The Earthier Spring Palette

Camo has a spring-summer collection that I really like, not so much for the style, but for the colors. Most of it is in your earthier tones of brown, grey, and blue, but they’re a bit lighter in tone, and slightly tweaked to be spring appropriate. You often see companies such as Loro Piana and Banana Republic rely on these palettes. I suppose it sells well because men find earthier colors intuitive, and they figure something lighter and slightly off hue will give them a more interesting, if not at least more appropriate, look for spring.

It’s fairly easy to build a spring wardrobe in this palette. Raingear such as this beige trench and navy mac are natural (the navy mac is on sale, actually, for $145, but I’m unsure of the fit or quality). Outside of the rainy season, you could thrown on something like this Brooks Brothers tan jacket for the same effect.

For trousers, you can wear a pair of chinos in either navy or stone. Stone, in my opinion, is an incredibly underrated color for chinos. Like with grey wool trousers, they go well with almost anything, and if you get the right fit, they can look quite sharp. There are also these incredibly nice linen trousers over at Howard Yount. Linen is to spring what tweed is to fall, and something like these taupe greys would be a great pair if you already have a pair of basic tans. Additionally, Barneys has an interesting pair of fawn flannel trousers. I was hoping to pick them up a couple of weeks back, but they were out of my size.

It’s also easy to find sweaters and shirts in earthier spring colors. For example, there’s this Gant Rugger in powder blue, Brioni in pale grey, and Loro Piana in taupe. The same colors could be utilized for shirts, and they would extend a bit past the normal light blue and white that everyone wears. If you wanted to inject some color, you could do so with something like this sea green shirt or light purple sweater. Just remember to keep colors pale, and limit the “colorful” garment to one. The rest of your ensemble should be more rooted in sandy colors, creams, dove greys (both in darker and lighter tones), and dark blues. It’s an earthier spring palette after all, not a preppy pool party.