If you’ve been wondering how to easily assemble a colour coordinated outfit, you’ve come to the right place!
As my “long-term” readers know, I like to lay out my outfits every evening so that I can just jump into them the next morning. I do not function well enough in the morning to be able to put together anything presentable.
I rely heavily on Pinterest for inspiration when it comes to choosing my outfits. I have a board equipped with pictures of outfit ideas. But the gist of it is that the photos consist of outfits that include only pieces that I already have.
I don’t like pinning myself a shopping list because I can’t afford all of the fabulous things that one comes across on Pinterest anyway. So I keep it simple and concentrate on pinning only outfits that I can build from things that already exist in my closet. I suggest you try the same.
But now, colour coordinated outfits, let’s get to it!
Colour Coordinated Outfit Of The Day And How To Do It
This colour coordinated outfit combo in the pictures came together quite unconsciously. I knew I wanted to wear those particular high heels and the jacket was an obvious thing. And since I had chosen a black Summer dress I decided that the accessories needed some colour.
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The pink Swatch watch is my favorite item of choice if an outfit requires a splash of colour. It also matched the flower embroidery on my heels.
But then, quite without realizing, I also chose a pair of earrings that had a splash of pink on them. And then a pastel pink bag, all which match the embroidery colours on my shoes. After that I painted my nails. Blue, like my jacket AND the embroidery on the shoes.
Being so matchy, matchy isn’t probably the most fashionable thing to do but it all worked together really nicely, I thought. And I only realized just how colour coordinated I was when I got home from work:
Plan colour coordinated outfits with the colour wheel
Colour coordinating is a practice that a lot of people struggle with, but I found you a handy helper: the colour wheel.
The wheel consists of the three primary colours in the middle – yellow, blue and red – surrounded by a tier of secondary colours. Why are these 3 the primary colours? Because by mixing these three you get the secondary colours:
- blue + yellow = green
- blue + red = violet
- yellow + red = orange
- yellow + blue + red = brown
The colour wheel has been assembled so that you can see which colours can be safely mixed together in an outfit. For example always match warm colours (red, yellow and orange) or cold colours together (blue, violet, green).
Notice that the wheel does not include white, black or gray. These are neutral colours (some would go as far as saying that black and white are not colours at all), which you can mix and match with everything safely.
Play with neutrals
The easiest way to ensure a stylish colour coordinated outfit is to pair a neutral colour with one of the aforementioned primary colours. The best example of this is the most iconic combination; a white T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Never goes out of fashion!
Another good tip is to pair up colours that are next to each other on the wheel, for example red and yellow. This could be as easy as pairing a bright red top with gold jewelry.
If you’d like to add pink lipstick on that, go for it! Mixing different shades of one colour in an outfit is fine. And this Summer mixing dark red and pink in an outfit is completely in!
Note, that the colour wheel does not encourage you to mix, for example, yellow and purple. But in my eye this combination does not look bad at all. In fact, I’d say it looks good! Same goes for mixing red and blue.
Especially for those who have the guts, the daring dresser, I encourage you to try it! Mix and match, take outfit pictures and see yourself which contrary colours work together in your eyes. And then wear the outfit with pride!
Conclusion
When you mix primary or contrary colours together it’s called colour blocking. There is one person in particular who, I think, masters this brilliantly and that person is Victoria Beckham.
I mean orange and blue should never work together but they do! So, take a leaf out of Victoria’s book and you’ll be fine mixing and matching as you like.
At the end of the day colour coordinated outfits look as good as you think they do. About 70% of your look is up to how you carry yourself and your chosen outfit.
So, even if you’ve mixed up some bold colours you can totally pull it off if you walk on the streets with your head held high and a smile on your face. :)
