A Stylist’s Guide to Playing With Colour in a Neutral Wardrobe
...and the six lessons you can apply to your own
January is SHOP YOUR WARDROBE month over on ‘The Wardrobe Edit’, a four-week-long content calendar that perfectly aligns with a January ‘no-buy’ or if you want to take a moment to press pause, reconnect with your wardrobe and fall back in love with what you already have. To gain full access to all the posts, you can upgrade to a paid subscription (THANK YOU!) with a limited-time 25% off! Along with all the content I post this month, you’ll unlock over 350+ posts, stacked with styling ideas, tips and formulas…
When I started marinating on the idea of doing SHOP YOUR WARDROBE month again, I thought it would be fun to revisit a styling session with Allison. It had been a while since our last one, and I always get so much out of them. I’m genuinely just looking forward to a catch-up. Then I thought, ‘Ooooh, what about one with Reva?’ I’d long been an admirer of her work. So I booked in a sesh. Same with Angie - our layering Goddess! And Kelly! Perhaps she could unlock some new formulas in my wardrobe with her styling genius? What about Anna, who always puts together the chicest colour combos? And whilst I was at it, why not do an Indyx session with Alberta? Something I’ve been meaning to do for aaaaages. The whole thing snowballed, and my January calendar is now full of virtual styling appointments. I’m over the moon to be taking one for the team here.
So over the course of the month, I’ll be reporting back. I’m going to debrief you on each one, and the outcomes and lessons learnt from these sessions will form the backbone of my SHOP YOUR WARDROBE content. As Allison always says, ‘We don’t need more clothes, we just need more ideas’, and after a month-long fashion Zoom, I’m confident there will be ideas by the bucketload.
Today, here’s what I got up to during my session with Anna Baldwin ($295 for a 1½ hour session, available to book here). I’d followed Anna on TikTok for a while and fell in love with the way that she blends colour in the most subtle, polished ways. She’s chic! She’s a fellow Anna! She’s a fan of the Tibi colour ring, and does a v.good job of explaining the concepts behind how she puts outfits together. When I deleted TikTok over Christmas, I logged back in only to check her profile (along with Diana and Heather!). My reason for booking with her was that she works with colour in the most effortless way that a neutral lover like me can only aspire to. I knew she’d bring a whole host of ideas to the table, and my word, did she!!! She’d made notes and conducted a full audit of my Indyx Open Closet. Prepared is an understatement. She’s wonderful and warm, and I’d 10/10 rebook another session.
If you’re new to the concept of styling via FaceTime or Zoom, you essentially have a meeting in your wardrobe. Be prepared to try on A LOT of clothes (off camera, don’t worry!). You can expect to spend the first 10 minutes or so getting to know each other and sharing your aims for the session, as well as any lifestyle details that are helpful to share. Then the rest of the time is spent getting to work and trying stuff on. Be honest and curious, and come with specific goals or pieces you want answers for to get the most out of it. Wear comfy, neutral underwear and have hydration nearby. Take the session on your laptop if you can, so your phone is free to take photos, which I recommend you do with every outfit, even if you don’t love it.
Today’s aim - PLAY WITH COLOUR. Here’s what I learnt from Anna:
PAIR COLOUR WITH MORE COLOUR
Although I have been slowly weaning myself off of black (my closet consists of 31% black items, compared to 22% brown - I’m getting there), it still feels like my natural starting point if I grab a colourful item from my wardrobe. I bought this Edith Beurskens Handmade Ceramic Necklace after seeing it on Diana, but it has remained firmly in my jewellery box ever since. I envisioned wearing it like Diana, with an all-black outfit, but Anna suggested this mustard-gold corduroy shirt, and welp, it worked. There’s something about colour with more colour that our eyes like - they love repetition after all. More saturation, less contrast, makes the eyes rest easy on this outfit. So temper down your inclination to grab something colourful with more black and instead pile on the colour.
SOFT + SOFT + BLACK
As a fellow lover of Tibi ‘Ring 3’ - there’s more on that in this previous post - Anna suggested we play there for a bit, and her eyes lit up when I showed her my Pin Denim-sourced muted-brown vintage Levi’s 501s. I’d only really worn them with a chunky cream knit jumper, and to be honest, I wasn’t particularly enthralled, but to my delight, Anna had already planned out an outfit using them. The outfit is mostly ‘Ring 3’ tones - blue-ish, green-ish, brown-ish, but through cycling through a few iterations, we realised that I do like to have some kind of black piece to anchor the whole thing - be it a shoe, or a bag. Perhaps you’re the same? A soft tone, with more soft tones, requires a bit of black somewhere to sharpen the whole thing.
TREAT BROWN LIKE BLACK
For a post about colour, I’m sure referencing black a lot, huh? I was fully imprinted on Posh Spice as a child, so there’s a lot of unlearning to do here… Another ‘ah-ha!’ moment was Anna’s advice to treat brown as you would black. Which is something that I’d been working on ever since having my colour analysis done. It’s softer and less harsh, but it operates in a similar ‘background colour’ way. Just as a side note, I really appreciate how Anna took all the lifestyle info I dropped on her at the beginning of the session and applied it throughout. It meant that the majority of what we made together were looks that work for the majority of what I spend my days doing; either working-from-home or knee-deep in Lego with my little guy.
A COLOURFUL JACKET = A COLOURFUL TOP
This isn’t necessarily a tip about colour, but more just styling in general. Jackets as tops. I’m into it. I’d just watched a TikTok from Anna in which she mentioned that she buys jackets with higher necklines that don’t require a top underneath, for the exact purpose of wearing them alone. I have some colourful jackets that work well for this. I could picture wearing them with a scoop-neck thermal layer for extra warmth until the weather warms up again. That bit of skin on display helps balance the outfit and allows it to breathe (another key Tibi concept).
GO TONAL
I asked for specific ideas on how to get more wear out of these cords, which I’ve had for years but don’t see the light of day all that often. So far, my styling chops had only got as far as putting them with either a grey or a black jumper. Anna suggested going tonal. I don’t have many other red items in my wardrobe (although I must make a note to try them with my DONNI Jumper*), so instead we gave them a go with warm camel tones, like my leopard print coat (I LOVED this outfit - it might just be my favourite from the bunch), and this H&M knit that it’s impossible to describe the shade of. Once again, that tiny hint of black (or in the case of the left outfit, a very very dark brown), helped to ground the whole thing.
THERE’S ALWAYS ACCESSORIES
If a colourful piece of clothing feels like too much of a stretch on a particular day, there are always accessories. This was a bit of a ‘between-look’ that Anna suggested I try before I changed the base outfit, but the very neutral basics of a cream pair of jeans, a brown V-neck knit and a tailored black blazer coat turned out to be the perfect backdrop for a pair of leopard flats and a burgundy leather tote bag. Sometimes adding two more ‘out there’ pieces helps the end look feel more cohesive than having a single statement piece. Although I am still thinking about Zoe and her purple scarf moment, so it’s worth playing around with this one.
My key takeaways from working with Anna:
Treat brown as you would black. Our natural instinct is to pair colour-rich pieces with black, but the contrast is high. Opting for a neutral like brown, taupe, grey or navy dials down the contrast.
Another good option? More colour. Go tonal or just keep adding non-black layers and accessories. When it starts to feel too much, put that sharpness back in with a black tote or structured shoe.
I tend to be more experimental with jackets than I am with tops, so I loved Anna’s recommendation of skipping layering completely and wearing a jacket as a top on its own. Such a simple hack that I always forget. It instantly added another five top options to my wardrobe.
Playing within Tibi Ring 3 (or dabbling in a bit of both Ring 2 and 3) gives a calm and soft feel to outfits. Adding Ring 1 - black - can help things feel more polished if I want to dial it up, but it isn’t 100% necessary.
Accessories are where I have the most breadth in my wardrobe (remember?) - so I need to put them to good use. Not only is there colour, but there’s texture, pattern, shape!!! Whenever an outfit feels dry or lacks fun and unexpectedness, adding a very easy, low-risk element, like a bag or a necklace, is a quick way to freshen it.
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The Jimmy Fairly glasses are a definite yes
Love love love all of this! Thank you for taking one for the team and reporting back. I find these sessions so inspiring and your reflections and outfits always get my creative juices flowing!