September 28, 2026
I’ve been seeing a lot of black with brown in my neighborhood, and I’ve been meaning to share it with you…
And then I stumbled across this painting! I’ve been having quite the run of good luck with paintings corresponding with my “real life” sightings; I think that’s a good sign.
The first brown and black sightings I made were of women wearing a brown skirt or pair of pants with pretty much everything else in black. A scarf with the two colors, or a pair of earrings in onyx and tiger’s eye, served to pull together everything and make it look intentional:
Cotton/cashmere turtleneck – L.L.Bean; earrings – Anabel Aram; scarf – The Met Store; suede tote – Madewell; corduroy jeans – L.L.Bean; loafers – Sam Edelman
I particularly admired this dressy version:
Black silk shirt – Banana Republic; earrings – Farra; scarf – Kueen; handbag – MKF Collection – J’OMOR; ballet flats – Sam Edelman; cashmere skirt – Nordstrom
A brown dress might be a fun way to experiment with brown; add a scarf and earrings, and your black “regulars” take on a new look:
Cotton cardigan – Lands’ End; scarf – Coach; earrings – Chico’s; corduroy dress – Boden; handbag – Talbots; boots – Munro
This heroine has a clear affinity to square motifs! And don’t forget – when you’re looking for a scarf, check the men’s department; they’re often much less expensive than “women’s” scarves, and they have color combinations that we don’t always see in the “heroine’s” department!
Black cotton-cashmere sweater – Alex Mill; earrings – Shymi; scarf – Nordstrom; corduroy pants – Alex Mill; tote bag – MZ Wallace; loafers – Gentle Souls
Let’s flip this idea on it’s head – you wear lots and lots of brown, but seldom wear black. Maybe adding a simple, timeless dress will open new “outfit doors” for you:
Jacket – J.Crew; owl brooch – Chico’s; feather earrings – Lily Charmed; handbag – Dolce Vita; pumps – Diba True; dress – Eileen Fisher
If you need a new way to wear your brown things, a pair of black jeans might spark some ideas:
Rich coffee tee – Lands’ End; earrings – Anthropologie; cabled cotton cardigan – Lands’ End; black jeans – L.L.Bean; tote bag – Patricia Nash; loafers – UGG
I wear brown sweaters and shirts with black often, but I haven’t had a pair of brown pants since… I was 10?
Maybe time to think about it…
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, turquoise was our chosen accent color; we looked at it with six different neutrals, with some fun results.
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Love the owl brooch combined with the feather earrings!
THANK YOU for noticing that; when I was without a clue about what earrings she should have, it seemed like a theme!
love,
Janice
Wearing themed accessories is such a satisfying detail!
I love everything about this post! I adore black and brown together, honestly. I love how you showed some great options and then “flipped the script” with the colors. This is practical and beautifully done!
My advice to anyone who wants to just give brown pants a ‘try’ without making a huge commitment is to try it with a pair of brown jeans first. Look for a style, brand and size that you’ve worn before and are happy with the fit. Then, try to find the same jeans in brown. This way, you will already know that you are comfortable in this particular style, as you try out a new color.
Janice, did you receive my email about the leopard pants? They’d have worked into this too!
I don’t think I got your email! But of course – any amount of leopard (and probably some other animal prints) would be perfect here. I just never include animal prints because I don’t like them. Isn’t that silly?
love,
Janice
Not silly at all, Janice. I’m the same. And, as someone who doesn’t wear black at all, this is tempting me to try it with my browns. Thanks! (I really like the Rothko too.)
I’m absurdly smitten with Rothko; I visited the Rothko Room at the Phillips Collection in Washington, and was absolutely astonished by how much impact his paintings have when studied at length.
You have to give some of these artists a chance!
love,
Janice
Oh, i love leopard…but I do need it to be a sophisticated and traditional cut…I don’t want to think of Janice (from FRIENDS) and her catsuit. I love leopard and I wear it as a neutral.
Janice! I’m silly, too! I’ve been trying to like leopard, too, for years, but it’s just not me. I love it on everybody else though. I did buy a leopard cardigan last winter but haven’t tried it yet, with this amazing brown/black combo this might be the year!
Love the Rothko! And colors. And the goods!
I love Rothko and the combination of black and brown is so grounding and stable, if that makes sense. These heroines are so stylish! Not an animal print fan either A wonderful start to this somewhat chilly morning…finally!
The other colors in the painting are sienna and dark wine. I can envision how brown and sienna work together, but what about brown and dark wine? Is that a post for another day? I am introducing burgundy (close enough to wine?) as an accent into my mostly brown and navy wardrobe and could use some ideas.
I also have burgundy and brown in my wardrobe – although I’ve started to call them fig and chocolate to go with the olive and cream that are my other basic colours. Blue denim is the non-food item! But I tend not to wear them together (the fig and chocolate), so advice about how to combine them – or not – would be very welcome.
I just love black and brown with cream and gold. Please consider doing a brown and black “start with a scarf” with the new Burberry storefront print silk scarf as well – that scarf is my current obsession.
I wear a lot of light brown (camel/tan) with black accents. Thats about as brave as I get. I also adore the owl brooch and leaf earrings, great choices.
I love this! One of my favorite dresses that I EVER had was black with a brown asymmetrical collar. I might have to try to duplicatecit in ny sewing room.
I’ve always thought black and tan were handsome together. Black and brown would be a good way for those of us who don’t look particularly good in brown could ease it into our closets. I have dark brown eyes and (used to) have brown hair, so folks always thought I should wear brown. But with my very cool skin tones, it really didn’t do me any favors. This would be a ways to have it all!
And could some kind person tell me how to change my picture on this answer site? It’s SO outdated!
How funny–last night I was at a concert where the double basses were a deep burgundy/brown, the cellos were a chestnut brown, & of course all the musicians wore black, so I was toying with that palate!
Tina, somewhere you should be able to get at an “edit profile” button (I’m not sure what you’re using: Google? WordPress? but if you try to sign in, somewhere on that page you should be able to find a way to edit your profile), and if you click on it, one of the options will be to change your profile picture.
I see so many amazing posts but rarely comment. This one I felt was over too soon. So lovely I had had hoped for more combos. Absolutely lovely. I loved the wardrobe you did based on one of his red paintings as well.