Team Low or High Colour Mixing Affinity - YouLookFab Forum

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About: How to Build Your Wardrobe's Colour Palette

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Team Low or High Colour Mixing Affinity

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

The comments on last week's Wardrobe Colour Palette post were fascinating, and I so enjoyed reading them.

As I said in the post: the more willing you are to combine unexpected and clashing colours together in an outfit, the easier it is to manage a wardrobe with a large assortment of colour.

In other words if your affinity for colour mixing is high, you’ll happily combine all sorts of weird and wonderful colours into an outfit and feel fab. Because you like wearing a wide assortment of colours and in unconventional combinations, you feel in control of a wardrobe that is steadily increasing in colour possibilities. This is not the case when your affinity for colour mixing is low. In this case a wardrobe full of colour will be overwhelming. The colour combinations that tickle your fancy will be narrower, so it will be a good idea to limit the range of colours in your wardrobe.

My affinity for colour mixing is high, so adding all sorts of colours to my wardrobe alongside my signature colours feels right. I never feel out of control or overwhelmed when I add more and more colour to my wardrobe. In fact - it makes me happy. I know that forum members like Mary, Aida, Sveta, Joy and Diana bat for the same Team. Forum members like Debs from Oz and Gryffin on the other hand, with their almost all black and charcoal wardrobes, have a very low affinity for colour mixing. It's ALL good, and there is no right and wrong. The only right thing here, is to listen to your emotions because colour is a highly emotive variable.

Over to you. Is your affinity for mixing colours high or low?

Dressing

69 replies

Latest reply was from Astrid

gradfashionista

(website)

Veteran

I'd have to say my affinity for colour mixing is low at this time. With the exception of a couple of floral skirts, my wardrobe is hopelessly neutral --mainly navy and black, and a bit of burgundy and charcoal thrown in for the winter season. It makes my wardrobe less exciting, but I like not having to worry about colour co-ordination. I strongly appreciate colour mixing on others, though, especially in winter.

anne

Veteran

Medium. I have a fairly limited range of colours. I like a bit of contrast though.

Anonymous

Medium. I prefer to stick to a limited color palette, but I do love to wear color! I would be very unhappy with an all-neutral wardrobe, or with a wardrobe with colors that don't suit me.

retailgirl

Veteran

I love to mix colors. A favorite outfit of mine is a burgundy Heather jacket with a lavender shirt and a black background scarf with both colors, as well as gray. I wear black or gray pants. Sounds weird but totally works. But I also love completely tonal outfits, especially all grays or all blues. ( probably due to my gray hair. Love black but it can be harsh.)

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I love color, but I prefer to keep my color mixing to prints and patterns, which I also love. I like wearing outfits that incorporate one or two non-neutral colors and are grounded by one of my favorite neutrals (black, grey, white, blue). I feel way too conspicuous and "bright" if an outfit is not grounded with a neutral.

merwoman

Veteran

Greta question - I skew towards tonal, but I've been dipping my toes into the colour pool and mixing it up.

harmonica

Veteran

Thanks for your colour palette post, Angie! I loved it and will read it again.

I've been living in black-grey-(white)-land for a long time, but feel so happy and get so much positive energy from bright colours. I will definately continue experimenting with colour mixing!

JAileen

Veteran

Angie, I remember you questioning me when I said I was going to limit future wardrobe additions to grey, blue and olive. We went on a trip last winter and packing and putting together outfits was super easy. Everything went with everything!

The other night when we went to the community theater, I thought about wearing a red turtleneck sweater I had. I chose dark blue instead. It seemed "less in your face". I wore dark jeans and a dark sweater. I guess that means I like low color mixing? I do like a monochromatic look.

BTW, after I went grey, I wanted to wear grey, especially charcoal, because of my hair color. However, I only ditched most of the tans and beiges from my wardrobe. I still have lots of color available, particularly greens and turquoise.

Sara L.

Veteran

Hmm, I guess I must be medium. My palette is not limited to neutrals but I don't like lots of color in one outfit. However, I get bored when I don't have some color variety in my wardrobe. Currently, I'm a little bored with my sweaters because they are almost all grey, black, white or tan. I need to a add one or two sweaters with color and/or pattern.

Carole

Veteran

I loved your color palette post and it confirmed my need to maintain a closet with fewer colors to chose from. I love color and have brought some wild and wonderful ones into my closet only to sit there and remind me that I'm not comfortable wearing much color. I've decided the best way to satisfy my love of color is through an accessory.

I need to work on the narrowing down neutrals, too, but I'm finding that harder to do:(

Dee

Veteran

A few years ago, I was team high. My wardrobe and my outfits has all colors represented. But while I still enjoy color, I've limited my color palette (coral and citron in the summer and purple, burgundy, and teal in the winter) and I mostly enjoy a single pop of color or a few accessories, rather than color in every piece.

Elle

Veteran

I thought it was high until I looked in my closet and saw that my colored clothes were basically shades of pink and red. Wearing color does make me happy so I obviously need to branch out - maybe to burgundy?

Bonnie

Veteran

I love your style and the colors you wear. I've tried to copy but it just doesn't work for me. I need a column of color and this limits a lot of the color options that being able to wear contrasting tops and bottoms offer. I do try to bring in some color contrast with a third piece but find it works better if the contrast is not too great.

Joy

Veteran

As you so graciously said, my affinity for color mixing is high, especially when in the same tone.. I do have a hard time mixing darks with lights other than neutrals and would rather keep darks with other darks or with midtones for the most part. I also have a high affinity for pattern mixing when I dare. I almost wore a leopard print shirt with my red/blue plaid jeans the other day, then decided the chambray shirt would be better understood.

dashielle (Ann)

(website)

Veteran

I'm on the low affinity end of the spectrum, but don't feel particularly challenged by adding in new colors, probably due to the number of neutrals I have that can be paired with them. That said, adding brown always ties me in knots, because of my migration away from earth tones.

AviaMariah

Veteran

I'm going to have to pay closer attention to how you mix color as well as the other forum members you mentioned. I do like color mixing in theory but often feel overwhelmed if I do it. I've just assumed it's because I'm a smaller person but if you can pull it off I probably can to. The exception to this is I love to wear turquoise and bright pink combined.

UmmLila (Lisa)

Veteran

I like color and prints, says the person wearing black pants, light gray cardigan and white and gray print jersey.

I mostly stick to a summer-ish palette, with black, white, gray and blue as neutrals.

milehighstyle (Linda)

Veteran

Definitely high for me. I wear all the colors, in all intensities - bright, pastel, jewel, muted. I'm more likely to wear 3 or more colors in an outfit than to do all neutrals with just one color. One of the most fun parts of dressing for me is mixing colors in an interesting way.

MTBGirl

Veteran

I like mixing many colors as well as colors in the same tones, so I'm on team high.

rachylou

Veteran

Heh... I don't know. I'm tempted to say high, because I'll wear some crazy mixes in one outfit. But thinking about what I have, I don't feel I have that wide a range of colours...

Sal

Veteran

I am somewhere in the middle. I happily wear bold and bright colour, and happy to wear patterns with several bright colours. But I tend to only have one such piece per outfit- I rarely mix in a colour blocking way.

My wardrobe includes a variety of neutrals and colours with the neutrals mostly being black, cream and denim (smattering of khaki and grey) and the colours mostly being pink, red, coral.. I am trying to bring in more cream, blue and green).

K. Period.

Veteran

Hmmm. Maybe medium high? What do you think, Angie? (I'd love to have an outside perspective!)

I feel like I started with a low affinity, but I add color pairings to my library of options fairly readily. Once I've added a combo, I wear it without hesitation, so I am becoming more high affinity with experience and practice.

Anonymous

I seem to swing back and forth, according to mood. I've lately been wearing neutrals, with color added via jewelry and/or handbags. But sometimes, my colorful side escapes and has a party in the closet.

skylurker

Veteran

I don't know. I've just discovered there were colours other than blue.
I'm attracted to pastels right now, I want to dress like a marshmallow.

Anonymous

Color speaks to me. It affects my mood deeply both in clothing and in home decor.

Like Xtabay, I swing back and forth between low and high color mixing in clothing. Right now I am wearing lots and lots of neutrals (minimal color mixing). I do not expect this to be the case in the Spring and Summer months.

Gaylene

Veteran

Seasonal? I love combining high-intensity, saturated colours from May until September, but wear almost entirely neutral, monochromatic outfits the rest of the year. All my spring/summer colour mixing is via colour blocking--an orange top with a cobalt skirt, for example--since I never wear patterns. In fall and winter, I use texture and shape rather than colour to create outfits. The only fall/winter colour comes from my wine knit gloves, muted colours in a scarf, or my red specs. I own one red plaid shirt (almost always worn under a charcoal sweater) and a red sweater worn mainly around Christmas.

It's funny that I've never thought of how seasonal I am regarding my affinity for colour. Might have to contemplate the radical thought of wearing colour in winter.

Peri

Veteran

I'm not sure...I guess low to medium maybe? Because you aren't asking if we have a lot of color in our wardrobes, more whether we wear lots of those colors at the same time...correct?

I'm of the many colored closet, but usually one at a time actually on me, with black and a scarf for cold weather. The scarf often has many colors that include the one I'm wearing. Or sometimes I will put a purple solid scarf with a green sweater...something like that. But wearing purple bottoms, green sweater, pink scarf? No, can't go that high!

Cerinda

Veteran

Team low, for sure. And with a seasonal switch: dark neutrals in fall/winter and mid-tone or light for spring/summer. Mostly color comes from accessories.

rachylou

Veteran

Strange happenings... made post and it went to the wrong thread!! Never mind this post :p

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