‘No brown in town’ once made sense if your wardrobe was split between a country estate and a City desk. Brown leather and tweed were for the country. Black shoes and a dark suit were for business. These days, a chocolate overcoat looks perfectly at home on a Monday morning.

Brown does its best work in winter. It’s as easy to wear as navy or grey and brings out the character of cold-weather fabrics, from the nap of suede to the ribs of a good pair of cords. Here are the four shades worth knowing, the colours to wear with them and a few ways to put the whole thing together.

The Four Key Shades of Brown

Save the Farrow & Ball chart for the spare room. For getting dressed, four shades will do. Think of them as a spectrum from espresso, which can almost pass for black, to camel, which sits just on the warm side of beige.

Espresso

Deep and close to black, espresso is an easy first step if most of your wardrobe is dark. It has enough warmth to soften a severe palette and enough depth to anchor lighter colours such as ecru and pale grey.

Look for it in a pared-back leather jacket, flannel trousers or a fine-gauge jumper.

Chocolate

A good chocolate brown is richer and easier to pick out in low light than espresso. Use it anywhere you’d ordinarily reach for navy or charcoal. A chocolate overcoat over a pale-blue Oxford shirt and grey wool trousers gives a familiar smart-casual outfit a little more depth.

It’s also a strong choice for a soft-shouldered suit or suede loafers.

Tobacco

Tobacco has a golden cast that comes into its own in corduroy, suede and brushed wool. Try it in wide-wale cords, a soft overshirt, a waxed jacket or relaxed tailoring.

It has a bit of country character and works just as well with jeans on a Saturday in town.

Camel

Camel is the lightest of the four and the most likely to get noticed. An overcoat is the obvious place to start. Wear it with washed blue jeans, a crew-neck jumper and suede loafers for a weekend look with some ease.

A camel suede bomber gives you the same lift in a shorter cut.

What Colours Go With Brown?

Start with the brown piece you actually want to wear. A dark coat can take a pale layer underneath, while a golden shade like tobacco looks especially good alongside other earthy colours. These six pairings give you somewhere to start.

Ecru

Ecru gives you the lift of white with a softer edge. An ecru fisherman’s jumper and off-white jeans make a clean backdrop for a dark chocolate overcoat. Brown suede boots bring the colour back in at ground level.

Even one ecru layer can make a big difference when the rest of the outfit is dark.

Olive

Olive and brown have the easy familiarity of a waxed jacket and a pair of cords. Try an olive field jacket with tobacco corduroy trousers and brown leather boots.

An off-white T-shirt or a pale-blue shirt near the face freshens up the palette and keeps the country references in check.

Light Blue

The coolness of light blue takes some of the weight out of chocolate and espresso. A pale-blue Oxford shirt worn open at the collar gives a chocolate flannel suit an easy smart-casual feel.

Off duty, washed blue denim does much the same job under a brown suede jacket.

Grey

Go for a clear difference in depth. A dove-grey jumper and pale-grey wool trousers give an espresso suede jacket a clean, modern backdrop.

Keep the grey pieces close in tone so the jacket stands out, then finish with a dark boot.

Black

The simplest way to wear brown with black is to give the brown a little daylight. A warm chocolate overcoat stands out against a black roll neck, black trousers and black Chelsea boots.

Keeping the layers beneath the coat one colour lets the brown do the talking.

Pastel Pink

Look for the dusty pink of a faded Oxford shirt. It brings a little colour to dark brown without making the whole outfit about the shirt.

Wear it under a chocolate wool overshirt with dark indigo jeans and suede chukkas.

Five Ways to Get Brown Right

Mix Your Shades

A tonal outfit needs a spread of light and dark. Put a camel coat over a chocolate jumper, then bring in tobacco trousers and espresso boots.

The colour family ties it all together. The difference between each shade keeps the layers distinct.

Let Texture Separate Brown and Black

When the colours are close, give each fabric a different finish. An espresso leather blouson catches the light, while a black brushed lambswool jumper beneath it stays matte.

That difference does the work when two dark, flat fabrics might simply blur into each other.

Make the Most of Winter Fabrics

Brown gets more interesting when light has something to catch. Try a herringbone tweed coat over a brushed Shetland jumper with wide-wale cords.

The chevrons, the soft knit and the raised ribs give each piece its own character. Heavy canvas can do a similar job in a more casual outfit.

Break Up Tonal Brown

If two brown pieces are already doing plenty, make the next layer a pale neutral. An ivory ribbed roll neck between a tobacco suede bomber and chocolate trousers is enough to open up the outfit.

A light shirt or a cream scarf can do the job if you want a smaller break.

Dress for the Occasion

For dinner in town, a chocolate wool suit works nicely with a white shirt, a burgundy knitted tie and polished dark-brown Oxfords. For a weekend lunch, a tobacco overshirt and jeans are plenty.

If the invitation calls for black tie, follow the dress code and save the chocolate suit for another evening.