Colour of Clothes

Objective

Unsurprisingly colours are one of the levers I have available with my clothing choices. The aim is to now understand what exactly I can do with my choice and combination of colours to make an impact.

Starting Point

Linked in a previous video that I had watched was another video on colour blocking . This might or might not be the perfect starting point. But it is my starting point. So, what I learnt about colour blocking is:

• Colour Blocking = The use of contrasting blocks/panels of solid colours.

• The colour wheel is made up of 3 primary colours (red, yellow and blue) and all the other colours formed by mixing them. With any colour the brightness and saturation can also be altered. Remember, the neutral colours are black, grey, white, navy, brown, khaki and creamish colours.

• 4 methods of colour blocking = monochromatic, nalogous, complementary & triadic.

• Monochromatic - All items are the same colour. But each is of a different shade (brightness and saturation) and the textures can also be distinct.

• Analogous - Usage of upto 3 colours which are next to each other on the colour wheel. Alternately, just 2 analogous colours and 1 neutral colour can be used.

• Complementary - Matching colours which are opposite each other in the colour wheel. It could look great or horrible. Some tips are to use 1 dominant and 1 accent colour, play around with shades and avoid overly saturated colours, add a neutral colour, try one colour adjacent to the opposite. By mixing and matching these tips see what sort of combination works well.

• Triadic - 3 different colours which are all equidistant from each other on the colour wheel. This will create a strong contrast, and so you need to be careful with your choice of items, shades and whether to use this method or not. Only some colours can be on dominant items, while others will have to be used only as accent pieces. Neutral colours can also be used to tone this down.