After several months living in airy neutrals and pastel tones, switching back to the dark side in autumn can be tricky. Brown, black, grey, navy – it all feels so heavy. And what colours can you introduce when you want to add an accent or a bit of energy now that bright, summery shades are off the menu?

We’re here to tell you it’s not as confusing as it seems. Autumn and winter dressing can feel more daunting because there are more garments to consider, but it comes down to a few simple guidelines. The same goes for colour.

What follows is a sort of instruction manual for working richer colours back into your wardrobe without getting sucked entirely into the autumnal-palette wormhole. From subbing summer colours for their seasonally appropriate alternatives to knowing which combos always work, here’s what you need to know.

Start Small

You don’t have to dive straight into the deep end and start dressing in a Tibetan monk’s palette. Adding one or two pieces in deep, rich shades to an otherwise muted outfit of simple neutrals is all it takes to make it feel relevant to the time of year.

Brown, burnt orange, ochre: treat them as statement colours, keep the rest of the outfit restrained, and let them stand front and centre.

This approach adds visual interest and gives your outfits life without leaning on anything too bold or brash.

Swap Like For Like

An easy way to bring richer colours into your wardrobe is to think of them as seasonal substitutes for the colours you’ve worn all summer.

For example, you could switch bright white for ecru, beige for tobacco, sky blue for navy, or sage for olive. This way, you can reinvent your outfits in a way that feels familiar, with little to no head-scratching or guesswork about which combos work and which don’t.

You’re effectively taking the same palette and just dialling the brightness back. The colours still do similar jobs; they’re just better suited to colder, darker conditions, and the extra depth makes them feel much more at home alongside heavier fabrics, chunky knitwear, and substantial outerwear.

Use Neutrals As Scaffolding

Getting more adventurous with colour doesn’t mean neutrals are suddenly redundant. Quite the opposite, actually. Navy, grey, cream, black and denim make richer colours easy to wear in the first place. Think of them as the scaffolding the rest of the outfit is built on.

Chocolate brown looks excellent against cream. Olive works naturally with navy. Burgundy comes alive next to charcoal, while tobacco and faded indigo denim are difficult to get wrong.

A useful formula is two neutrals and one richer colour. For example, grey trousers, a white shirt and a burgundy knit. Or raw denim, a cream crewneck and an olive jacket.

Pay Attention To Texture

In autumn and winter, colour is only part of the equation. Fabrics and their textures play an equally important role in your cold-weather outfits. Not least because it significantly affects how any given shade looks. The same green, for example, can look completely different on corduroy versus silk.

Beyond the layering opportunities, this is one of the key things that makes cold-weather dressing so interesting and expressive. It lets you create a visually interesting outfit without relying on particularly bright shades.

A brown suede jacket, cream wool knit and dark denim might be a very simple outfit in terms of colour, but the contrast between those surfaces gives it plenty to look at.

Let Outerwear Do The Work

If you’re cautious about colour, outerwear is one of the easiest places to introduce it. It’s a single piece that takes up a large proportion of the outfit, so you can keep everything underneath relatively conservative and still create drama.

An olive field jacket can sit over a grey knit and jeans. A tobacco suede blouson works well with a white tee and navy trousers.

These aren’t particularly loud pieces either. In fact, olive and brown outerwear can be just as versatile as navy or black once you get used to wearing them; they just add a little more warmth to the equation.

Don’t Forget Trousers

Trousers are all too often treated as an afterthought. You might agonise over the colours in your jacket and sweater, then pull on the same pair of jeans you’ve worn every day for the last week.

Coats, knitwear and tees can be all colours of the rainbow, but legwear often gets stuck in a cycle of navy, grey or beige.

Autumn is a good opportunity to break the habit. Olive fatigues, chocolate cords and tobacco chinos are all remarkably easy to style, largely because earthy colours can function almost like neutrals. Don’t be afraid to stretch a leg outside your comfort zone.

Learn Your Autumn Colour Combinations

Some pairings always work, others don’t. A handful of failsafe combos make it easy to ensure you’re never lost for something to wear.

Chocolate, cream and navy are almost foolproof. Olive, ecru and brown have a natural outdoorsy quality without veering into full landed-gentry territory. Burgundy, charcoal and black feel darker and slightly dressier. There are a few to get the ball rolling.

There’s no need to memorise a colour wheel. Look at the neutrals you wear most often and experiment with one or two richer shades that complement them. After a while, you’ll develop a handful of combinations you know work every time.