18 Brown and Black Outfit Ideas
I remember being told growing up (either by family or fashion magazines—or both?!) to NOT wear brown and black together because they were too similar and did not go together. I’m really glad that, as it turns out, that advice was false! I’d consider brown and black to be a classic color combination. There are so many ways you can wear those two colors in the same outfit and make it look intentional.
Brown and black has been a favorite color combination of mine for YEARS, so I was really excited to put together this post! I scoured my archives and rounded up 18 brown and black outfit ideas for women below along with my best styling tips. These outfit ideas cover all four seasons, and I included casual plus a couple of fancier options. I hope these inspire you to put together your own outfits featuring brown and black and help you feel more confident when doing so!
READ NEXT: A Week of Outfits with Wide Leg Crop Pants
18 Brown and Black Outfit Ideas
Brown and Black Summer to Fall Outfit
Chocolate brown is a color you don’t see paired with black all that often, but in the case of this outfit, the colors are pretty different from each other so they work well! I styled this swingy brown dress with black sandals and a black bag (plus wore a black sports bra underneath) for a casual summer to fall transition look. The olive green baseball cap is a great “third piece”!
Brown and Black Cozy Winter Outfit
A brown faux fur coat goes with anything and looks especially luxe paired with black! I love pulling this coat out in the winter months. Olive green makes another appearance in this outfit; if all brown and black is too much for you, add an accent color like olive green, burgundy, or ivory. I love how the shoelaces match the coat! It’s the little things.
Brown and Black Outfit with Wide Leg Pants
In this outfit, I’m wearing brown wide leg pants. The color of these pants is called “ochre”, which is a shade of brown (or yellow… or yellow-ish brown). This lighter brown color provides a good contrast to a black top! Much like the first outfit I shared, I added boots in a burgundy color to act like a third piece and complete this outfit.
Brown and Black Casual Work Outfit
I call this brown and black outfit my power outfit! It was a favorite of mine when I was a grad student because it lessened the imposter syndrome and made me feel like I belonged in the room. I definitely recommend finding an outfit like that and keeping it in your back pocket! In this outfit, the brown and black is grounded by the dark blue jeans.
Brown and Black Graduation Outfit
Brown and black even works for graduation! A little black dress is a closet staple, and here I wore mine with black pumps, statement earrings, and a leather clutch to a couple of grad school graduation events, including convocation. I paired my silk black dress with a camel cashmere cardigan to keep the chilly indoor air conditioning at bay.
Brown and Black Late Winter Outfit
The brown faux fur coat makes another appearance! I used my trick of adding a third color in this brown and black outfit as well. (You’ll see it a lot in these outfits ideas!) Wearing a simple black sweater with classic blue kick crop jeans is the perfect way to dress down an oversized faux fur coat for the late winter.
Brown and Black Après Ski Outfit
I hope you’re not sick of the cozy winter outfits yet, because brown and black is a color combination I clearly LOVE to wear in the colder months! This is the perfect après ski outfit idea. While wearing your black leggings (or ponte pants or jeans), add a cozy light brown fleece jacket, a big plaid scarf, and boots with the fur. Top it all off with a beanie!
Brown and Black Outfit with Striped Dress
This brown and black outfit idea is a great way to ease into this color combination. Take a simple black and white striped dress, throw on a black bomber jacket, and instead of picking matching black (or white) sandals, opt for a cognac brown sandal (mine are embellished!). Add a cognac brown leather bag if you like to match your shoes to your bag like me.
Monochrome Brown Outfit with Black
I LOVE a monochrome outfit, and this monochrome brown outfit is one of my boldest outfit choices from over the years. Take your favorite pair of brown wide leg pants, top it with a coordinating brown cashmere sweater, and complete the outfit with black boots and a black belt! The contrasting black belt helps to visually break up the brown top and bottoms.
Brown and Black Fall Work Outfit
This fall work outfit features a couple of shades of brown along with black (and black and white stripes)! Start with your base: a striped tee and black jeans. Then, add a camel sweater blazer, and finish it off with cognac brown ankle boots and a matching leather tote bag. This is my favorite Madewell medium Transport tote. I carry it to work daily!
Brown and Black Winter Evening Outfit
If it’s winter and you’re headed to a fancy outing in the evening, like maybe to see The Nutcracker ballet, this brown and black outfit is for you. This outfit is simple: a black dress, black tights, dark brown boots, and a faux fur coat. What makes it interesting is the textures! If you plan to only wear black and brown, wear faux fur, velvet, leather, denim, tweed, etc.
Brown Wide Leg Pants Outfit with Black
When in doubt, add a black and white striped garment to your brown and black outfit. It instantly adds interest! I wore these brown wide leg pants multiple times with black (loved them with a black leather jacket and black ankle boots), and to keep the outfits from feeling boring, stripes always did the trick. No matter the question, stripes are always the answer!
Brown and Black Winter Event Outfit
This is another outfit perfect for a wintertime event. This brown and black outfit features four distinct colors: a light brown (camel), chocolate brown, black, and olive green to tie it all together. I don’t typically pair black pants with brown boots (except in the case of cognac brown), but these chocolate brown boots provide enough of a contrast to look intentional.
Black Dress Outfit with Brown Accessories
There’s something luxe about a cognac brown and black color combination that I love! I’m sure it’s obvious, since I included lots of outfits in this round-up with that color combo. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve worn it. This cognac brown belt bag provides contrast and cinches this relatively loose black kaftan dress at the waist for more shape.
Brown Faux Fur Coat Winter Outfit
This winter outfit features my favorite trick when styling brown and black together in the same outfit: add a third color! You can’t see it as well in this outfit, but I’m wearing an ivory sweater under the brown faux fur coat. (Brown, black, and ivory or white is another top color combo for me.) Lengthen your leg line by wearing black boots to match your pants.
Cognac Brown and Black Outfit
It would have been really easy for me to take an outfit base with a black sweater and dark wash jeans and wear black shoes and a bag… instead, contrast those darker colors with cognac brown boots and a matching cognac brown bag! Matching isn’t required, of course, but I have to admit that I love it. It makes me feel more put-together than I am!
Black Faux Romper Outfit with Brown Boots
If I were to round up my “hall of fame” outfits, this one would be on the list! It’s one of my all-times favorites, and it was so easy to put together. I’m wearing a black silk top and black silk shorts (from two different brands). Together, they look like a romper! I wore brown ankle boots for a summer-to-fall vibe and layered a geometric necklace to complete it. Success!
Monochrome Black Outfit with Brown
And last but not least: a monochrome outfit again, but this time it’s mostly black! I played with textures by wearing a black leather jacket with the black jeans and shiny black ankle boots, and the striped brown sweater contrasts the rest of the outfit nicely. This outfit hits on a few of my key styling tips. I rounded them up below!
Can you wear brown and black together?
I think this blog post proves that YES, you absolutely can and should wear brown and black together—all year round! If you’re not 100% sold on that color combination, try pairing a camel or cognac brown with black first. Those colors contrast and won’t look like they blend together. That’s the easiest way to dip your toes into this color combo, and then you can jump all-in with other shades of brown, including a darker chocolate brown.
How to Style Brown and Black
I hope these outfit ideas help you feel more confident in putting together your own brown and black outfits! Here are my key styling tips:
Opt for a light brown
If you’re brand new to wearing brown and black together, opt for a light brown, such as tan, camel, ochre, or cognac brown. The contrast is greater between a light brown and black, so your outfits will look intentional instead of risking looking like you got dressed in the dark.
Add a third color
This just might be my favorite styling trick! Instead of wearing ONLY brown and black, add a third color. My favorites are olive green, burgundy, ivory (or white), and a dark indigo (via denim). This third color will act as a “third piece” and make your outfit feel more complete.
Wear stripes
Judging by the number of times I featured stripes in this outfit roundup, you probably aren’t surprised that “wearing stripes” is another one of my style tips! Much like a third color, stripes breaks up the solid brown and black and acts as a bridge between the two. Black and white stripes are the obvious choice, but play around with other striped garments you own that feature brown and/or black stripes.
Play with textures
Instead of wearing a brown and black outfit featuring all of the same textures, play around with textures. Wear jeans with a leather or suede jacket. Opt for velvet or snakeskin shoes instead of leather. Add faux fur! Textures add dimension to simple outfits that feature only two colors.
Go monochrome
Start with an all-black outfit base and add brown accessories, or start with an all-brown (or shades of brown) outfit base and add black accessories! Monochrome outfits make it look like you put way more effort into your outfit than you probably did.