“As far as I know there has never been any historical precedent for not wearing black and blue together,” says the stylist and designer of classic men’s clothing, Chris Modoo. “In fact, when I worked for Savile Row outfit Ede and Ravenscroft, the eveningwear outfits we made for senior members of the Royal Household consisted of a blue tailcoat and black trousers.”
So even at its most conservative iteration, blue and black has long been one of menswear’s most widely accepted colour combinations. Don't listen to old school diktats. Because, well, the old school don't even abide by them.
In less rigid places, designers like Kim Jones, Dries Van Noten, Officine Generale, Giorgio Armani, and the late Virgil Abloh of Louis Vuitton often use black and blue to convey modernity. It can be quintessentially British – a navy blue suit with a polished pair of black oxfords is de rigueur for dinner dance types – in the hands of modern designers, it feels fresher, newer and cooler.
Where this rule came from is anyone’s guess. “I’d say that one of the potential pitfalls of wearing blue and black might be it could look as though you got the trousers and jacket muddled up from two different suits,’ says Modoo. “It has to look deliberate.”
Thankfully, getting dressed in 2023 is without slavish adherence to outdated rules. Instead, try to exercise a little bit of judgement – and get ahead of the old rulebook with the points below.
Use black as an accent
“I like to think of black as a sophisticated colour accent on an outfit that's largely navy blue,” says Modoo, who suggests starting small: switching brass buttons for black, or thinking about collars.
But there are some rules for Modoo. “I would never wear blue shoes with black trousers, it just doesn’t look right."
Officine Generale’s A/ W ‘23 collection, which used the gloss of black shoes, black belts and black leather jackets to contrast against soft billowing trousers, chunky knits and swooshy long coats in navy blue, is a solid way to use black as a colour accent. Here, it was a masterclass in playing with light. Brightness bounces off black leather to create a contrast. That sort of move is top level menswear.
MONCLER Black Down Montcla Jacket
It’s a solid eveningwear combo
Blue and black combinations really fly with eveningwear – especially at a time when tuxedos are free from the shackles of stuffy dress codes.
At a base level, midnight blue shows more depth and richness under a disco ball at 3am (at any ‘am’ in fact), and can sometimes look even darker than blue. Meanwhile contrasting black lapels and turn back cuffs in textured silk adds an extra layer of interest.
Arket black suit
Waterproof Sherlock in navy blue
Consider contrasting textures
Blue and black are quite close to each other on the colour spectrum and can sometimes get lost when paired together. This is where contrasting textures of matte cloth paired with clothes and accessories with a smoother, shinier finish can help individual bits sing.
Similarly, a Louis Vuitton suit in blue with a light sheen to it paired with a black turtleneck above black boots can bang. Tahar Rahim, a Very Well-Dressed Man, likes this a lot. And so do we.
So basically, wear blue and black whenever you like
The old rules are dead. They always were.
