What Color Jeans Go With A Navy Shirt? (Pics)

Navy shirts are dark, muted, and easy to pair with other items. Jeans are no exception. 

Here are some great jeans colors that go with a navy shirt: 

• Black
• Dark Blue
• Light Blue
• Grey
• White

A short and sweet list is nice, but you’ll need more. 

After going through a few essential tips for getting the combination perfect every time, we’ll run through the specific colors in more detail. 

Let’s get to it. 

How To Coordinate Navy Shirts With Jeans

Consider all of these tips before choosing a jeans color to wear with your specific navy shirt. 

1.  Consider The Dress Code

While a navy shirt and jeans combination should only be worn in casual and smart-casual settings, there are certain events where you’ll want to dress up a notch. 

“Smart-casual” can range from very smart to not-so-smart. 

When dressing your navy shirt and jeans combo up a notch, consider a pair of jeans in a similarly dark and muted color such as black, dark grey, or dark blue (eg. indigo). 

In contrast, when dressing down and going more casual, consider a pair of jeans in a lighter color such as light blue, light grey, or even white. 

Dark colors will generally have a dressier appearance than lighter colors. 

Navy is a dark and muted color with quite a formal appearance to it. Combining it with a black or dark grey pair of jeans would usually produce the ideal smart-casual combination. 

2.  Low Contrast Vs High Contrast 

A low-contrast combination is one where the colors are similar in ways such as brightness. 

Here, you’d be combining the navy shirt with a dark pair of jeans such as black, dark grey, or dark blue. 

A high-contrast combination would be one where you’re combining a navy shirt with a light-colored pair of jeans such as light grey or light blue. 

While it’s true that darker jeans have a naturally dressier appearance to them, they’ll also produce a more subtle and understated low-contrast pairing with a similarly dark navy shirt. 

Even if you weren’t necessarily dressing up, if you just prefer a more subtle look, wear a dark pair of jeans with your navy shirt. 

If, on the other hand, you’d prefer a more striking and attention-grabbing aesthetic, consider a pair of jeans in a lighter color. 

3. Consider Your Other Items

You can dress a navy shirt and jeans combination up or down with the other items you choose to wear.

When dressing the combo up, consider popping a relaxed, unstructured blazer on top. 

While you could choose a blazer in a more vivid color such as maroon or olive, keeping things neutral (eg. with a grey blazer) would usually be easier and give you more options. 

In addition, consider a pair of dark brown dress shoes to add a touch of sophistication. Black dress shoes would also be an option, but would usually be a little too formal for the jeans. 

When dressing down, consider more casual styles of outerwear such as denim jackets and cardigans. 

In addition, consider a pair of suede dress shoes or sneakers as an alternative to dress shoes in a shinier grain of leather. 

The key to coordinating a navy shirt with jeans is to combine the two with items that fall within the same spectrum of casual or smart casual. 

Avoid excessively formal items such as black dress shoes and dark blazers – it will usually lead to a formality mismatch, no matter how dressy the jeans may look. 

5 Navy Shirt And Jeans Combinations To Try

Here are pictures of the color combinations to help you choose the right one. Notice how certain jeans colors look more casual than others when wearing a navy shirt. 

Navy Shirt With Black Jeans

A navy shirt can be worn with black jeans in casual and smart-casual settings. The dark overall aesthetic works will always coordinate effortlessly. 

Navy and black are both similarly dark and neutral. 

While navy is a very dark shade of blue, it’s often considered neutral in the world of menswear, simply because it’s extremely muted and easy to combine with other items. 

Black jeans are about as dressy as a pair of jeans can get, even dressier than dark grey and dark blue jeans. 

This is even more true when the jeans are non-distressed (i.e no rips/frays) and have a tapered fit. 

Of course, the style of navy shirt you choose to wear here does play a role in how casual or dressy the outfit will look as a whole. 

Button-up navy shirts in chambray, linen, or Oxford cloth will look dressier than a polo on Henley when wearing jeans. 

Try to avoid wearing black jeans with navy dress shirts, no matter how “formal” the black jeans may look. 

Dress shirts often look awkward and too formal to wear with jeans. 

Navy Shirt With Dark Blue Jeans

Dark blue jeans can be worn with a navy shirt in casual and smart-casual settings. The monochromatic combination usually works best when the shirt and jeans are in shades that are easy to distinguish from each other. 

Ultimately, you’re pairing a dark blue shirt with a dark blue pair of jeans here. 

While you could choose to wear a navy shirt with a pair of jeans in a very similar shade of blue, it usually isn’t as effective or aesthetically pleasing as aiming for even a touch of contrast. 

Stick to this principle and the monochromatic combination should work out well. 

Much like black and dark grey jeans, dark blue jeans would be a good option when looking to dress up a notch. 

They aren’t quite as dressy as black jeans but are still a whole lot dressier than jeans in lighter colors. 

Navy Shirt With Light Blue Jeans

Light blue jeans can be worn with a navy shirt to produce an effective monochromatic and casual combination. 

The jeans will look more casual than darker alternatives and so would be a great option when dressing down. 

Ultimately, it’s easy to pair a navy shirt with light blue jeans – you know it’ll coordinate effortlessly as you’re simply combining two colors on different ends of the same spectrum. 

As you’re going for a more casual style and color of jeans here, consider a casual navy shirt style. 

Henley shirts, polos, and T-shirts are all great options here. 

This isn’t to say that button-ups can’t work here. It’s just more important that you choose a button-up made from a more casual fabric such as linen or Oxford cloth to prevent a formality mismatch. 

In addition, it’s just hard to deny that the more casual navy shirt styles would sync better with a typically casual pair of light blue jeans. 

Navy Shirt With Grey Jeans

A navy shirt can easily be worn with grey jeans, with dark grey jeans being a better option in dressier settings. 

Grey is an extremely neutral color and will always pair effortlessly with navy. 

The main choice here would be whether you go for dark grey or light grey jeans. As mentioned in the tips earlier on, darker jeans would lead to less contrast with the navy shirt. 

If you’d prefer a more striking, high-contrast, and casual aesthetic, go for a pair of light grey jeans instead. 

Navy Shirt With White Jeans

White jeans can work well with a navy shirt in casual settings. The combination is extremely high-contrast and very eye-catching. 

It isn’t as common to find jeans in find as it is to find them in blue, grey, or black. 

But a pair of white jeans can be very versatile and ideal to wear in the right settings. 

The dark and muted navy shirt will heavily contrast the ultra-light pair of jeans to a point where the contrast will be hard to ignore. 

White is, however, a neutral color that’s effortless to pair with other colors. Navy is no exception. 

If you were looking for a striking and attention-grabbing pairing, a navy shirt and white jeans combination should appeal to you. 

Conclusion 

A navy shirt can be worn with jeans in a variety of colors ranging from dark and dressy pairs to light and casual ones. 

Consider the dress code, as well as the desired level of contrast when choosing the perfect pair of jeans to wear with your specific navy shirt. 

Enjoy.