What Color Suspenders Should I Wear to Look My Best?

Suspenders offer a lot of versatility when you’re looking for clothing accessories that enhance your outfits. However, just because you can find them in a rainbow of colors, doesn’t mean every color is a good choice. Learn more about color combinations, so that you can better match your suspenders with shirts and bottoms in your wardrobe.

Neutrals

Many wardrobe experts recommend having a number or neutral color pieces in your wardrobe. These colors are: tan, black, brown, grey and white. When you have slacks, jackets, shirts, blouses and shoes in these colors, they give you a basic color structure to work with. All these neutrals can be paired with each other in numerous combinations, giving you lots of outfit options. For example, tan suspenders look great with a white or brown shirt, and you can easily pair grey suspenders with a white shirt and a gray suit.

Primary

There are three main primary colors, making them easy to remember. Those colors are red, blue and yellow. These colors make a bold fashion statement in various ways. For instance, the blue business suit is an acceptable alternative to black and gray suit colors, giving you one more wardrobe basic to build upon; blue suspenders look sharp with a blue suit. Red represents power, and red suspenders can be worn with or without a red tie for an impressive fashion statement. Yellow is a bright and cheery color and suspenders in this color are anything but subtle.

Secondary and Intermediate (Tertiary)

Secondary colors of orange, green and violet are just as popular as primary colors, as any crayon box proves. These shades are found in nature and they add depth to the color wheel. Intermediate colors are created by blending secondary colors together on a spectrum. Colors resulting from this blending include blue-green, red-orange, blue-violet and yellow-green. Another popular blended color is pink. Because of their vibrancy, suspenders in these colors are often worn as a cool fashion statement. They can also be a way of expressing a mood, or they may be associated with certain celebratory days such as Valentine’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day.

An easy way to match suspender color with shirt color is to stay within the same color hue family. For instance, pair purple suspenders with a pink shirt or dark blue suspenders with a light blue shirt.

Colors and Skin Tone

Being aware of your skin’s undertone can be useful in choosing which colors look best on you. The three skin tone colors are cool, warm and neutral. Cool undertones are red, pink and bluish tint. Warm undertones are peachy, golden or yellow. Neutral undertones are a mixture or cool and warm tones. Once you identify your tone, you can choose colors that flatter your skin’s natural look. Best colors for cool-toned skin are blue, purple and green. For warm-toned skin it’s orange, brown, yellow and green. Neutrals can use skin, hair and eye color to find their best color matches.

Work vs. Casual

Just because you like a certain color, doesn’t mean it’s a winner for the workplace. The basic rule of thumb is the brighter the color, the less appropriate it is for a formal workplace setting. For work attire, it’s a good idea to stick with neutrals and subtle shades, leaving the brightly colored suspenders for casual outfits.