colour of the other, so making sure you know which should go with which is essential. You could just take the easy route and buy black shoes with a black suit, which is recommended if you’re going to a funeral, but a little experimentation and research could help you find a suit which makes you look the part at any formal event. Let’s take a look at which colour shoes will look best with each standard colour suit.

THE NAVY SUIT


Navy suits, while very formal are also very versatile, so you can get away with wearing either black, burgundy or brown shoes and manage to look the part. In fact, the adaptive nature of the navy colour allows you to use the colour of your shoes for specific moods or situations. For example, black shoes can be worn for business or events such as weddings. Brown shoes indicate a more relaxed tone, while burgundy indicates charisma, and a more playful, care-free attitude.


THE BLACK SUIT


This is where people start to get a little snotty. In fact, the black suit is the least accessible for footwear out of all coloured suits. For a start, burgundy is a big no-no. Brown is an even bigger no-no. Both just look too casual and the contrast is just too noticeable. Matt black or patent black shoes are your only safe bet with black suits. Take a look at our range of black shoes here.


THE BROWN SUIT


Just as black goes well with black, brown looks good with brown. The trick with brown suits is to get a darker tone of brown shoes. If your shoes are the same tone or shade of brown as your suit, then the combination just doesn’t work. If you get this right, then you should look the part. There are plenty of leather shades in our catalogue, ranging from a bright tan to dark, and chocolate brown. Don’t be afraid to combine burgundy shoes with a brown suit either. Just be sure to avoid black shoes at all costs.


THE CHARCOAL GREY SUIT


Charcoal grey gives off a much less formal vibe than either black or navy, so there is room for more experimentation in terms of your tie, pocket square and waistcoat.  That being said, combining a Charcoal grey suit with brown shoes is the biggest fashion sin on this list. No matter what shade of brown you try to pull off under the grey sheen, it will never, ever work. Now that we have that out of the way, we can move on to what does work. Black usually tends to combine more effectively with the grey suit, but you can also test the waters with a deep burgundy colour if you want to look a little more suave.

 

Of course, you can get away with experimenting with all sorts of other suit colours and mixing them with your leathers. If you feel very daring (or you want a collection of photos you can embarrass the poor lad you are dressing up at a later stage in his life), you can try the full white suit look and dazzle everyone. Just know that the child you put in the white suit and bright red shoes may never forgive you.