A couple of comments on my post about building summer complements from footwear seemed worthy of follow up and exploration:
Jessikims said: I’m curious about other people’s complement collections. How many should a person have? You have silver cognac, one bright color, one white, it sounds like. I have blush, white/black patterned, rose gold.... but I certainly don’t have every color in the rainbow (or even in my palette). I guess they just evolve naturally... you find a new olive belt and you remember your olive sneakers and you think “complement!”
And SarahDB noted that she is not a bag person and does not wear belts so the elements of her complements might differ.
I don't think there is any "should" about it -- have as many complements as you like or can afford! And base them on bags, scarves, footwear -- whatever you like!
I do think they sometimes evolve naturally -- and sometimes on purpose. My silver one has grown quite naturally with the switch to silver hair (since silver and grey bookend well) although it started even before that with a pair of pewter sandals and a silvery belt, back when I was still blonde. I loved the pewter sandals so much I started looking at pewter and silver footwear more regularly.
The cognac complement also evolved naturally in the first place (I had the vintage belt already and then picked up sandals on sale on a whim.) Meanwhile, I'm trying to create a red one on purpose because I adore red footwear and think a bright adds zip to a summer closet composed almost entirely of blue and white.
In terms of my thought process, metallic and white are both reliable neutrals for me in summer, easily worked into both casual and dressier outfits. Silver gives a bit of "dressiness" to casual looks. Cognac is also a neutral; it's a bit more unexpected for my closet since I wear almost exclusively cool colours, but it's "grounding" as others have said, and adds warmth to blue, white, grey, and black. Red is a bright well represented in my closet already and I love it, so it's a natural to build on. I'm actually starting that complement with clothing items vs. footwear or bag.
If I could, I'd have other summer complements also -- maybe fuchsia, or mustard, or blush, or lilac or purple -- something unexpected. Accessories are so much more important in high summer when we don't have the luxury of layering toppers! Footwear can make or break an outfit. But I have 3 to 4 months of summer weather where I live and can only justify so many sandals. So I'm trying to contain myself for now. Next year in my more temperate climate I may add some complements based on dressier closed footwear.
My winter complements are sadly lacking and that is an area I intend to build on this coming fall/ winter. I have some scarf/ clothing item complements and that is truly about it! Partly this is due to the constant need for snow worthy boots in my winter climate and their sober colours. I'm starting to plan ahead for building in new colours next year.
How about you? How have you built complements? Have they evolved or have to set about it purposively? Do you think there's an ideal number? Should they be neutrals, or colours?
