Brown Knocks Black Off the Wedding Dress Code: Shade by Skin Tone Is the New Standard for Guests

The decade was austere, the colour was grey office and sad outfits. Now brown is coming back as a first pick for wedding guests - and not at just any wedding, but at the high-profile ones that Pinterest, Instagram and lifestyle magazines analyse as small political events.

The colourimetry expert María Moreta says: „Brown gives you differentiation against black, which has been dominant for many decades." Translation: guests are tired of looking like crows in the official photographs. And black doesn't suit everyone - but brown, in the right shade, adapts to nearly every skin tone.

The old objection to brown was that it „dries out" the skin and emphasises the dark circles under the eyes. That's partly true, but only if the wrong shade is picked. Today's colourimetry solves it through subcategorisation by seasonal type. Women with „autumn" and „spring" skin types should go for chocolate brown, baked, café tostado or camel/beige. „Summer" and „winter" types work better with taupe (grey-brown) - but best in the lower half of the outfit or as an accessory, not as the headline statement.

Maybe the most interesting thing about this trend is that it isn't pushed by the designers. They had been watching the end of black coming for several years, but didn't want to move because black is easy. It sells, nothing can go off-key. Brown demands more work - it's harder to nail the shade, harder to brand. But when the consumer tries something different, the industry has to follow.

For the Balkan guest, this is good news. Brown goes with gold jewellery, with pieces from grandmother's old collections, and with outdoor wedding venues (which almost every wedding in our region is). It looks more expensive than it is right away, and doesn't risk leaving people thinking you're „at a fair." The question is whether the next generation of party-style weddings will accept it, or whether it'll stay for those with „taste." That, after all, isn't a matter of colour.