At 31 Rue Cambon in Paris, above the Chanel boutique and below the atelier, is Gabrielle Chanel's private apartment, kept the way she left it. Writing about a visit for IMAGE in 2018, Rosie McMeel noted that, unlike Chanel's famously minimalist black and white, the apartment is rich in gold tones, with Coromandel screens used like wallpaper (Chanel is believed to have owned 32 folding screens, and eight of them are there). So the designer best known for black and white surrounded herself with gold in private.

Black and gold is the most glamorous pairing in this series, and the easiest to get wrong. Too much gold looks like a costume, and too little gets lost. The best version is mostly black clothes with gold in a few places: the ears, the neck, the feet or one bag.

A quick test: put on an all-black outfit and add one gold piece at a time. Stop at the point where the gold still looks like a surprise.

Agmes' pendant is a smooth gold drop on a fine chain, and Anita Ko's Zoe hoops are chunky 18-karat gold twisted like rope. Loeffler Randall's Emery flats are woven gold leather, like a little mesh basket for your feet, and they make jeans look dressed up. Amanu's Zambia bag is the black: a soft leather pouch on a loop handle with a gold clasp. Wear all four with a black sweater and you have the Rue Cambon idea in miniature.

Ssstein's sweater is a plain black crew neck, fine and a little loose, and High Sport's Jules trousers are black stretch cotton, straight with a seam down the front. That is the black canvas. Completedworks' Splotch earrings are lumpy gold vermeil that looks like melted metal, and Loewe's Flamenco clutch is gold leather gathered into a soft pouch with knotted ties. How to wear it: keep everything else plain so the gold does all the talking.

Pauline Dujancourt's Najia dress is black lace, sleeveless with a hem that dips at one side. Julietta's Mykonos necklace is a strand of gold beads with a big gold shell at the front, and Saint Laurent's Babylone mules are gold metallic leather gathered across the toe on a thin high heel. Our Legacy's Fofo Drip bag keeps the black going, a soft, slouchy leather shoulder bag. What I would skip: gold earrings as well. With the shell and the mules, that is enough.

Wales Bonner's Gallery jacket is black wool with satin lapels, cut like a tuxedo but boxier, and Pleats Please's September top underneath is black plissé with a high neck and short sleeves. Paola Sighinolfi's Sasa earrings are gold with a green malachite stone in the middle, the only other color in the edit, and they look very 1980s in a good way. Staud's Wally boots are black leather that fits like a sock, on a small heel. Wear the jacket with nothing else at the neck.

Burberry's Kensington is the classic trench in black cotton gabardine, double-breasted and belted, and it might be the most useful coat you can own. Frame's Reboot jeans are black and flared, and Stuart Weitzman's Lucie boots are tall black suede on a block heel, so the whole outfit is one long line of black. Ysso's Broken Shell earrings are the gold, big textured crescents that look like a piece of a shell. Black head to toe, gold at the ears.

Black and gold looks its best when the black is plain and the gold is specific. Pick two or three spots, ears and feet or neck and bag, and keep the rest of the outfit simple and matte. Warm, soft gold reads more modern than very shiny, bright gold, especially in daylight. If you own a black sweater and one pair of gold earrings, you can start tonight. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Red and Black Outfits to Try This Fall and Pink and Black Outfits to Try This Fall.