Key # 2 - Part 3 - of The 5 Keys to Dressing Well

Personal Coloring - The Basics of Color

Our bodies have a unique color pattern, we need to choose colors that enhance it.

Let's talk about hues: hues are the common names we use to refer to colors, such as: blue, green, red, yellow, purple, etc.

There are six basic hue families: the reds, the oranges, the yellows, the greens, the blues,  and the violets or (purples).

When we talk about colors we use names that are very descriptive, we may refer to food or animals to name them, such as peach, salmon, canary yellow, apple green, etc. This is important because when we just talk about colors and can't show them visually, we need to have tools that can help us and everyone picture the color in their minds. At the end of this post there is a list of color names for your reference.
  
Color also has temperature - We can categorize hues are either warm or cool. 
Psychologically we give colors temperature: so the reds, yellows and oranges,  are usually regarded as warm, they remind us of fire, the sun, the power of aggression.
The blues, violets and greens, remind us of cold splashes of water, shadows under trees, mountain tops, deep blue skies, these colors are often associated with distance, calm, tranquility, and coolness. 
Thus hues can either be warm or cool. The warm hues are more yellow. Cool hues are like the sky and water they recede in the background.

Primary colors - red yellow and blue.

 

There are other terms you should be familiar with, they are:

Value: it describes how light or dark a color is.

Chroma: it refers to the purity of a color. How clear or muted a color is.

Harmony: the way we combine certain colors.

Now let's go back to the temperature of colors, beacuse here lies a lot of the relevance we will give to them when choosing our own palette.

We said that the reds, oranges, and yellow are warm, and the blues, violets and greens are cool. That is just to begin with. That is the psychological association we give to color. But colors also have a relative temperature that depends on how it is mixed, let's see, for example if you look at the color wheel the red, if it is mixed with blue, it becomes Red-Violet, and has a cooler temperature, the same thing happens, with yellow when mixed with green, Yellow-Green.

This especially happens with greens that although they are considered cool, they are a mixture of both yellow (warm) and blue (cool). All oranges are warm, because they are made up of red and yellow (both warm). I believe orange is one of the most difficult colors to wear well.   But sometimes we can change its value, and make it work! 

Value

Let's continue with the orange, it can either be very dark or very light. This relative darkness or lightness is called value. We can add white to an orange pigment and make it lighter, thus changing its value, but what we can never do with orange is change its temperature. If we do it will no longer be orange. Usually when colors are light they appear "tinted" or whitish. We can also add black to orange to make it darker. It will appear shaded, deepened, and weighty. Usually when colors are darkened by adding black they are considered: serious, profound, mysterious.

There are other ways to lighten and darken colors, and also to mix them, but I am not going to go further into this, for now. It is not necessary for our purpose, and I don't want to complicate things.

Chroma

This is very important when it comes to choosing our wardrobe also. Colors can be clear, which means the pigment is very pure, or muted which means the color was combined with its complementary color or shaded with gray to soften it down. Clear colors are bright and vibrant and tend to reflect light. Muted colors appear misty, veiled, and de-intensified. Muted colors are gentle, soft, and can be also subtle.

Harmony

• Monochromatic: only one color, use one hue (e.g. all blues, light blue top and navy blue pants)  Same hue is with different values. 

• Triadic: the harmony created by hues that are equidistant from each other on the wheel (e.g. red/yellow/blue or green/orange/violet)

• Analogous: two or three hues that appear side by side on the color wheel (e.g. reds/violets/blues)

• Complementary: Two hues that appear opposite each other on the color wheel. (e.g. red/green, orange/blue, yellow/violet)  

Let's Continue with the Second Key to The 5 Keys to Dressing Well

Color - Part 2

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 Usually once Pantone massively  communicates the “Color of the Season”, the big brands have already started showcasing it on their product lines.

• Eggplant – it’s a deep purple, deep enough to look almost like a black. It is considered a neutral like black, brown or navy.
• Indian Teal – A combination of green and blue that is flattering to all. It brings out the richness of eye-color.
• Mellow Rose – Somewhere in between a peach and a light pink. It is also considered a neutral.
• True Red – It falls in between a cool cherry red and a warm tomato red.

Let's start with Key # 2 to The 5 Keys to Dressing Well

Complement your own Personal Coloring

•  Do you have a favorite color?
• Check your closet: What is the color/s that are more prominent in your wardrobe?
• Do you usually tend to choose the same color/s? Which are they?
• Why do you choose those colors? What emotions do they evoke on you? Maybe they remind you of someone? Something?
• Does your favorite color match your eye-color? Hair color?

The Power of Perception 

Today I am going to tell you a story:

Find or Define your Personal Style - Part 3 of The 5 Keys to Dressing Well  

Find or Define your Fashion Style...

Part 2 of The 5 keys to Dressing Well

The 5 Keys to Dressing Well 

1.        Define your own personal Style and match it with your clothing 

2.        Complement your own personal Coloring

3.        Flatter your body lines, proportions and scale

4.        Choose clothes that are appropriate for your Event/Lifestyle/Occasions.

5.        Dress Current – Be up to date with Trends, and choose only those that complement all the other 4 points  above.

• Where do you usually shop? What is the store’s name?
• Any brand or brands you prefer? Search online for that brand’s characteristics, or personality? Does it match yours? It should, if it doesn’t then ask yourself what is the reason why you shop there?
• Is there any store that you particularly “ADORE”, I didn’t say “like” …You have to adore the brand, the clothes, the store’s image and personality…If you found at least one, take a note on what is it that you especially find so appealing about them.
• For now, just take either mental notes, or even better, in a small notebook for later reference.
• One more aspect you can think about, is how do you usually accessorize your looks? Do you even accessorize? What type of accessories do you prefer? How many do you use? Take notes.

• Classic
• Natural
• Modern
• Bohemian
• Masculine
• Sophisticated
• Dramatic
• Creative
• Feminine
• Romantic
• Alluring
• Urban Chic
• Sporty
• Elegant
• Punk
• Simple