A Working Wardrobe starts with Color
We've all been there, pondering over our wardrobe, seeing the incredible volume and wondering why . . . there's nothing really nice or special to wear. Usually for an upcoming occasion that demands 'casual-but-not-yoga-pants' or 'business casual'. Perhaps a dinner in a restaurant (but not macDo) or a family reunion.
I'm not talking about a wedding, because that's easy - we go shop for that special dress.
I'm talking about casual or slightly sophisticated, but not your usual-wear that you can't (not good enough) or won't (bored) wear this time. WHY IS THAT?
Even if your wardrobe is overflowing . . .
It's still hard to put an outfit together - and you're not imagining this. The unrecognized issue here is often that it is hard to put together outfits because it's hard to find any pair of colors that really harmonize well. Especially with color-on-color combinations. As illustrated in the fragment of this wardrobe here. Lots of individual great pieces and great colors, but without a good complement. You might have that special Indigo blouse and it might be really hard to find a matching, -interesting- pair of pants or a skirt that goes with it.
The only matching pieces that seem to work are your jeans or anything navy or black. . . but that's how you always wear it and you wanted something special. Now that you think of it, there's actually a lot of denim and black. Plus some other safe colors like a light gray or other lighter pastels. It's an unsatisfactory work-around.
.... we often turn to the 'safe' colors because they seem to go with everything and at least they're not 'out there' drawing too much attention.
However, there's a little problem here... Some people look better in denim than others and the same goes for black. If you are in one of the Autumn seasons, denim blue might not be your best color. And that's apart from the issue that - if not carefully matched to skin color - the 'safe' colors might also give you that 'drab', 'blend-with-the-wallpaper' , 'nothing-to-see-here-look'. But the next purchase is surely going to solve this - RIGHT?
A 'Palette' can help
A 'Palette' of colors in your wardrobe solves the problem of finding pieces that match well. Colors within a palette harmonize effortlessly. That is the whole point of a palette.
Here is an example of a 'Summer Dusk' Palette. It's easy to see that all of these colors go together very well.
Most of current Palettes are derived from the seasons - Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter and have typically 3 palettes within each season. What you see here is one of the 3 Summer palettes.
Let's look at some examples of other seasons
A Winter Palette
The colors in this 'Winter Spirit' Palette are predominantly cool (temperature wise leaning towards blue more than towards yellow). They are also relatively bright (as for instance compared to Late Summer and Early Autumn). Although we see some very different hues here, they all harmonize.
A Spring Palette
As in the previous Mid Winter Palette, the colors in this Spring Sun Palette are bright, but temperature wise these colors are warm. Even the blue hues in this palette, carry some yellow. Clarity is the defining characteristic of all Spring Palettes. Springs 'go-around-the-colorwheel' and as there are many different colors (hues) here, they still all work together because of their shared characteristics of clarity and warmth.
An Autumn Palette
This Autumn Glow Palette is on the warm side of the temperature spectrum, but not as 'pure' or bright as the spring. The reds and yellows look quite vivid though and that's due to their toned surroundings. Colors can never truly be evaluated by themselves. They only get their impression and meaning in the context of other colors. Hence, there are no ugly colors, there are only unfortunate compositions. A 'Palette' is a composition of colors that work together well, that are in harmony.