I am a cool winter, but aside from ever even knowing that I never felt good in browns...they really look bad on me as do most colors that fall into the muted Fall color spectrum.

Black may be hard for alot of people to wear, but those who look good with high contrast pull it off quite well. Not everyone looks good in black ...agreed, but brown to me is extremely difficult to wear against the face. It doesn't add high contrast as does black.

I will add that I do wear makeup and therefore I think black against my face looks way better than it would without makeup!!

Taylor, I'm very curious about this topic from a hair perspective. It seems many people can rock a brunette hair colour but find the clothing hard, do you have any theories?

Do you know Julie I'd never thought of that. I love my brown hair (plum shade of since yesterday) but find it a tricky colour to wear how bizarre is that!!!!

When I think of brown items that I can tolerate, it usually involves silk or some other kind of sheen and texture. I think that is the same reason brown hair works. It isn't flat. It has dimension and tone.

I am not quite sure that is Julie.
I guess my theory is that dark brown /black hair has skin tones that go from very dark/black skin to the creamiest of white plus everything in between. Most people in the world are dark haired but the skin tone varies so much.

So what works wardrobe wise more specific to skin tone rather than hair color.

someone correct me if I am wrong:)

edit to say... My hair is very close to a level 2 black color, but my skin is very fair with sallow undertones.....must stay away from anything muted ,yellow , brown or dingey/and dusty...brings out my sallow dinginess

Ele, black is a lot more hip to wear than brown. Do you ever see designers punting brown inthe same way they do black? Why is NYC, HK and London full of people wearing black? It's the "cool - factor" and not about whether its flattering. We have been conditioned to prefer black to brown too.

I have clients who look much better in browns, navies and greys than black. And there are several people on this forum who are the same way. You have to be just as careful with black as you do brown in my opinion. And at the end of the day - it's all about the details like fabric texture and what you wear with the items that make the difference. Those factors change things up a lot. I would never wear a flat brown polo neck. But I'd wear a textured chestnut brown leather or pleather jacket in a heartbeat.

As many of you already know, I am not a huge supporter of colour analysis. I can appreciate the rudimentary guidelines, but as for the rest it's trial and error and lots of mixing in of added variables. I find it hard to operate within the confines of colour analysis. I want to think bigger than that.

Well, I might be the rare "winter" on the board who actually likes brown. I like the earthy nature of browns and of course the food associations help too (my favorite of course is dark chocolate brown!!!). Of course, I combine brown with other colors that are probably more flattering on me. One of my favorite color combos is brown with cream/white, orange and teal/turquoise.

If you don't mix your brown and black, one of the difficulties of incorporating brown is having to have two wardrobes (coordinating shoes for example) - one based on brown and one based on black.

I think brown hair is so striking and there are far too many people going blonde!!!

Winter is about high contrast coloring isn't it? Dark hair absent of warmth. I am a winter too but I don't have a cool skin tone.

I agree with you, Shana, about blonde hair. I like blonde hair on the right person...but there are far fewer people who actually should be blonde than that currently are. Angie, Ana, and Laura all make sensational blondes (though I must admit I loved brunette Ana as well). But there are just too many women who go blonde just because of the stereotype.

I like wearing brown at times, but, like Angie stated, it needs the right supporting players b/c it can be tricky to get right.

So, I'll often pair a brown top with a bright cardigan, scarf, necklace...whatever!

I also like to wear brown in "earthier" outfits. So, I'll wear more golds or wooden jewelry, casual sandals, jeans, etc. I'm more of a mood dresser, meaning I like to change up my style persona every once in awhile. I can be sleek and sophisticated in the office and casual bohemian chic in the evening!

Well, I have nothing insightful to add here--just another vote in favor of brown. I absolutely adore it and used to have more brown than black in my wardrobe until I literally wore out most of the brown items. Because it's less available than black, it's difficult to replace those items. I have to agree though that it can be as tricky to wear as black, and so it helps to break it up with texture, color variation, pattern, etc. But I do not think I could live in a world without brown!

Angie, I totally agree with you about the colour analysis thing. It's never made much sense to me at all, especially since I sit right smack in the middle of several "seasons" and can't really be places.

Your point about black being hipper and more fashionable than brown, and us being conditioned to prefer it, was really what I was wondering about. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that plays a part.

I think Julie's point about hair is an interesting one, though. I was wondering about that too.

High five, Ele!

Brown hair is naturally textured and often coloured for added texture. It makes all the difference

I think it's important to recognize the difference between warm and cool colours. Most people look best in one or the other and some people wear both equally well.

A final word on brown. It's not a colour I am drawn to - like you're not drawn to red, but I do actually wear certain bright browns well even though I do not prefer to. And you can absolutely be hip, trendy and cool wearing lots of brown. Look at Jean. Enough said :0)

I prefer brown to black. Actually, I prefer almost anything to black; if I have 4 black pieces in my wardrobe I would be surprised. It is just not flattering on me! Once I recognized that and stopped buying it I really started to put my look together in a new way.

I believe Angie is correct; we are conditioned to be drawn to black. Unfortunately I think many people who wear it haven't given much thought to what it is or is not doing for them!

I also feel it stifles creativity, as it is very easy to just pair whatever you have with black, or rely on all-black to carry you.
I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I do not feel it is actually neutral; most colors go much better with gray or brown than with black (pink, for example) IMO.

Just my .02 =)