Colored jeans are everywhere right now, but they can be really intimidating. At first, I was not into the idea of colored jeans, because I had no idea exactly what was I going to wear with them. But I’ve been converted, and I’ve been wearing my four pairs as much as possible. Since colored denim is my favorite trend for spring and summer, I’ve compiled the seven basic ways I style colored jeans in hopes that this post will help someone step out of their comfort zone to give colored jeans a try.
1. The simplest way to style colored jeans is with a neutral colored top. Black, white, navy, off-white, brown, and gray are all basic neutrals that will match any color jean you choose. You can pair the jeans with a necklace in the same color or a complementary color.
2. Chambray and Jean tops are adorable, but rather than wearing them with jeans a la Canadian Tuxedo, pair a jean or chambray shirt with your colored jeans.
3. Find a top that has an accent color that is the same color as your jeans. While it might seem like the colors have to be an exact match, they don’t. As long as they’re pretty close, it will work. As you might tell from the three examples above, this is my favorite way to wear colored denim.
4. Although this might scare some colorphobes, wear your color jeans with a shirt whose dominant color is a complementary color. Unsure of what colors are complements, they are technically the ones that are opposites on the color wheel. But really, any two colors that look nice together will work.
5. Wear your colored jeans with a black and white top. I absolutely adore the way a black and white top looks paired with a bright jean! You can also do this with other paired neutral shirts, like a navy/white striped shirt or an off-white and brown polka dot shirt.
6. Wear your jeans with a shirt with the same color as the dominant color. By dominant color I mean the color that pops when you look at the shirt. I love the way the pink jeans make the pink in the shirt really pop.
7. Wear your jeans with a shirt with a complementary accent color. (This is one of those magic tops, that has a perfect balance of color so the pink can be either a dominant color or an accent color. I probably should use a better example, but my photographer quit. Thanks and Sorry Mom.)
Three things I learned about Color Pairings:
- While pink pants with a purple shirt, looked great when I was five, it’s not as appealing now.
- Red pants with a yellow top made me look and feel like Ronald MacDonald.
- Wearing colored pants with a shirt the exact same color, and nothing to break it up, made me look like a crayon.
I am not going to go through all of these pictures and write down where I got everything, but in case you’re wondering about the jeans; the green ones are from Urban Outfitters (and they have a ton of colors, if I was rich, I’d have one of each, these are the most comfortable jeans ever.) the red are from Zara, the pink are from Old Navy, and the yellow are from Anthropologie.
How do you feel about colored denim? Did this help decode colored jeans a bit? and what’s your favorite trend for spring or summer?
