Yes! You absolutely can wear your white jeans in the winter. And in the past I’ve shared ways to style white denim for the colder months. But in recent years I’ve purposefully put my white jeans away as a special treat to pull out in the spring. On the other hand, I love that natural colored jeans or ecru denim is continuing to trend in 2023. So I purchased a great pair of straight leg jeans in what Madewell calls “vintage canvas wash” and today I’m sharing 5 ways to wear natural colored jeans in winter.
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Obviously you could also apply these outfits tips to your white jeans if you still enjoy wearing them at this time of year. I also want to let you know that to create these looks I’ve just used items straight from my closet. Some items are available, while others are not. I’ll link to what is. But I’m really sharing these with the intent to help you create similar looks with what you may already have in your wardrobe, too.
Keep in mind that I’m styling these outfits to work for my body. I am 5’8″ and weight about 158. I have an hourglass shape and relatively even proportions. But I always suggest that you know your body proportions and body shape, and dress accordingly. So if I’ve added a belt, but that doesn’t work for you, just adapt the look to fit your needs.
Natural Colored Denim with a Soft Neutral
One of my favorite ways to wear natural colored denim or even white denim is with other soft toned neutrals. You could go even lighter and softer, but for this first look I opted for a heathered taupe cashmere sweater and soft taupe colored booties.
In all of the looks I’m wearing these natural colored straight leg jeans. They do indeed run large. I’ve been wearing mostly size 30s in denim lately, but here I’m wearing a 29 very comfortably. I’ll link you to more natural colored jeans at the end of the post.
I did add a belt (similar) to this look. I think it’s nice to have a creamy beige belt if you’re going to wear one with natural colored jeans, but it’s not absolutely necessary. In fact, they’re hard to find. I do have an hourglass shape, but I don’t have an especially small waist, so I don’t really like to draw attention to it with a line across my middle. But I can emphasize it with just a belt in a like-shade without adding volume there.
My boots are not exactly the same color as the soft neutral sweater, but they’re close enough to provide a bookending effect. That’s a style hack that always helps tie an outfit together nicely.
Natural Colored Denim with Black
I generally steer clear of high contrast in intensity outfits for myself because I have low contrast in intensity in my physical features (hair, skin and eyes). But I know some of you with high contrast in intensity in your features will want to pair black or another dark neutral with your natural colored jeans. So I’ve put together an outfit that could work for most of us.
When I pair black with a low intensity piece – either natural colored, white or even light wash – I add a “bridge piece.” That’s simply a garment or accessory in medium intensity that helps bridge the distance from light intensity to high intensity. Make sense? That bridge piece in this outfit is this relaxed fit blazer. Madewell is almost sold out of that blazer, but it’s marked down and then another 50% off with code GOODMOOD. Nordstrom has it listed at full price, so if you choose to purchase it there, I’d ask for a price match. Nordstrom is generally very good about providing that. You probably can ask about it in their chat feature.
Again I bookended the outfit with black boots (similar). Bookending an outfit simply means wearing the same color or intensity at the top (in a top, jacket, scarf) and bottom of an outfit (shoes). If you don’t need the bridge piece because you have high contrast in intensity, then you could either just leave the blazer off or wear a darker one.
Natural Colored Denim with a Column of Ivory
For the next outfit I created a column of color with the natural colored jeans and a similar colored tank. You could wear a t-shirt or turtleneck here, too. Then I topped the tank with a soft plaid shirt. I chose this particular shirt to maintain that low contrast in intensity that works best for me. But you do you here. If you prefer a high contrast in intensity look, top the column with a darker shirt, whether it’s a print or solid.
By the way, that Rails seersucker button-up shirt is one of my favorite finds. It is amazingly soft and so versatile. I wear it a lot with grey, too. And now it is 40% off and still available in most sizes. This is the time to nab it.
I added another little layer by simply draping a grey sweater over my shoulders. I think this is one of those style hacks that we often forget about, but it can be so effective. I have dark grey boots, but I felt like they would be too dark and grab too much attention. So I opted for my sand colored hiking boots to complete the outfit.
Natural Colored Denim with Camel
Of course camel is a natural pairing for natural colored denim. If you enjoy wearing camel, this looks for you. And me! The key to wearing camel really is in finding pieces that reflect your skin tone well. Look for camel in warm, cool and more neutral tones, depending on your own coloring.
You could go much “fancier,” but I opted for a very casual look with a cashmere hoodie (no longer available in camel). Then I just completed the look with my casual hiking boots.
Natural Colored Denim with a Cheerful Color
And can you wear color with natural colored denim in the winter? Absolutely! Again, just select a color in the intensity that works best for you. I chose this soft coral pink cashmere sweater (no longer available in this color) because it is in medium intensity. A lighter colored sweater would probably work well for me, too. But personally I will steer clear of deeply pigmented colors with dark intensity when I’m wearing my natural color jeans.
I also think you have to play around a little with which colors look best with natural color jeans. I find that they pair a little differently than white jeans. Put on a color, stand in front of a mirror and snap a photo. Then look at the photo to see what you think. It really does give you a better look at the combination than just looking in the mirror.
And finally in the photo above you’ll see that I gave the sweater a gentle front tuck, but left off the belt (I wore the belt in the photo above that one). I wanted you to see that if you don’t have the right color belt to pair with your natural color jeans, you can still do a little tuck. You do not have to wear a belt to tuck your top a little. Just make sure it’s a loose tuck.
Bonus: Natural Colored Denim in Monochromatic Outfit
I do have a bonus because I actually wore a different pair of natural colored jeans last Friday, so I thought I’d share that outfit, too. These are the perfect vintage wide leg jean in that same vintage canvas color. So the legs are a little roomier, but still basically straight. They fit similarly, so size down.
We were out exploring a little Friday, and it was a little messy outside, too. So I opted for sneakers. These sand colored New Balance are very on trend, and they worked well with the look I was putting together. I have loved these sneakers and my mom loves hers, too. They’re about sold out, but I love these similar ones and am trying to resist purchasing them for spring.
For this monochromatic look I paired the perfect vintage wide leg jeans with my oatmeal colored cashmere sweater (similar more economical). Again I gave the fairly boxy sweater a gentle front tuck and added a belt. I think this may actually be my favorite look with natural colored jeans. Which do you like best?
I’ve gathered a few more natural colored jeans in the shopping widget below for you to check out. Look for the pair that fits your budget, style preferences and body type.
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Blessed for My Day
Yesterday hundreds of Dressed for My Day readers joined me in sharing our second memory verse for this year. We’re each selecting our own verses to meditate on and memorize, and we’re building an album of 24 scriptures or scriptures passages over the course of the year. Yesterday I announced that my new verse is Matthew 9:36. This verse reminds me that even when Jesus was pushed to His human limits, He continued to see people compassionately. He knew that bad behavior and extreme neediness were really signs of even deeper issues. These people were hurting, worried, hopeless and lonely. And they felt like there was no one who could ever rescue them out of their distresses or even lead them to better pastures.
Thousands of years later, nothing has changed. People are still just doing the best they can with the lot they’ve been dealt. Some are doing better than others, but all of us, until we welcome the Good Shepherd into our lives, our really struggling in many ways. Many of the people we encounter today will be nursing old wounds, trying to fill empty cups, struggling to get back on their feet again, or even sitting down in their hopelessness. Lord, help us to see people as You do so that we, too, may have compassion on them instead of lashing back in bitterness or self-defense or even apathy. By the way, if you’d like to join the Scripture Meditation & Memory Challenge, check it out here and here.
Seeing the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd. ~ Matthew 9:36
Can you let me know where you got your bird prints? Love them and the outfits!
Sure! Here’s a link: https://shopstyle.it/l/bKJrc
There are many people in our lives who can be hard to like and sometimes showing compassion is difficult, yet we are called to love and forgive. You’ve been led to an excellent verse, Kay. I’m already really enjoying the Scripture Memory Challenge. I look forward with anticipation to watching God work!
Love all of these looks today. Just wondering, what size are you wearing the rails shirt in?
HI Juliet. I’m glad you asked. I sized down to a small. It does run a little large.
I prefer the light jeans with light tops. Suits you best too in my opinion. With black it is to harsh. Probably your last look with the sneakers is my favourite too. Love ecru jeans a lot and wear them in winter as well. Nice combo’s !
Hi Kay. I liked the 1st and 2nd outfits the best. I have dark hair and look better in black than oatmeal color, that look really good on blonds.
I love all of the different looks you created around ecru pants! I think I need a pair. I learn so much from you Kay! Thank you!
This looks really good on you and the tips are helpful. I like the little tuck, but when I do it, it doesn’t look or seem right for me. I’m short waisted, is that a possible reason why it seems off?
Yes, Caron. That’s probably exactly why it doesn’t look right. Instead you probably want to stick with more midrise to lower rise jeans and skip the front tuck. You actually even might want the full length of your sweater to show, elongating your torso…if needed. I realize you could actually have a short waist and an average or long torso. But yeah, you probably generally don’t want to tuck.
Agree, I like the last look the best too.
Seeing these outfits inspired me to pull out my ecru jeans and style them with what I’ve got in my closet! i came up with several different looks that I’m excited to wear. Great pos, Kay!!
I like the last look best, too, My second favorite is the one with the Rails plaid shirt.
Great post! I really like all of outfits! Thanks for showing how to put together great looks from our closets!!! The ecru jeans would be a great addition to my closet!!
Loved seeing 6 looks. The one I gravitate towards is the pop of color, that is so me. The one I was surprised I liked so much was the camel sweatshirt. Just goes to show me that trying new things would pay off! I feel challenged to go to my closet and try to make multiple outfits as well as ones I haven’t tried before. I bet I could walk away from that with more outfit pairings!
I love the camel tops and coats that you show on your blog, but I don’t know a cool shade of camel versus warm and neutral. Sometime could you post samples of each, so I’ll have an idea of what is a cool camel.