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Color Palette Question

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

Just curious - how many of you come up with a color palette for the upcoming season and base your shopping on the palette?

I'm trying to keep my shopping focused these days and keep "outlier" items to a minimum. Does a focused color palette help in this regard or would you find it too restrictive?

Shopping

51 replies

Latest reply was from Helena

Deborah

Veteran

I feel a bit silly answering this one because you already know my approach lol.

My colour palette is pretty consistent and doesn't change with the season. I do try to stay open minded tho:) Remaining focussed on a colour palette helps me shop with greater intention, I make less mistakes and I don't waste my time on things I am only going to return. I don't find it restrictive at all, in fact I find it quite liberating.

unfrumped

Veteran

Don't have a great specific answer, but I did start getting more focused and disciplined as to colors , and found that led to more logical choices and things either fitting in or " declaring" themselves as needing to be culled.
I feel I can add " it" colors when they fit in, or not; like styles, I look for iterations that work for me.
I haven't made a rule to NEVER buy or wear some colors, but it just began to dawn on me that color discipline had a payoff in versatility and satisfaction and that I did not feel deprived by it.

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

I already have enough mint. Smattering of blush. I'm just going to look for pale sky blue for the upcoming spring/summer.

April

Veteran

My color palette is always heavy on neutrals, but sometimes I fall in love with a certain color and try to keep my eyes open for it. Since colors come and go in terms of availability, of course it's easier if the color is one that happens to be in the stores.

But I don't do much seasonal changing of my palette, probably because what I like and what looks good may shift slightly, but don't often change radically. I haven't worn a true red or a bright yellow in many, many years.

I save those colors for handbags.

qfbrenda

Veteran

I don't change my color palette much throughout the year, though I do tend to wear less black in the summer. I'm trying to break myself of that avoidance though, since I'm comfy wearing neutrals more than lots of color.

karymk

Veteran

No I definitely don't set out to look for a certain palette. Most of what I would naturally gravitate towards will work in my closet.

Anonymous

I can never seem to stick to a color pallet no matter how I try. It's just too much fun playing with a new-to-me color.
But it is work to establish capsules. I was just thinking that I have a strong desire to add navy but, at least the last time I had ink as a major neutral, it meant carefully choosing shades that didn't clash for tops, bottoms, toppers, footwear, and even tights/ semi-sheer stockings. Navy is less harsh than black, but so is grey. I'm not sure that I can start with navy again.
I guess my strategy is to have a base of a dark and a light neutral and add usually tops in colors that I'm attracted to that season.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I like the colours I like - and that's it. They work together, so I guess I lucked out.

Neutrals: black, shades of white, and ink. A smattering of grey, oatmeal and caramel. And taupe in footwear and belts only. Not adding brown or chestnut.

Sour brights: citron, sour greens, bright pink, turquoise, tomato red, cobalt and coral. I have one bright purple jumper. Not interested in adding jewel tones, but love French blue. Just bought a French blue striped shirt.

Pastels: Blush and light blue. Not adding other pastels - although I go backwards and forwards on peach.

deb

Veteran

I have pretty much honed my pallet to these colors, black, white and grey, cobalt and burgundy. The cobalt will run into the darker blues but not lighter. Same with the burgundy, Teal also comes out every now and then.

anne

Veteran

I pretty much stay with an established colour range but occassionaly add items in fashion if they'll work with what I already have or as stand alone dresses eg I have added 2 coral dresses in the last couple of years.

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

Deborah - you're right . Your answer is not a surprise - lol! I like that you find it liberating rather than restricting.

Unfrumped - I'm glad that you don't feel deprived. I'm the same in that I'm not wanting colors that I have to cull later.

Anna - pale sky blue will be gorgeous on you. And you look stunning in mint.

April - I'm starting to notice my colors are more consistent across seasons too.

Brenda - black is probably the one color I wear year round in and always feel good in.

Karymk - sounds like you're an intuitive shopper. Lucky you!

Joy - that's it exactly! I've tried to stick to a palette too and then I fall for something completely different - like my pale blue suit for example.

Angie - I don't wear brown either. Will you wear your pastel shades together?

carter

Veteran

Kinda this year. I'm really loving a base of black and cream in my work wardrobe with splashes of color here and there. So, the "plan" is to aim for 75% black and cream to 25% color to help balance my overly colorful wardrobe while updating. On the casual side, my default base tends to be navy/denim/white. The denim updates are now done, so adding navy, white and a bit of color if I find something I love. We'll see how it works. I tend to totally forget the plan when shopping;-)

Caro in Oz

Veteran

I found limiting my palette very helpful in building a basic wardrobe - I wear mostly neutrals - white, grey, ink/navy & black. I also have some taupe & brown - but only in footwear & belts as it works well with navy for more casual outfits. I do have colour too - citron, aqua, cobalt, apricot, purple but I could happily wear neutrals most days. I'd love a blush leather jacket though

Helena

Veteran

Hi there, I am working through this too, but I just came across a book by Bobbie Thomas where she recommends have a palette of the roughly the following:

- a dark (black or chocolate, depending on what's flattering)
- a light (white or cream ...)
- a neutral (gray, camel or tan ...)
- your favorite color (regardless of flattery)
- a power color (one that is flattering and allows you to shine)

and then a fall/winter accent color and a spring/summer accent color ...

I haven't done this yet, but think it sounds like a good middle-ground between structured and flexible?

Hope you'll update on how it goes, love color stuff

Karie

(website)

Veteran

I shop more for specific items for the upcoming season, keeping in mind what I think my wardrobe needs. I might have a specific color in mind, like I'd like to add more mint green, but that's about it.

shedev

Veteran

Every time I try to use this approach, colors sneak back in before long. In the winter, I wear a lot of jewel tones. I like to lighten up in summer, and I'm still refining my color palette. Last year, I tried to stick to my pallet plus neutrals of black, grey, and navy. I'd like to play around with a couple pastels and washed out types of colors.

E

Veteran

I limit my colour palette to a certain degree (everything has to be muted & fairly cool/neutral) simply because those are what's most flattering on me (I'm easily overwhelmed by colours). However, I don't limit more than that! I actually find that all of the colours & neutrals go together since they have those underlying characteristics, so mixing & matching works out pretty well. I do slight seasonal shifts: more lighter clothes in S/S, darker ones in F/W, but it's not extreme (aka I do still wear dark colours in warm weather and light ones in cool weather depending on my mood). I focus on texture/fabric changes for the different seasons too.

The idea of picking 2 neutrals and 1-2 accent colours would be far too restrictive for me, since colour is terribly important to me. But I've seen it work well for others! As long as I have enough neutrals in my wardrobe, I can incorporate colours quite easily into outfits.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Right now I am wearing black, grey (especially light silvery grey), white, lots of blues but focused on light blue, pastel pink and that's about it. It is helpful to be able to just say no to browns and reds that I know I won't wear (although I have a couple of older things in my closet).

adorkable

Veteran

I'm sure it would make my life easier - but I love color so much!

I confess that my closet looks a little bit like a Skittles commercial threw up inside it.

Parsley

Veteran

Interesting question, Shannon!
I almost hate to admit it, but usually I just buy what I like. Without really planning it, though, in general black is my winter neutral and white is my summer neutral with gray and taupe as secondary neutrals and a few bright colors thrown in as accents.

For spring and summer this year I'm consciously working on adding some navy/ ink blue coordinates, and trying to incorporate more white and light neutrals. I'm intrigued by pastels, but they aren't really my best colors, so they'll probably be kept to a minimum.

Jules

Veteran

It works for me for spring/summer, maybe because it's our shorter half of the year? I decided on navy, white, emerald/grass greens and grey last year based on both personal preference and trends. I made sure my summer bag and sandal choices fit. It all came together pretty well (except that there turned out to be very little emerald in Pantone's year of emerald...) In fact, the outlier items I bought thinking they would be 'pops of colour' and variety (mostly in the pink/coral/orange family) were little worn. I'm going even tighter this year I think - navy/ink, white, light grey, maybe some citron touches.
I find it harder in fall/winter, maybe just because autumn and jewel tones are more me, so more colours work? I do have an awful lot of teal, mustard, burgundy/plum, and navy. Well, I guess that's a palette Came about a bit more organically though.
I think you would have to be really happy with the palette though. I love blue and white and there's been tons of patterns, Breton stripes etc with that combo. So for me it's been a pleasure to work around this palette.
The other way to minimize, I figure, is by silhouette. Having 2 or 3 uniforms requires less footwear, toppers and so on to get the proportions right.
Which do you think you would be happier limiting? Colour or shape? Something to ponder. I see you as someone who likes to experiment with new shapes.
Wow, writing this out has been really helpful. I'm not going to 'try' pastels or midtones or lilac this year. I don't LIKE those! I love white and blue and there's tons out there. I might avoid buying (more) blue footwear since I have a lot and don't want to be completely matchy-matchy. But I think I'd be quite happy wearing blue and white 6 days a week. Things are coalescing...

Adelfa

Veteran

My palette is fairly stable--black, gray, shades of white, a bit of navy for neutrals (plus taupe for shoes). For color I do pink, citron, cobalt, and burgundy. My "surprise" color this spring will be lilac, at least that's the plan!

Peri

Veteran

I was just posting about this, wondering where the colors I like are. I am very emotional about color and feeling very discouraged right now that the ones in the stores are basically my least favorite colors. So shopping my palette for Spring may mean buying nothing at all! I guess the answer is sort of yes, in that I won't be buying colors I don't like. The problem is, since the massive purge, I don't have much at all for hot weather.

mrseccentric

(website)

Veteran

unfrumped said: "...color discipline had a payoff in versatility and satisfaction..."

i started really limiteding my color palette in my mid twenties, i had a small closet and nothing made outfits.....as soon as i started getting super hard core about color discipline, i noticed the outfits i could make growing exponentially.

It's all down to what works for you - how many clothes you like to have, how much you like to be able to mix and match, if you like to buy outfits or separates, how often you like to launder/go to the cleaners, how consistent you like your own personal style to be.

There's a ton of color palette systems out there, many are brilliant, but i'm like unfrumped's idea of 'color discipline'. Really, if you don't want to buy outfits that you never mix and match, then the only 'rule' is that all (or whatever percentage you like) of the colors in your closet 'go'.

Which Does Not mean all neutrals! I know plenty of ladies here in the SF Bay Area who dress exclusively in purple and red. Pretty durn far from neutral, but it all 'goes'! Or you could have a palette of sour citrus and related colors with white as your neutral - tangerine, lime, turquoise, fuschia, lemon, limon, pink grapefruit - again, very light and bright but you can pick anything out of that closet and it all blends beautifully.

E also lays out another fantastic strategy, which is organizing your color palette around what colors you feel flatter you most. "... I actually find that all of the colours & neutrals go together
since they have those underlying characteristics, so mixing &
matching works out pretty well."

Another way to loosen things up is to look at your individual colors as a range. Now, on the whole my dark neutral is black and my light neutral is tan. But for me, 'tan' ranges from khaki, to light ivory, to heavy cream, and bone, and eggshell, and on - pretty much everything not optic white with a warm, greyed undertone up to around 40% saturation. Black, really goes, from black thru to medium charcoal. For me it makes for a lot of leeway.

If any of this sounds intriguing of useful, you can always try it out for a season or two and see how you like it Happy Day! steph

mrseccentric

(website)

Veteran

Peri - research dyeing. You can do your own, or some dry cleaners provide this service. My colors are so rare in the marketplace, and have been since i was a girl, that i'm very used to buying white and dyeing. Just research and practice! HTH, steph

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I found that I kept my overall palette last spring/ summer but altered the specific tones. So...for spring/ summer:

More cobalt than navy or ink (although I still wore navy and ink)

More true white than winter white or cream (although I still wore winter white and cream)

More fuchsia than cranberry or raspberry

More orchid than plum or purple

Less grey overall (but that was probably because it is not as easy to find grey in summer).

Possibly more black (it looks better on me in summer, I think).

Mia

Veteran

I do think about my palette before I shop each season.

I stick to black, white, dark navy and charcoal as my neutrals but I use some colour to add a shot of now to my wardrobe and keep boredom at bay. I find the narrowing of choice really helps. This Spring I have added some pale blush ( far from my face as possible) to the mix. Pastels don't like me but a few polka dots on a black background or colour blocking are fine.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Hunh -- just read Steph's reply and it looks like I do some of all of those strategies!

I limit my palette to:

What I like.
What flatters me.
And I look at colour as a continuum, a range -- so "blue" is one of my colours, but wow, there are SO many blues, and I can wear almost all of them, so I do not limit myself to one or two -- I let myself go wild on blue. Ditto the colours in the range from orchid to plum...I actually don't own many of these yet (darn stores!!! -- to Peri's point) but I will wear 'em when I find 'em. Ditto for the berry family.

Gigi

Veteran

Yes and no. I don't limit myself, but when I go shopping for a new season, I try not to buy the same colors that are already well represented in my wardrobe. Also, I think of a few new colors that I might like to try, and I give items in those colors priority. So, practically speaking, if I am out shopping and see something that I like but that's in a color that's already well represented in my wardrobe, I ask myself how much I really want (or need) the item in question. If it is a HEWI and fits perfectly and is a good price, etc., I may go ahead and buy it. (In fact, if it's a HEWI, it might even be good for it to match everything else in my wardrobe!) But if it's just something that I think looks good but isn't making me jump around with joy, I will probably let it pass.

Just a few days ago, I ordered a navy shirt from Nordie's despite the fact that I already have a lot of navy in my closet. I didn't want more navy, but the piece in question might work very well in putting together a particular outfit (the shiny metallic skirt I posted about here). So here a practical concern won out over my desire to limit more navy acquisitions.

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