After shopping for outfits, the next logical step is to match them all up in order to look your best. This doesn’t just mean blazers and pants – you should match up your accessories to perfect your look. Here’s a quick guide to matching your accessories by colour, mood, material and more.

Material to material

Going for leather shoes? Then you might also want to go for a leather belt, leather watch strap, leather bag. Suede shoes: braided belt. Boots: Webbed canvas belt.

Colour to colour

Colour consistency across these accessories is advised: black shoes, black belt, black watch strap.

“But… black and brown are so similar, right?” one might think. “So why can’t I wear brown shoes and a black belt?”
Well, you can, but it’s not ideal. Black is a ‘cool’ colour while brown is a ‘warm’ colour. So it’s best to match a black belt to black shoes and a brown belt to brown shoes.

What about 2-tone accessories?

Let’s say you have a pair of shoes sporting brown leather with elements of blue suede. It might not be easy to get a belt with that exact combination! So you could just buy a leather belt with the same brown tone, matching the overall feel rather than the exact colours.

Metal to metal

Steel belt buckle, steel shoe elements. In the same way your watch band and bag could also carry the same coloured metallic elements.
Try to avoid totally different metals on accessories. A matte black belt buckle and a rose gold watch may not be the best combo.

Mood matching

Some shoes aren’t totally formal even if they’re made of leather. Eg. boots have a rugged look – medium brown leather, olive green laces, thick rubber sole, slightly burnished on the back. You could match this ruggedness by wearing a canvas webbed belt. The belt need not be brown – it could match the olive green of the boot laces.

Mind the tips

A belt with a pointy end is made to be worn with pointy shoes. Likewise, flat-end belts go hand in hand with square ended shoes. However, this part isn’t as important as colour and material matching.

Textures

With casual wear, texture also comes into play. Braided leather belts go great with suede shoes.

It’s not an exact match, what do I do?

You won’t always have perfect matches for every belt or shoe. What do you do in such cases? Let’s say you have a pair of oxblood leather shoes – a beautiful deep maroonish-brown hue. And you don’t have an oxblood belt with you. Look at the sole of the shoe. It’s black, isn’t it? Wear a black belt – it’ll still match.

These are just basic guidelines to start with. Feel free to bend (or break) them and craft your own style!