Brunello Cucinelli's Karakorum scarf is cashmere and silk in an army green with a fine fringe, and it is the easiest olive there is: wear it with a cream coat and you are done. The rest of this grid is the cream half. Roxanne Assoulin's Pearls Branch necklace is chunky ivory beads with a flash of red at the clasp (fun with a plain olive sweater), Le Monde Beryl's Babouche pumps are ecru crinkled leather on a kitten heel, and Calvin Klein Collection's Tina clutch is cream snake-effect leather.

This is the outfit I would actually wear on a Tuesday. Polo Ralph Lauren's sweater is a chunky army green knit with a shawl collar and patch pockets, the kind of thing you could wear on a boat. Abadia's cream satin pants make it dressier, and the barrel leg keeps it from feeling like pajamas. How to wear it: tuck just the front of the sweater, then add Jimmy Choo's ivory Amita slingbacks and Savette's Symmetry Trapeze bag in pale leather.

Olive started as a work color, and the Citizens of Humanity Flight pants keep a bit of that: cotton twill, a curved barrel leg, roomy pockets on the thigh. Deiji Studios' cream wrap cardigan ties at the side, so it reads soft against all that utility. Jimmy Choo's Amelia pumps sit on a low heel, and Le Sundial's Venice Opera earrings are strands of cream beads that swing when you walk. What I would skip: white sneakers here. They make the pants look like hiking gear.

Veronica Beard's Perenna dress is army green satin cut like a shirtdress, with a collar, short sleeves and a long skirt that moves. It is the most grown-up thing in this edit, and The Frankie Shop's Gaia coat, ivory and double-breasted, falls to almost the same length, so the whole outfit reads as one long line. Toteme's woven leather mules (ecru, on a low wedge) and Métier's cream Tilt 16 bag finish it. This is the one for dinners where you are not sure how dressed up everyone will be.

Two olives in one outfit sounds like a lot, but it works when the textures differ. Arma's Maeve jacket is dark olive suede with a drawstring waist, and TWP's Avery pants are an olive herringbone in wool and cashmere, so the greens shift slightly in the light. Alix of Bohemia's Willa blouse is cream gauze that ties down the front (let the ties show at the neck), and Johnstons of Elgin's Reel scarf is a small cream cashmere triangle you knot like a kerchief.

The one rule I follow with this pairing is to keep the cream warm. Ivory, ecru, butter and oat all flatter olive, while optic white can make it look tired. Let olive take the bigger pieces, like coats, pants and dresses, and let cream sit close to your face. If you only own one of the two, start with an olive knit, because you almost certainly have something cream to wear with it.