Regardless of your personal aesthetic, every man with a halfway decent sense of style should own a pair of high-quality, dark denim jeans. They look great, can work in a number of different formality scenarios, and match almost everything in your closet. Styling this piece is pretty straightforward, but there are a few places where it’s easy to get it wrong, which can ruin its appeal. We’ll review how to style dark jeans, as well as the many benefits of this piece for your wardrobe.
First, let’s dig into the benefits, which touch on general styling points. Then we can look at how to make the most of dark jeans in your everyday attire.
Aesthetics
When thinking of how to style dark jeans, the first benefit of this garment that immediately comes into play is their aesthetic appeal. Dark denim jeans look great on almost everyone.
The darker color visually lengthens and slims your legs, which will give you a leaner, taller appearance. But you only realize this benefit with a well-fitting pair.
Getting the fit right is the first key in maximizing these slimming and lengthening benefits. The guidelines below can make sure you get the most stylistic appeal from your dark denim.
- Length – The fabric should reach your shoes while you’re standing, but should not pool around your ankles. This ruins the sleek appeal of this garment and is the biggest mistake most men make. If your jeans run long, you can roll them up for a cool, casual charm, or you can have them hemmed for a pretty reasonable price.
- Cut – This factor can vary quite a bit depending on your personal style. A slim but not skin-tight fit will flatter most men. This means the fabric should skim but not constrict your legs. Some taper below the knee helps (although for some, a more classic or wider leg fit can work). These features give your legs some shape without causing discomfort, which can ruin the casual appeal of jeans.
- Color – For your high-quality pair of dark jeans, stick with plain dark denim. Distressed or ripped jeans detract from the clean versatility of this item.
Versatility
For casual wear, most men will find themselves reaching for their dark jeans more than any other pants. We do love our chinos at A Gentleman’s Lifestyle, and dark denim offers a great compliment to your lineup of chino colors.
Denim does make getting dressed a little easier than chinos, however, due to their supreme versatility. You can wear it with t-shirts, polo shirts, casual-button downs, almost all outerwear, casual sport coats, sneakers, boots, loafers… basically anything that qualifies as casual or smart casual.
The only items you should avoid with dark denim are anything considered dress attire (dress shirts, dress shoes, suit jackets, dressier blazers/sport coats, etc…). These types of clothes are too formal to match with jeans and will create too much of a mismatch in formality level. Rule of thumb – if you can wear it with a suit, it probably doesn’t belong with jeans.
Formality level
Darker denim maximizes the number of scenarios where jeans would be appropriate. At one end of the spectrum, you can dress dark denim down with plain sneakers and a t-shirt. It’s almost impossible for your other wardrobe items to be too casual, even for dark jeans.
At the other end of the spectrum, you can dress them up quite a bit. An outfit pairing dark denim with suede chukka boots, a casual button down, and a casually-leaning sport coat, for instance, will cover a more casual dressy scenarios (a first date, a nice dinner, a night on the town, etc…).
Dark denim works with anything in between these two scenarios, which covers most basic casual and many smart casual situations.
Color matching
You can wear dark denim with almost any color. Pick shirts and jackets that match your skin tone best (darker skin / lighter skin suggestions), and have confidence that they will go with your jeans. The only color to avoid is dark denim in the same denim shade as your jeans.
Otherwise, all colors, even most shades of blue, will pair well with your dark denim jeans.
How to style dark jeans
Because of their versatility, your options to style around this item are almost endless.
You must keep the formality level of your shoes and tops consistent. For example, you should avoid wearing very casual sneakers with a sport coat. And dressier boots or loafers may overpower a simple jeans and t-shirt look.
You can deviate a little within each category (a t-shirt and casual chukka boots looks good, for instance), but any more than this and you might create an inconsistent look.
Super casual
Your classic jeans and t-shirt look. A simple combination, but if you execute it well it gives off an effortless casual vibe that takes very little thought to style and look great.
This look works particularly well if you are in good shape – a fitted t-shirt and dark denim will always complement a good physique, as it lets your physical attributes stand out rather than anything in your outfit.
For shoes, plain white sneakers are the safest bet with this combination and makes your t-shirt color choice a no-brainer. Go with a shirt color that matches your skin tone well. It’s hard to go wrong here. Otherwise some nicer running shoes (like New Balances) or more colorful sneakers wouldn’t look out of place with dark denim, if it fits your personal style.
You can easily throw layers on this foundation when the weather cools off. Shirt jackets, plain sweatshirts, coarser knit sweaters, bomber jackets, field jackets – basically any jacket or top that’s not too dressy. You should generally avoid dressier looking overcoats with this very casual set-up.
These effortless looks work best for your day-to-day life. Running errands, catching up with a friend over coffee or lunch or a drink, going to a cook out, or any number of other situations that have little expectation for any specific dress code, but for which you’d like to look decent and somewhat put together.
Casual – middle ground
The most general scenario for dark jeans and the one with the most room for variation in your attire. In terms of the dressiness of your shoes and shirts, try to keep everything more or less in middle of the road of the spectrum. You can pair items easily from these categories to create outfits that come together easily, look great, and require little thought.
For your tops, think polo shirts, casual button-downs (like OCBDs or flannels), sweaters (either fine knitwear like merino wool or something with more texture like Shetland wool or an Aran knit), chore coats, shirt jackets, field jackets, and pea coats.
For shoes, plain white sneakers work on the more casual end of this category. Should you choose to dress up your look a bit, go with some chukka boots (Clark’s Desert Boots are a perfect match), workwear inspired boots, ranger mocs, boat shoes (if that’s your thing), or Chelsea boots.
Then you can mix and match according to your personal style. See the examples below.
- Easy casual – chukka boots or sneakers, dark jeans, polo or button down shirt
- Rugged casual – workwear boots, dark jeans, flannel button down or cotton henley
- Cold weather – desert boots, dark jeans, rugged wool sweater, pea coat
You have some room for variation too. To keep a look more relaxed but still put together, pair something super casual with something slightly dressier. For instance, suede chukka boots will step up your typical jeans and t-shirt look just enough to give it a little more interest. Throw on a chore coat and a watch with a leather band, and you have added a lot of depth to an otherwise tepid look.
Smart casual
When thinking of how to style dark jeans with dressier attire, this piece can dress down and relax an entire outfit, while still keeping everything refined. As mentioned previously, you don’t want to pair anything too dressy with your dark denim, but you can still pair shoes and tops that are a step down from tailored attire.
The sport coat with jeans look is one way to dress up your dark denim. While easy to get wrong, when you do pull it off, it can provide the perfect balance between casual and refined attire, giving your outfit versatility and charm.
Below are a few examples of how to match your dark denim with other items to create this relaxed yet sharp appearance.
- Easy smart casual – Chelsea boots, dark jeans, OCBD, chore coat
- Fall smart casual layers – leather chukka boots, dark jeans, button-down shirt, merino sweater, jacket (bomber, pea coat, overcoat, mac jacket)
- Sport coat with jeans – suede boots, dark jeans, button-down shirt or refined polo, casual sport coat
Budget and quality
Whether you want to spend big for a high quality pair, or if your budget is tighter, you have great options at every price point. These Levi’s are available for as little as $50 during frequent sales, and Amazon makes a great pair for under $50 (regular price, and often on sale).
If your budget only allows for $40-$50 for this item, then the two options above will work well. If you can, we do recommend splurging a little on this item for a couple of reasons.
First of all, quality improves considerably with price point for denim. You can get a great pair of selvedge dark denim in the low to mid $100s. These jeans will last considerably longer than more standard options, and they will break in, become more comfortable, and look better with age. For more information on the benefits of selvedge denim, read this article. For the best denim brands, check out our list of recommended brands.
Secondly, you only need one or two pairs of high quality jeans, since this is an item you don’t need to wash them with every wear (and with high quality denim, some experts say you should wash infrequently). Since dark denim doesn’t really stand out, you can wear the same pair quite often without anyone really noticing. For these reasons, it makes sense to spend a little extra for something that will last you many years, looks great today, and will look and feel better with time.
Conclusion
When thinking of how to style dark jeans, it’s important to consider the versatility and aesthetic benefits of this piece. It’s easy to dress this item up or down, and it allows you to take advantage of almost every other item in your wardrobe. You can also look put together without giving your outfit too much thought, which can help when you get dressed for everyday situations.
