Identifying Your Values
Color values, that is. What you value is clearly important in terms of what you wear, but not the topic of this post.
Value = the relative lightness or darkness of a color
In my watercolor class, we talk alot about value. In fact, our instructor hammers us about getting the values right, while allowing just about any approximation of hue. If one of us were to decide to make a certain shape lighter or darker than it is in the reference photo, the entire picture would have to adjust right along with it, keeping the mathematical relationships between color values the same.
You can do the same in your wardrobe, using the gray scale & value finder or just “close enough” visually.
How to use the tool:
- place the tool against the surface to be matched so that the color appears in the keyhole
- try different keyholes until you identify the one that is the same degree of lightness or darkness
You have now identified the color value, designated by the number on the corresponding gray!
To assemble an harmonious ensemble:
- identify the values present in your personal coloring: hair, skin, and eyes
- repeat those exact values in your ensemble
- OR use two of the three
- OR calculate the difference between them and use colors with the same difference in value
- throw in an accent of black and/or white to add drama
Anyway, this inexpensive tool, which can be purchased here through Amazon or at your local art supply store, is going to live on my dresser for the next month or so, as I move into planning my fall wardrobe.
Value is about the most noticeable element of one’s personal appearance. How do incorporate the concept of color value into your wardrobe planning?
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Leopard Print Velvet Blazer
I just wanted to show you Boden’s Velvet Blazer
. It comes in great colors for Fall 2010: berry, black, purple, cyan, pewter, and leopard print. The price? $98, which is what I would expect to find an item like this priced for at a moderately priced store. Generally, you can find a link to Boden USA in my sidebar, offering additional savings.
According to Harper’s, camel will be the new color for fall. Of course, many of us have always believed camel, and leopard print, to be “classics”. Good for us; when a classic we like is declared the “in” thing, that is the time to buy! At any rate, one thing I like about many animal prints is the mixing of cool and warm colors (although I think I would have used a lipstick red scarf rather than the dusty purple, if I were styling the outfit pictured).
How about you: will you be adopting camel this fall, either in a leopard print or straight up?
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The Best Color for a Suit or Jacket
Here’s a tip borrowed from the guys: If you are going to buy a blazer this fall, or a sweater or a vest, your best color option is — drumroll please — your haircolor. Picture it. Your hair and your jacket working together to form a frame to flatter your face, making it the focal point of your outfit.
(Since I am not likely to find a silver suit, I have bought two brown tweed suits - one with trousers, one with a skirt -to wear this fall.)
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Adapting Black and White to Your Coloring
Wearing black is perhaps the single most controversial topic in the fashion blogosphere. Wearing white is not quite as heated a topic, but still touchy in some ways. According to conventional color wisdom, with my softer personal coloring I should shun both black and white. But that is not the full story.
Recently I tried on a black and white and color print. Alone, each of the colors would have been too vivid for me. Overwhelming. But mixed, they worked. Why is that? Here’s my suggestion:
- if your personal coloring is intense, wear black or white alone or mixed in a large, bold print.
- if your personal coloring is very soft, wear black and white mixed so tightly as to almost appear gray. Tweed is an example of this.
- wherever your personal coloring falls on the continuum between soft and intense, adapt the size and proportion of black and white to match. In addition to tweeds, I can wear small prints like gingham or polka dots.
- accent with a flattering color: frosty pink for me, bright red for one with bold coloring, teal for one with blue eyes.
Do you have to adapt to wear black with your coloring?
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Winter Wear to Work
When Duchesse mentioned cashmere sweaters + wool trousers as her winter go-to formula (a formula I love!), the concept lodged in my mind, in the vicinity of a collection of thoughts about architects, engineers, and other technical professionals. Professions Mella DP describes as follows:
That often means having to demonstrate credibility in the executive conference room and on the plant floor on the same day. Dressing in a way that works for both situations is tricky. It’s easier for the guys - most men can wear chinos and a polo shirt and and sturdy shoes and look decent and functional (if a little dull). Most women in a similar outfit would look like an Applebees hostess.
But most women dressed in a cashmere sweater and wool trousers would look conventional and context-appropriate, Mella DP’s words, my opinion. (Hey, I realize not everyone can wear wool. I figure if you’re reading this, you’re smart enough to figure out a wool alternative that works for you. If that’s something you’d like to discuss, we certainly can.) Perhaps it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, any ensemble worn in a business context should be decipherable by both men and women. Much of what is popular for women is simply not understood by the men they work with.
Since we haven’t had any illustrations around here for a long time:
(Ugh! Now I remember why we haven’t had illustrations for so long! This took me all afternoon!)
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Establishing Credibility Visually
Lately I’ve been reading, researching, and meditating on alot of detail concerning appearance and perception. I admit it, alot of these thoughts initiate from comments to me; comments that show that they are unable to see my interior reality. (Perhaps this feeling that nobody gets me is indicative of a mid-life crisis? lol)
At any rate, while there is alot of information here on the blog already, there is still TONS I haven’t figured out. But I’m feeling ambitious, so I’m delving into researching the connection between certain visual elements and specific perceptions. Leave a comment if you have a clue. And I thought I’d begin with something relevant to career women, because I love them too!
Credibility: attitude toward a source of communication held at a particular time by a message receiver. It consists primarily of expertise, trustworthiness, and good will. (Dynamics of Persuasion)
Another source put it slightly differently: Expertise, Trustworthiness, Similarity, and Physical Attractiveness (I suppose the author of a textbook may find physical attractiveness to be too loaded a topic to address it).
Bernie Burson, Image Consultant, in her sidebar on Psychological Dressing, says:
When you receive your personal color palette, you learn that wearing your eye-related color makes you appear sincere and honest and wearing skin tones makes you seem friendly and approachable.
So, if credibility is a three-legged stool consisting of expertise, trustworthiness, and good will; wearing my recommended simple color palette (based on your own coloring) will get you two legs (and physical attractiveness as a bonus). Not enough. Establishing expertise, I suspect, is done through visual cues specific to the industry. Even if the industry is raising children.
What are the visual cues to expertise in your field?
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To Dye For
In the “lab” this week, I’m dying. In the sense of permanently changing the color of my clothes.
1) I love the fit of these Levis, but I just don’t wear a medium tone except in the summer. They needed to be dark.
Using one bottle of “denim blue”, I simply followed the directions on the box for dying in the washing machine. The color is a bit bright; if there is a “next time”, I will try a different shade.
Now the creative juices are flowing in all sorts of colors! I think I’ll tea-stain some of my white shirts, try kool-aid on a boring blue cashmere sweater …
Have you ever dyed anything?
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Analogous Color Harmonies
Perhaps it was growing up visually in the 1960s, but I have always favored the analogous color harmony. Blue and green, pink and peach, navy and lavender; these are some of my favorites. I love them in homes! While I recognize that monochromatic is a good look for me, it feels boring; when I’m not wearing my typical personal coloring based palette, I gravitate toward colors next to each other on the color wheel.
Last spring, it was navy and grass green. For summer, I combined yellow and coral. As we enter fall, I’m thinking alot about purple, wearing purple and navy to church last week.
What are your favorite color harmonies: monochromatic, analogous, complementary or something more unique? Any new favorite color combos?
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Building a Personal Color Scheme
I’ve been asked a number of times for more detail on building a color strategy based on one’s own personal coloring. Currently my best thoughts are these.
Step 1: choose a frame neutral or two
If you were a man and building a simple, formal business wardrobe from scratch, I’d first advise you to buy a suit in a color which blends with your hair color (Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion
- if you have dark hair, look good in black, and need a business wardrobe - by all means, choose black!
- for me, it’s not quite that simple. The main thing is to choose a flattering color in the right value (light vs dark).
- It’s not necessary to choose a neutral. One young lady I know, with auburn hair and green eyes, uses purple as a wardrobe staple.
Step 2: identify the color range you can choose more freely from
- For many this will be the eye color.
- Alternatively, hemoglobin color is an especially good option for those with brown eyes. This is what I do, using a range from peach to coral pink on the light end to coral as my bright to a burgundy as dark as my eyes.
- With gray eyes and hair, and lips so cool in tone as to be almost purple, I have another friend who could choose a range from lavendar to deeper purple.
Step 3: choose your accent color or neutral
- This could be black or white
- It could be your eye color, if you haven’t already used it.
- Do you have something specific to your idiom that you want to use as an accent, such as a collection of turquoise jewelry?
Beyond these basics, everything is chosen for its ability to blend with your basic skeleton of colors. For additional variety, you could use a different color scheme for each season.
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Fashion Lab: Color Value Placement
Next week I’m going to be talking about how to develop a personal color palette. In the meantime, I’ve been thinking about what I consider the Great Northwest casual uniform: black top, army green pants, slip-on shoes. Or some variant thereof. And how, while I’m not so crazy about the ubiquitous black top, it is a good formula for some. Especially those who are curvier on top.
Which leads me to the general principle of wearing lighter colors where you are smaller and darker colors where you are larger. Let’s play with that using Gap cords, currently $15 off.
(I threw that last set in just for fun, but I’d love to know if you have any thoughts on neutral vs bright also.)
Speaking of cords (or perhaps I should say “speaking of body image“), I normally avoid them simply because they always made me feel fat, but when Spokane Discount had a deal where any pair of brown pants in size 6, 8, or 10 was so cheap it was almost free, I bought a pair of dark brown, trouser style, corduroy Dockers. For $3.
Application principle: aside from monochromatic outfits, I am focusing on darker bottoms with lighter tops. How do you employ color value placement?
