Essentials 2019: Colour Specifics - YouLookFab Forum

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About: Wardrobe Essentials, 2019

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Essentials 2019: Colour Specifics

rachylou

Veteran

Ok. So I listed these as my essentials:

-Puffies of course
-White jumpers
-Jumpers with interesting sleeves
-Skinnies/jeggings
-Mini skirt aprons
-Ruffle hem skirts
-Black boots
-Black sneakers
-Black clogs

Then I asked Angie if I needed to be specific about colour, and Angie said Yes.

..,And this is proving to be a bit of a challenge because I don’t necessarily think of neutral colour as a tool. That is, I use solid colour as a neutral glue. I don’t seem to really need any particular colour as a glue, although I really like white sweaters.

But I don’t suppose my jeggings and ruffle hem wrap skirts are mostly muted autumnal colours - tan, forest green, dark red, denim blue, grey.

I don’t know what I’m saying here. Can I have muted autumn colour as a colour?

General

18 replies

Latest reply was from rachylou

taylor

Veteran

Rachy , it sounds like neutral items ARE your wardrobe essentials.
Same is true for me .

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Hmmm. You mean you have no specific neutrals but you use a lot of them?

You do wear black quite a bit, though, right? And dark green. And some white or off-white/ cream as well?

rachylou

Veteran

Yes, I think that’s what I mean. Yes to neutrals but no specific neutral ... any will do... except maybe black and navy.

I wear black often... but mostly because my long puffy is black. And I don’t generally wear black pants unless I’m going to see a lawyer, lol.

Joy

Veteran

Black is easy to find and buy. Any colors that could be a statement are not essentials. White is ok.

rachylou

Veteran

It’s hard to wrap my head around. I don’t depend on any one or even two colours to make other things work. I mix and match colour with great abandon and really only think about whether a thing has pattern or not. My mini skirts are all bright orange - but I’ve got seven, one for every day of the week. You could take away my tan pants and I’d just wear the red or the green or something. Or vice versa.

Maybe some would see the orange skirts as a frequently used statement. But really the way I use them is as glue... they’re the ‘rest’ and the ‘bridge’ for other pieces.

Anonymous

Hmm, since you mentioned 3 types of black shoes maybe they're the main essential in otherwise colorful outfits?
Orange is tricky. I have an orange cardi like that, and think of it as a pseudo neutral-fuctioning like a brighter medium brown.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Hmm, interesting. So does the color always have to be specific and the form is not enough? I think of my hoop earring collection as an essential - but I have green, blue, pink, silver and gold. But I consider pointed black shoes an essential - whether they are boots in the winter or open flats in the summer. An unsolved mystery!

Helena

Veteran

Rachy, I think muted colors can stand in for neutrals? ... I know blush, navy and olive do, so why not your muted autumn tones?

Ginger

Veteran

Rachy, maybe the color distinction is only necessary if you have both statement items/colors AND essential items/colors in the same category.

Remember that neutrals are YOUR neutrals and statement pieces are YOUR statement pieces. If you use muted autumn tones as "glue" to go with more statement-y pieces, then those are your neutrals. (Like navy. Navy is never a statement for me, it's always a neutral. But for some on YLF, navy is the statement color.)

So if you wear muted autumn tone leggings to complete an outfit with statement pieces, those are your essentials. But if you also wear wild and crazy colored and printed leggings, those are probably statements and not essentials. "Muted autumn tone leggings" is a perfectly sufficient set of essentials to me.

Bijou

Veteran

Rachy I agree with you that some colours will substitute in as essentials. For example, I consider this top as part of my essential summer knits, I wanted it in white, but they had sold out of it. I bought this colour as a white substitute as it is light and works with my jeans, skirts and jackets that I would have worn with the white top.

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LaPed

Veteran

I wonder if your bright orange skirt-aprons are basics? Never mind that they are highly visible; you wear one every day as part of your personal work uniform, and it serves a very specific function. You could think of it as the base on which your outfit rests.

Setting the skirts aside, I'm hearing that the rest of the outfit consists of chunky black shoes, stretchy skinny-fit bottoms in autumn colours, with a white sweater and a puffy up top. Is it really all white sweaters though? Wearing white sweaters at a bakery job sounds high-maintenance to me. What about folksy plaid and floral blouses? Do you consider those statements because they're patterned? I associate them with your core style in a way I don't with white sweaters...

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Rachy, what Suz said. I think you're intuitively using black and white as a tool.

You're almost there with this list! You mention some colours - like a lot of black, which you wear well - and need to do the same for the:

puffies, skinnies, jeggings, ruffle hem skirts, mini skirt aprons

Are the tops with interesting sleeves perhaps more of a statement piece?

Cardiff girl

Veteran

I m impressed that you have 7orange mini skirts.These must qualify as an essential surely.

rachylou

Veteran

Ok. So...

- I own black, but I don’t really wear it that often and not to ‘glue’ any outfit together, except for shoes. I only wear ‘a lot of black’ because my coat is long. I have black tops - like a bunch of Heattech turtle necks - but I sorta tend to wear them as underwear, a thermal layer.
- My coat is black only because all the long patterned Puffies are online scams.
- I definitely own loud patterned pants and leggings, wear them often. I own a lot of patterned tops that I wear with the patterned bottoms. I glue those together with bright solid colour.
- White is definitely a tool... but no, no sweaters at the bakery.
- I’ve discovered I don’t wear totally plain jumpers at all. Even my solid white sweaters, all of them have something a little funky going on.

Or maybe my problem is, I don’t wear essentials very much. Maybe only my shoes and my coat, by default, are essentials. But I feel I definitely have a uniform and a formula to make things go together...

SarahD8

Veteran

Rachylou, smittie suggested the concept of “signature look” on my essentials thread and I found it SO helpful. You might want to take a look — you can skip all my whining, lol, and just scroll down to her post. I think it might resonate with you.

rachylou

Veteran

Ha! Yes, signature look, I think I can define more easily.

Right now, I’m in my uniform, signature look: solid plain red skinnies, solid dark teal plain top, grey patterned cardigan with fur collar.

I suppose colour rules out the skinnies and top as essentials (and fur/pattern rules out the cardigan)... even tho I wear this sort of combination all the time... and the skinnies and top are what I wear to make the cardigan work because they are, to me, ‘plain.’ The only essential is probably... the black slides I’m wearing.

I think I’m just not an essentials dresser. I think that has to be it. lol.

Runcarla

Veteran

Racheylou - I'm posting here on your essentials thread, but responding to something you posted on my thread.

With only your WIW pics to comment on, I would suggest black, grey and camel as possible core neutral colours in your wardrobe. Possibly navy blue as well. Puffers really ARE an essential to your style (and not just a running gag!). I'm not sure what an apron skirt is, but I would add 'A' line skirt. Also, opaque tights. To your essentials list.

You do favour a more maximal style of multiple statement pieces, and have a gift for composition like Jessikams. I can see how it would be hard to identify the essentials in your closet.

*I don't know what Angie would say to this, but in quilting small prints are sometimes treated as solids, and this adds a lot of interest to a design. Maybe a pair of diamond print skinnies that 'reads' as mostly camel could be put in the essentials pile?

rachylou

Veteran

I’d go with that. I mean it’s not like I don’t have neutral colours in my closet. I have them all. It’s funny tho how few things I have that are without pattern or embellishment.

I’m wearing my patterned grey sweater again right now with fur collar. Looking at past WIWs... my bday, those black stockings have ‘embroidery’. These are neutral in colour, but they’re not neutral items, if you know what I mean.

Also, I suspect the Puffy defines my style, rather than fulfilling it. Lol. It’s a functional essential more than anything. I don’t put it on to bring together any outfit... all outfits must fit it. Lol.