What Colors Go With Burgundy? Five Shades, Twelve Sub-Seasons

It’s a small family, not a single color. Five shades sit in it: Burgundy, Claret, Wine, Cordovan and Oxblood.

All are dark with medium intensity, and Oxblood alone is very dark. Four sit squarely on red. Claret is the one that leans toward pink.

Cordovan is the lightest of the five and Oxblood the darkest. Burgundy is the most intense, Wine the least. Those two lines tell you more than the names do.

A tag that says burgundy is a name, not one code. The same dye looks different on velvet and on cotton, and a warm lamp shifts either one. If you’re comparing it with its neighbors, see burgundy or wine.

Start with the four that have it. Cool Summer wears Claret, matched with Soft Cool Burgundy. Claret is the pink-red shade, worn by a very cool, soft sub-season. Soft Summer wears Cordovan, matched with Soft Burgundy, the lightest of the five for a face that likes its colors grayed and low in contrast.

Warm Autumn wears Wine, matched with Warm Eggplant. Deep Autumn is dark, rich and high in contrast, so it takes Burgundy itself, matched with Warm Burgundy.

Three more are close, which means a neighbor is in the palette, not burgundy itself. Soft Autumn has Soft Eggplant. Deep Winter has Ruby, and True Winter has Carmine. Both are cool and high in contrast, which is why a neighbor of burgundy sits in their palettes, but burgundy itself does not.

Mind the depth. A very dark shade like Oxblood under the chin can read as a shadow, while a lighter one leaves your face in front. Put a lighter piece between the burgundy and your skin, such as a cream or baby pink top. Try both before you decide.

Away from the face, burgundy needs less help. Pants, a skirt, a bag, a coat: wear it freely.

The logic of every outfit is the same. One neutral does the work, burgundy is the accent, and a third color stays quiet. To build a fourth, start with a burgundy sweater and gray pants, then add a camel coat. The gray stays the neutral and the burgundy stays the accent.

Red first. Two strong colors in one outfit fight for attention, and the burgundy loses. Brown fails the other way. It sits at nearly the same depth, so the eye sees one muddy patch and the burgundy loses its edge.

Now the five for whom it’s not a match. Warm Spring’s nearest palette color is Golden Brown. Bright Spring has Warm Cherry, Light Summer has Light Raspberry and Bright Winter has Bright Cherry. These are stand-ins, not matches. Wear them near your face and keep burgundy lower, if you want it at all.

Light Spring is the strictest case. Its own avoid list names burgundy, so I would keep it away from the neckline. Nothing is off-limits, though. A burgundy bag or pair of pants wakes no one’s face.

If you can’t tell burgundy from a plain red, burgundy or red sorts them by sub-season.