Since I've started working at a more conservative place my neutrals are growing in numbers a bit. Black, navy, denim, soft grey, white as neutral now.
Green, aqua, teal, yellow, lavender as colors. Currently it may be 50-50 in my wardrobe ( gotta get back to be a more specific ).
I'm attracted to patterns, often in black/white or blue/white ( I filter when I shop on-line ). Some colors just "call" to me - aqua for example.

Easily 80% neutrals.

1/3 of my clothes are neutrals and alot are black and dark denim (which I consider a neutral). The amount of black shocks me. In future I want to replace black with navy and light grey as items wear out.

I’ve probably got about the same ratio as Star, Ginger, cat2, & Nuancedream. I don’t know for sure, because this isn’t a thing I think about when getting dressed. Stark white and solid black are much “louder” to me than, say, frost pink. I often prefer a pattern to break up a big field of solid color (including black & white), but calling my pinstriped jeans or black & white patterned jumpsuit and romper “neutral” (which I did for the purposes of this guesstimate) seems like willfully stretching the definition.

Interesting that your art school background says beige isn’t a neutral. The way it does not declare itself at all and the way it’s fine with anything make it strike me as perfectly fulfilling the role of a neutral. Helena had a post that explained the technical difference, so I get it in my head, but the way I feel about it is another matter. I’m surprised you, with your background, would ever think of blue as a neutral, except for maybe an exception for certain shades of blue denim.

Oh boy Carla, I am not quite up enough for this question. I would say my closet looks black, white and blue all over . Will reread later.

In total, my wardrobe is roughly 1/3 neutral to 2/3 colour. I am happy to colour and pattern mix.

Hah, you put it so well Carla, neutrals can vary. I have almost the same amounts of black and white plain items- than have quite a few in charcoal and greys. I also thought tan is a neutral for me BUT it is so only for shoes and bags. I only own a few pieces of clothes in plain tan (say trenches, a crochette maxi dress and 2-3 sweaters) -so it seems I use tans rather in prints of my other neutrals the most!
Then I have almost the same amount of items in printed colors like all my plain neutrals. I do have one plain item of each my fave color to wear like an accent including denim (or navy-which is almost for my french stripes, only-too) but coral red is more-if that makes sense...Wow, I am good at maths but this is hard to figure....:-(

It seems my answer to this depends on how one defines color vs neutral. My thinking is that a wardrobe neutral
pairs well aesthetically with any other item I would choose to pair it with—-in my wardrobe. Using that definition, neutrals dominate…..comprising possibly 70-75% of my wardrobe, and colors make up 25-30%.

Staysfit, using that definition, my closet is entirely filled with neutrals. It is very difficult for me to come up with colors that don’t go together. That’s not by design; I just like what I like, and they like each other.

My neutrals are navy, gray, taupe and white. Just eyeballing it, 90-95% neutral here. 95 definitely if you consider light blue a neutral.
I have a difficult time adding color - I am color challenged! I think it’s because my hair is warm and my skin is cool, and I’m quite fair. The bright colors I have mostly in patterns, otherwise color overwhelms me, at least to my eye.

Love this question, and reading all the responses - so interesting!

As LaPed mentioned, to me, the only true neutrals are black, white and gray, since I am super-picky about how any fashion neutrals are mixed with colours, so they don't totally work as true neutrals for me (obviously this is different for everyone!). That said, for the purpose of this question, I'm thinking in terms of fashion neutrals (i.e. navy, beige included as a neutral) in which case my wardrobe is probably 80/20 in favour of neutrals, if not more.

Of the 20% colours, like notsaf, most of the colours are quiet - light blue, blush, burgundy, deep green, soft teal. I can count on one hand just about the number of bright pieces I have!

@ fashintern - you must be thinking of someone else. Your reference to ‘art school background’ does not apply to me. I was raised by an artist mother who was an art educator, but I did not attend art school.

Thinking about these things, and reading and digesting what folks have to say is all part of having fun with fashion. I’ve learned a lot from ‘workshopping’ concepts like this.

Sorry about the semantics. I do recall that your knowledge of art specifics comes from your mom, who taught art school, rather than from attending it yourself. If your idea of beige as not neutral comes from elsewhere, then I stand corrected. Our worlds are indeed bigger than the things we learn from our parents.

I agree with you very much that discussing the ideas is fun—seeing the systems people use and realizing it’s possible to think your way through an outfit are why I stuck around after the wedding I was initially preparing for. I always think it’s unfortunate when people are upset about the idea of discussions and questions—here & elsewhere.

Ps—I never came near med school or nursing school, but consider myself to have a “medical background” because of habits I picked up from my parents, like washing my hands thoroughly before & after certain activities, keeping a sterile zone & separate towels for hands & dishes in the kitchen, measuring ingredients precisely. That illustrates the way I was thinking of you as having a “background” in art.

I have a lot of my wardrobe in Finds. I don't know what the actual breakdown is, but my colours are shades of rust/cognac, olive green, cream/ivory, chocolate brown, blue denim and a sprinkling of black. I consider olive green, cream, brown, denim and black to be neutrals. Rust/cognac are probably colours.
It appears that the majority of my wardrobe is neutral. I have been buying more rust pieces this year. But I don't think I am going to end up with a wardrobe of rust.

This is a great post and it is fun to read each response. Once upon a time, I considered neutrals to live predominantly in the earth tone category. I have expanded my range to include black, blue, denim, white and red. Yes red. Some consider red a bright color, but I wear it as a neutral and it makes me happy. My closet is probably 85% neutrals with a few brights and patterns added for interest and pleasure.

I think my neutrals are:
denim
cream
olive
black
gray
and my colors are:
olive
browns
rust/coral/oranges- all variations on a theme rather than distinct tones
Iwear olive both as a neutral, and as a color. If I subtract that from my wardrobe, I think I have a lot more neutrals than colors.
I guess that works out well for me.

I would guess that my wardrobe is 70-85% neutral with the smaller percentage being my hot weather clothing. My neutrals are black, charcoal, gray, cream and white with some navy, olive, and burgundy. And cognac.

I consider cognac a neutral for footwear and bags — but not so much for clothing. What is that about?

I am drawn to charcoal and black’n’white and black’n’cream clothing like a moth to a flame. I think it’s because they are such a no brainer slam dunk with my hair.

Wow, I just realized how completely boring I must be! My neutrals are limited to just 3- Black, Navy and white. No beige, gray, brown, olive etc. I thought that made my life (and my wardrobe) easier, but I see that many of you have multiple neutrals… Actually, I don’t think I can add any more, as I get confused with too much, IYKWIM

I do wear a lot of bright colors with the neutrals, or just go for it in head to toe neutral.

FI-I think Carla was thinking beige IS a neutral but not HER neutral....if that makes sense...and blue even if is NOT a neutral, it CAN BE for some. Like say, tomato red -which is also NOT a neutral, but a neutral of Angie's- if I can recall her words well enough- as she just used to pair tomato red to everything else in her wardrobe!

Theodora, please don't feel that having only three neutrals makes you boring. Some people only have two--and look fab.

For many years, I wore only three neutrals--white, grey and black. They have always served me well, and like you I wear a lot of colours in addition.

However, in later years, I have added deep blue as a neutral. (Looks harmonious with my blue eyes and is softer than black now that my hair colour has changed from dark brown to silver.)

And because I--despite my cool colouring--have since long had a yearning for at least SOMETHING in the beige/brown area, I have experimented much and have recently found that I can successfully wear BEIGE PINK as a neutral and also COOL browns. Both of them actually relates to my skin colours.

Thanks Lyn67!