What to Wear With Blue, Gray and Black: Blue Dream
If most of your closet is blue, gray and black, you already have a calm, cool base. The easy mistake is adding a scarf that fights it, something bright or warm that pulls the eye away from everything else. Blue Dream works the other way. It stays in the same color family and gives those outfits depth instead of contrast.
A good scarf complements your clothes instead of matching them. It should be the accent, not an extension of your coat.
What Blue Dream looks like
Blue Dream started as an original artwork I made with tea on paper. The blues layer over each other, some darker, some lighter, so the design reads as several blues at once instead of one flat color. There's no floral pattern and no repeating print. From a few feet away it looks like soft movement. Up close you can see the individual tea bag prints.
Blue Dream comes in two sizes, 52 x 52 inches and 24 x 24 inches, and two fabrics, silk chiffon and silk-wool.
With blue
Blue on blue works when there's a clear difference between the shades. If your coat or jeans are the same blue as your scarf, it looks like a uniform. Blue Dream works best with blues that are darker than the scarf, like a navy coat or dark denim. The scarf becomes the lighter, more varied blue, and the outfit reads as layered instead of matched.
With gray
Gray and blue are a classic pair. Both are cool colors, so they sit together naturally. Use the shade of gray to decide how you wear the scarf. With light gray, keep the lighter blues near your face. With charcoal, let the deeper blues sit closest to your face so the scarf doesn't look washed out against the darker gray.
With black
Black can look flat and heavy on its own, especially in daylight. Blue Dream lightens it. The one thing to watch is dark blue directly against black, which has too little contrast and can look somber. Keep the lighter blues near your face and let the deeper parts fall lower.
Texture matters with neutrals
When an outfit is all gray, all black, or gray and black together, color isn't the only thing that keeps it from looking flat. Texture does too. The Blue Dream silk-wool has a soft herringbone weave you can see up close, which adds depth to a plain sweater or coat.
Wearing all three together
- Black turtleneck, gray trousers, Blue Dream draped open over the shoulders.
- Gray sweater dress, black tights and boots, Blue Dream wrapped once around the neck.
- Navy coat over a gray knit and black pants, Blue Dream tucked into the collar with the lighter blues showing.
If you wear jewelry, silver suits these cool tones. Keep it small so the scarf stays the main piece.
One caution: the herringbone weave on the silk-wool is loose and delicate. Rings, bracelets, and earrings with prongs or sharp edges can catch it and pull a thread. Put the scarf on after your jewelry, and choose smooth pieces when you wear the silk-wool.
Silk chiffon or silk-wool
Match the scarf's weight to what you're wearing over it.
Silk chiffon is light and sheer. The layered blues look deeper because light passes through the fabric. It suits lighter jackets, evenings and indoors.
Silk-wool is 70% wool and 30% silk. It's soft, opaque, and warm without being heavy, so it holds its own with a wool coat in fall and winter.
Both are dry clean only. If you prefer the way they look after a hand wash, you can carefully hand wash either one in cold water and dry it flat.
Which size
The oversized scarf is 52 x 52 inches, big enough to drape over your shoulders like a wrap or fold down into a regular scarf. The small scarf is 24 x 24 inches, for tying at the neck.
If your wardrobe is mostly blue, gray and black, start with the oversized silk-wool. It covers the most occasions.
Every order over $50 includes an original 4 x 6 signed tea print, and shipping is free in the US.
The series
This post is part of a series on what to wear with each design: Blue Dream, Rare Earth, Clear Blue, Calm Camomile, Purple Rain and Peacock Green.