Tag Archives: fashion

Beige has a bad reputation. Which is why you get advice like this: 9 Non-Boring Ways to Wear Beige Now. If you think poorly of beige too, then I’m here to convince you it is a great, non-boring color.

Let me backup a bit by dealing with the question: what even IS beige? According to Wikipedia, “Beige is variously described as a pale sandy fawn color, a grayish tan, a light-grayish yellowish brown, or a pale to grayish yellow.” Geez, when you put it that way, no wonder people think poorly of it. But also: “It takes its name from French, where the word originally meant natural wool that has been neither bleached or dyed, hence also the color of natural wool. It has come to be used to describe a variety of light tints chosen for their neutral or pale warm appearance.” That’s better. But still, you can see why people think lowly of it.

To use it and get around it’s bad rep, stylists will use synonyms for it. Instead of saying something is Beige, they’ll use: Cream, Buff, Sand, Ecru, even Khaki. Khaki pants or a ecru colored dress sounds better than a beige dress or beige slacks.

Part of the beige’s problem also is around the overuse of it. It seemed there was a lot of it in the 80s especially, from Armani clothing to office space. That was partially a reaction to the explosion of color that came from the 70s. Nonetheless, people moved on from it and were reluctant to return to it.

I would ask you to return to it, at least in terms of clothing. Beige is something you should use more often, especially with the warmer weather coming. To look sharp in beige — i.e. not be boring — use it as your main color but add some contrast, the way the man in the photo above does. The light blue shirt and dark red tie go wonderfully with beige.

Give it go this summer. You won’t be sorry.

(Image from: Where To Shop For a Suit — Die, Workwear!)