Brown has the benefit of being a “menswear neutral” and is easy to combine with other colors. But it’s hard to deny that certain colors just tend to coordinate better than others.
Here are some great pants colors you could wear with a brown blazer:
- Blue
- Black
- Grey
- Navy
- Khaki
- Green
- White
While that list will serve you well, you’ll need more.
First, we’ll go through a few tips for coordinating brown blazers with pants in the most effective way possible.
Then, we’ll run through the color combinations in more detail (with pictures to help you choose).
How To Color Coordinate Pants With Brown Blazers
Consider all three of these factors before putting your outfit together.
Remember, a brown blazer should really only be worn in business-casual and smart-casual settings, regardless of the pants color or style you choose to wear it with.
Avoid wearing the combination in formal or business-professional settings; a 2-piece suit would usually be required instead
1. Darker Shades Are Dressier
Dark brown blazers worn with dark and neutral pants colors will always be the dressiest way to wear this combination.
A light brown blazer, in contrast, will usually look more casual. This is especially true when wearing it with pants in a soft/light neutral or non-neutral color.
So, when dressing this combination up for a business-casual setting, for example, consider a dark overall aesthetic.
“Formal” options include wearing a dark brown blazer with black, navy, or grey pants.
More “casual” options include wearing a light/medium brown blazer with blue, khaki, green, or white pants. These would work great in smart-casual settings but may be a little too casual for a truly business-casual environment.
It’s also worth considering the fabric here.
When dressing down, consider a brown blazer made from a more casual fabric or weave such as linen, serge, flannel, hopsack, or tweed.
As a final note, avoid wearing brown blazers with brown pants if possible. The risk here is that you look like you’re simply wearing a poorly matched suit.
Instead, you’ll want the pants and the blazer to be very noticeably different from each other to make it clear that you’re going for an intentionally non-matching blazer and pants combination.
2. Consider The Contrast
The more contrast you’ve got between the brown blazer and the pants, the more striking and eye-catching the combination will come across.
The main way in which the two items can contrast each other is their brightness.
A light brown blazer worn with black pants will lead to an attention-grabbing contrast between the light and dark colors.
On the other hand, a light brown blazer worn with light grey pants would lead to a more subtle and understated low-contrast combination.
There’s no “right” answer, as both options could look fantastic. It really just depends on what you’re going for.
If you’re going for a more subtle aesthetic, a low-contrast combination would usually be the best option.
3. Neutral And Cream Tone Shirts Are The Easiest
While you could go for a vivid and bold shirt color, it’s often best to anchor a brown blazer and pants combination with a neutral-colored shirt.
This is especially true if you’re looking to dress this combination up for a business-casual setting or simply a relatively dressy smart-casual event.
But “neutral” doesn’t necessarily need to mean white or grey.
You could go for a cream-tone shirt in off-white, beige, cream, or even a light taupe.
These “shades of white” often look great when wearing a brown blazer to a dressier setting.
If you did want to add a pop of color using your shirt, consider the dress code.
Even in smart-casual settings, it’s usually best to keep things subtle with your shirt color by going for a soft pastel such as light blue or light pink.
Alternatively, you could go for a dark neutral such as a black or dark grey shirt. These often pair very effectively with brown blazers but do have a more casual appearance to them. It often works best for smart-casual evening events.
7 Brown Blazer And Pants Combinations To Try
Here are some great combinations to inspire your imagination. We’ve used a white shirt to anchor the blazer and pants combinations.
However, as explained in the previous section, it’s definitely not your only option when it comes to the shirt color.
Brown Blazer With Blue Pants
A brown blazer can be worn with blue pants in casual and smart-casual settings. Given the eye-catching appearance of the blue pants, try to keep the other items in your outfit relatively neutral.
Here, we’re talking about pants in light and medium shades of blue such as cyan aquamarine, and admiral.
We’ll be going through navy pants later on, as they tend to look very different.
But pants in a light/medium shade of blue will always look more casual than darker shades.
Because of this, avoid wearing pants in these shades of blue with a brown blazer if you feel there’s a risk of underdressing. It would usually be considered too casual to wear in business-casual settings.
But in the more relaxed smart-casual settings, it can look great.
However, given how vivid the blue pants may come across, it’s even more important to choose a shirt in a light and neutral color such as white or off-white.
Brown Blazer With Black Pants
Black pants can be worn with a brown blazer in smart-casual and business-casual settings. The dark overall aesthetic lends itself well to dressy environments.
While it’s true that black pants are about as formal of a color as you could choose, the combination of a brown blazer and black pants would still look too casual to wear in formal and professional environments.
No matter what you may be dressing for, consider the contrast here.
A dark brown blazer worn with black pants will have a low-contrast, subtle, and dressy aesthetic to it.
A light brown blazer worn with black pants will lead to an eye-catching and relatively casual-looking high-contrast combination.
When it comes to shirt color, consider the dress code. Consider a white shirt if you’re looking for a more business-casual appearance.
On the other hand, if you want a sophisticated, yet thoroughly smart-casual aesthetic, consider a black shirt.
The black shirt will blend seamlessly into the black pants, with the brown blazer adding a touch of contrast to the otherwise monochromatic ensemble.
Brown Blazer With Grey Pants
A brown blazer can be worn with grey pants in a variety of different settings, with dark shades of grey (eg. charcoal) being more appropriate in business-casual environments.
Light grey pants look great with brown blazers, especially light/medium brown ones. However, they’ll always look a notch more casual than darker colors do.
At the end of the day, grey pants are neutral enough to pair comfortably with any brown blazer you can think of.
It all comes down to the dress code and the contrast.
A quick note on footwear:
Given the relatively “professional” appearance of grey pants, it’s usually best to wear either black or dark brown dress shoes here.
While you could go for a more non-traditional (but hopefully still dark/muted) color such as navy for your shoes, black or dark brown would be the easiest to pull off.
Brown Blazer With Navy Pants
A brown blazer can be worn with navy pants in smart-casual and business-casual settings. Navy is considered a “menswear neutral” and will work well with a brown blazer in dressier settings.
Once again, however, it shouldn’t be worn to formal or professional events.
Navy is gloriously versatile and makes for a less rigid and formal alternative to black or grey in business-casual settings.
It also pairs effortlessly with the similarly neutral brown blazer.
However, given how navy isn’t truly neutral like black or grey, it’s generally wise to choose a truly neutral shirt color to anchor the outfit and prevent too much color in the outfit.
Brown Blazer With Khaki Pants
Khaki pants look great worn with a brown blazer, mainly because “khaki” is a pale shade of brown in itself. The two items will usually coordinate effortlessly.
Remember, however, that if the brown blazer is very close in shade to khaki, it’s generally best to avoid wearing the two items together.
The risk of wearing khaki pants with a blazer that looks near-enough khaki in itself is that you may look like you’re wearing a poorly-matched khaki suit.
You want the two items to be different enough to be distinguished from each other easily.
Get this part right and it’s hard to deny how great it looks.
When wearing a brown blazer and khaki pants, consider adding some contrast using your shirt.
You could go for a beige, cream, or tan shirt if you wanted to stay within the same color scheme.
Alternatively, consider a blue or pink shirt if you wanted to add some color and a more significant amount of contrast.
Brown Blazer With Green Pants
A brown blazer can be worn with green pants in smart-casual settings, with the earthy tone of the color scheme working especially well during the fall months.
The relatively vivid green pants look more casual when worn with a brown blazer than the more neutral options of black, grey, and navy would.
However, going for a muted shade of green such as olive, sage, or forest green would still make the outfit look appropriate to wear in even dressier smart-casual settings.
This is even more true when wearing a neutral shirt color such as white or off-white.
Ultimately, it’s hard to deny how fall-friendly the combination is.
Colors such as brown, green, yellow, and deep shades of red tend to look great during these transitional months.
A pair of burgundy dress shoes would be a great way to round off this outfit for this very reason.
Brown Blazer With White Pants
A brown blazer can be worn with white pants in casual and smart-casual settings. The combination is high-contrast and eye-catching, working especially well in more relaxed summer and spring settings.
This is arguably the most casual option on this list given how high the level of contrast will be no matter what shade your brown blazer is.
But it’ll always coordinate with no trouble whatsoever. White pants are extremely neutral and can be worn with any blazer color you can think of.
Brown is no exception.
But try to reserve this combination for settings where there isn’t a risk of underdressing. If you feel as though there might be, go for one of the previous options on this list instead.
Conclusion
As you’ve now seen, while you aren’t short of options, certain pants colors may be more appropriate to wear with your brown blazer depending on what you’re dressing for.
Dark, neutral pants colors tend to work better in dressier/business-casual settings. Light neutrals and non-neutrals will usually work better in smart-casual and casual settings when wearing a brown blazer.
Consider these factors, as well as your personal preferences when making your decision.
Enjoy.
Ready Sleek founder. Obsessed with casual style and the minimalist approach to building a highly functional wardrobe. Also a fan of classic, vintage hairstyles.
