What colours go with burgundy?
The figure wears burgundy trousers with a pink T-shirt, the engine’s top pick: light and dark shades of the same red family. Shuffle keeps the burgundy and swaps the rest.
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This look
Pink T-shirt, burgundy trousers and white sandals
Casual, right for 24 °C.
Why this works
- Shades of the same pink, from light to dark, look put-together without trying.ResearchSchloss & Palmer (2011)
- Light pieces for 24 °C, about as much as people typically wear at that temperature.StandardHavenith et al. (2012)
- Pink T-shirt with burgundy trousers: a relaxed twist on a smart look.Less sure · ConventionStylist convention
Or try
Wearing this today?
Log it, and the picks rotate what you wear.
How this works: Method, 7 sources,
How this works
Method
With no wardrobe it builds a look from colour schemes; with yours it picks from what you own, leaving out pieces archived, in the wash or worn recently. A pick must suit the occasion and the weather, then it is scored on colour harmony (the Ou–Luo model and scheme rules, in OKLab), light against dark, warmth (garment insulation summed as in ISO 9920, against the UTCI clothing model), formality and rotation. The same day and wardrobe give the same pick until you shuffle.
Sources
- Ou, L.-C. & Luo, M. R., "A colour harmony model for two-colour combinations", Color Research & Application 31(3) (2006)
- Schloss, K. B. & Palmer, S. E., "Aesthetic response to color combinations", Attention, Perception & Psychophysics 73(2) (2011)
- Ottosson, B., "A perceptual color space for image processing" (OKLab) (2020)
- ISO 9920, Ergonomics of the thermal environment: estimation of thermal insulation of a clothing ensemble
- ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55, Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy (garment insulation table)
- Havenith, G. et al., "The UTCI-clothing model", International Journal of Biometeorology 56(3) (2012)
- MET Norway, Locationforecast 2.0 (weather data, CC BY 4.0)
Changes
- Added 21 pages: what colours go with navy, black, grey, beige, olive, burgundy, brown, white, denim and pink (each table from the engine), and what to wear from 40 to 80 °F and 5 to 25 °C.
- First published.
How burgundy with pink scores
The engine scores a pair of colours as a top and trousers, with the parts of its outfit score that depend only on colour. Burgundy has a lightness of 0.36 and a colourfulness (chroma) of 0.12; pink has 0.75 and 0.11.
- Light against dark: the lightness gap is 0.38, which earns 1.00 of 1.
- Harmony: the Ou–Luo model gives 0.43; blended half and half with the tonal scheme’s credit of 0.90, that is 0.67.
- One statement piece: 1.00 of 1.
(0.22 × 0.67 + 0.08 × 1.00 + 0.07 × 1.00) ÷ 0.37 = 0.80
The weights are the ones the tool uses for these parts of every outfit. The harmony model was fitted to people’s ratings of flat colour patches on a screen, not clothes, so treat the score as a strong hint rather than a verdict.
The 8 best partners for burgundy
Ranked by the engine, best first. The evidence column says how sure each reason is: research, design theory or stylist convention.
| Colour | Why it works | Evidence | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| pink | Burgundy and pink are shades of one colour family: a tonal pairing that looks put-together. | Research | 0.80 |
| ivory | Ivory is a neutral, so burgundy stays the one colour in the outfit. | Convention | 0.80 |
| light grey | Light grey is a neutral, so burgundy stays the one colour in the outfit. | Convention | 0.78 |
| grey | Grey is a neutral, so burgundy stays the one colour in the outfit. | Convention | 0.77 |
| khaki | Khaki works like a neutral, so burgundy stays the one colour in the outfit. | Convention | 0.75 |
| lavender | Burgundy and lavender sit next to each other on the colour wheel, so they blend naturally. | Research | 0.74 |
| coral | Burgundy and coral sit next to each other on the colour wheel, so they blend naturally. | Research | 0.72 |
| olive | Olive works like a neutral, so burgundy stays the one colour in the outfit. | Convention | 0.70 |
Burgundy is a colour, not a neutral
Burgundy is a deep red (lightness 0.36, chroma 0.12): darker than most accents but too colourful to count as a neutral, so the tool treats it as a muted accent. Some stylists call it a “deep neutral”; that is convention, and you can mark any piece of yours as a neutral if you wear it that way.
Its best partner, pink, is in the same hue family, only lighter. Lab studies of colour pairs found that similar hues are rated as going together, which is the evidence behind tonal outfits. The lab harmony model on its own rates this pair lower (0.43 of 1), because the two differ a lot in lightness and colourfulness; the tonal scheme lifts the total to 0.8.
Neutrals, and the bolder choices
With neutrals, burgundy becomes the one colour in the outfit: ivory, light grey and khaki all let it lead. Navy and charcoal make a dark, rich combination that suits autumn and evening.
Burgundy with forest green is a near-opposite pairing on the colour wheel. That is a design-theory scheme, not a lab finding, and it reads bold. It can also be hard to tell apart for people with red-green colour blindness, which the tool flags.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do burgundy and navy go together?
Yes. Both are deep and muted, so they make a rich, dark outfit. Add something light, such as a white shirt or pale shoes, if you want more contrast.
Do burgundy and green go together?
They can, as a deliberately bold choice: they sit nearly opposite on the colour wheel. Muted versions, burgundy with olive or forest green, look calmer than bright red with bright green.
What colour shirt goes with burgundy trousers?
Ivory, white, light grey and pale pink are easy. A black or navy top gives a darker look. Keep patterns small so the burgundy stays the statement.
What shoes go with burgundy?
Dark brown, black and white sneakers all work. Burgundy shoes are themselves a classic with navy or grey trousers.