Suit and coat color matching

[retrofashion]

You always hear how gray and brown don't go together, but I was watching The Untouchables the other day and De Niro was wearing a medium gray suit with a brown coat which looked to be cashmere and either a very light gray fedora or maybe it was actually a white hat. But the brown coat over the gray suit did not look bad at all. He looked stunning actually.
I guess the rules can be broken sometimes as long as you can pull it off.

 

[Tomasso]

Browns and grays can work very well together, depending on the shades chosen.

 

[GBR]

Are you suggesting that we should have as many colours of coats as suits?

Surely most people will have to compromise - are you saying that is plain wrong?

 

[benstephens]

The staple of a golden era wardrobe for many would have been a brown sports jacket and grey flannels, so lets rid us of this supposed rule about browns and greys.

On the mention of coats, I think I would mix a brown coat with grey, but I also think if I were to be going into the city etc in a grey suit I would wear a darker more formal overcoat.

Kindest Regards

Ben

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Everyone should own a colour wheel. re the rules. I honestly have no idea where some of these "rules" come from. An awful lot of them are so obviously modern and manufactured by people with aesthetic centres the size of pansy seeds (they're really small). ("fashion" "journalists" and people who "know" on silly men's style forums are serious contenders for the crown of most ridiculous statements about menswear.)

There are some combinations that simply don't work. But grey and brown? As Tomasso says, shades are important. I have seen grey/brown combinations look bad, but not very often. The grey flannel suit with brown suede wingtips is almost a uniform after the PoW.
bk

 

[Edward]

Sometimes I too wonder where some of the "rules" come from.... bearing in mind that the average person back in the day was unlikely ever to have been able to afford more than one coat. Hell, I have a relative who spent a period of her childhood where she owned nothing other than her school uniform in the way of clothes (back in the fifties/sixties).

Shades matter, clashing patterns matter. There's only one golden rule, though: either it looks good or it doesn't. End of. [huh]

 

[Tomasso]

Sometimes I too wonder where some of the "rules" come from...

Actually, I've never in my life heard of a brown/gray rule. [huh]

But, I may have missed school that day....

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Oh I hear of this rules mostley by women. I don't know what makes them so sure about it. They should be happy to have more colors and pattern in their warddrobe than us;-)
The only thing I have to agree is: No brown shoes with a black suit.

 

[Geesie]

Perhaps the "rules" were made by someone who thinks we should be buying multiple overcoats. [huh]

 

[Richard Warren]

Its not really a question of color, but of formality, and hence of convention rather than aesthetics. In many contexts, brown is less formal than black or gray, (and brown clothing is constructed with less formality and of more casual materials) so that the combination of the two frankly might best be avoided in any situation in which any degree of formality is expected, or avoided altogether if one is unsure. (Is that a rule?)

 

[Baron Kurtz]

(and brown clothing is constructed with less formality and of more casual materials)

See, that's just mental. Absolute batshit craziness. What a silly thing to say. And we wonder how people get misguided on colour combinations!! shakeshead

bk

 

[TexArchStudent]

Oh I hear of this rules mostley by women. I don't know what makes them so sure about it. They should be happy to have more colors and pattern in their warddrobe than us;-)
The only thing I have to agree is: No brown shoes with a black suit.

What shade of brown shoes? If that includes black cherry then I couldn't agree.

 

[JimWagner]

Well, the "rules" tend to shift around depending on just how well off one is. I've always thought that most of the "rules" were made up by and apply to the well off to separate themselves from the not so well off.

The "rules" seem to be most studied and touted by those attaining to at least appear well off however. The wannabe's.

That said, there are combinations of patterns and colors that go way beyond simple rule breaking. Much like porn, I may not be able to define it but I know it when I see it.

 

[Big Man]

The only "rule" that sticks out in my mind was when I went away to college. My Dad bought me a gray flannel suit, a navy blue pinstripe suit (both three piece suits), and a pair of brown and a pair of black wingtip shoes. The "rule" he told me was, "remember, the brown shoes go with the gray suit and the black shoes go with the navy suit."

Unfortunately, as this was in 1974, not too many people in college were wearing three piece suits. [huh] But, it was a "rule" that I always remembered.

 

[J.Maxwell]

I find a vintage burberry rainmac will go with most shades and colours, but then it will not work with certain materials, such as barathea or tweed. There are far more things to consider than simple colour.