In my last article, I talked about the major style mistakes that I have made in the past. Part of the reason that I wrote that article was to humble myself a little bit because I planned on writing more about style on this website and that meant that I would be talking about what I think I do well in terms of my outfits. I enjoyed writing both that article and this article so expect this to become a more regular element to the website, though the following articles may be much less text-heavy and more photo-based in the future.
One of the reasons that I like to call the clothing style that I wear amekaji or amekaji-heritage instead of just “raw denim” is because denim is not actually what I am most into. This is something that I have said many times before, but it’s not because I dislike denim. Rather, it is because I like boots and leather jackets more. Plus, I also really love other trousers nearly as much as denim. In terms of color combinations, I actually prefer several other color jeans and trousers to indigo denim.
In fact, my favorite color combination of all time is something that involves no indigo whatsoever (except in one sole iteration). It involves wearing dark brown trousers, ecru shirts, golden/orange-y brown boots and jackets, gold sunglasses with brown lenses, and usually a dark brown hat. With ecru being a neutral that looks good with literally everything, the main color combination here is the dark brown with the yellow/gold/orange color.
Earth tones such as brown, olive, and ecru are my favorite colors for clothing and this color combo fits into that very well. With that said, this color combo isn’t too tonal. In fact, some people would not consider it tonal at all because some of the browns are not actually all that brown. I will be showing several examples of this outfit and the fact that I have so many different items that work for this color combo shows just how much I love these colors. For some future outfit features, I will focus more on specific pieces. However, this fit is one that I like so much and have worn so many different times in so many different ways that I won’t get too specific about the actual items.
These colors work so well together in my opinion because they have the right balance of similarities and differences. Everything is a warmer color, but they are not the same at all. You could argue that they are both browns and at the very least, they are both in that brown or brown-adjacent family. However, the golden/orange colors are much brighter and saturated in color while the dark brown is more dull which adds contrast. In fact, these golden/orange leathers that I love are bright enough that some may say they are not even true earth tones.
I’m not here to debate that because I don’t really care what the truth is in regard to that. What I care about is how they look together. They are similar enough to look well coordinated and blend well while being different enough to have contrast. If they were too similar, we would be edging into that territory of being too monotone or worse, looking like we’re trying to be monotone without actually succeeding. That sort of look reminds me of poorly dressed business men who wear a sport coat in Depression Grey with polyester trousers in a slightly darker color of Crushing Defeat Charcoal. The ecru shirts help bring it together and my favorite version of this outfit utilizes a shirt with a bit of blue in it for some pop and contrast.
Something else that I think really helps this to work is the fact that the golden/orange pieces are leather. To me, this makes them look a little more earthy than they would look if they were fabric garments. While I think orange canvas Chuck Taylors and a bright orange sweatshirt for example could look pretty good against dark brown trousers, I do not think that the outfit would look anything like this and it would not fit the vibe I am going for. I think the versions that I wear work well because they are earthy, yet still a bit playful and I think they fit the eras that the items represent as well.
Specifically, the roughout type III trucker jacket works great here because of how popular brown was as a color in the 1970s and the ‘70s are a time when a jacket like this would have been worn given that the denim version came out in 1962. Interestingly, this really is not a color combo that I see often which may be another reason that I like it so much. It stands out in the indigo ocean that I see online and also separates itself from the relative abundance of black clothing in everyday life. Plus, simply the fact that it has brown in it is unique. Aside from leather products, even amekaji guys don’t wear all that much mid-dark brown in my experience.
Something else that makes this work is that I go pretty all out with the coordination with this outfit. As I mentioned, it’s not just that the boots and jackets all coordinate well together, it’s also the fact that the sunglasses and hat stay in the same gold and brown color range. The sunglasses are specifically gold frames with dark brown lenses and the hat that I use the most is dark brown with an orange/rust ribbon which matches the main color combo almost perfectly. The fact that I already had these other items in these color combinations without even thinking of using them for this color combo is great luck rather than me having amazing foresight.
If there is a downside to this look, it is that it is too coordinated. For some people, this may look too ‘try-hard.’ Honestly, I can understand that sentiment. However, I do not think that there is anything wrong with trying hard when dressing well. As of right now, I actually disagree with people who say that part of the reason they like amekaji is because they want to blend into society with their raw denim, boots, Japanese canvas sneakers, and denim jackets while still having nice clothing. I have no shame in standing out from everyone else and will happily take the weird stares along with the compliments. I have no intention of looking just like everyone else because frankly, most people dress horribly today.
There are plenty of people who are several magnitudes more stylish than myself, but I still like to separate myself from most of the population. Dressing well is something that has served me quite well both in my private and professional life so standing out is not a detriment to me and therefore I love this color scheme. However, if that is not something that you want to do, then… well,you probably wouldn’t be buying a gold roughout leather jacket and a fedora in the first place, would you?
I love this color combo so much that I specifically wore it to Inspiration LA in 2020 on day 1 because I knew that Lightning Magazine would be shooting people for a leather jacket issue of their magazine. I picked this outfit specifically at the time because it was my favorite outfit that I had ever worn and if I was going to get myself into a magazine (along with a ton of other people) it would be this outfit. This is probably still my favorite color combo with olive, ecru, and brown being just below if not equal. That is certainly a color scheme that I will talk about shortly. Meanwhile, here are some more photos of the ecru, dark brown, and golden/orange color combo.
Art Fawcett custom fedora in dark brown beaver fur felt
Oliver Peoples Made in Japan Victory sunglasses
Freewheelers Sunset jacket in yellow ochre deerskin
Orgueil shirt (ecru with blue stripes)
Pigeon Tree Crafting belt in London Tan Sedgewick Leather
Viapiana custom trousers in brown Harris Tweed
White Kloud Blucher boots in Cognac Badalassi Carlo cowhide
This is exactly the same as the previous outfit, except with Mister Freedom Continental Trousers in Cacao Chambray and a K&H Leather belt in natural J &FJ Baker English Bridle Leather
Art Fawcett custom fedora in dark brown beaver fur felt
Oliver Peoples Made in Japan Victory sunglasses
Freewheelers Lot. 667 jacket in Gold Bud bullhide roughout
Merz B Schwanen henley in ecru/natural
K&H Leather belt in natural J &FJ Baker English Bridle Leather
Mister Freedom Continental Trousers in Cacao Chambray
White Kloud Blucher boots in Cognac Badalassi Carlo cowhide
