Color combos??? - YouLookFab Forum

I’m trying to decide what to wear with these pants* that will not be cloying or too sweet. They are lavender, directly across the color wheel from pea green, or maybe Granny Smith apple green. If I go a third of the way around, I get aqua on one side and kind of cheese-like yellow on the other side. Wearing white feels too sweet. Going just a tiny bit in either direction, to magenta or pink, feels like I’m Grape Ape or an Easter egg. Actually, and hilariously, all of these ideas (except pink) show up in this picture of Grape Ape, lol. Hannah Barbara works with a color wheel; now we know!

What else can I do to brainstorm color combos? If I want to Google palettes, how do I narrow down the lavenders included in the results to just the one I’m working with?

*actual pants not shown because the point is learning to do this myself, not finding something to work in this one case.

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3 years ago

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

It could be that I need to do as Brooklyn suggested here https://youlookfab.com/welookf.....ics/page/2 and Google “lavender color palette” to find something I like, and that I’m simply being impatient. I’m entirely willing to accept that answer. One advantage googling like that would have over trying to use the color wheel is that the color wheel doesn’t includes taupe, browns, greys, etc—and they might be the best way to take out some of the tooth-hurting sweetness. But then there is still the question of how to find out the right name for the color.

rachylou

I have to say, that I’m always partial to lavender and brown. Angie did a post about pastels and Earth tones once and that did a lot for making me like pastels.

Jonesy

I would pair with a cool olive green.

Toban

I usually google or use Pinterest if I’m looking for alternatives. Or simply put an item up against the clothes in my wardrobe and see what appeals. But off the top of my head (no science to it, just familiarity), I would think cream/white, navy/indigo/denim (mid or dark tone), darker purples, a bit of yellow (in a pattern or accessory).

Toban, how would you use Google or Pinterest? Is there a way to find the name of the color?

Jonesy, you and I must’ve been posting simultaneously when I went back and added the footnote.

Rachylou, any idea when that post was or how best to find it in the archives on my phone?

I’m on my phone too, so don’t have brilliant suggestions. I feel it was a fashion week or trends post... those are archive categories...

LaPed

When I feel stuck, I'll sometimes play around with Adobe Color or another palette generator to find a few options I wouldn't think of otherwise. For images of actual clothing, you might want to peruse the Vivienne Files; it's a very color-focused blog.

With lavender, I'd probably add dark berry shades with a good dose of brown in them (think "raisin"), or go the complementary route with olive/fatigue green. Tonal with pale grey and dark purple/eggplant could be good too.

I would just type in “lavender outfits” into the search bar and look at the images that come up and see what I like with regards to color combos (ruling out colors I don’t wear). I’m visual and intuitive, followed by personal experimenting. In google, I just look at the image results rather than look for articles or blog posts.

SarahD8

My strategy when faced with a tricky color that can easily become too saccharine is to add neutrals.

I like the idea of just searching for "lavender color palette" and then homing in on the ones that most please your eye. I don't think it's worth worrying too much over the exact name of the color. People describe colors in such idiosyncratic ways (plus culturally specific ones) and even when there are precise/"correct" ways to name a given shade you can't expect people to actually use it. So I'd just cast a broad net and let your eye guide you.

Synne

Lavender and yellow (a citric, acidic, almost neon) is gorgeous! Trinny Woodall does this so well!

La Ped, I did not know a palette generator was a thing! Thank you for that—I’m off to look them up, and Adobe Color specifically.

Sarah, good point about how we describe colors!

Toban, by now you’d think I’d think to search for “____ outfit” wouldn’t you? Thanks for reminding me of that strategy.

ETA about palette generators: are there any that let you scan in a color to start with?

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I’d add denim blue, navy, white, olive and bright red.

cat2

InStyle magazine has What to Wear With palettes for colors, just search in a search engine using the color name and that title and the images will pop up. I pin the pages for my color so I can find them later. My default answer for pastels is to wear them with medium gray to counter the sweet.

Cat2, cool—I’ll check it out—thanks!

Angie, do you recall if the article RL mentioned was a how to, or was it just more suggestions of x and y color together?

Anonymous

Rabbit hole for color pallets
https://www.design-seeds.com/

Suntiger, down I go--wheeeeeeeee!

Rachylou, I bet this is the article you remembered. It includes several strategies for wearing pastels, but your comment zeroed in on the earth tones. I think my real issue with these pants is that they are true pastels, with that sweetness, rather than simply a very light color, like my ice pink.

Style Fan

Olive, denim and navy. I am sure Angie did a post on lavender.

Kate

I wear lavender with coral.

Jenni NZ

For Rachy’s post idea, try the archives of March 30 2020. Also check back Synne’s old posts from a year ago.

FashIntern, I don't recall the article.

You can find colour inspiration in the ensemble category too:

https://youlookfab.com/category/outfits/ensembles/

Thanks Angie!

Sal

I think it comes down to how your brain is wired....I choose colours intuitively or from YLF or sometimes I find scarves or patterns can help. For example I think this blouse has lavendar in it and also green, cream, coral and I think brown.

I would tend to grey, navy, or pale blue.... I tend to wear a neutral with a clear colour though.

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Gigi

I have a hard time wearing pastels and not looking sickly, so I usually pair them with black. It's not everyone's cup of tea, though.

Sal, I think my intuition is in a rut. I often do pair patterns with solids that show up in the pattern, even if just a little bit. In this post, I’m trying to use the pants as one example to get at color theory. That obviously didn’t come across, even with the formatting. Oh well. At least I got some ideas for these pants.

Gigi, did you see Runcarla’s recent outfit? Lavender, black, and white, just as you just said, and she knocked it out of the park. As much as she likes to bring up the topic of color theory, I almost wrote her a message instead of doing this post.

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