There's absolutely nothing wrong with using brown if you're a Dark Autumn. In fact, dark brown can be a very good choice for your accessories like shoes, belts and bags and miles ahead of black in terms of expressing your smouldering toasty Autumn essence.
That being said, there are so many other spicy, rich, tempting colours in your palette, and sometimes I find it really inspiring to challenge me to omit a certain go-to colour and see what I can come up with using the other areas of the colour palette.
Join me in a fantastic quest inspiring you to put together outfits not using brown.
Dark Autumn neutrals
The superpower of all three Autumns is the ability to use their colours as neutrals. Notice how there isn't any pure white, pure black or pure grey in the Dark Autumn palette? It's filled with saturated, spicy, rich colours, from the lighter end of the scale to the deep, dark end, from ground almond light beige and ripened coral apricot to the deep rust and the burnished dark red of a 1979 vintage Rioja wine.
Rust and green
True Color International Dark Autumn palette - click on the image to visit the TCI website
Rust is actually a fantastic staple colour for Dark Autumn. Ranging from a burnt terracotta to a slightly burnished deep copper, rust is a colour that sets off the other colours in the palette with a glow that only an Autumn can carry off.
Green is equally superb as a basic colour, picked from the greens with a golden glowy undertone, avoiding the peppy apple greens of Spring.
Ripe apricot, dusty mustard and burnt paprika
True Color International Dark Autumn palette - click on the image to visit the TCI website
There is a depth to the lighter colours of the Dark Autumn palette. The medium rust, pinks and salmon coral apricots have some brown in them, not the greyed effect of the Summer pastels but a touch of evening sun in the desert.
Putting it all together, and adding blue
Did you know there is blue in the Dark Autumn palette? If brown is common, blue is rare in the wardrobe of a Dark Autumn. But look at how the blue details on the zig-zag statement blouse sets off all the other colours in the wardrobe! And putting together the tops with the pants we picked in the green and rust basic colours, you can see how the rich opulence of Sark Autumn positively glows from the collage. I also added some statement necklaces that pick up the accent colours, for added spice.
True Color International Dark Autumn palette - click on the image to visit the TCI website
Yes, it’s me. With dôme accent of honey and purple (purple-red). My neutrals are m’y colours
I’m so glad you found this inspiring, and keep using your colours as neutrals!