Outerwear is the easiest place to start. Lemaire's wool and alpaca coat and the Another Tomorrow wool blazer are the plainest options, while Blaze Milano's checked jacket and the Acne Studios distressed suede blazer add texture without breaking the colour. Zimmermann's plush bomber is the loudest of the group.

Brown trousers are the sleeper item. Citizens of Humanity's Aurora twill and Joseph's Jnane wide leg do the same job as a black trouser but sit warmer against skin, and Rohe and Nili Lotan take it into suede with a barrel leg. Magda Butrym's straight leg jean is the version that goes with everything already hanging up.

Accessories are where the shade range shows. Nili Lotan's fringed suede tote and Reformation's Hannah sit lighter, Hunting Season's clutch and the Valentino Garavani Rockstud go deeper, and Aquazzura and Dries Van Noten take it to a knee boot. Mixing two browns in one outfit is fine and often better than matching.

If you take one thing away, it is that brown only reads expensive at the dark end. Mid brown and tan drift towards beige under indoor light and lose the whole effect, while espresso and bitter chocolate hold up. Match the undertone rather than the shade, which means keep the warm reds together and the cool greys together and stop worrying about whether two pieces are the same brown. This works best as a full outfit rather than one brown item among black ones, since the contrast makes the brown look faded. If you want a single entry point, make it a bag or a boot. Those get the colour into your rotation without committing you to an entire wardrobe change.