Black with Brown

January 19, 2012 6:51 PM

Everyone says don't wear brown shoes with black pants, but could it ever work?

I love these mahogany Dansko heels. I'd like to get a pair for wearing with dresses, and also pants. I have a nice pair of black pants that I don't want to alienate by buying (expensive) brown shoes.

Could I pull off wearing these Dansko's with these black pants? I'm 5'2".

I am not made of $s so I can't really buy two pairs at the moment.

posted by little_c to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (23 answers total)

You know, Dansko shoes are basically junk now, since the company was purchased and production was moved to China. You can wear dark shoes with dark pants, but Danskos really aren't worth the money anymore. (Seriously, my next AskMe question is going to be about the trajectory of companies like Dansko that trade on past reputation that is no longer warranted.)
posted by OmieWise at 6:54 PM on January 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

You can wear what you want, but I don't think that color combo will look good at all.

I have light-brown jacket I would call "cinnamon" that I wear with black shirts- that works in my opinion because it's a light enough brown it's not "trying" to be black. But what you have here just looks too dark of a brown to me.
posted by drjimmy11 at 7:00 PM on January 19, 2012

For brown shoes to work with black clothes, the whole outfit has to be really carefully put together so as not to suggest, "I'm clueless and will just wear whatever I can find". Maybe it could be done on a special occasion, but I think it would be difficult to make a pair of brown shoes and a pair of black pants a duo that could act as a foundation for one's regular daily wardrobe.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:03 PM on January 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

I agree that you can wear whatever you want, but shouldn't go with that combo. Not only the color, but I think it looks wrong to wear Mary Jane style heels with pants.
posted by sweetkid at 7:03 PM on January 19, 2012

I disagree, I think that style of heel looks fine with pants. You just have to be careful about what socks you wear.
posted by maryr at 7:10 PM on January 19, 2012

The old saw about brown not going with black lives on only in the minds of people who need rules to help them remember how to dress.
posted by yellowcandy at 7:43 PM on January 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

If you could find a shirt or scarf or something that had both black and that same shade of brown in it, you might be able to make it worth. Having an item in your outfit that pulls together the colors of other individual pieces makes it look like you chose everything on purpose, rather than accidentally wearing the brown shoes with the black pants. The tough part is finding that item that has all the colors you want.
posted by vytae at 7:51 PM on January 19, 2012 [2 favorites]

*worth = work
posted by vytae at 7:52 PM on January 19, 2012

From a purely aesthetic standpoint, and disregarding what other people think you should do with your clothes, it's not really a good combination. A convincing interaction between colors in any visual display is predicated on one of three relationships: contrast, identity, or similarity along a controlled axis. An example of the latter might be mixing several blues with equivalent saturation but varying levels of brightness. The brown shoe-black pants combination might be an example of the latter but it differs in two axes, namely color and brightness, the result being that it looks uncontrolled. That effect is amplified by the fact that we're talking about two dark colors, which tend to look figuratively muddy when mixed and here look literally so.
posted by invitapriore at 7:59 PM on January 19, 2012 [8 favorites]

As a sidenote, when I say disregarding what other people think you should do with your clothes I mean that not in the sense of other people in this thread but in the sense of the eye of the public. That wasn't a dig at anybody answering.
posted by invitapriore at 8:01 PM on January 19, 2012

I agree- Mary Jane's look clunky and weird with pants. Some tall women can pull it off with short pants, but we petite girls know how ill that looks on those of us with shorter limbs.

If you can only afford one pair of shoes right now, get a versatile pair of black loafers and some black or grey pants.

Also, those pants look kind of cheap. The mostly synthetic fabric looks icky. Maybe Ann Taylor has better petite options... J. Crew is worth a look, too-- maybe check ebay. Go for a higher wool or cotton percentage.
posted by devymetal at 8:12 PM on January 19, 2012

This store that generally has cute clothes just put out a pair of brown boots and in the description mentions that they would look good paired with black skinny jeans. I took note of it when I read it because I, like you, thought it was a faux pas. I think in the outfit they describe the combination would work, but like ThePinkSuperhero says, it would be best to have a "look" you are going for for it to work.
posted by to recite so charmingly at 8:26 PM on January 19, 2012

I think it is totally possible to pull of those shoes with black pants, though I am not sure about those specific pants- it's hard to know without seeing where they fall on the shoe. You just need a perfectly matching brown silk scarf, or leather bangles, or cardigan, or something. It doesn't have to be blended black and brown, just make a deliberate choice and wear it with conviction.

Keep in mind that any shoes that don't match your pants are going to draw the eye downward, the more contrasting the greater this effect. So let that guide your choice, and offset with more interest around your face.
posted by oneirodynia at 8:59 PM on January 19, 2012

If you can only buy one pair of shoes then you need to be disciplined, and buy shoes that absolutely work. That is not the case here. Sadly, the option of buying shoes that you love but don't match really well with everything is really the domain of the person who can also afford the staple pair.

Of course, these are 'rules' of fashion, and like everyone else, I see that there will be no grave consequences to your breaking them. But you will be breaking them, I think.

FWIW, I think you can wear that style of shoe with a pant but not those pants. They're too casual/fitted imo to look nice with that style of shoe.
posted by jojobobo at 9:46 PM on January 19, 2012

As with most questions in life, Frank Zappa has the answer: Brown Shoes Don't Make It.
posted by three blind mice at 1:21 AM on January 20, 2012

Brown is one of the few colours that goes well with black. So just the fact that it's brown is not a reason not to wear it with black. If you can afford only one pair of shoes, best make them brown.

If you're short, breaking up your vertical line with different colours will tend to exaggerate your shortness. Ideally it would be better to continue the line with black shoes.

I also understand about the expense of buying shoes and I'm not trying to be obtuse with you if it's a toss-up between shoes and food or anything. But if you have two pairs of shoes and alternate them, they will last a hell of a lot longer and save you money over the longer term. Especially if you use shoe trees and polish them as often as possible. And, it's ideal to have a set of accessories and shoes in brown, and one in black. So if you get a chance to buy the black shoes, buy them.
posted by tel3path at 3:01 AM on January 20, 2012

I also don't agree that those particular shoes would go badly with those particular pants, as long as the hem of the pants broke some way down the heel of the shoes, and as long as you don't have proportionately short legs.

They just wouldn't go nearly as well as black shoes.
posted by tel3path at 3:10 AM on January 20, 2012

I wear brown shoes with black tights/skirts all the time, I think it looks fine. I wouldn't hesitate to wear brown shoes with black pants if I owned any black pants. However, if I could only get one pair of nice shoes I'd get ones that are simpler than those Danskos. I don't think they'd be very versatile.
posted by SoftRain at 3:16 AM on January 20, 2012

*in a thick Russian accent* "Brown shoes, with tuxedo? You be Russian!"

Seeing Things ("Defective Vision").
posted by bentley at 5:25 AM on January 20, 2012

Where I spend most of my time it seems that the new rule is brown boots with black jeans/leggings/tights etc. I know that if I'm wearing skinny back jeans, I will go either way with my brown low cowboys or a pair black boots, depending on the coat I decide to wear and my tasks for the day.
I think the problem with this pairing is that the shoes are too casual for the tailored cut of the pant. Agreeing with others that if you can only get one pair of shoes, you should go for something a bit more versatile.
posted by newpotato at 5:40 AM on January 20, 2012

bentley: "*in a thick Russian accent* "Brown shoes, with tuxedo? You be Russian! "

Heh. The variant on this I've heard is a Charlie-Brown-like sigh of dismay: "The world is a tuxedo and I'm a pair of brown shoes."

Given that, no. Brown shoes and black pants are not a good look. Rock your happy shoes with jeans or skirts.
posted by workerant at 8:46 AM on January 20, 2012

No, that combination won't work.

Also, I think I ordered that exact shoe a few months go and returned it because it was so rigid; even though it wasn't tight, the whole shoe was so HARD that it hurt.
posted by fingersandtoes at 9:11 AM on January 20, 2012

Black and brown are fine together in theory. Fine. Check out the sartorialist and you'll see lots of examples of brown and black together.

Whether these brown shoes and these black pants work together on you... No idea. If you tried them both on and added pictures we would be able to give you a more informed opinion. I think it's possible. The easy way to tie the look together and make it clear the brown + black was intentional would be to wear something else (shirt, scarf) that has both colors.
posted by semacd at 12:40 PM on January 20, 2012 [1 favorite]