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My 2024 Colour Palette So Far

Helena

Veteran

Hi all, just a fun post inspired by today's blog post - I went through all the outfit photos I've taken this year to find out what my palette *actually* is vs. what I would have said it is ... I'm definitely Team Neutral, kind of Team Earth Tones, and a small ping of Team Jewel Tones (e.g. all over the map lol).

ETA - made a second palette based on Carla's approach about colours where I have 5+ items. A significantly tighter palette and definitely team neutrals!

This makes sense given I've sort of refreshed what I'm doing and how, and I'm curious to see how this palette settles in the year ahead. My initial reaction:
- I like all these - they generally work together and have served me well. No duds ( except maybe the lighter gray, but I always seem to have one piece of this lying around so there you go!)
- BUT it's too many - in terms of wardrobe planning, I would like to narrow this down significantly (not editing out - just not adding more)
- I've included my thoughts on a game plan for each line in italics.

Row 1 - This is the bulk of my wardrobe - like 85-90% I'd say.
Black - Dark Navy - Light Navy - Taupe - Beige
Happy with this as the foundation; looking to shift the balance from black to navy but not fussed - it will happen organically.

Row 2 - Other neutrals - I have a few pieces of each but none is significant (white a little more significant than the others).
Charcoal - Camel - Tan - Cream - White
Like but not looking to add more charcoal, camel or white at present.

Row 3 - Accent 'nearly neutrals' - some of these I have maybe one or two pieces because I've been experimenting. In particular the green that's 2nd from the end (what I'm calling grayed-army-green because I don't know what it is haha) is my new fave (I have one t-shirt and it's always first worn after the laundry is done). I would definitely add more of of the grayed-army-green in the fall if I can find it! I probably won't add khaki brown; I would rather a chocolate than this green-tinged brown. Open to olive and spruce if they present themselves. Not looking to add blue currently, much as I love it.
Khaki Brown - Olive - Spruce - Grayed-Army-Green - Sky/Classic Blue

Row 4 - Accent colours - maybe one or two pieces of each. Debatable whether I'll add, potentially wine in the fall. Not actively looking though.
Wine - Warm Rose Blush - Teal - Blue Gray - Light Gray

Row 5 - Outliers/Wild Cards - one piece of each, and although I like the pieces, I'm not considering adding these.
Bright Rose - Grass Green - Light Green

What colours are you wearing lately? Any surprises when you reflect on it?

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24 replies

Latest reply was from Helena

April

Veteran

Steel blue is my most favorite (different from smoke blue, which is warmer) but cool greens, cool pinks, and icy lavender are in there as well.

Runcarla

Veteran

At the beginning of each year, I make a palette of the dominant colours in my wardrobe (see below). I include any colours represented by 5 or more garments or a colour I’m hoping to collect.

Black and navy are represented by 20+/- items in my closet, the other colours 5+ but less than 10 - except red/burgundy at 11 items. I’ve included white, but realize I have very little of that colour - denim jeans, t-shirts, sneakers.

This summer I’ve had my teal items on repeat. Red is getting a workout as well. I find a really good pattern can pull disparate colours together and become a hero piece. I’d love to find one or two patterned tops to add to my closet.

The only ‘one of’s’ in my closet is a lilac trench/raincoat and yellow shoes.

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Joy

Veteran

Like you most of my wardrobe is neutrals . I have a few fushia items to try out for summer. Not my color but a temporary distraction. The fushia pants are nice and one of the few I have that fit well so might be kept. I will return to lots of neutrals in September and in thev fall. What would you suggest for fall for me if I choose a small amount of color to try with browns? What items as temporaries.

Helena

Veteran

April, that is a lovely palette and steel blue sounds like a perfect anchor.

Carla I love this approach ... I'm going to assess via your 'five items or more' rule ... And do you then try to purchase only those colours? or did you build out outliers that you liked so that they also had a capsule of five+?

Joy, brown would mix beautifully with fuschia actually! Might be a fun way to transition it to fall? I think browns look great with everything ... I especially love how brown leathers (belt, shoes, etc) look with cool neutrals like gray, navy or black. They give such richness. But tricky to match browns ... I haven't cracked that one yet, perhaps others will also have advice!

Helena

Veteran

@Carla, a much tighter and completely neutral palette when I apply your 5+ criteria - black, navy, charcoal (barely - I think I actually only have 4), taupe/beige, and cream/white ... I combined those last two because the taupes and beiges I have work tonally together, and the creams and whites I use pretty interchangeably, plus I have a few pieces that are almost between the two, so it seems to make sense to group them.

All the others are pretty onesy-twosy! So I guess they are all accents really?

Joy

Veteran

Fushia items to try for summer.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Interesting analysis Helena. It sounds like you have a good grip on your colors and especially where you want to go. I am not so clear - there are some colors I stay away from (warm earth tones) and some I am drawn to (fuschia, purple, cobalt blue) but I have never actually analyzed what I wear. Perhaps I will!

Runcarla

Veteran

Yup! Grouping items in families makes it tighter - and easier to think of them as capsules and to figure out bookending and such.

If you check my ‘Finds’ you will see that I have made ‘Collections’ of my colours. I’ve grouped red and merlot together, as well as green and teal. I’m not above putting a print in a colour capsule either. The Hawaiian shirt is grouped with the reds, the lemon motif dress is grouped with the greens, and a black turtleneck with beige and merlot flowers is grouped with the blacks!

Bijou

Veteran

Green is a colour I have been wearing more of in the last few years - which has surprised me as I had a green school uniform and thought I would NEVER wear the colour ever again. It just took 30 years post leaving school to get over it!

My love of green started with a handbag and has grown from there. I find it a versatile colour, as it is nice and crisp with whites in summer and goes moody with black for winter!

This year I have tried to be more intentional with colour and forbidden myself from buying earth tones as I have a few in my wardrobe and find I rarely feel fab when wearing them.

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Olive Green

Veteran

I love this topic. Colour is really where I make my very basic wardrobe feel like something I love to wear.
Right now I am wearing mostly warm greens, pinks, and warm browns, with a splash of orange. Almost no pattern, though I am with Carla on their usefulness. And the major groupings.
Winter is all dark green outerwear with much more pattern in scarves and hats and accessories. Some lovely golden browns.
I have some dark denim and ink blue that work for slightly more formal occasions. Blue is actually hard for me to find, as it can look sickly next to a fair olive skin, but it looks great with the salt and pepper hair.
Helena, what colours are you considering buying, apart from grey ish green?

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RobinF

Veteran

What a fun and useful exercise! I also wear a lot of neutrals but have color as an accent. I love the neutrals and enjoy combining them but I get bored without some color.

Helena

Veteran

Jaime, you manage your colour palette organically and it works perfectly for you!

Carla, thank you! I always admire your logic and discipline with these things.

Bijou, yay for beautiful greens!

Olive Green, beautiful palette. I could talk about colour all day too, even though I wear neutrals!

I don't have much on my wishlist at the moment ... Probably because it's the dog days of summer and I don't want to wear anything but a linen sack at the moment haha! I always thought I was very disciplined with colours but looking at this mishmash I'm less sure! I think I will probably take a look at my essentials and make sure I have them covered in my core neutrals first ... Then think about whether to build out one of the other colours.

One thing with me too I've just realized ... I tend to have a clear idea of the piece I want, and I don't like to be held back if I can't find a certain colour. For example, for fall I want a new smart handbag and boots. I was thinking chocolate brown would be lovely, but I've gone down this track before and it is sooo hard to find at the right price point. I'd rather just get black and tie a brown scarf to the handbag and be done with it

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

FABULOUS, Helena! You have it all thought out and under control.

*applause*

Few thoughts:

Switching organically from black to navy took me 8 years. I enjoyed the process! I bet you will too. You aren't looking to omit black completely, so it will be even easier for you!

This is the most focussed your colour palettes have been, and you have never looked better! You are much earthier than you thought. But COOL earth tones instead of warm. GOOD JOB figuring that all out!

That light navy looks like French blue to my eye. Gorgeous on you!

Please continue exploring those greens! Great with your complexion, and pretty with your eyes.

Listen to your feelings!! Don't restrict yourself from wearing and buying more of those colours in rows 4 and 5 for the sake of fitting into a neatly planned palette and box, IYKWIM. If they make you happy and you want more - go for it! Style is art - not science. Things are not exact, and things change. Keep the emotion flowing and pander to it

Helena

Veteran

Robin, very similar to me ... even though my accents are quiet, I would get bored without them - I do like a bit of a change.

Angie, thank you so much for your feedback and you are so right - I am more earthy than I thought (the biggest proof that I can't unsee is how much better cool, neutral, or even *slightly* warmed tans and taupes are vs. lighter, cooler grays.

Re: transitioning to navy, as you know I've tried before and got frustrated, but I think that's because I was trying to be too strict. I'm doing way better now, because I'm fine to have both black and navy (black especially for shoes and handbags, which go find with navy imo).

Love French blue and will definitely look to add it. The particular piece is a BR stretchy knit, which I think you have the hoodie version of it? I LOVE that shade of blue. Definitely going to explore the greens more too - especially the 'nearly neutral' ones that fit so easily into my style. And I was thinking about your last point after posting ... because I wear so many neutrals and jeans, it's actually pretty easy for me to accommodate lots of outliers, especially when it comes to tops. So yes, I am definitely not going to get restrictive, but I think it's helpful to think in terms of Row 1 as being the slam dunks for investments pieces like boots, outerwear, or spendier-for-me items. Less invest-y tops are for me the best place to experiment and add variety in colour!

Thanks all for chiming in and sharing your ideas. Colour is just so fun; I never get sick of it!

Suz

(website)

Veteran

What Angie said! )

This is an interesting way to analyze -- I think I'm off to do the same, but I think we all know what the result will be, LOL.

Helena

Veteran

Well I was surprised Suz so you never know ... Although I think you too are more focused than me!! please share the outcome if you can, whether expected or not

Sal

Veteran

Lovely palette! I am with Angie - outliers are fine - you just need neutral essentials to mix them with - which you have! I think the greens and cranberries/dark pinks are my most favourite on you - but I think you can wear lots of colours successfully.

I am leaning green at the moment - and trying to be mindful of my clear spring colours. I have been wearing more black than I would ideally want because of my small capsule available to me. Some black I love -but I have a couple of pieces that feel a bit drab.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Helena, I know right? You are SOOO much better in the earthy cool brown version than the earthy cool grey version - unlike Suz and Janet, who are better in the earthy cool grey version

Re. the black to navy transition: now that you've relaxed into it - much more enjoyable

YES, French blue is good on me too. That hoodie from BR lasted 4 years and was fab!

YES, you have plenty of neutrals that lay the foundation for the outliers!

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

To answer your question:

What colours are you wearing lately? Any surprises when you reflect on it?

My palettes are always the same, and minimal seasonal changes:

Sour Brights: Tomato red, lime green, citron, Dutch orange, shocking pink, chartreuse

Pastels: Light Blue and Blush

Neutrals: Navy, French Blue, White, Off-White, Cream, Gold

A few earth tones: Toffee, oatmeal, tan, burgundy, whiskey

A few jewel tones: Emerald green, turquoise

*Don't wear earth tones in Summer! Wear more white in Summer.

Dee

Veteran

Tightening my colour palette has been key in giving me a coordinated and functioning wardrobe. There was a time when I just bought items based simply because I liked them, without ever considering whether the colour would really work with the rest of my wardrobe.
My current base of neutrals:
black, charcoal, grey, navy, and denim.
Additional colours include:
Blues, plum/burgundy, taupe, white and some teal.

Joy

Veteran

Just looking at my closet , neutrals are dominant. I have a whole section of black, gray, navy and whites. Brown is going to replace gray, Gray is a color I do not enjoy wearing. There are sections of colors that are more colorful but they run together…0range, coral, reds (red-orange), a bit of purple. another of yellow, blues, greens, browns, everything else. That section changes the most. The rest is pretty neutral. I have tried to move from black to navy but have to be picky about navy’s matching each other. . I have a classic navy blazer but no navy coat accept one that looks black it is so dark . I thought I was buying black.

Bonnie

Veteran

I've been trying to limit my palette but I see that my neutrals are white, black, gray, beige and navy which make up about 60% of my wardrobe. The accent colors are blue, red, green, mustard, and with a few others added in. This last year has been a year of adding new colors and I think next year I'll work on updating my neutrals. My goal will be no new colors for a year.

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

I am impressed with your analysis of your wardrobe's palette, Helena, and find this discussion fascinating. This is the kind of homing in that I shrink from, even though I like reading and thinking about the processes and insights that you and others describe.

Angie's mention of "COOL earth tones" is a revelation to me. I always thought earth tones were warm by definition. Yesterday I was wearing a top that I would say is earth-toned, though (what I wore in the photos of my NAS footwear try-ons, photo of the top is below), and I was looking at it, thinking, it's earth-toned, but not overly warm--huh! It was like a puzzle to me. So I guess I wear more earth tones than I thought when I answered Angie's question on the blog the other day!

Without counting things up, I would say I have a pretty broad palette of colors I wear. Cool to neutral, more muted colors and neutrals. Nothing too high or too low contrast, nothing too bright, nothing too warm. There is only one color I can think of that I generally don't wear, and it's yellow. Everything else-- even orange, when it is muted or grayed enough, or has enough blue to lean toward coral--is probably represented in my wardrobe. Most often the color in my outfit (unless I'm wearing all neutrals, which happens maybe 1/3 or less of the time) is based on pinks to wine, some shade of green, or blues. Who knows if this is accurate, since I'd rather have a root canal than actually pin it all down--haha!

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Helena

Veteran

Love reading about everyone palettes! Sharan, yes I agree! Except for the warmest earth tones, I can wear quite a lot well ... Cools, neutral and even some warm shades providing it's not their most obvious characteristic. I would say softness and depth and probably more important for you? Which would include quite a lot of similarly earthy but not too warm and spicy colours.