Color Me Simple
I bring my personal color palette with me everywhere I go. Actually, I am my personal color palette. Each color I wear is chosen for how it relates to my own personal coloring and my personality. This keeps my wardrobe simple and coordinated.
“How boring!”, you may be thinking. But I assure you, it is not. My friends never notice that I wear the same colors all the time, until I point it out to them. Admittedly, my kids consider my wardrobe both small and formulaic, however both girls have seen the advantages and adopted their own limited wardrobe color palette.
No longer do I bring home a new article of clothing and wonder whether it will go with anything. When I style in my new pieces, they always go with something and most often they go with everything.
So, there you have it … I just gave you my absolute best fashion and frugal-living and sanity-saving tip.
[…] Recently I ran across something in a library book that scared me a little. (I think it was 10 Steps to Fashion Freedom: Discover Your Personal Style from the Inside Out, but it could have been The Look: A Guide to Dressing from the Inside Out.) The idea that frightened me, but not as much as having the books go overdue, was that using color that blends with one’s head is boring and unattractive. Instinctively I know that, but has anyone been scratching their head on this one in light of my advocating a color palette based on the individual’s personal coloring? […]
It’s so true! It almost makes me angry to see people buy clothes because it’s their favourite colour, or because they don’t yet have this colour in their wardrobe and they feel that this is a way to cover all their bases. Sticking to one wardrobe palette is pure genius and whoever first had this wonderful vision should be hailed as a saint. It saves money, everything in your wardrobe will coordinate - the different outfit combinations are as unlimited as beverage possibilities at Sonic. Also, it’s so important to find the few colours that flatter you the most - there’s no point in wearing a colour that looks pretty if it doesn’t look pretty on you. Deep poo brown on a girl with the right eyes will be a thousand times more flattering than the prettiest pink you can fathom, if it doesn’t suit her.
[…] on color, as long as it looks good on […]
[…] type designation, your personal idiom expresses the inner you to the outer world. Daily demands, personal coloring and silhouette, your lifestyle, even your budget, all combine with your fashion personality and […]
Could you say more about this idea? It is not clear to me what you mean. Are you saying that you wear clothes the color of your hair, eyes, skin and nothing else? (How in the world does that narrow it down? In my case there are so many colors in my hair, eyes and skin.) Or do you mean you choose colors for how they relate to those colors? If so, how can I tell how they relate to those colors? Not sure what you mean. How do you relate the colors to your personality apart from in terms of whether you like the colors or not? Again, not sure what you have in mind.
Do you have any suggestions for what to do if you get bored if you wear the same colors all the time?
P.S. I haven’t read a more totally fascinating blog than yours in a very long time. My husband had to drag me away from your blog to go to bed at well after midnight last night. Absolutely fascinating. (Are you aware that the quizz linked to for determining your fashion personality seems not to exist any more? I would love to take that quizz.)
Sarah - welcome to the conversation! And thank you for your kind comments!
About the quiz: sorry it went dead and I don’t think I even still have a copy of the questions. I wanted to make a more thorough one but never got around to it. My newest thought is to try to invent one connecting personality traits to style, that is, where the questions are about how you are and how you think, not what you wear. Then use that to recommend styles from. In the meantime, which is likely to be a long time ;), you could pop over to Christopher Hopkins’ site and take his quick quiz: http://www.themakeoverguy.com/hopkins-advice.htm. The main difference between his categories and those I like to use, besides some differences in the names, are that I wouldn’t classify “sexy” (he uses the word “alluring”) as a legitimate style and that I distinguish between a timeless classic and a contemporary one.
When I get bored with my limited pallette, which doesn’t happen often, I can usually pull something from another season to mix in. Because I express my coloring differently in different seasons (which probably answers your question about the hair colors).
I am planning on working on a post describing the process of planning a personalized color pallette, but until then feel free to email me.