How to Style Colorful Pants with 30 Wears: Green Pants - Part 1
- sallyinstpaul
- 12 minutes ago
- 8 min read
I was excited that my recent "inspired by Gucci" outfit brought me up 30 wears for my green ankle pants. In a weird way, I feel like I just bought these pants on ThredUp, but it's actually been 5 years! Considering that I bought these pants preloved, I wouldn't have been surprised if they were starting to get worn at this point, but they are actually still in great condition. The only difference after 30 wears is the closure; the front has two vertical metal hook and bar closures that are fine, but the button that you button in toward the body fell off at some point and I lost it. Luckily the hook and bar closures work well on their own so I haven't bothered getting a new button. I wash my clothes in cold water and hang them to dry, and I wear my pants numerous times between washes, and I think this helps extend their life.
Today I'm sharing some style inspiration for wearing accent color pants, using my green pants as the example. Of my 30 wears of the pants, I have 25 OOTD photos in my archives so we can see a lot of different ways to wear them. I'm focusing on my green pants for this post, but these ideas would work with any accent color pants or skirt that you own. Whatever color your pants/skirt is, we'll call that the focal color. For my outfits, the focal color is green.
Because 25 is a lot of outfits to review, we'll tackle this in two parts! In this post, we'll start off with ideas for wearing colorful pants (or skirt) with neutral clothing. You might be surprised by how many different kinds of combinations we can come up with!
Rather than talking about specific color combinations (like pink and blue or green and orange), I'm going to organize these outfit ideas based on the following:
-Pop of Color: this is when the focal color stands out in the outfit as distinctly different (and often brighter) than the rest of the colors.
-Color Blocking: each piece of clothing in your outfit is a different color: your 2-piece outfit has 2 colors, your 3-piece outfit has 3 colors, etc.
-Road Map Styling: one piece of clothing in the outfit is a print
-Neutrals: muted, low saturation colors like black, white, grey, navy, brown, beige, etc., that are considered versatile and easy to mix; I consider denim/chambray to be a neutral as well as metallic colors.
-Accent Colors aka "Rainbow Colors": colors that have a distinct hue like red, green, pink, orange, yellow, etc.
-Non-Matching: an item that's not in the focal color family. For this post, any color that isn't green in "non-matching."
-Matching: an item that is in the focal color family; note that a perfect match is the exact shade of the color is not required. For this post, I'm treating any form of green as "matching" with my green pants.
-Bridging: contains the focal color and one or more other colors from the outfit. Print scarves that combine colors of an outfit are a classic bridge piece, but multi-color jewelry, shoes, handbags, etc., can also fulfill this function.
-Modern twin set: a top and topper in the same/similar colors. A top worn alone without a topper functions the same way as a modern twin set in terms of color.
Let's get started...
1: Pop of Color with Neutrals & Non-Matching Accessories
In these outfits, you'll see that the green pants are the only accent color in the entire outfit; the rest of the clothing and the accessories are all in neutral tones. This really makes the green color pop, and it's a bit of unexpected fun for the bottom piece to be the colorful one. We more typically see a pop of color in a top, topper layer, or accessory, so wearing color on the bottom has a fresh look. With neutrals like cream, brown, white, and black in the rest of the look, literally any accent color of pants or skirt could be substituted for the green pants and the outfit would still work perfectly.
#1: Modern twin set in neutral 1 + matching scarf and shoes in neutral 2. You could switch the neutrals with a darker neutral twin set and lighter neutral (or metallic) accessories. The long cardigan vest covers some of the green pants color and reduces its impact.
#2: Top in neutral 1 + topper in neutral 2 + accessories in neutral 1 to match the top. This way colors are allocated in this outfit runs counter to the norm; the combination of darker top, lighter topper, and accent color pants adds extra interest to the simple formula 2 neutrals + 1 accent color formula.
#3: Modern twin set in neutral 1 (subtle print) + shoes in neutral 1 to match the twin set + pearl/metallic necklace. I love the variant of the modern twin set that pairs a solid piece with a print piece that shares the same color of background. When making your own modern twin sets from disparate pieces (that did not come as a set), don't forget the power of combining different textures; the t-shirt knit and velvet blazer have nice textural contrast here.
#4: Top in neutral 1 + shoes in neutral 2 + topper piece in a neutral 1/neutral 2 print + metallic necklace. There is something about black and white that lends itself extremely well with bright accent colors. The print topper pulls together the colors of the top and shoes, giving the look extra cohesion, but the green pants are still a true pop of color.
2: Pop of Color with Neutrals & Matching Accessories
The only difference from the previous category is that we repeat the focal color of the bottom piece in one or more accessories. The focal color still stands out against the neutral clothing, but the addition of matching accessories ups the impact of that color overall and makes it more cohesive. You can use matching accessories strategically - for example, to create a bookended look that repeats the same color at the top and bottom of the outfit - or in whatever way strikes your fancy.
#5: Top and shoes in neutral 1 + print topper including neutral 1 and other neutrals + jewelry that matches the focal color as well as the neutrals. The bracelet stack is not a true bridge piece - it's a series of solid colored bracelets that pull the various colors of the outfit together in proximity, but the colors of the bracelets are not intermingled. If you switched from the green pants to an orange skirt, you could also substitute orange bracelets for the green ones, leaving the others the same.
3: Pop of Color with Neutrals & Bridging Accessories
#6: Modern twin set in neutral 1 (subtle print) + accessories that combine neutral 1 and the focal color. Compared to the physical proximity of the colors in the previous outfit, several of the accessories here are bridge pieces that intermingle the colors in a single item: green and navy print scarf, paper beads in green/white/navy, loafers in navy-black/blue/green. The green pants still are a pop of color against the dominant navy of the outfit, but the addition of bridge pieces integrates the colors of the outfit into a very intentional look. If you changed from green pants to an orange skirt and wanted to maintain that same level of intentionality, you'd need to switch out the print scarf, print shoes, and the multi-color paper beads.
#7: Top in neutral 1 + accessories that combine neutral 1 and the focal color. In this case, the print scarf includes the black and green of the base outfit while introducing white and blue to the color palette. While a simple two-color print scarf could do well as a bridge piece, don't overlook prints that contain extra colors as well, particularly if your outfit is neutral-based like this one. I doubled down on the bridge piece color scheme by wearing the navy-black/blue/green loafers again, repeating multiple colors from the scarf.
#8: Modern twin set in neutral 1 + shoes in neutral 1 to match the twin set + accessory that combines neutral 1 and the focal color...or does it? I put this outfit in the post here because at first glance, I thought the scarf contained green, blue, white, and navy. However, looking more carefully, the dark parts of the print are actually a dark shade of green that occasionally overlaps the blue to create a false impression of dark blue/navy! But since blue and navy are the same color family, the scarf still works as an example of a bridge piece; you don't need the colors to be a perfect match to get that "matching" vibe.
#9: Modern twin set in neutral 1 + shoes in animal print (also neutral) + accessories that combine neutral 1 and the focal color. In this look, several accessories serve as bridge pieces that bring the white and green of the base outfit together. They also introduce some other accent colors like pink, purple, and teal. The scarf, earrings, and necklace together could create a nice little beauty bundle/accessory set to finish many different base outfits. Animal print shoes are a neutral, and if you have ones that repeat your hair color, they serve to bookend the look nicely.
#10: Top in neutral 1 + shoes in neutral 1 to match the top + accessory that combines neutral 1 and the focal color. Denim/chambray blue is an interesting color that can function as a neutral or as a true/accent/rainbow color in an outfit...and sometimes both at the same time. Here I am treating the denim blue linen top and ballet flats as a softer form of navy blue so they are the same color family.
4: Pop of Color with Neutrals & Bridging Accessories - Print Mix
You can up the adventurousness and creativity of your colored pants outfit by wearing a bold neutral print top instead of a solid (or subtly printed) one. This is a way to create a highly intentional-looking outfit with a very tight and integrated color palette that still has a lot of visual interest and drama.
#11: Top in neutral 1 print + shoes in neutral 1 to match the top + accessory that combines neutral 1 and the focal color. This outfit is basically the same as #10 except I am wearing a navy-and-white striped top instead of a solid denim blue one.
#12: Modern twin set in neutral 1 (bold print) + shoes in the focal color to match the pants + accessories that combine neutral 1 and the focal color...sort of. This is another example of a scarf that bridges the colors of a base outfit without actually matching them (like #8 above). The scarf has black instead of navy and the green is a lighter and brighter version than the pants; it actually is very similar to the shoes which "match" the pants in color family but not in their exact shade. Despite these variations, the outfit comes together well and looks cohesive.
5: Color Blocking with Neutrals & Bridging Accessories
I could have called this "pop of color" instead of "color blocking" but when you have a top, bottom, and topper in 3 different colors, I think "color blocking" is a good term for it, even when two of the colors are neutrals.
#13: Top in neutral 1 + topper in neutral 2 + shoes in neutral 2 to match the topper + accessory that combines the neutrals and the focal color. Again, the bridge piece scarf in this outfit matches more at a family color level than an exact color level; the blues in the scarf are brighter than the dark indigo denim blue of the top and the white in the scarf is brighter than the cream of the vest (the greens are pretty close in color, though). I like that the scarf adds some additional color and brightness to this look.
Next week, I'll finish up the remaining 12 OOTD with more print ideas and adding accent color clothing to the green pants.
Do you ever wear a colorful skirt or pants with neutral pieces on top? Do you have a favorite accent/rainbow color for wearing on the bottom half? Do you have a favorite neutral or neutrals that you wear frequently? Are you drawn more to true "pops of color" in an outfit or to outfits with bridge pieces that bring the colors together in one item?
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