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About: Ensemble: Tonal Column of Colour

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Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

I love this look! The one in the blog linked to at the top of this post.

I want to dress like this a lot, not just one outfit; I want my wardrobe to be able to support multiple combos in the tones in the second picture here.

I'm having a hard time figuring out what I need to support that.

Do I need the whole Vivienne file capsule? I kinda don't think so, but I'm having trouble figuring out what pieces I do need.
I don't think every single item has to go with everything else, but how do I figure out how many do need to work together? I like wearing pink with this raspberry sweater and other berry colors. Purple mixes with some berry colors well too, but purple and pink are pretty far apart.

The sweater in the first photo is the color I want to be central to this whole scheme (but not everything should be the same color). The first 5 finds are things I'm considering. I'm told the Express pants are the berry color I'm looking for, (although that isn't so clear on my monitor). The rise on them is about 8", which makes me really hesitant. The rest of the finds are already in my closet. The skinnies are pale pink, roughly the color of the vest.

p.s. I wanted to put this in the "Ask Angie" category, to get her advice as well as forum members', but now that I've typed it and added all the finds & photos, I see I would've had to start a different place. Angie, I hope you see this and reply! And everyone else who has advice, please comment too!

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by Stagiaire Fash

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Shopping

22 replies

Latest reply was from Angie

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

I'm also still tempted by these pants, although I'm told that on other screens, they look like they wouldn't fit in.

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Anonymous

Fashintern -- I am not seeing a link. My coffee has not kicked in and I could be staring at the link.

The sweater in the photograph is gorgeous. It should be central to the whole wardrobe scheme.

Anonymous

@Sterling you can just click on it even though it doesnt look like theres a link, I was able to.
@FashIntern, love the sweater in pic! I do tonal mixes quite a lot- blush, hot pink or purple with burgundy Saturation level is key, I think. Clear with clear (winter color season) or heathered with heathered (summer).

Some of that will work, but I think the skirt needs a cooler toned but bright purple-even like periwinkle maybe. The 2 sweaters on the bottom look a lot more muted/heathered so may not work as well with the brighter pants.
But Im looking at it on my little phone screen too, IRL they may be closer in tone.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Suntiger--there are a couple tops coming that I hope will work with the skirt, but you just reminded me of my periwinkle duster-length cardi. And that whole color area, between purple and blue, is one that appeals to me a lot. I've ordered a slew of stuff, and need to figure out how much and what to keep. This cardi in red, https://www.whitestuff.com/de/.....&utm_, this top (obviously not to go with the skirt, but hopefully with some pants) https://www.whitestuff.com/de/.....&utm_ (I'm thinking of wearing it with the solid pants or the checked ones, and maybe the pink cardi, or a pale pink T-neck underneath) and the things in finds to go with the skirt. And more. An embarrassingly large amount more. Most of it has to go back, and then I need to sit tight for a few months.

Sterling, it's one of the grey links at the top of the page that's created when you click the "start a conversation in the forum" yellow bar at the bottom of Angie's post. But here it is in the normal format https://youlookfab.com/2018/03.....of-colour/ I'm glad you like the sweater It's silk & cotton,and a favorite of mine. But it's been around a while, won't last forever :/

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kkards

Veteran

FashIntern---tonal dressing, column of color is my default way to dress...although i favor navy/blue which, in IMO its much easier to do than berry....honesetly i think that this is something requires some buying and trying until you get a real feel for it, and even then, you often need to see the items together to truely understand if it will work or not...things to think about...for me it requires more thought about silhouette, proportion, texture and color intensity

here's some other resourse
https://youlookfab.com/2014/01.....of-colour/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/fa.....-dressing/
https://stylishlyme.com/style-.....ic-outfit/

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Kkards, thank you!

The outfits in the second two articles are roughly what I'm thinking of wearing. That YLF article is more what I usually think of as a "column of color"--a column in the middle, with a topper in a different color or pattern with a lot of other colors. I'd like to go a step beyond that, to the kind of outfits in the grey YLF blog link at the very top of my post. (It's title includes "Column of Color" but it is really about having everything in variations on one color, which is exactly what I want to do.)

What I need to do now is take a step back from outfit creation to wardrobe creation, gathering a collection of things that will let me pull together those ensembles. As much as I'd like to buy up all the berry colors I see, that's not practical, from a budget or closet space perspective. So the question in this post is how to set myself up with the pieces I need without going overboard. It really comes down to numbers, I guess. Should I stick with the classic 2 tops/1 bottom, or does that change when the tops go with multiple bottoms? How do toppers figure into that equation? And so forth. So: how have you gone about building up your navy and cobalt closet? Have you stumbled upon any rules of building a wardrobe for this kind of outfit creation that you can pass on? I do notice texture as one of the suggestions for outfit creation, so I will make sure to include pieces with varying interesting textures. What else?

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Just found this awesome post! I can't slavishly copy numbers of each item, because the skirt would throw it all off. Also, pumpkin is not for me, and the bordeaux is a little off for me--I'd rather have blackberry. But still, it is very, very close to what I'm trying to do--build a section of my closet that is mix & match tonal dressing. https://youlookfab.com/2017/11.....-bordeaux/

Hmmm, 5 tops, 3 bottoms, 2 toppers, 2 pr shoes, 1 bag is the formula here. I've got my bag & 2 pairs of shoes (even though I don't have a find for the pumps). The skirt, 1 of the solid pants & 1 plaid would be the bottoms. I probably want more toppers because Berlin and winter. And the tops and bottoms don't all go together--look at the skirt & patterned tops. How crazy would that be? But this is a pretty good answer to my question.https://youlookfab.com/2012/03.....y-outfits/

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Anonymous

That one is one of my all time ylf favorites, it inspired my color scheme
Yes definitely toppers, how about a wool coat in that color scheme?

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

FashIntern, if you're prepared to combine reds, pinks and berries together, you can achieve this quite easily. NICE that you now have a bag-boot complement that will instantly pull an outfit together.

SarahD8

Veteran

Actually I think you should stay in “outfit creation” mode for now, since you’re not really starting this capsule from scratch. Figure out what tonal outfits you could make using your existing clothes, and what elements you would need to pull additional outfits together. Then, for each of those added items, what other outfits would they make?

For example, you could wear your berry sweater with the pink skinnies, pink vest, and red bag/boots. Does that feel like the sort of tonal scheme you want?

The berry sweater would also work with the patterned skirt (at least on my monitor). Would the boots work with that outfit or do you need another shoe option?

Sounds like you could also wear the skirt with your periwinkle duster. Do you have a top in a similar periwinkle shade that could complete the outfit?

If you order the Express pants those would go great with the berry sweater, red boots and bag. You could pop the pink vest over top maybe?

And then what else could you pair with the pants that you already own?

I also see a possibility for pink skinnies, pink cardi worn buttoned as a top, and pink vest. What shoes?

The pink plaid pants look good to my eye, but I think they’d do the same “work” as your existing pink skinnies, so I suspect there will be other things that are higher priorities for now.

The combos I’ve suggested may not work in real life of course but you get the idea re: thought process.

Joy

Veteran

I do this a lot because I am short. Start with a neutral...dark or light. I like to have a skirt or dress, pants ( maybe 2 pair), long sleeved layering top, sleeveless layering top and a jacket in the color ot tones of it. Try for a year- round fabric like very light wool or a variety of weights. I like EF's basic fabric blend.
Buy the best quality you can. I also like to vary textures. You can easily add color or pattern to a neutral column but, as Angie has shown, colors also work. They are just harder to start. I am just now getting to trying columns of a color. Start with a bottom piece as they can be hardest to find and fit or a suit as you get bottom and a jacket.
And try to buy all the basic pieces in one shopping trip. If I don't I end up with orphans

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

SarahD8, smart! Not everything you mentioned works irl, because the colors are little off, but I get what you mean. It feels like there's not much there, and I think I do need more bottoms, especially because the pink skinnies don't always feel right in winter, but you are pulling me back from the "I'm going to jump in a sea of new purchases and drown in them" ledge to get serious about what I do have.

Suntiger, you must've been snooping in my finds, lol. Look what's in there! A KS that sold out a month ago and a Halogen which is only available in large, which is probably much too large. And the Laundry is only in Small, which might fit you, but not me. (I'd try them both on in a store, but not across an ocean). I have a red puffer, but the problem is that it doesn't work with the red bag. I've seen puffers the color of the Halogen coat, and Nano puffs are available in that shade too, but none of them have seemed really special, so I've passed on them. Now that you mention it, the color scheme in that post *does* look like yours. Did you seriously just start mixing those together when you saw that post? I thought you were born that way.

Angie, what? I want to wear red and pink and berries together, so you're telling me to just do it already? Sorry if I touched a nerve or was whiney.

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Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Thanks Joy! That really helps. What interesting textures are work-appropriate? I think super silky, faux fur, and fuzzy sweater are off the table. Your last point is the trickiest, because I'm getting everything on clearance. But maybe I shouldn't feel badly about having so many things shipped to me; it'll be my own little store. I'll chose a few things & send the rest back.

SarahD8

Veteran

I totally get your impulse here, by the way. You have read some of my posts so you know I am ALWAYS looking for The Wardrobe Building Formula to Rule Them All. But the truth is, sometimes that approach leads me astray -- either I end up trying to accumulate "all the things in all the colors," or I end up with items that fit the formula in theory but that I can't really make use of (in the real world, I'm unlikely to find everything that fills in the formula all at once).

When I can't make use of items it's sometimes because they complete outfits made with theoretical pieces in the formula but not outfits made with actual pieces in my closet. Or it's because it turns out that I don't actually want to wear that color in that way or in that outfit component. For example, I've realized that I like to wear dark tops under dark toppers, or light tops under dark toppers, but I don't care as much for dark tops under light toppers. So if I bought a burgundy top and a light pink cardi, I'd be stymied at outfit creation -- even though both of the items fit the color scheme. I'd have been better off buying a burgundy cardi, which I can wear either with a pink top or a burgundy one.

The tl;dr here is that in addition to knowing color palette and numbers, I have to know where (in which outfit components) I want to wear the different colors in the palette, and also how purchases will fit with what I already own.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Sarah, I'm slowly figuring out that I have to do my own work there, can't copy from someone else's paper.

SarahD8

Veteran

It's a lesson I seem to have to learn over and over and over again...

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

FashIntern, you didn't touch a nerve at all! No need to apologize. My comment is to encourage you to just do it, as you said. There is no need to add a neutral to the outfit either. But if you do, light neutrals look the most clean and are the least unobtrusive - making the column of colour shine. I find that dark neutrals take over the palette. Too strong. To my eye anyway. Hope that makes sense.

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

I would start with one outfit and build out from there. Can you make a tonal outfit from items already in your closet? If not, invest in the pieces to make a single outfit that fits the bill and makes you happy. From there, you can expand outwards. Add a second top and you have two outfits! Add a skirt that works with both tops, and your options start growing exponentially, You don't have to do it all at once.

SarahD8

Veteran

One last thought (since this topic is catnip to me, it's hard to stop!) -- you mentioned The Vivienne Files. Janice has a feature where she builds a capsule "one piece at a time". Here's one example -- you might be able to find one that's more similar to your color scheme if you poke around a little more. She runs through an iterative process of "what you have," what [1 item] you add" and "what you can do" -- that is, what new outfits you can make with the added item. That's along the lines of what I was suggesting re: thinking about what other outfits you could make with each addition.

The problem is that in her scheme "what you add" always seems like a bit of a black box to me. But maybe you could add a step before that -- "what can't you do?" That might help focus your search on prioritizing items that will add the most to your incipient capsule.

kkards

Veteran

FashIntern...to be honest tonal dressing evolved because it was/is an easy formula for work, but it did take time to build an wardrobe that works....because I fall back on a dark neutral, navy, texture becomes more important as a way to add visual interest. also paying attention to the details, in particular the proportions so that the outfit looks intentional and not accidental. (ie is the sweater the right length for the pants, is the hem the correct length for the shoes, do I have a belt that works with this outfit etc)

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

I'm starting to relax now and not be so stressed about this as I'm realizing that my intuition might actually be leading me in a decent direction. Thanks, everyone!

Jenn, SarahD8 and Kkards, I came up with the idea of this color scheme two falls ago when I was trying to make it feel like fall/winter in Florida. https://youlookfab.com/welookf.....ry-capsuleThe traditional fall color scheme, with lots of orange, yellow, and brown, maybe some sage, really doesn't work for me, so I pulled out everything I had in these colors and wore them. That means half the work of outfit creation and figuring out what I have is already done. I used jeans, brown leggings, and shorts then, so if I want to do the whole tonal thing, I need some more bottoms. I'm well on my way to that. It's also colder here, so warmer tops are in order. Ahh, feeling a little better already.

Looking through various articles on this sort of mini-capsule, it seems that my gut feeling about how many of each kind of item was pretty on-target as noted above. Another knot gone.

Angie, I've been kind of beating myself up because several of the things I ordered are white and that doesn't fit in the color scheme. My "excuse" was that I thought white would be great with the rest of it, and they aren't plain white--they've all got some of that "lurking quirk". And now from what you said, I can say that wasn't an excuse, it actually makes sense. That was like a nice stretch that just feels so good!

The Boden sweater is a bit of a wildcard in that I don't know which of these things it might work with, but given the price, everything good said about Boden on YLF, and it being in the general ballpark, I think it'll work. I got this!

by Stagiaire Fash

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Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

FashIntern, well done. Furthermore, light neutrals needn't be a shade of white. They can be tan, light grey, taupe, mauve, denim or metallic - in case you like those more.