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Re-articulating my color palette

Helena

Veteran

Hi everyone, just doing a bit of fashion navel-gazing which I thought I would share, in case anyone is interested!
In the past, I have used Bobbi Thomas' 'color compass' concept to define my color palette. Basically, she guides you through how to choose these colors, when to use them, etc.
The purpose of this palette, for me, is not to restrict myself to these colors (case in point, I bought green shorts today - not on the list!). Rather, it's just to create a flexible guideline that makes decisions easier, helps keep things cohesive and prevents wardrobe orphans. I've been working on personalizing my choices rather than following set rules, and so I think I need to revise this list in my mind. As you can see, in some cases I'm modifying her recommendations, and I have a few blanks to fill (suggestions always welcome)!

Here goes:

Dark Neutral (recommended black or brown, based on cool or warm skintone). Was black. Is now navy/ink.
Light Neutral (white or cream). Was white. Is white.
Mid Neutral (gray or tan). Was gray. Is now blush.
Cold season accent color. Was plum/burgundy. Is plum/burgundy.
Warm season accent color. Was bright blue. Is undecided. Light blue or bright pink come to mind.
Favorite color (one that makes you smile - regardless of conventional flattery for your skintone, etc.). Was navy. Is undecided (may as well discover a second-favorite!) Could be one of the warm season accent ideas. Or jewel tones in general?
Power color (one that stands out and looks great with your personal coloring). Was teal. Is teal (blue or green).

If you made it though, thanks for reading, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you are organizing your palettes these days! And Happy Victoria Day weekend to my Canadian friends, happy royal wedding watching, and happy anything else you might be enjoying this weekend! xx

General

32 replies

Latest reply was from Helena

Cardiff girl

Veteran

Interesting.I ve never heard of this way of choosing a colour palette.Always good not to be too rigid about these things but if it helps plan a more cohesive wardrobe ,why not.

Style Fan

Veteran

I have never heard of this method. I used the Vivienne Files to help me organize my colour palette. I have always worn Autumn colours but I needed an organization tool. I am not overly rigid about it but it helps me a lot.
I like the colours you have chosen for yourself. Some of the plan would depend on what is available at retail. Brown is sometimes very hard to find. Like right now!

Anonymous

Do you like coral/soft orange? It would be another summer accent colour that I could see on you. As well as the green you mentioned. I'm not familiar with this method either, but then again, I'm not very scientific when it comes to organizing my colours. I go by instinct and my palette is pretty limited - which suits me just fine.

Anonymous

I’m definitely a cool. As I have gotten older and more gray- I have moved from black to more navy. To really streamline though I am a true believer in David Zyla’s methodology of finding your perfect palette.
I will be checking out your suggestion of Bobbi Thomas after the wedding hoopla is over.
SF- is not the V files the most awesome way of setting up capsules. She is so good.

JAileen

Veteran

This is interesting. I never heard of it. I look at the Vivienne files, too.

I wore autumn colors until I went grey, then I limited my colors to grey, blue and olive. Last year I added a lot of navy, and this year I’ve started adding pink. I don’t organize my colors that I know of.

gryffin

Veteran

TG - I'm not familiar with this system but I find this fascinating. I have a more limited palate, but I really like the concept. Is this a blog? book?
and I like you colors!! You look wonderful in navy. Yay to green shorts!! Too fun!

jussie

Veteran

How interesting. I’m thinking blush as a mid neutral is very current and will be fun to experiment with . Will go so well with navy, white and grey too. I can’t help but think silver would go nicely with your neutrals too.

Staysfit

Veteran

I also haven’t seen this way of organizing colors. I may take a stab at it although, my color palette has been fairly consistent. This spring/summer I added a group of red items and also am looking to add some yellow. I love yellow, but it needs to be the right shade of yellow to work with my skin and hair.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I haven't seen this way of organizing colours either but it is pretty easy for me...

Dark neutral -- ink/ navy/ darker to mid denim blues (with some black)
Light neutral -- white
Mid neutral -- grey
Cold season accent colour: Berry tones from cranberry to burgundy
Warm season accent colour: cobalt/ royal blue
Colour that makes me smile: Fuchsia
Power colour: Fire engine red.

But my accent colours and smile colours are also power colours for me...and my power colour serves as a cross seasonal accent colour as well.

If I were to add a colour it would be purples/ lilacs. I think those also deserve a strong place in my closet but as of now, I don't have a lot.

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Hi there Torontogirl and happy long weekend to you. I Googled this since I'd not heard of the woman, I see she has written a book. It looks quite a helpful concept. I've pretty much always gone for the original 4-season colours in Spring palette as I'm fairly sure that's me and subsequent reading plus the internet hasn't changed my mind. I have found that greying hair has changed things a bit, can wear more greys and silver than before.
I'm not familiar enough with your style and colours to advise really though I remember you had another thread about colour.

rachylou

Veteran

Oh, this is so interesting. Might have to take a break from the Save Lucifer campaign on Twitter to think about this, lol. I love colour and don’t think much about neutrals or signature/power colour. I sorta more think of favourite combinations. But this is striking me as a very clear, comprehensive breakdown. Could I choose between black or brown?

Helena

Veteran

Hi everyone, sorry I disappeared there, thanks for the comments and suggestions! Bobbi Thomas book is called the Power of Style, it's good but a little "101" for this informed crowd perhaps ... Great for someone new to the journey or who enjoys a lighthearted style read though, and I really liked the color passport concept. Rachy, I think you can customize it any way you like! Lisa, I do like coral and soft orange, but they don't like me back sadly ... A mid pink might be a good one though, or a very cool-leaning coral.

Sal

Veteran

Fun and interesting exercise - one that shows I am a bit eclectic.

Dark neutral - black and navy
Light neutral - cream, camel, silver, gold
Mid neutral - denim, tan/cognac, brown
Cold season accent - red, teal
Warm season accent - blue, white, teal
Favourite colour - coral
Power colour - red, black

I also have wine, grey, yellow, olive and pink in my closet. It does work but I can see that my mix and match abilities are less than others for this reason.

Anonymous

Thanks for sharing, TG! I’m interested in colour palettes because they seem like a good way to simplify your life. (Uniform dressing is another topic I really like, for the same reason: simplification).

I decided to retool the categories a bit: I got rid of the “mid neutral” category because it wasn’t useful to me. As well, I think I need separate categories for winter and summer neutrals, and Yet another category for prints.

So here are my colours:
summer (s) is the top row, all-season (as) in the middle row, and winter (w) is the bottom row.

L. Neutral. D. Neutral. Accent
(S). White. Toffee Pink
(AS). L. Blue Navy Red
(W). L. Grey. Black*. Berry

*could change to chocolate if it becomes more available

Here are my prints:

(S): Gingham
(AS): Floral
(W): ? Maybe an animal print?

Helena

Veteran

Oh I love the idea of adding prints to the mix! I'll have to ponder further ... And stripes are year round for me

My neutrals are the same year round (the balance changes, with more white in summer) but I can appreciate the value of switching those up seasonally as well.

Joy

Veteran

I like to change my main neutrals by season. For summer I like white for the light one and navy for the dark neutral. Midtone neutral for summer..taupe or the color of natural linen.
Fall and spring can overlap with winter and summer neutrals. Fall means more browns and olive, also black. Then I move into holiday dressing and black becomes more important, as well as metallics and soft whites
Deep winter brings out all shades of grey and bone and black. Spring goes back to navy as the dark and blush.
Prints: spring : florals, whimsy. Summer: water color abstracts, stripes. Fall: leaf motifs, plaid. Holiday: snowflakes. Deep winter: more texture than print..faux fur, suede, velvet, leather, tweed, heavy knits.

3style

Veteran

@Joy, your core palette is nearly identical to mine. My only difference is that I keep olive in winter to outwear and accessories, coats, boots, handbags, woolly scarves. Oh and a heavy duty woolen sweater I grabbed in a small men’s size at LL Bean, which I wear at home over a couple of other sweaters when it’s freezing.

I used to have amazing woolen suit and also knit blazer from Pendleton. But I haven’t seen any good quality women’s woolen garments in olive in years and years, so if any one has a source, I’d love to know.

Beth

I've never seen this method for approaching color before, I but I really like it. Thought exercises on color palettes and styles really helps me identify wardrobe needs (and wants!)

Here goes...

Dark Neutral Navy (currently black, but navy is more flattering on me so I'm trying to transition. It's hard, as not all navy shades are the same, and while almost everything comes in black, the same is not true for navy)
Light Neutral Oatmeal
Mid Neutral Gray
Cold season accent color. Blush, maybe also burgundy or purple
Warm season accent color. Emerald green
Favorite color Bright pink. Not the most flattering on my pale skin tone, but I love it regardless
Power color Blue, any shade, but especially royal blue

cindysmith

Veteran

I'm still sticking to mostly dirt colored clothing (brown, grey, tan, black, even dusty blush/pink) because I'll just get my clothing dirty anyway LOL

I always love reading these navel-gazing analysis posts. I like your color choices, and absolutely love a good jewel tone

LaPed

Veteran

Very interesting approach. I like the acknowledgment of happy colour and power colour (although I think my power colours overlap directly with my dark neutrals!). I'll also say I could never narrow most of these down to just one; I don't do the "tight palette" thing, but my own picky eye still limits what I'm willing to add. So many of my preferred colours are functionally dark neutrals and I'm happy to mix-and-match most of them and then add one splash of light/bright.

Dark Neutral Black and navy.
Light Neutral White, I suppose? I use it more as an accent colour, honestly. Light neutrals are so impractical for me; I feel like I spend all my free time spot-cleaning my white denim jacket.
Mid Neutral Charcoal and olive (not so much mid-tones as secondary neutrals)
Cold season accent color. Burgundy, eggplant.
Warm season accent color. Hmm. Sky blue and rust/terra cotta? I would love more turquoise but the right turquoise is hard to find.
I'd also add red and blush as year-round accent colors.
Favorite color (one that makes you smile - regardless of conventional flattery for your skintone, etc.). Sage green.
Power color (one that stands out and looks great with your personal coloring). Black. Navy is good too.

I like Smittie’s addition of prints. For me it’s plaid in cold weather, stripes in warm weather.

3style, Boden's wool tweed is fantastic -- they do a blazer and skirt using tweed from Moon & Sons. For more casual wool shirts and jackets, Woolrich is worth looking at too.

Sal

Veteran

Interesting to see the adaptations here. I like Smitties additions of print too.

I really think this approach works for wardrobe building in a cohesive fashion.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Oh, I like the addition of prints, Smittie.

Stripes and gingham and cats are all seasons for me.
Florals are also all season but in much smaller doses.

3style

Veteran

@La Pedestrienne. Somehow I had totally forgotten about Woolrich. Founded in 1830. Even a quick glance at their company history is fascinating. Thanks. And I receive the Boden catalog and somehow had assumed that their tweed was not of good quality, because what sticks out in my memory is these weird (at least in the photos) faded pink tweed skirts. I will look further.

Jane

Veteran

Interesting analysis, and good to know about Boden’s tweed.

I think my light neutral has shifted over the last year from white to blush pink - but I’m wondering if blush pink is too much of a fashion colour to be sustainable over a number of seasons.

jussie

Veteran

Ok I can’t resist:
Dark neutrals: black and navy. Black is not as popular right now as it once was but I still find it very useful.
Mid neutral: mid wash blue denim or chambray.
Light neutral: very light silvery grey
Cold season accent:
Warm season accent:
Favorite colour:
Power colour: dark periwinkle
I deliberately haven’t selected accents or favorite colour because for me I don’t feel I need to narrow that down too much. Having my neutrals in order seems to be enough to keep my wardrobe cohesive :).

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

YAY to goodbye grey and hello blush

Runcarla

Veteran

I'll play:

Dark Neutral - black
Light neutral - white
Mid neutral - blue jean blue
Cold season accent - green/olive
Warm season accent - tan/beige
Colour that makes you smile - red
Power colour - silver

I have reached minimalist wardrobe nirvana!

Helena

Veteran

Angie, I KNEW you'd be proud of me!

So glad others are finding this useful!

Lesley

Veteran

That is fun! I made a list of my colors a while back, inspired by this group, and it reads like I am an insane person but it has somehow helped me crystallize my closet needs. Basically, I consider the "neutral colors" to be on equal footing to the "colors", meaning, I would wear them in any quantity, near my face or away, etc. Then the "supporting colors" are ones that I wear in smaller doses but that help pull the look together, so you'll see tan on there, because I love tan leather accessories, but I find it too blah with my coloring to wear in large quantities (although I do have one tan cardi that gets a lot of use, again, because it supports the rest of the circus that I have going on).

Neutrals:
Black
White
Gray
Navy (summer)
denim

Colors:
Red/poppy orange
Ruby pink & fuchsia
Pepto pink
Emerald Green
Cobalt/grover
peacock teal

Supporting players:
Tan
tortoiseshell
Animal print: Leopard, zebra, python, giraffe
camouflage
military/olive green
silvery lavender
stripes
dots
lemon yellow
metallic
turquoise
mint

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