Beige gets a bad name for being boring or anodyne, but in reality it's anything but. Here's how to use this versatile colour as the glue that sticks your wardrobe together.
Beige. Off-white. Tobacco. Egg-shell. I grant you that the names don't inspire headless excitement or inspiration. 'Beige' has even come to be used as a perjorative for someone who is anodyne and lacks personality or the desire to stand out from the crowd. It's globally recognised as a safe option, but when it comes to menswear that's no bad thing at all. Not all of the items in your wardrobe can be Cristiano Ronaldos - you need a few Andre Pirlos to glue the pieces together, and that my friend, is where beige steps in.
The greatest selling point of beige is its neutrality. It complements every other colour and makes for a great looking canvas for stronger bolder hues to jump out from. With its own family of nude and brown tones, it can come across as perfectly minimal and modern. It slips into autumnal palettes with ease, becoming the go-between for browns, greens, and other earthy tones. When contrasted with white, it speaks to casual summer fits, and it will have no qualms about hosting bold floral patterns or geometric print shirts. Navy? Not a problem - slip a navy polo beneath a beige linen blazer and you have the height of summer sophistication. And we challenge anyone to find a more versatile pair of year-round trousers than beige ones.
Beige on Beige
Minimalists will be genuflecting at the sight of beige layered upon beige and rightly so because it's a look straight out of the pared-back, monochrome drawer. Certainly less to think about when you're getting dressed in the morning, but aesthetically speaking, wearing a tonal beige outfit looks clean, slick and very polished. The tonal range of beige is pretty wide too so there are lots to play with here. Throw in a splash of bold white too and you've got a very refined year-round look.
Ripe with stripes
Where beige trousers or shorts really come into their own is with striped tops since the neutral tone holds pattern really well. Why? Well because beige doesn't compete for attention - it simply provides a nice neutral canvas so that the pattern - in this case, stripes - can do its thing. Beige trousers also help to pull together contrast colours throughout your look, making it very difficult to get your look 'wrong'.
Half and half
'Beige' really applies to a massive tonal range of colours, from light browns and tobacco hues to really washed-out sand and stone tones. Use this to flattering effect by choosing a darker beige jacket or overshirt and pair it with a lighter tone of trousers. Then all that's left to do is break up the tonality with a combination of bold colours, such as a striped tee. You tick the minimalist box with a tight palette, but also tick the maximalist box with a pop of pattern or colour.
Sand, another thing...
One of our favourite beige tones this season has been Evering Sand, which we've used in a stunning linen fabric across trousers and jackets, including our popular bleted Cowboy Jacket. It works really well when paired with green-toned trousers, while the neutrality of the pairing allows you to choose a brighter, punchier layer to wear beneath, in this case our Hawaiian Short Sleeve Jersey in Yale Red.
Tan-tastic
Footwear becomes much less of a headache when wearing beige trousers because there isn't really a colour or shoe style that won't work. Tan styles are especially easy to pull off, being in the same tonal family, but beige is also great for experimenting with contrast hues, so don't be afraid to mix up your choice of footwear.