too much color?

shannon

OK, I love color. I hardly ever wear black, brown, beige, etc. If I do there is always some pop of color. Now that I have so many things in so many different vibrant colors what do I do with it all? Do I not wear my cobalt blue trench coat if I happen to be wearing my red, yellow, green or cobalt blue shoes? Does my shoe have to be neutral is my coat is not? I don't think I want to necessarily match my shirts to my shoes, even though I sure could. So if I wear my bright green shirt do I skip the shoe that matches and maybe go for the yellow ones? I think I have too many options now in too many different colors. Please help! What is the rule for how many different colors you should be wearing at one time?

16 years ago

Dressing

13 replies

Latest reply was from Julia

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Love that you love colour. Me too.

So the "Angie" rules are:

o no “matchy-matchy ensemble” (for lack of a better word).

o Don’t match more than 2 things. I'll even include black in this category of mis-matching. Stylists will differ on this issue. This is a quirk of mine. I do not prefer matched ensembles. They lack edge and interest.

o Don’t worry about the colour of your trench. It’s a cover up. Wear it and make a statement.

o You don’t need to match your shoes with your handbag, but you can if you want to. I do both.

o You don’t need to match the colour of a bright shoe with anything. They are a statement all on their own. For example, I’ll wear jeans with a Kelly green tunic, yellow shoes and cobalt blue handbag. I might even throw in a chunky red beaded necklace. The colours are all the same intensity, so they work in harmony. The look is “clean”. They are plain items, NOT patterned. Patterns complicate matters, but patterns are great too.

o You can throw in any colour shoe with a neutral ensemble.

16 years ago

Ana

(website)

Veteran

This is great advice, Angie. I was wondering the same thing as I am shopping for accessories now and love bright, solid colors.

Thanks for asking, Shannon.

16 years ago

Julia

Active Member

Somehow I have to put Angie's description into a picture to understand the idea, so here it is:

http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=1366088

Brilliant!

16 years ago

Ana

(website)

Veteran

Yep, that's cute. Nice work, Julia.

16 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Almost, Julia! I do not have a boho element to my style, so my tunic is streamlined and "clean" ( no baby dolls in my closet, and no metallic detailing on the empire line). The yellow shoes would be these:

http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7387118/c/10159.html

And the cobalt bag would be smaller and again “more streamlined” (Charles David or Michael Kors). I’d have to feel extra happy to add in the red necklace. Otherwise, a chunky set of pearls. The devil is always in the detail!

16 years ago

charlotte

Active Member

I have a question about the colors all being of the same intensity. Does that mean it is not a good idea to pair pale colors with dark? I have a pale blue/green cardigan I like to wear over a dark brown top, usually with dark wash jeans.

16 years ago

Julia

Active Member

Of course Angie! I just threw them together to get the color combination and didn't think much about the details, definitely didn't try to replicate what you wore. Angie in baby dolls? I can't imagine that.

I love, love the shoes, you might have posted it before but I forgot all about it. I'm going to get a pair of it in yellow. Are they true to size?

16 years ago

Julia

Active Member

OK, I did a quick update and hopefully it's a better version. I can't find a tunic that fit both the style and color so I chose the color. Also I removed the necklace but I did find the AK shoes!

http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=1366088

16 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

You are clever, Julia! And very sweet :-). The second one is a lot closer *chuckle*. Thanks for the effort. I may have popped in my red bag with the red necklace as a no brainer too. The yellow prevents the ensemble from looking Christmassy.

The Ann Klein flats are wonderful my dear Julia. 8-hour shoes for my feet. I have several clients walking around in them already – in yellow. There is a yellow patent ballet flat brigade in Seattle! I have a 6.5 and found them true to size. Shannon our other forum member found them wide, I think. I did not. The toe box is quite snug and I have regular width feet.

Charlotte, this is a hard question. I don’t think that the outfit would have looked as pulled together if half the colours were pastel, or muddy. You need some form of consistency when you pull 3-4 bights together like that.

16 years ago

Julia

Active Member

Thanks Angie. I'm such a visual person and enjoyed putting the outfit together.

I bought the AK shoes from endless.com. It's a lot cheaper than zappos. I can't wait to try it on.

16 years ago

shannon

Active Member

I bought these shoes from endless also. I'm thinking they are a little too wide for me. Let us know what you think of them. What color did you get?

16 years ago

Angie

(website)