What is the opposite color of BROWN?

cloud9

Since brown isn't on the color wheel, and it is a combination of 2 opposite colors? Not a trick question.. just really curious as to what the official answer is.. On the web the answer is as diverse as the color wheel..;)

13 years ago

General

17 replies

Latest reply was from Christie

Bluebell

Active Member

Blues and blue violets?

13 years ago

Joy

Veteran

I agree with Bluebell. I think of brown as a very dark orange. That 's probably why brunettes look so good in blue.

13 years ago

Diana

Veteran

Hmm, I think of lighter browns (like cognac or tan) as orangey-red, like Joy suggests, so I'd go for blues or greens (incidentally, my favorite color is teal, and I am a brunette ... my hair is naturally black but I get it dyed red, which has currently faded to cognac... ) I think this might not be true for dark browns though... in my head the opposite of dark brown is like a pale silvery grey; this might be because I think of dark brown as shade off of black in the warm direction, so the opposite would be a shade off of white in the cool direction. I am by no means an expert though - this is all just my gut instinct.

13 years ago

(website)

Veteran

Miriam Killiam (http://colourmehappyblog.blogspot.com/) is a color expert who talks a ton about the undertones of color. I bet it depends on the brown-- for a greeny-brown, the opposite would be something reddish, for a camely-yellowy-brown, the opposite would be violet. Maybe search her site for "brown," and see if there's anything there that's helpful with your brown.

13 years ago

Sveta

(website)

Veteran

Purple compliments brown very well, especialy red-purple.

13 years ago

Bluebell

Active Member

Yep Di is right, yellowy brown would be violet and red is green. We had to study the colour wheel in a lot of depth and then apply it when correcting ppls skin on shoots (I was a make up artist). So for redness (ruddy skin) in theory you'd use a green over it (although it can look unnatural so ppl use yellow for everyday), for yellowy brown marking you'd use a violet and the opposites help to cancel out the original colour...then you apply your usual foundation over. I hope I'm making sense.
Another way of looking at it, if I was working with brown eyes and someone didn't want to 'compliment them' but wanted them to really stand out, a nice violet purple would make them pop - again being near to opposite.... like blue eyes you'd use taupes/bronzes and things to get the same effect (you could interpret it as red but red could look a bit strange on your eyes lol!). A colour wheel like this sometimes helpful to break it up further. http://mascaraenvy.com/wp-cont.....ersafe.gif Though I am talking purely from a make up point of view and not clothes whatsoever so maybe rules are different there

13 years ago

Michelle

(website)

Veteran

This is so interesting!! With my distorted colour perceptions, I would have assumed the opposite of brown to be cream. Following the same rationale as Diana, I treated brown as a step removed from black, and consequently chose cream as a step removed from white. Goes to show how complex colour schemes really are and how many hue-related nuances I'm just not able to grasp.

13 years ago

Maya

Veteran

In terms of the visible spectrum, "brown" refers to high wavelength (low frequency) hues, yellow, orange, or red, in combination with low luminance or saturation. Since brown may cover a wide range of the visible spectrum, composite adjectives are used such as red brown, yellowish brown, dark brown or light brown.

(a la Wikipedia)

Therefore the opposites would be low saturation purple, blue, and green.

13 years ago

Scarlet

Veteran

Just a personal unstudied opinion--I don't think brown has an opposite. Since it is made by mixing opposite colors how could it?

13 years ago

Jenava

(website)

Veteran

Scarlet, good point. Since brown is made by mixing two opposite color, maybe the opposite of brown is made by mixing to opposite non-colors; white and black to make a grey?

13 years ago

tarzy

Veteran

So Interesting! I'm terrible with color, and I love learning this kind of stuff.

C9 - Is there a particular reason you're asking? Are you trying to figure out what to wear with brown? Trying to make brown eyes pop? Or are you just curious?

I have brown (reddish brown) hair, and I don't really wear solid brown tops (can feel like too much brown,) but I'd love to find a great print with some brown in it. I really like brown with red, or with cream/ivory (Michelle - your instincts are right on!) I remember a few years ago brown with aqua was a very popular combination.

13 years ago

DanaLynn

Active Member

I think what is confusing is the interchangeable terminology. I think the easiest way to discuss this is to think of color compliments, not opposites. A color compliment is the color directly across from one another on the color wheel. Traditionally the color wheel is set up so that the colors along the outside become more neutral as you move towards the center- so essentially more brownish. Like others mentioned there isn't a pure brown, it is a combination of colors. So every brown would have a place somewhere in the interior circles of the color wheel. You simply go to the brown that is across from it to find it's compliment. So reddish brown is the compliment of greenish brown.

This does little to help in practical matters though. I think the more valuable information is being able to discern if it is a reddish brown or a greenish brown. This allows you to pair it with appropriate colors.

13 years ago

Lisa

Veteran

Interesting!

13 years ago

Jenava

(website)

Veteran

I just asked my husband, who is in an interior design program, and he says brown has a "split compliment" (i.e. it always has two opposites) made up of the two colors that were mixed together to make it. So, if yellow and purple were mixed together to make the brown, then yellow and purple would BOTH be it's "opposites"

13 years ago

Scarlet

Veteran

Thank you DL and Jenava--very interesting!

13 years ago

cloud9

Veteran

thank you ladies, for some very interesting responses. Jenava, very insightful about the split compliments.. now I have no idea what shade of brown is from red+green, or yellow+purple? LOL! The brown I have are just "typical" browns, not red-ish or yellow-ish.

I was attempting some brown pattern mixing, and felt it was too much brown, so I wanted an opposite (or complimenting) color. I know brown is neutral and goes with everything, but i wanted something to de-emphasize brown a little (the outfit is in my most recent WIW). I ended up with a lime green, but the color didnt come out due to the camera flash.

13 years ago

Christie

Active Member

I've heard that brunettes look good in blue because its opposite of the brown (as a tone of orange).

I like wearing blues, greens, and purples with brown.

13 years ago

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