Using Contrast with the Personal Color Palette
Recently I ran across something in a library book that scared me a little. (I think it was 10 Steps to Fashion Freedom: Discover Your Personal Style from the Inside Out
The biggest mistake I notice people making with regard to color is wearing one that overwhelms them. (Okay, that’s just the biggest mistake with clothing; the over all biggest color mistake I see is pink-skinned brunettes with warm-toned highlights in the hair clashing with their skintone.) But looking washed out by blending into your clothing is not what you want.
Unlike me, many people have hair, skin, and eyes which are all nearly the same color value. If that is you, contrast must be added in as an accent. Think about it: even the very dark have the whites of their eyes and their teeth, even the very pale have black irises.
Some techniques to try:
- use a darker or lighter version of the eye or hemoglobin color
- use the complementary color
- add a small amount of white, black, or a shiny metallic
I’m sure there are plenty of other artistic ways to bring both harmony and contrast to an outfit. What are some of your favorites?
I am the pink skinned brunette that you mentioned… when I first got highlights it was horrible! She did a bleached blonde kind of look and it totally clashed with my skin tone making me look incredibly washed out and generally unattractive. I couldn’t wait to get it fixed! So I agree that is one of the worst mistakes… and unlike clothing, you can’t change it everyday, so it just tags along with you, even if you have a great colored outfit!
Hmm–I think this is true of me–I have olive-toned skin, light brown hair, hazel eyes–all sort of medium tones. And I gravitate towards deep or bright greens (blend with eye color), dark reds (complementary of eye color) and muted orange (not sure where that fits!). I use light browns and tans as neutrals, but always with a color. Lately I’ve experimented some with a dark brown as the sole color, but with a strong geometric presence of white and/or black.
Carrie ~ at least you have the sense to know it doesn’t look good. Most women just think because it’s in style that it does!
Your Majesty ~ Sounds like you are combining your colors artistically, not boring. Wouldn’t you like to do a fashion lab (on any subject) sometime?
btw, did you two notice the similarity between your names (carrot, carrie)? lol
I recently looked at photos on a website where the author was demonstrating a principle you had discussed: black is not always the most slimming. She used a set of 4 photos of a woman with medium light coloring who wore a top consistant with that but slacks in black and progessively lighter shades of gray (photoshopped). It’s true your eye was drawn to the black slacks and stayed there. This was a larger woman so it wasn’t a case of twin black sticks.
This discouraged me since I very much like dark colors and I am of medium fair coloring. Her theory would have it that such a person should avoid dark colors.
But I think that dark or bright colors that are not in one’s palette can still be worn if there is a fair bit of skin showing. They are not so near the face. I’m very happy with 2 cotton gauze sundresses I bought recently just because I loved the colors, they allowed for a bra to be worn, they were fitted through the waist, I have concluded that wovens are cooler than knits.
A bright orange and a saturated yellow. Neither would work in a high neck blouse.
I have a very old wardrobe book, something about Style and Line, that addressed just this case of having low-contrast coloring where everything about you looks blended. She suggests intensifying somewhat the colors of what you wear
I need photoshop, don’t I? Although anybody who just got the JCPenney mail-out can see that black slacks aren’t always the most flattering. On the first page, there’s a model in pale gray plaid (is it windowpane?) trousers with white blouse and black belt, next to one in a colored print blouse with black trousers. The black looks at least two sizes bigger.
I guess I still think there’s a difference between a softer dark and black. Black draws such an intense outline! And I agree you can get away with alot more color in a sundress, for the reason you mentioned, but also I think because of the light. I even had a high neck black dress which I could wear quite easily because it was sleeveless, which brought more skin close to the face.
What sort of things are suitable for fashion labs? Do you need some overarching question to do? I’m kind of curious about whether the scarves I like to wear work as well as I think they do, or if they’re too much over-the-top, but I’m not sure how to frame it or whether it would be of interest to anyone else. (I don’t ever see other people wearing scarves.
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I wear scarves. I would wear them more if I knew the best ways to wear them….
Interesting… I’m very pale, but the dark colors I get away with well are dark greens (like my eyes) and dark, blue reds. Dark blue also works very well. I guess you could say in general that cool colors work on me. I read somewhere that I should go for warm colors with my coloring, but it doesn’t really work that well.
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