Some people usually don’t like infusing color into their outfits and prefer to stick with reliable blacks, beiges, and browns. There are also others who may add color into their looks but only sparingly. While these may be classic and fail safe ways to dress up, won’t it be more lively, free, and whimsical to concentrate your look on colors? Playing with colors is one of the fun things in fashion!
If you’re afraid of using color too much because of fear of looking like a walking, talking rainbow, fret no more. You just have to learn how to use the color wheel and use it to your own advantage.
Color wheel from Fashion Bomb Daily.
We all know of course what the color wheel is. We’ve encountered it in our childhood days when we used to color trees and animals for school using our crayons. Well, we’re not using crayons now. Instead, we have our clothes, shoes, and accessories to form our artwork looks!
Here’s an excellent guide to making color combos from Fashion Bomb Daily.
1. Colors directly next to each other (i.e. yellow and yellow-orange; yellow and yellow-green; violet and blue-violet, etc.)
2. Colors that form right (90 degree) angles with each other (i.e. yellow and red-orange; blue and violet-red; green and orange, etc.)
3. Colors directly across from each other (i.e. yellow and violet; blue and orange; red and green, etc.)
4. Colors that form a T (i.e. blue, orange, and violet-red; yellow, violet, and red-orange; yellow, blue-green, and red-orange, etc.)
5. Colors that form an X (i.e. blue, orange, violet-red, and yellow, violet, blue-green, and red-orange, etc.)Since brown is a neutral, it will go with virtually any color on the color wheel. I love to pair a chocolate brown with cobalt blue or fuchsia or bright red—such a fun and bold combo. Of course white, black, and the hues of blue found in denim are also neutrals that go with just about anything.
You can’t of course memorize these rules and refer to the color wheel every time you dress up. So I’m providing you with sample outfits of each rule so you can easily remember them.
Combo 1: Colors directly next to each other like violet and violet-red, blue-green and green, and red and red-orange.
Combo 2: Colors that form a 90-degree angle like yellow and red-orange, green and orange-yellow, and red and blue-violet.
Combo 3: Colors directly across from each other like red-orange and blue-green, yellow and violet, and orange-yellow and blue-violet.
Combo 4: Colors that form a T like blue, orange, and violet red, and green, red, and blue-violet.
Combo 5: Colors that form an X like blue, orange, violet-red, and yellow, and blue-green, yellow, red-orange, and violet.
There you go. Wearing colors doesn’t seem as daunting now is it? Just know the basics and you’ll be sporting colors like it’s second nature in no time.
If you want to read more about this, you can read Academichic’s feature on how to combine colors. They’ve got a beautiful and artistic color wheel that’s a must-see!
