# Trousers with a grey herringbone jacket



## TomS (Mar 29, 2010)

Greetings all,

Long time browser, first time poster here. 22 years old, 8 weeks into first "proper" job after university and building a wardrobe to comply with an unspoken "business casual" dress code. And, thanks partly to this place, rather enjoying it!

To the specifics; I scored something of a bargain on Saturday, a jacket in a fine, textured grey herringbone from the sale rack at Jaeger. As subject, I'm wondering what trousers go best with it, as the next piece I add to my wardrobe will likely be something bought with said jacket in mind. Other jackets are charcoal grey silk/linen blend and a less formal mid-grey soft linen.

Given the somewhat monochromatic nature of my jacket collection at present, would you recommend a pair of trousers that *isn't* black/grey?

All thoughts welcome


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## ykurtz (Mar 7, 2007)

Navy slacks might work well, given your collection of grey jackets. That said, as long as there is signficant contrast and texture between your jackets and slacks, you can certainly wear differing shades of grey, e.g. very dark charcoal with a medium grey jacket, etc. I do that sometimes, usually with a tie that matches the color intensity of the slacks. It's a good look.


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## PJC in NoVa (Jan 23, 2005)

If the jacket is mid- to light gray, I believe that a pair of very dark gray trousers would also work well.

Personally, I don't feel drawn to the navy-trousers-with-gray-jacket combo.


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## The Rambler (Feb 18, 2010)

I like khakis with grey herringbone. (consider grey herrinngbone to be the khaki of tweed)


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## PMRuby (Jan 13, 2010)

As you can tell from the posts, there's really not a 'wrong' answer. That color is very functional. Khaki-colored trousers absolutely can work, but most likely aren't your best bet. As for the dark gray vs. navy, it really depends on the exact tone of the jacket.


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## Matt S (Jun 15, 2006)

I usually wear charcoal flannel or light brown cavalry twill trousers with a grey herringbone sports coat.


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## sowilson (Jul 27, 2009)

Don't forget trousers with paterns, houndstooth and plaid work well especially if they have a grey, black, or navy coloring in them.


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## CuffDaddy (Feb 26, 2009)

The most standard pairing is a tan wool cavarly twill. Brown gabardines and twills of almost all shades will look good, as will olives. More daring colors to consider include orange, gold, and even maroon. As noted above, if the herringbone is subtle, patterned pants can be good, too.


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## Andy (Aug 25, 2002)

TomS:

Welcome.

Since the gray sport jacket is "neutral" you could wear any color trousers with it!

If you want more than too much info, just review these articles from the Home Page:









*COORDINATION*
*
Coordination
Color Coordination
Practical Color Help*
*Color Made Simple!*


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## JAGMAJ (Feb 10, 2005)

Now that Andy has spoken on the subject, I run the risk of looking like a fool by saying anything contradictory, but here it goes: while gray may be a neutral color, for some reason, the combination of a gray jacket and khaki pants just looks off to me. I will wear most colors with Khaki and most colors with gray, but I don't like the look of gray and tan together. I think it's because I view tan as being in the "browns" category and gray as being in the "blacks" and I don't mix blacks and browns.


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## The Rambler (Feb 18, 2010)

JAG: dont place to much emphasis on "categorical" rules, especially in this kind of case--there are many shades of gray, many shades of brown, and lots of gray-browns. Wear something you like, and don't worry about it: Andy says it'll be ok!


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## JAGMAJ (Feb 10, 2005)

The Rambler said:


> JAG: dont place to much emphasis on "categorical" rules, especially in this kind of case--there are many shades of gray, many shades of brown, and lots of gray-browns. Wear something you like, and don't worry about it: Andy says it'll be ok!


My hesitation actually isn't just because of the black/brown rule; mixing khaki and gray just doesn't look right to me. I do agree with you, however, that there are exceptions to this rule. Strangely enough, I encountered this situation yesterday. My church is extremely informal and, much to my disappointment, nobody wears suits. I decided to wear a gray/black Harris tweed blazer and I wore pants that were a gray/brown mix (kind of a medium taupe) precisely because they had enough gray-tone for me to feel comfortable with them. I specifically passed on wearing khakis, though, for the reasons I indicated.


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## Ekphrastic (Oct 4, 2009)

Could anybody provide a picture of the khaki/brown + gray combination? I'd appreciate seeing it.


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## PMRuby (Jan 13, 2010)

Ekphrastic said:


> Could anybody provide a picture of the khaki/brown + gray combination? I'd appreciate seeing it.


Please excuse the quality (taken on my phone and poorly lit), but here's an example of beige/khaki-colored trousers with a gray sport coat. Surely you'll notice the brown buttons on the sport coat; what may not be quite so apparent from this photo is that it also has a very thin, faint brown windowpane pattern. Nonetheless, I think it works fairly well.


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## JAGMAJ (Feb 10, 2005)

PMRuby said:


> Please excuse the quality (taken on my phone and poorly lit), but here's an example of beige/khaki-colored trousers with a gray sport coat. Surely you'll notice the brown buttons on the sport coat; what may not be quite so apparent from this photo is that it also has a very thin, faint brown windowpane pattern. Nonetheless, I think it works fairly well.


I'm not sure if it's because of the brown windowpane, but it looks like that jacket has a brown tone to it, much like the pants I described wearing in my earlier post. Because of this, it seems less objectionable to me than a pure gray jacket with khakis.


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## TomS (Mar 29, 2010)

Thanks all for varied and fascinating contributions!


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## GBR (Aug 10, 2005)

Ignore the suggestion of "ANY" because the jacket is neutral. That would not be right in a UK work environment. Black or charcoal would be fine or even mid-grey if the jacket was sufficiently differentiated.

Other alternatives might be midnight blue.

Note that black trousers are well accepted in the UK and those who suggest you might resemble a waiter in some disparaging terms do not know of what they speak


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## The Rambler (Feb 18, 2010)

GBR: your post reminds me that I'm glad I don't live there, anymore. "Work environment" indeed!


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## Sean1982 (Sep 7, 2009)

Charcoal is a great suggestion. I'd avoid anything too light.


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## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

JAGMAJ said:


> My hesitation actually isn't just because of the black/brown rule; mixing khaki and gray just doesn't look right to me.


I agree with you here its not a combination that I would ever engage in, just doesn't sit well, in my opinion its unbalanced in its colour relation.


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## Ekphrastic (Oct 4, 2009)

PMRuby said:


> Please excuse the quality (taken on my phone and poorly lit), but here's an example of beige/khaki-colored trousers with a gray sport coat. Surely you'll notice the brown buttons on the sport coat; what may not be quite so apparent from this photo is that it also has a very thin, faint brown windowpane pattern. Nonetheless, I think it works fairly well.


Thanks for the picture, sir. That looks sharp. The buttons do help, as does the windowpane, which is probably just blending in.

Gotta find me a jacket like that...


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## TomS (Mar 29, 2010)

A closeup of the fabric reveals a dark blue and a brownish earth tone. Helpful?


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## Archdale (Mar 24, 2010)

TomS said:


> Greetings all,
> 
> Long time browser, first time poster here. 22 years old, 8 weeks into first "proper" job after university and building a wardrobe to comply with an unspoken "business casual" dress code. And, thanks partly to this place, rather enjoying it!
> 
> ...


Combinations are endless, much like Andy said wear most if anything however keep in mind sensibilities of your current work environ etc.. It would be interesting to see this pairing with some Red Capertons, however that may not suit you place of employment. However I think what's makes this exercise fun is that you can try different pairings on at home prior to showing off to the rest of the world.


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## Ekphrastic (Oct 4, 2009)

TomS said:


> A closeup of the fabric reveals a dark blue and a brownish earth tone. Helpful?


Lovely. If I may ask, where'd you get that one, Tom?


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## JAGMAJ (Feb 10, 2005)

TomS said:


> A closeup of the fabric reveals a dark blue and a brownish earth tone. Helpful?


That does look like nice fabric. I think a picture taken a little further away would be more helpful from a color matching standpoint.


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## TomS (Mar 29, 2010)

Ekphrastic said:


> Lovely. If I may ask, where'd you get that one, Tom?


Jaeger, and on the sale rack at that! Not often I find good stuff in the sale anywhere due to middle-of-the-road sizes (40R, 32w32l) that tend to sell at full price. Fits like a glove.

Shopping tomorrow morning, and a haircut. Thanks to this place, I'm already weighing up which jacket to wear...


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