Are you wondering why you have few to zero teal clothes or struggling to get around styling the few you have with other clothes colors? There is a science to fashion as there is in the outfit colors you choose to wear each day and that’s why we are here to show you the right colors that go well with teal clothes.

A Brief History of Teal

Teal is a deep blue-green color that looks like cyan but darker. Some will argue that it may have been similar to aqua if it had a higher saturation. While “Turquoise” and “teal” are often used interchangeably, teal has its own different and special thing going on. It isn’t too flashy but will still give off classy vibes to any outfit, look good on all skin tones and highlight a person’s most attractive body parts.

The color teal was first discovered in 1917 and was hyped by a freshwater duck named Eurasian teal whose head had a blue-green stripe and eyes ringed with the teal color. Seven decades later in 1987, it was added to the 16 HTML colors. This color comes from a mixture of colors. On the color wheel, which shows the relationship among primary, secondary and tertiary colors, its primary colors are red, yellow and blue.

Violet, silver and orange are the secondary colors while yellow-green, blue-violet, yellow-orange, red-violet, blue-green, and red-orange make up the tertiary colors. Being a tertiary color, to obtain the teal color one needs to mix the primary color blue and secondary color, teal.

People have been loving teal since the early 1900s but the color’s popularity peaked in the 1990s. In those days, many people including most sport teams blended varying shades of teal with shouting pinks and purples. With the resurgence of retro fashion, the 1990s fashion style is now back in 2022 and teal clothes are the it now more than ever.

Why Add Teal to Your Closet?

So despite knowing that the teal color is a trend, you may still need a little more convincing before hopping onto this color trend and that’s totally okay because we’ve got you.

Elegance

On top of its allure in the fashion world, teal is popular for its flexible “jewel-toned” color that is similar to the one in natural gemstones such as emeralds, rubies and sapphires. It gives off a rather bright and deep color that makes them seem expensive, luxurious and consequently captivating. This is why jewel-toned clothes are a wardrobe staple for anyone who wants to add some elegance to their wardrobe.

Significance

The teal color is also preferred for its significance. Its foundational colors blue and green represent all the good things we want in life. Blue signifies the sea and sky and stands for serenity, intuition, imagination, responsibility, calmness, openness and peace.

Green signifies nature, life, restoration, rebirth, growth and hope. A lighter shade of teal means adding more white which stands for light, purity, perfection, sincerity, and brilliance. Tibet monks believe that teal symbolizes the infinity of the sea and sky while for Egyptians, it is the color of truth and faith.

What more can one need on top of appearing calm and renewed?

Hides Flaws

No color hides imperfection best like teal. The next time you are feeling insecure and don’t want to expose parts of your body, opt for teal clothes as they only enhance the parts you want to flaunt. Better still, learn to be comfortable in your skin and flaunt every part of you with teal while at it.

General Purpose

Teal clothes will always be appropriate for any occasion, whether that’s for work, casual hangout, romantic dinner or family get-together. You can wear teal anyday, anywhere once you’ve mastered the right color combinations.

It’s for Everyone!

If you’re wondering if teal is great for your skin tone, it is. With the right color combination, this color will look good in all skins and personalities. On days when you want to stand out or lay low, teal is your go-to color.

For Those Feel Good Hormones

We wear clothes to not only cover our nakedness but also look and feel good. Our appearance says a lot about us before we interact with people and that’s where teal clothes come in. With all the positive energy its color combinations exudes, teal will almost always activate your feel good hormones.

The Color Wheel

How do you go about choosing the right teal color combinations that will result in a major impact on your overall look? The color wheel offers a chance to achieve this by showing what colors and styles are similar to or complement each other.

The wheel is arranged in a traditional rainbow pattern, which shows that a color will likely pair well with the color immediately to its right and left and the one directly opposite it on the wheel. This way you know which colors would or wouldn’t work together. Different shades of teal will always fall between blue and green on the color wheel. The bottomline is that teal will pair well with colors that blue and green pair well with and will also clash with colors these two shades clash with.

While the color wheel will assist in combining colors to achieve a poised appearance, don’t rely on it entirely and disregard other guidance sources especially when you aren’t sure about your color options or want to scale them up.

Try Canva’s color wheel now.

Colors That Go Well With Teal

When it comes to teal and its different shades, which include dark teal, bright teal, marine teal, common teal, dull teal, tropical teal, empress teal, and deep teal, the colors you choose to combine with teal will give a bold or muted for the occasion. For this reason, go for options that’ll go well with both blue and green tones.

Here are a few colors that rock best when paired with teal clothes.

Gold or Silver

Teal sets off metallic colors like gold and silver. Pairing your teal clothes with gold accessories will add a unique touch to your look and give luxury vibes. Being a warmer color, gold draws out the green tones in teal while the cooler color silver does its thing with the blue in your teal dress.

White and Teal

One thing we all love about a neutral like white is that it will go well just about any color and teal is no exception. Pair any shade of teal clothing in your closet, more so the lighter shades like aqua and seafoam that don’t cooperate pair complement black so well, with sparkling white and you will give off a pure and brilliant look.

 

Blue and Teal

Blue is one of the colors you can be 100% sure will go well with teal. Since it is already one of the colors that make up teal, the tones in both colors show out when you pair them together. A great tip you don’t want to forget is darks work well with darks so consider pairing a darker blue with darker teal.

Purple and Teal

You must have thought the teal skirt in your wardrobe wouldn’t match with your new purple blouse and went for a white one instead. While that was a smart move, please bring the original outfit idea to life today by simply trying it out. Purple is the color for royalty and nobility. The outcome to expect is a regal look you won’t be getting over anytime soon.

Teal is everything classy and stable and purple zeros in on this aspect of any teal clothing.

Green and Teal

Another color you can be sure will always go with teal is green since it is one of the main colors that make up teal. When you pair green with the cool teal, the green tones in both colors work perfectly especially if it’s a cooler green instead of a warm one. Pairing light greens with light teals and dark greens with dark teals will bring out the similarities between teal and green with little contrast.

 

Yellow and Teal

Where yellow is an attention seeker, teal is the perfect color to pair it with if you want to tone it down. This color combination will have you looking all bold, fun and classy without trying so hard so wear them for that work presentation next time.

Pink and Teal

Given that pink is a warm color, pairing it with teal will accentuate or contrast it depending on the shade of teal you go for. It’s a quick and easy way to stand out creatively without putting in much work in the outfit.

Black and Teal

Black is another neutral that will go with everything including your teal clothes. The good thing about this color combination is that you can wear it anywhere, whether it’s to your workplace, party or friends hangout. Like other colors when paired with teal, black makes the teal pop.

We recommend pairing medium or darker teals with blacks to avoid creating too much contrast. Lighter teals are best paired with lighter blacks or grays.

Gray and Teal

Always remember that teal and gray are a match made in heaven whenever you want to pair your teals with a versatile color that isn’t black. Where gray is somewhat dull, teal is a lively color and pairing the two brings about a chic vibe you want to hop onto.

Other Jewel Tones

Having already noted that teal is jewel toned itself, pairing your teal clothes with jewel toned ones such as dark sapphire blues, dark ruby colors, deep emerald greens and bold amethyst purples is a sure way to rock teal outfits.

Colors to Avoid with Teal

Like we mentioned earlier, teal will pair with almost every color because it comes in different shades and intensities. There are a few colors you want to avoid though because they will clash with blue or green. The color wheel exists to make your outfit pairing endeavors fast and simple but for when you can’t use it, here are a few colors to avoid with teal.

Orange

Orange may not be the new black after all because unless it is a burnt orange, this bright color is tricky to pair as it clashes with most on the color wheel. Orange is especially averse to green and thus teal doesn’t match well with it if it has more green than blue in it. Some shades of pink like a salmon-colored outfit should replace true orange just fine.

Some Reds

Red goes well with blue but won’t always vibe with green and this is what to remember the next time you want to up your teal clothes game. Knowing that certain shades of red will work well with teal isn’t so disheartening.

While green and red should ideally complement each other, these two are best left for the Christmas season unless it’s a dark ruby red or maroon.

Brown

The only reason brown is on this list is because your teal clothes may lean more towards blue. Seeing that green is what goes well with brown, a teal with more blue makes brown the last thing you want to pair it with. In such cases, other neutrals like black, white and gray should come through.

Conclusion

You must be teeming with ideas of the different colors you can pair with your teal clothes. Teal clothes will mostly go well with black, yellow, pink, purple, gold, and white but there is room for more exploration and experimentation. Since teal is right up there with purple as colors representing individuality, this is your sign to embrace yours and elevate your skin tone and personality with the bright jewel tones of teal clothes.

Learn about color theory in fashion here